48 hours to Tibet
On Wednesday I began my overland journey to Tibet. Although there's some contraversy as to whether the new rail line should be supported it was recommended as a excellent way of seeing the Tibetan landscape and of gradually becoming used to the high altitudes of Tibet. I got to know a number of my fellow travellers while waiting for the minibus transfers to the train station in Chengdu from the youth hostel and now in Lhasa we're continuing to plan things together with various excursions and maybe even journeying into Nepal on the cards.
Admittedly I didn't relish the 48 hour journey that lay ahead from Chengdu but from the outside I found that I was sharing my 6-bed "hard sleeper" compartment with another backpacker from the hostel, and with so many others on the train things were quickly looking up. Better still there were only two others in the compartment, both Chinese, but at least it meant the top two beds remained vacant and it left us with rather more space than we otherwise would have had at our disposal. Furthermore as the train line to Tibet had only opened this summer the train was brand new and hadn't yet suffered too badly at the hands and feet of thousands of Chinese travellers.
The train departed after 6pm on the first day and once settled in and having met up with others from the hostel in the dining car it was time to head to bed. Not atypically for these trains the lighting and audio accompanyment are somewhat draconian, being switched off at 10pm and starting up with gusto at the unearthly hour of 7am, which does seem a tad on the early side when you consider there's not otherwise a great deal to fill your day on board train.
I didn't sleep terribly well during the first night, owing to being unused generally to turning in so early and so I tried to make up for this by sleeping in the next morning although the Chinese seem quite eager to get up and about from 7am sharp so it was a case of making best use of the MP3 player to drown out the background noise and try my best to ignore the lights. The day passed well enough. The scenery wasn't yet at its best and ranged from lightly wooded to entirely barren rolling hills by the evening, reminding me a good deal of the Yorkshire Dales. Once again time was spent in the restaurant car or otherwise sat in the corridor in my carriage, chatting now and again with other foreigners of which there turned out to be no shortage, including Aussies, Hong Kong Chinese (well it's almost foreign and they spoke English), Israelis and Japanese.
The second night passed somewhat more satisfactorily than the last and although getting up with the 7am train dawn chorus made for a long day the scenery was particularly fine becoming more white as the morning progressed as we made our gradual ascent to our highest point at over 5000m. After passing Golmud and heading into Tibet proper oxygen masks were provided to every passenger on board. I must admit I didn't notice and particular ill effects although I did try out the oxygen for fun but I can't say I found it did much. Once again the day was split between my compartment and carriage, the dining car and the fine "soft-sleeper" compartment that a couple of others from the hostel were enjoying. As the day wore on the landscape became less icy with more greens, browns and greys on show and a greater density of herdspeople towards Lhasa. The buildings of the Tibetans are basic but certainly distinct. You can see some on the photo website at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eurobahn/
The approach to Lhasa was slow and we even stopped for a time which struck me as odd given that there's probably barely one passenger train a day in each direction. On our arrival at the spacious brand new Lhasa terminus we worked out that the driver had ensured that we arrived exactly on the allotted time and a not a moment early. Pointless, but that's how they like things here. The more pointless the better seems to be the rule of thumb all too often. In any case we said goodbyes to the Aussies who had other arrangements while the rest of us crammed ourselves onto one of the buses into town along with a great number of other Chinese, as is the way with more or less any Chinese bus in service in the country. Irrespective of the frequency of service the buses are always chocka full. We arrived in town, although without much idea where but secured a couple of taxis to take us with our not inconsiderable luggage to the hotel we wanted to stay in. Alas it was full, so we ended up being spread around several of the more recommended hotels in central Lhasa but at the very least we all got roofs over our heads. This evening we met up again and indulged in fine local food, more or less all consisting of yak in some more. Tomorrow we'll try our luck at booking ourselves into our first choice hotel/hostel again.
For now it's farewell from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet!
Admittedly I didn't relish the 48 hour journey that lay ahead from Chengdu but from the outside I found that I was sharing my 6-bed "hard sleeper" compartment with another backpacker from the hostel, and with so many others on the train things were quickly looking up. Better still there were only two others in the compartment, both Chinese, but at least it meant the top two beds remained vacant and it left us with rather more space than we otherwise would have had at our disposal. Furthermore as the train line to Tibet had only opened this summer the train was brand new and hadn't yet suffered too badly at the hands and feet of thousands of Chinese travellers.
The train departed after 6pm on the first day and once settled in and having met up with others from the hostel in the dining car it was time to head to bed. Not atypically for these trains the lighting and audio accompanyment are somewhat draconian, being switched off at 10pm and starting up with gusto at the unearthly hour of 7am, which does seem a tad on the early side when you consider there's not otherwise a great deal to fill your day on board train.
I didn't sleep terribly well during the first night, owing to being unused generally to turning in so early and so I tried to make up for this by sleeping in the next morning although the Chinese seem quite eager to get up and about from 7am sharp so it was a case of making best use of the MP3 player to drown out the background noise and try my best to ignore the lights. The day passed well enough. The scenery wasn't yet at its best and ranged from lightly wooded to entirely barren rolling hills by the evening, reminding me a good deal of the Yorkshire Dales. Once again time was spent in the restaurant car or otherwise sat in the corridor in my carriage, chatting now and again with other foreigners of which there turned out to be no shortage, including Aussies, Hong Kong Chinese (well it's almost foreign and they spoke English), Israelis and Japanese.
The second night passed somewhat more satisfactorily than the last and although getting up with the 7am train dawn chorus made for a long day the scenery was particularly fine becoming more white as the morning progressed as we made our gradual ascent to our highest point at over 5000m. After passing Golmud and heading into Tibet proper oxygen masks were provided to every passenger on board. I must admit I didn't notice and particular ill effects although I did try out the oxygen for fun but I can't say I found it did much. Once again the day was split between my compartment and carriage, the dining car and the fine "soft-sleeper" compartment that a couple of others from the hostel were enjoying. As the day wore on the landscape became less icy with more greens, browns and greys on show and a greater density of herdspeople towards Lhasa. The buildings of the Tibetans are basic but certainly distinct. You can see some on the photo website at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eurobahn/
The approach to Lhasa was slow and we even stopped for a time which struck me as odd given that there's probably barely one passenger train a day in each direction. On our arrival at the spacious brand new Lhasa terminus we worked out that the driver had ensured that we arrived exactly on the allotted time and a not a moment early. Pointless, but that's how they like things here. The more pointless the better seems to be the rule of thumb all too often. In any case we said goodbyes to the Aussies who had other arrangements while the rest of us crammed ourselves onto one of the buses into town along with a great number of other Chinese, as is the way with more or less any Chinese bus in service in the country. Irrespective of the frequency of service the buses are always chocka full. We arrived in town, although without much idea where but secured a couple of taxis to take us with our not inconsiderable luggage to the hotel we wanted to stay in. Alas it was full, so we ended up being spread around several of the more recommended hotels in central Lhasa but at the very least we all got roofs over our heads. This evening we met up again and indulged in fine local food, more or less all consisting of yak in some more. Tomorrow we'll try our luck at booking ourselves into our first choice hotel/hostel again.
For now it's farewell from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet!
posted by Daniel at 3:11 pm
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