To Tibet by Train

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Okay, I'm back! After several months of family emergencies and such, I finally am making myself sit down and blog the past 6 months.

This is the first installment of a very multi-part blog. This way I get myself up to date with you all. We did a lot in 10 days. It will be easier to break up it up.

I got to go to TIBET!!!! When Mario asked me, I could not say no. I did not think I would ever get to go. Unfortunately, Dave could not take time off work to go with us. All I can say, is that it was the most amazing experience.

We start by going to Church. It is Pentecost and we receive a traveller’s blessing from the priest. What a great way to start. Carrying the blessings of the Holy Spririt with us. We are off to catch the train from Tianjin to Beijing.

My travelling companions are Mario Garcia, Isaac Garcia, Vicky Liu, Joe Sergio, and Chris Sergio. Mario and Vicky work with Dave. Isaac (Mario’s son) and Chris are roommates at Notre Dame. Joe is Chris’s father. And to show that it really is a small world, Joe’s brother-in-law (Bill Wack) is a Holy Cross priest. I met Fr. Bill on joint trip of University of Portland and Notre Dame to World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002. And Chris was on that same trip. I have to go back and see if I have any pictures of Chris.
Vicky spent many weeks gathering information and getting the permits and tickets we need for our 40 hour train ride to Lhasa. We arrive in the main Beijing train station and go to across the street to the a hostel that houses the travel agent. Vicky goes to get our tickets and other information. There seemed to be a problem. After much debating, Vicky received our tickets. The problem had to do with our tour. They were not able to get our tickets to enter the Potala palace. We would have to get them when we got there.
**there was something else with other tickets*** While Vicky was working with the travel agent to straighten out the ticket confusion, Mario and I went out in search of some snacks for the train and a birthday cake for Vicky. I was looking for some candied ginger and Mario dragged me several blocks to some obscure grocery store where I found some natural ginger candy. I guess that would do. Ginger is good for stomach problems. I figured we could put it in some hot water for a ginger tea. All I had been able to find was a large jar of a mixture of honey and ginger to make tea. It was too heavy to haul around.
Side note: You may be wondering about my bags. I was a good girl. I took enough clothes for a few days and put it all in a roller carry -on bag. I also took my backpack for the day to day treks. It seemed to work pretty well for me. The others brought slightly larger backpacks, but did not anything good for the day to day treks. Chris bought Nepalese cloth pack which helped. I washed clothes each night and ended up wearing the same pair of pants for the 3 days we are in Lhasa. I do confess however that Mario carried a rug back for me. He is a good guy.
After the running around, Mario and I make it back in time for us to run and catch the subway to the West Beijing train station. It was about 8pm and we were hungry. Forgive us, but stop at McDonald’s for a “quick” bite. When travelling with 6 people, it is important to add at least 30 minutes to anything you plan to do. It helps ensure you get to the train on time. We realized that we had about 20 minutes to catch the train. The walk would take that much time. After some pleading, we finally found a couple of taxi’s willing to take us to the station. The distance was shorter than they like. It was good. We made it to the gate with about 10 minutes to spare.
Vicky, being the frugal person that she is, purchased hard sleeper, top bunk, tickets. It was better than being in the hard seats which are not comfortable by anyone’s imagination, unless you don’t want to spend the money to be able to lay horizontal. Each compartment in a hard sleeper has six bunks. We had to climb up two bunks to get to ours. We were spread out between 3 compartments. Vicky and I together, Chris and Isaac, and then Mario and Joe. Hard sleeper is just a description. There is padding. I like my sleeping surfaces firm, so it was not to bad for me. Imagine a 3 level bunk bed and having to climb up to the top bunk. The most difficult part was having to go the bathroom in the middle of the night. Not only do you have to climb down, but try not to step on the people below. It was only two days. No problem.
We were just getting settled in and starting to relax, when it was lights out. 10pm. Fortunately, I brought a flashlight so I could finish getting ready for bed. And read a little.
It was a bit cramped but not bad. Dave is still amazed that I travelled by train in a hard sleeper. He tends to thinks I can only travel first class. While I enjoy having the finer things in life, it is fun to go on the cheap sometimes. You get a better sense of the culture. Having Vicky with us was great. We could have some basic conversations and get to know the people a bit.
When we got on the train, Mario and Joe moved down to the middle bunks because no one was there. That changed about 5am, when the purchasers of the middle bunk showed up.
When we woke up, we were in central China near Xi’an. It was fascinating to see the changes. Tianjin is on the coast and very flat. Beijing is on the edge of mountains and desert. Xi”an is the middle of very fertile farmland. I enjoyed looking out the window at the kaleidescope of farms. The farmers here in China work very hard. Most still farm by hand. I did not see much in the way of automation. The variations of farms and villages gave way to the high plains desert. It looked very much like southern Idaho and western Washington/Oregon.
After a while we needed to do something. Vicky taught us a game called Pu Ke. It is a Chinese card game. The deck is dealt out to all who are playing. It is played in teams. The object of the game is for the team to run out of cards. The person who starts put down their lowest card (which is the 4 card, 3 is considered the hightest). Someone can start with pairs or triples if they have them. The next person must place a higher card (or pair if that is down). Each person has a turn. The person who puts down the highest card, starts the next round. This goes until a team runs out of cards. The hard part is being able to help your teammates while not knowing their cards.
We also played a lot of UNO. We even made up some new rules. Each game was different. One way to make UNO last 2 hours is to require each person to put a card down on their turn. Which means if you don’t have a card to play, you must draw until you can. That really slows people down when they only have a few cards left.
The journey took 48 hours. Literally 2 days. It really taught me how to slow down. The highest elevation we reached on the train was 4700m

The book I took to read was called “Walk In a Relaxed Manner: Life Lessons from the Camino” by Joyce Rupp. It is about her pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. in Northern Spain. It is a walk across North Spain to the cathedral in Santiago where the bones of the Apostle, St. James were laid to rest. While we were not on a pilgrimage, it did give me ideas on how to make the most of a trip that takes us to an important area for Buddhism. Obviously, I am not Buddhist, but I am intrigued by the prayer and devotion of the religion. We can always learn something from other religions that can improve our own spiritual journeys. For me, it was to remember to live in the now and be positive. To enjoy the moment in front of me, rather than focus on a touring schedule.

For more pictures of other activities and travels, go to my google web album at

http://picasaweb.google.com/Zlady1965

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Photos

Our travel group
Here we are in front of Xi Kai Catholic Church in Tianjin. My traveling companions are Mario Garcia, Isaac Garcia, Vicky Liu, Joe Sergio, and Chris Sergio.

On the train
It is a tight fit. We were in hard sleepers.

Top Bunk
There are 6 beds to a compartment. 3 on each side. Yes, I climbed up there. It was bit cramped but as long as you remembered this, you did not bump your head...much.

Food Trolley
Every so often a girl would come through selling fruits, veggies, and assorted Chinese snacks. This was breakfast which is kind of soupy rice porridge called congee. It usually has pork or other kind of meat in it.

Cave Dwellings
People actually live in caves in Central China.

High Altitude
We reached some high altitudes. This is in meters not feet. What you are seeing is over 11,000 feet!

Workin' on the railroad
These three women were painting the railroad spikes with black paint. The Chinese men were making cat calls as we waited to get into the station. The women seemed to ignore it completely

Comments

[Vicky]

Trip Team (Diane, Dr. Noodle, Mario, Issac, Chris and Vicky)
Thanks Diane to put all together, it makes me recall our Tibet trip and all happiness. I feel like all happens recently. I read Diane's blog and enjoy all pictures. They make me miss all of friends, Diane, Mario, Issac, Dr. Noodles and Chris. Diane reminded me that all happens 8 monthes ago which is really hard to believe. I wish all friends doing good at their family and work. Hope the travel team will gather again to make another great trip. I still wish to be a tour guide in the team. And leading another great trip. God bless all buddies. Vicky loves all of you.