Guangzhou to Lhasa by Train - Part II

We've been moving for almost 20 hours now.  Morning has arrived.  We're still passing many villages, many cities, long viaducts, many trains but very few stops.  I don't think we've had one since midnight although I did sleep soundly and might have missed one.

The air seems quite smoggy here.  We take this to be pollution, likely from coal burning.  There are hills, but it's difficult to see them in the distance.

We are nearing Xian, arriving at about 10:30 am.  This is the site of the terracotta warriors.  The stop was a brief one, however, just enough time to walk briskly to the front of the train, take a picture, get some steamed buns from a vendor and hop back on the train.

We were given a form to fill out, certifying that we were in good health and understood the hazards of increasing altitude.  Part of this route goes over 5200 m and Lhasa itself is at about 3600 m.  Both of us are taking medication to aid acclimatization.  I'm uncertain what most Westerners would do with the form without assistance.  We had our young friend Ma Jun translate the form for us.

I spent quite a bit of time talking with Jun, giving him time to practice his English and getting him to try and teach me some Chinese words.  All quite amusing as some Chinese sounds are not common in English and challenging to say properly.  Adding to the difficulty is his tendency to be very soft spoken making it sometimes hard for me to hear him well over the noise of the train.

By mid-afternoon, air quality has improved and visibility is better.  It's much drier here with much less vegetation and a generally starker landscape overall.  Hills, deep valleys,  many terraces.

Fall harvest is in full force here.  In fields we see potatoes being dug by hand, corn stalks bound up in stooks, apple orchards, cabbages, livestock and other crops we don't recognize.  Still lots of industry, but I think it's based on agriculture.  Many rail lines in addition to the one we're on.

By supper time, we have passed Lanzhou.  It's getting dark and the air quality has declined significantly. 

A bit after 8:15 pm, we arrive in Xining.  It's quite a sizable city.   This is where we leave our train and walk across the platform to another train which has special features needed for the high passes we must cross to get to Lhasa.  For example, each berth has an oxygen outlet.  We haven't figured out how it's supposed to work, yet, but it's there if we need it.  Maybe this is where they need the safety talk that you get on airplanes.

We are now officially on the Qinghai - Tibet railway.  But it's bedtime.  The excitement can wait till tomorrow.  Our young friend Jun has left. Home for him is a 3-hour bus ride away.

At 2:30 am, I wake as we stop in Geermu.  Not on my map, but our cabin mate, who has been amused by my shorts and light tee shirt in the cool temperatures recently, shows me on his phone that it's +2C outside.  Refreshing, I'd say.  We go outside and stand on the platform for a couple of minutes before we're chased back inside.

At about 7 am, we stop on a siding.  No idea where we are, but it's dark outside, evidence of how far west we've come.  Looking outside I'm sure I can see a light covering of snow. A bit further on, there are literally hundreds of transport trucks stopped on the road nearby. The line stretches for miles.  We seem to have crossed a pass, but there are a few of them along the route so our exact location remains a mystery.

We pass a building with a sign: Riachiqu, but we're no wiser, other than we're at 4582 m. We see a wolf trotting across the plain, not far from the train.  The snowy hills remind me of Montana.  Cold.  Desolate.  We see small groups of some type of deer, some eagles, donkeys, the odd yurt.

We passed the Tanggu La (Pass @ 5067 m) late in the morning.  This puts us, finally, in Tibet.  Since then, we've been dropping in altitude.  Snow is slowly disappearing and we're currently going by a very large lake.  Ponds, yaks, sheep, some ducks.

A few times, I've seen the oddest thing.  Out in the middle of nowhere,  there has been a solitary figure, standing at attention, saluting the passing train.

Oxygen has been hissing into our compartment ensuring we don't develop altitude sickness.  I just checked my pulse rate, usually a good indication of how I am.  It's about 62.  Wonder what it will be after we've been out of the train for awhile.  Lhasa's altitude of 3600 m is still pretty high.

We arrived in Lhasa at 5:30 pm and after being processed, met our guide and driver who took us to the Yak Hotel. 

Now starts the Tibetan adventure.