Qionghai Jin Fu Rong Resort

... We had seen only wild deer and donkeys at the highest levels but the grazers were more frequent at the lower levels. The sun was intensely shining and no haze at all up here away from the Chinese pollution.. Such beautiful scenery we are so glad we are doing this trip.By 5 pm we had descended towards Lhasa and as we travelled near the highway for some hours we noticed there were groups of Tibettan people walking along the roadside but with each step ...

The Lhasa Express (also called "Rocket to the rooftop of the world") is the world's highest
railway and truly an engineering wonder (because of the temperature it undergoes).

The train is equipped with 2 Oxygen sources, 1) released throughout the cabins when reaching Golmud and heading into Tibet and 2) Personal Oxygen Canisters in case ...

... thick with leaves and each child glowed with pride, pointing at the exact place they had made their mark.
Compared to clean water and a warmer winter the mural was a superficial addition-icing on the cake. I was surprised and delighted, however, to see that its impact was much greater than I had anticipated. The mural project brought everyone together at the culmination of our time at the school, further connecting a group of people who had become so close. The look on ...

Another long drive day. We set off early from Turpan into the desert again only to run into the longest roadworks on the planet. The Chinese have an unusual approach to roadwork. They simply build a grotty dirt road alongside the main road, often tens of kilometres long, add some ramps and direct all of the traffic off the strip. Not a sign of a stop go man as we chased huge trucks into four-wheel drive territory.

Lunch was at ...

... 1501; תושבי הצומת, רובם בעלי מסעדו 14;, חנויו 14; או מוסכי משאיו 14;.
ישנת
497; אצל אחד מהם ועל הבו ...

... sleeping, take these stops an oppornutnity to stretch and buy junk foods from the vending cart off the platform.

I took a couple of the shots on the second morning. It was a bit nippy. An older man did some Tai Chi moves, another picture shows the train getting fuel.

Along the way, as we pass cities, I was able to get a picture of a nuclear plant. I thought it was interesting to know how China gets its power. I saw a couple of these plants along the railway.

still tired and not in good humour we set off late in the afternoon to find a bush camp. We ended up finding a lovely spot in the desert with snow capped mountains in the back ground. Leon and a few of the lads found some wood and we had a great night

by the camp fire. We spent the next day driving all day then finding a bush camp for the night. We were also driving on a proper road which helped!!

... we wouldn't have anymore road works. Sadly this wasn't meant to be!!! We hardly had a road. Untarmaced, uneven, incomplete, we spent more time off the road than on as we frequently had to veer off the main path where it was impassable with rocks or empty gulfs. Of course the detour sections offered only marginal improvement, and we were shaken, bashed and jolted as the truck lurched from side to side and thumped up and down as we made very slow progress over ...

... to find us nowhere near our destination. So on we pressed, picking up speed for a while as we finally encountered some tarmac (yay!) - only for it to deliver us swiftly to the end of a long line of trucks parked up and queuing for yet another roadwork closure (boo!). Which opened 7 hours later. So, after a day well spent playing hide and seek in and amongst the queued line of trucks, much to the bemusement of the local ...

... in den Schatten. Was die Chinesen hier im letzten Jahr fertiggebaut haben ist wirklich einmalig. Wir haben Paesse von mehr als 5000 Hoehenmetern ueberquert, haben von Schnee ueber Steppe bis zur flachen Wuestenlandschaft alles gesehen. Einfach toll!