I've been working in Asia these past 2 weeks

[NewJeffCT]

5. I was just in China and took the high speed rail twice as well

Went from Nanjing to Xi'An. It's about 600 miles by train. With a 30 minute stop along the way, along with a few other brief stops, it was about 4 or 4.5 hours to get there. Not a bump, rattle or shake the entire route. Even airplane wouldn't be that quick - it's a little under 2 hours for the flight, but considering you need to get to the airport at least an hour ahead of time and then need to check and pick up baggage, it ends up being more time. (You just bring your bags onto the train...) And, it's way more comfortable.

Previously, we went from Shanghai to Nanjing - a little over 200 miles in about an hour on HSR. Because of a reservation mistake, they also put us in first class for the trip. I'm sure for a plane, we would have been bumped to the next flight and arrived even later. I barely slept a wink on the flights from Hartford to Chicago and then to Shanghai. However, as soon as I hit that comfy reclining first class seat, I fell asleep for the entire hour.