Lhasa to Chengdu - High Altitude Trains (45 Hours!)

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Lhasa to Chengdu - High Altitude Trains

Having missed our original train to Chengdu we had to wait another 4 days for the next one to carry us out of Lhasa. Not a big problem as there are floods in China and we really like Lhasa.

This is no ordinary train and is a marvel of engineering. Its the highest train in the world and has an average height of 4000m, topping out at 5072m. Completed in 2006 the track is built on permafrost. All the pylons have a cooling system within them to keep the ground below them frozen throughout the year. Preventing the track from buckling in summer!
Construction of the line between Lhasa and Golmond required 160km of bridges and elevated track, seven tunnels, and 24 hyperbaric chambers to treat altitude sick workers. The train has piped in oxygen next to each seat for passengers, to limit the affects of altitude. The train generally runs during the day from Lhasa to ensure you see the most of the Tibetan plateau. There are power sockets next to each seat, however most laptops and MP3 players stop working due to the altitude.

With this in mind we boarded the train in Lhasa, on time this time!

This train ride, the most comfortable of our trip so far was also the longest. It broke our previous record for this trip (Jalgon to Varanasi 39 hours) by 6 hours and came in at a tiresome 45 hours.

The food, fellow travelers and the views made for a fantastic and epic train ride. 2 Nights on the train and every morning we were blessed with a completely different terrain and landscape. We passed snow capped mountains, glaciers, turquoise lakes, paddy fields and some major Chinese cities.
We made a few friends (as best we could given the language barrier), mostly with the tibetan family we shared our cabin with, the little girl took a real shine to Guy. We spent a lot of time in the dining car, pointing to the food others were eating (menu in chinese) as a way of ordering, and played a million games of cards.
We arrived in a very hot sweaty Chengdu refreshed and ready to explore this massive Chinese City.

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