Mary’s Tibet Train Exploration


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April 30th 2009
Published: April 30th 2009
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Mary’s Tibet Train Exploration
http://www.tibettravel.org/tibet-train/
Before we leave Paris,we have made lot of preparations , such as booking train tickets, hotels,and restaurants. You know , it is not easy to get the train tickets ,and deal with the travel details. http://www.tibettravel.org/tibet-train/ Well , Fortunately ,I pre-booked the train tickets to Tibet through one chinese travel agency . You know ,there are so many travel agencies on the internet ,you can’t tell which agency is really helpful .Luckly, I found two travel agencies throught internet , compared to other travel agency ,I believed them give me a reasonable price quotation and in particular ,a clear itinerary . In fact , I really enjoyed a good time to the local tour of Tibet ,Lhasa,and from Lhasa to Kathmandu . It’s so fantastic to travel in Tibet. It is more beautiful than pictures on the tourguide books .You know , there is only blue skies and white seas of clouds in my mind ,Tibet people are friendly and kind to our foreigners .On 5th ,Aug.2007,we came to BeiJing airport with an excited feelings.Beijing was really a clear modernised city . Next day ,we came to the one of travel agency to get our tickets ,it’s name is CITS Tibet travel , well ,they are really helpful. The staff were kind and nice. I even remembered one chinese girl with big dark eyes . She told me Tibet is really beautiful place and is worth traveling.The third day we cought on the train to Tibet. Train trips scenery is wonderful , mountains are full of green trees.

Schedule & Ticket Options

The train leaves from Beijing West Rail Station at 9:30PM. During the train trip ,there are many stops , but often are very short and don’t take on much time. It don’t bother you much . during the spare time ,you can get a view of chinese train station or you can have a reading or chatting with people. They are friendly ,through they understand little of what I said. They say HELLO to me ,like “Ni Hao”. Now ,I can say Ni Hao , XieXie Nin .
The train ticket is very cheap , I believe tickets can only sale before two weeks and ten days within the departure dates. Maybe that it is more convenient to foreign travelers and more Chinese buy tickets. We bought our tickets through a travel agency (CITSTibet travel )in chengdu. I would like you to buy tickets like our route. On the train trip ,we happened meet one couple who also bought tickets from that travel agency. We chatted with each other happily on the ways .

Train Schedule link Train Schedule Beijing to Lhasa T27

The Train has ten or eleven cars in all including the dining car, not including the engine(s). the regular seating cars were at the front of the train, followed by the dining car then three Soft Sleeper Cars and lastly three Hard Sleeper Cars.I walked by the whole train and I can hardly tell you what the difference between Hard Seats and Soft Seats. It seems to me most of the seating cars are soft seating ,even there are few hard seating. In the photo ,you can see the difference clearly and you can see the soft seating are quite nice. Indeed , in the hard seating area,there were many people crowded and so most people sit down as if make a circle to chatting .the seating room is little ,so we have rare room to sit .I thought that people felt strange to us ,maybe for our western appearances .They were stopped doing their own things but look at us . We passed area quickly. My reason to went through this area was because I wanted to get to the end of the train. The Hard Sleeper were similar to the Soft Sleepers ,the only difference between the two is that The Hard Sleepers had six beds in each of the cabins instead of four in our Soft Sleeper. I Hope that this recommend will help you during your train trip to Tibet. Hopelly, you can enjoy the close living and sleeping quarters.

My friend is tall,about 188cm ,but it is even more convenient to him. Anyways, I would like to say that the train was about 9' (275 cm) tall and each of the cabins were about 7' (213 cm) wide. I would be interested in peole plus their luggage in to the right place . There was maybe 3' (91 cm) worth of vertical space in each of the Hard Sleeper bunks.since the Cabins stretch out into the car ,there is only a very small walk way that people are able to use.We chose to the Soft Sleeper.As you can see from the photo ,you have two bunks on each side of the cabin with a very small table between that passage against the window. The bunks can not fold up or move. The lower bunk has a back cushion that makes it a little more comfortable to sit upright. The bunks themselves were actually quite comfortable for us.The temperature within the cabin and throughout the train was quite comfortable ,indeed we have very nice weather for the 48 hours we were on the train ,so I am not sure how things would work during hot or cold spells.

Storing luggage was another challenge. There is some space for an average sized suitcase down below the bottom bunk and then there is some space for luggage up above on a ledge above the door, but not really much else. We were traveling with two trekking backpacks, a duffel bag, and a camera bag. We got it all to fit, but just barely. There were some Europeans that boarded at one of the stops and they had a terrible time getting their hard luggage to fit.Don’t forget this because if it does not fit in your cabin, then I am not sure where else it would go. I did not see any extra space anywhere. This train is really maximized for utility of space. One option, if you wanted more space, would be to purchase all four bunks and use only two. It is not all that much more and you would have the entire cabin to yourself as well as plenty of luggage space. I liked getting the opportunity to contact with two other people who we had never met.It should be noted that while I never considered drafts to be a problem, at each end of the cars there were quite a few openings where air from inside and outside mixed freely. Also the window in the bathroom was open more times than not. For some reason I thought this train was sealed and possibly pressurized, but I saw no evidence of this. I will cover this in detail later.

Boarding the Train

We left our hotel a couple of hours before our train was to leave. The train leaves from the Beijing WestRail Station at 9:30PM. The station is very modern and much larger then what I was expected. The cab was able to pull directly to the front of the station and the entrance was only a few steps away. Before you check in , luggage had to go through some type of x-ray machine. Compared to many places in the world in this those days , security seemed to be relatively relaxed throughout the station . I estimated that the very modern schedule board be about two stories height. For you can see from the photo ,there are a huge amount of trains moving through this station. For thinking of the safe of our packages ,so we stopped by what looked like the main desk and they were quite helpful in pointing us in the right direction. I went around the city alone in a while .There are so many places that I can only pointed out, such as restaurants and grocery stores. The menu in the dining car on the train is very limited and I would like suggest you bringing snacks along with you before you board the train. We had some snacks, but we were not prepared for only having seven expensive items on the menu in the dining car. We ended up purchasing some items at some of the stops along the way.

Firstly ,we were waiting in the regular waiting area for our train. This area was quite large and there were many people lounging around waiting for the train. Everything was quite modern and looked quite new, but there were already signs of neglect ,such as a number of the monitors not working properly. I have great amazation at the size of the Chinese government's ego. A display with models of Chinese military machines were showed in front of the waiting area. It seemed ironicly that the Chinese government choose to display models of their military might at the entrance to a train which goes to Tibet. There were also other photographs and displays that showed off the "greatness" of the Chinese government. It was almost boarding time that we noticed that there is an area reserved for the Soft Sleeper car besides the regular waiting area. There was a gentle man checking tickets at the entrance , then after tickets are checked we were allowed into this area. It had less seating room available and was quite crowded, but the seating was very nice plush chairs and sofas. One dining option was available in this area. I did not get much time to look around Since we arrived here so late.

I'm not sure that if this area got priority boarding. As soon as our tickets were checked ,we made our way to the train. It is might a problem.that if you have a large amount of luggage or troubled in getting around. For I did not see any porter helping with luggage.so ,I am thinking that employees would give us a few minutes of help. It's time we were walking across the platform to the flood gates, there were throngs of people (some running) were rushing towards the train. If I were trying to stake out my seat for the next 48 hours I would be running to get the best seat possible as well. Since they boarded much further back than us we did not need to cross paths and it did not create any issues. There were plenty of people to help us and point us in the right direction. As I stated earlier it was hard times getting all the luggage stored in the cabin. In a moment, the train got underway. because we had a sight -seeing on days .we were very tired of that .Therefore it was a short time for us to go to bed.

There was a person came around and took our tickets and in exchange gave us a credit card style train card. We could not figure this one out. we were talked with Someone who suggested that they collected the tickets to make sure you would not get off the train until you arrive at the proper station. it was interesting that they came around and collected the credit card style train card and gave us our tickets back at the end of the train ride.I first met a lady with her daughter on the train , them would be spend the next 48 hours with us.Neither of them are good English speakers, but the mother can speak a little English ,such as “how are you ?” “where are you from ?” she kept repeating the word Paris after I told him where I came from, Well, you know,just a few minutes ,I got that her sister who goes to college in Paris. It seemed to me that how small the world truly is.

Sleeping Car

I was concerned that I would not sleep well on the train. I actually had no problem sleeping on the train. The bed was quite comfortable, there was very little noise and the train was very smooth. As I described earlier the cabin has four beds and a small table to place items on. Each of the cabins have a door that can be shut for privacy. While 48 hours is not a real long period of time, I thought it would have been nice to have some sort of effort by the staff to freshen up the cabin from time to time. This never happened. Again it seems this train is run very efficiently and there are very few extra thrills on this train ride. The common areas, especially the toilet and sink areas were kept reasonably clean. It did seem they did a better job of keeping things clean the first 24 hours then the last 24 hours. The closer we got to Lhasa the more the staff seemed to disengage. There were numerous occasions in which the staff would stand directly under a no-smoking sign and puff away.

You can see from the photograph what the sink area looks like. There are three basic sinks that have the push type water faucet where you push and then the water stays on for a few seconds and then you need to push it again. It gets the job done, but once again it gets the job done very efficiently. Over all the sink stayed relatively clean considering these two sinks needed to accommodate I am guessing 20 or 30 people in our car alone. I would recommend that you pack a small towel which is not only useful for the train, but in many other situations as well. It is very easy to pick these up at a local market before you get on the train. There were two toilets available at the end of each car. On one side was a Asian toilet and on the other side was a Western toilet. Over all they were kept clean, but by the end of the trip and since I am a male I preferred the Asian toilet since it seemed to stay a bit cleaner. There was toilet paper available, but I am guessing it lasted a matter of hours and then I never saw any more. A word of advice for this train and any travels in Asia is always keep plenty of spare toilet paper. Not only is toilet paper useful in bathroom situations, but it makes a decent paper towel if needed. One nice feature was the hot water dispenser. Each of the cars had a hot water dispenser located by the toilets and sinks. This was very handy for adding hot water to the ready made noodle cups that are available in so many places. Overall there were not many places to sit and pass the time. Your options were either sit in your cabin, sit on little fold down ledges in the walk way of the sleeping car or sit in the dining car. The windows in the cabin of the sleeping car were quite large and I spent a large part of part of my time staring out the window of our cabin. The windows along the walkway in the sleeping car were quite large and provided a very nice view of what was passing by. The only problem we encountered was the staff perpetually had to close the drapes on the windows if you were not very obviously looking out it. It seemed you would turn your back and then as soon as you turned around again the curtain would be closed. This was same case in the dining car as well. Many of us on the train were puzzled at this since the views outside of the train were so amazing why would you try to block that out.

You can see from the photograph that the aisle ways were narrow. It was so narrow it was difficult for two people to pass. If you choose to sit on the fold down seats in the aisle way then about every five minutes you needed to get up to let someone pass. There were quite a few announcements that came over the speakers in the roof and the English announcements were in very understandable English. The problem was the system was not loud enough to ever hear what they were saying. There were also a number of announcements that provided commentary on various things we saw along the way. It was interesting to listen to these because once again the Chinese government did not miss an opportunity to voice their propaganda. There was one piece that was at least five minutes long talking about how the once barren Tibetan plateau is now being vitalized by the Chinese government. From what I understand and was told the Tibetan people never requested to be vitalized. At the end of each car was a scrolling LCD display that provided basic information. Mostly it was train speed and a message thanking you for riding the Tibetan Railway. It would also state what the next stop was, but not when we would get there.

At no time were we ever provided a schedule or any other brochures showing what would happen or what was available on the train. Thankfully I brought a schedule that I had printed from the internet. At the foot of each bunk was a very nice video monitor. At the other end were volume and channel controls with a place to plug in some ear phones. (None were provided) Even though there were I think six channels, the few times I checked nothing was ever playing on any of the channels.Since we are relatively young and were already starting to take medicine for altitude we had no problem with it. During the second night the train climbs up onto the Tibetan plateau. Waking up on the second morning you could feel the tug of the altitude. I am guessing from this point on we were at 12,000 feet (3,600 Meters) or above. It is my understanding that the highest point was above 16,000 feet or 5,000 Meters. The terrain also changed drastically and you could just tell that you were in Tibet. I can still vividly remember the first time I saw prayer flags.
The second morning after waking up we were told that they were injecting the cars with oxygen and that smoking was strictly prohibited. It seemed even more ironic after they made this announcement to see the employees standing directly under the no smoking signs and smoking. I don't see how it would be possible to release enough oxygen that would make any difference. For one the train cars were not sealed enough to keep in any type of released oxygen and for any type of pressurization to take place. Not to mention the cost for this would be way out of line with the rest of the other services provided during the train ride. There were outlets in the cabin that I believe could be hooked up to a oxygen mask. I saw employees a number of times carrying these masks to various parts of the train, but I never saw anyone actually using them.

Dinning Car & Food Options

If we did not spend our time in the sleeping car then we spent our in the Dinning Car. As you can see from the photograph the dining car was very basic. It had a number of tables to sit at and I was surprised that it never seemed too crowded. This also seemed to be the place that employees would come to socialize with each other. As I stated before the drapes on windows were closed unless you opened them. You can notice this in the photograph. So the first thing needed to do when you sat down was open the drapes and if someone was not sitting at the table across from you then the drapes would be closed and you could not see out of the other side of train. Most of the people both in the dining car and in the sleeping cars were Europeans.

The staff was very attentive and as soon as you sat down you were greeted by someone asking you what you would like to order. If I was looking to sit and not eat I normally got some tea and that seemed to appease them. They seemed to be uncomfortable unless you ordered something.All of the food items were quite oily in nature and I am guessing were loaded with MSG. I am not quite sure how they prepared the food, but in the back part was some type of kitchen. At one point I went to take a photograph of the kitchen and was immediately told not to do so. A couple of times I went to take photographs of the employees and were told not to do so. Pointing the camera out the window never raised and an eyebrow, but as soon as the camera was pointed in the train you could. just tell the staff became very uneasy.The menu was very basic. There were about seven items on the menu and each item was about 25 Yuan or $3 US, which seemed to be very expensive especially for what you received. You can see the two menus (one breakfast, one all other times) in the photographs below. The options did not change the entire time we were on the train.
There were also some interesting translations. One item was "Rape with Mushrooms."
Each morning, breakfast was the same. You can choose a traditional Chinese breakfast or a traditional Western breakfast. Western breakfast is not good or bad. . While the tea was traditional tea for they put the tea leaves directly into the water. The first cup of tea I ordered had quite a few tea leaves in it and by the end of the trip the amount of tea leaves you received became less and less. Another option for food on the train was purchasing items from these little carts which would constantly be pushing up and down the aisles of the train. There was everything from fresh fruit, to instant noodle cups ,to chips. The prices were expensive,but it is reasonable compared to the dining car. I would recommend that if you see something you wanted, please purchase it sooner rather than later. I took the photograph to the left towards the end of the trip and as you can see there were very few items left by this time. The last option available was purchasing something while stopped at one of the stations. This was an interesting experience, because you had very little time (5 to 10 minutes) and naturally there were quite a few people trying to do the same thing as you do . Most of the stops had many choices which ranged from hot food to basic neighborhood store,such as from cooked chicken to a little bit thing. I saw a number of people purchase beer as well as soda and water. we bought an extra roll of toilet paper,and they offered a number of other personal items to us . In this photograph you can see what we purchased from one of the hot food stands. It is tofu with a piece of bread with the consistency of Chinese sweet bread. It was quite good except heavy salt. It ‘s true that it was quite cheap .Although we certainly not starve when we were on the train, it was a little bit hard of getting food than I had thought . Overall it was quite expensive when you consider what you were getting, (the average bill in the dining car was probably about 100 Yuan for two people) but then again they have a captive audience whoreally does not have many options. So ,next time ,I will take more food along with me . except you have a meal in the dining room, there is no place to prepare food and there really is no place to sit down , So if you go for something like the tofu option ,then you are eating it off your lap in your sleeping cabin.


The views

http://www.tibettravel.org/tibet-tour/

If you are looking forward to seeing the countryside, this train trip is pleased you a lotIt was amazing to see the geography change from populated Beijing to rural Tibet. We arrived here ,it was dark so we didn’t have much opportunites to go around. I can’t believe I was in the all typical China countryside. Well ,you have many opportunities to see all types of activities happening along the rail way. On the second morning we woken up just like entered to a whole new world. The geography changed dramatically and you could just tell that you were in Tibet. There were amazing mountain views, the housing was much more colorful and there were all types of people herding all types of animals. During my time in Tibet I felt how happy and pleasant the local people were. They waved as the train passed by , they not only waved, but they always would have smiles on their faces. At the station stops in Tibet you could just feel how much friendly the people were. Everyone had a smile and pleasant look on their face.The whole trip was amazing. I am very pleased that we decided to go this route rather than going the quicker route of taking a plane. And I appriciated theCITS Tibet travel,thanks again for the tickets-booking .The next morning when we had breakfast at the hotel in Lhasa. it was nice to get out and walk around after being coped up in the train.















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