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Published: October 11th 2007
We are now here in Tibet, but I will recap Beijing, and Xi’an briefly to catch up to our current location.
On October 1st Kevin arrived at Beijing airport. Dan and I wanted to get some Chinese hats with fake ponytails hanging out the back to wear when we greeted Kevin, but we couldn’t find any for our fat heads. As a second option, we bought some small Chinese flags to wave as Kevin approached us through the terminal.
While we were in Beijing we stayed a nice little youth hostel, with everything we needed. We walked and walked and walked, and then one day we realized we could rent bikes to see the city, which was by far a much better option. We rode around Beijing and saw the Forbidden City, Some of the temples, some interesting lakes in the area. We also took a trip to the Great Wall which I must say was truly awesome. Most tourists that visit the Great Wall go to Badaling, which is closer to Beijing, fully restored, and packed with tons of people selling junk and Great Wall Paraphernalia. We opted to go see the Great Wall at Jinshiling, and then walking 10km on the wall to Simitai. The drive to the wall took us three hours, but was well worth it. The section of the wall that we went on was un-restored, and in original condition; which wasn’t in very good shape, but it was great to see how the wall has weathered all these years.
The night of our Great Wall trip we we’re supposed to catch a train from Beijing to Xi’an. Our train was scheduled to leave at 9:36pm, which we thought would give us ample time to do everything we needed to do. When we left out hostel at 8:55 we weren’t in too much of a rush until we were unable to flag a taxi down. That’s when we realized we needed to walk to the main road to catch a bus or try to find another taxi to take us to the train station. We rushed with our heavy packs to the bus stop, but Dan and I couldn’t remember the right bus #. At that point Kevin ran into traffic to flag down a taxi. The driver said no, but when we started to pile in he couldn’t reject us. We weaved through traffic trying to get there on time, and we got to the train station with 5 minutes before our train departed, we had to run pretty far once we got inside. We must have looked pretty miserable lugging 45lb packs through a crowded train station. When we got to our gate it was closed, and they weren’t letting anyone in. We weren’t the only ones who were left out; there was a Chinese family yelling at the gate keeper to let them in. All we could do was root for that family to change the guys mind to open the gate. Unfortunately, we weren’t getting on that train, and we didn’t know what to do…until a Chinese girl came up and helped up find out what we needed to do. After she talked to the guys at the gate, she found out we could get tickets for the next days train at the same time; except the seats would be standing room only. We really had no choice; we had to get to Xi’an so we said ok and ended up spending another night in Beijing, which wasn’t so bad because Kevin insisted that we stay at a hotel, and not just any hotel, but a 5 star. Sounds extremely lavish, but it really wasn’t that expensive, and in reality we needed an extra day to just hang out.
On top of the bad news of missing the train, I realized that night that I was missing one of my camera lenses. I pretty sure somehow I left my super-wide angle lens on the Great Wall somewhere. This really pisses me off because that’s $700 down the drain for me, and it was one of my most favorite lenses, especially for our trip through the Himalayas. I guess that’s part of traveling though… The next day we hung out, and just made sure we got to our train on time. When we boarded the train, there ended up being two seats available, and one more became available after a stop where some people got off. The train ride was a bit uncomfortable, because the seats were “hard seats” but it could have been much worse.
We arrived in Xi’an the next morning, and got to our hostel, which was run by the same people as the hostel in Beijing. That day we relaxed a bit, and took naps, we also organized our train ride from Xi’an to Lhasa Tibet. We spent about 3 days in Xi’an and saw the Terracotta Warriors, and a few museums, and again.. walked far and wide throughout the city. The weather was not so good the whole time we were there, so we couldn’t do as many things as we had hoped for while we were there. On October 9th our train for Lhasa left in the morning, and would reach Lhasa at 8:00pm the next night.
36 hours total on the train is what we would have to sit through. We had sleeper seats on the train which was very nice and made it very comfortable. The train ride up the Tibetan plateau was one that I will remember for the rest of my life. The scenery was unlike any I have ever seen before, and the fact that we were riding in the highest railway in the world was remarkable in itself. The train topped out at 16,500 feet, and oxygen was pumped into the train after we ascended past 10,000 feet. We slowly saw some of the effects of the altitude gain, such as headaches and slight nausea, but it really wasn’t too bad at all.
Last night we arrived here in Lhasa, and to be at 13, 000 feet you’d think it’d be perpetually cold here, but actually the weather is nice and warm. Today we rode bikes around Lhasa in t-shirts and sandals. The weather felt almost similar to California in the fall, except for the lack of oxygen in the air. Speaking of lack of oxygen, Dan had a harder time adjusting to the elevation change. He hadn’t felt very well all day and slept quite at bit (which isn’t out the ordinary), but tonight he seems to be doing pretty well. He was even doing jumping- jacks and some push-ups earlier.
Tomorrow we will be going to the Potala Palace, and also will be going to the Jarkhor temple, which is revered as the Holiest in Tibet. There are mass amounts of people making pilgrimages around the temples carrying prayer wheels and spinning them as they walk. I have to say that the People in Tibet are truly what you may have heard. They are so friendly and welcoming. I really enjoyed trying to talk to Tibetans with my limited phrasebook. I won’t go into detail because my blog will probably be hijacked, but its sad to see some of the things that have happened here due to the occupation of a certain country. Throughout my dealing with people today, I could sense a tone irritation, when the subject arose.
On the 13th Kevin, Dan and I will be departing for our overland trip through the Himalayas. The whole trip will take 5-7 days to get through to the Nepal Border, which from there we will find other means of getting to Katmandu. Along the way we will stop at Shingatse, Gyanaste, several lakes, and Everest base camp. We plan on camping along the way. We will go over passes that are about 5200m high or about 17, 000 feet. I hope that we all do well with the altitude. I think we’ll be fine, because Kevin’s made us take Ginko Biloba for the last two weeks which he says will help with acclimation to the top of the world.
This will probably be the last update until Nepal so wish us luck! We are very excited about this leg of our trip. We’re just praying for a smooth (but not too smooth) ride the whole way.
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Skylar
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Wo shi ni de ba ba
Glad to hear things are going well! Good luck on your traverse through the Himalayas.