Xining to Lhasa via the world's highest railway
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2007
1
24
58
Trip End
Oct 22, 2007
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Lhasa,
China
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
When we found our cabin it was full and a young Chinese lady asked us in perfect English if we could swap as they were a family travelling together to Tibet for the first time. Of course we agreed and, amidst great excitement from the family, were shown our new quarters. Imagine our excitement when we pulled out of Xining and we had a 4 berth cabin to ourselves. We thought we would be joined later in the journey but, as we are approaching Lhasa we are still alone!
It is a shame that every travel agent and tour guide tells of how difficult it is to get a ticket on this train as, having walked through all three classes of soft sleeper (4 to a cabin), hard sleeper (6 to a cabin and no doors) and seating (a long time to sit up for!), I saw many empty cabins and seats. If you are considering visiting Tibet do consider getting there by train. It is clean, pretty comfortable, there is a Western style toilet in each of the soft sleeper carriages and 3 basins at each end of each carriage with hot and cold water and soap! It is well worth the 25 or 26 hours of travel time.
Aside from all of that, the views are FANTASTIC!!! From the plains to the mountains it is all pretty spectacular. We have seen rivers and valleys, amazing feats of engineering of tunnels and bridges crossing permafrost, sheep and Yaks, people and villages, trains and trucks crossing the most inhospitable landscape.
When we crossed over one mountain pass there had been a lot of snow just before we got there which made it truly picture postcard beautiful.
We had also read an article by a journalist in the first group of Westerners allowed to travel this route.
Xining Station Train Spotting
He mentioned stopping at a sign that read 5,072 metres above sea level. We had hoped to do the same but they have become more modern and each carriage has a computer generated sign giving the current date, time, temperature, speed and altitude. The highest we saw and photographed was 5,081 metres above sea level when going over another pass, Lhasa is a mere 3,700!All the passengers and guards were most intrigued by these two Westerners travelling on their train so we had every passer by looking in on us. They were all very friendly but there was little English to be found. The guard had memorised her welcome speech in English which was very sweet, we gave her a round of applause after that and she beamed with pride.
For lunch and supper we had bought authentic Chinese pot noodles as there is a constant supply of boiling water provided on the train (and just about everywhere in China). I hate to admit it but they were actually very tasty. We also bought some rolls and biscuits so ate well along the way. We are travelling with thermos mugs so can even have tea and bought milk for this occasion.
We are approaching Lhasa and will be there imminently so time to pack up, put shoes on and get ready too go. I know there is still some controversy surrounding this train and the railway line but this has definitely been one of many highlights of our trip and one I would definitely recommend!
Our guide was waiting for us and greeted us in the customary way of putting a white scarf, called a Khatak, around us. We were also delighted to learn that, as we had requested, our guide was a local Tibetan man rather than a Chinese one. This good start gave us a really good feeling for our Tibet visit.
