Chengdu to Lhasa - the world's highest railway

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26th July - Boarding the highest railway in the world...

After our soggy time in Baguo, we returned to Chengdu to begin our journey on the highest railway in the world. So high in fact, that Oxygen is pumped into the train carriages. We did lots of boring stuff in Chengdu such as collecting train tickets, booking return flights, purchasing food for the train, and paying (in cash!) for our Tibet trip.


The political situation in Tibet meant that we could not be as flexible as we had been recently on our travels. In order to go to Tibet, we had to state our exact itinerary and dates because the tourist sites must be visited with a tour guide, and a Tibet travel permit has to be acquired. All this had to be organised before we left, and was being processed whilst we were in Baguo.


At seven in the evening, we got a lift to Chengdu railway station for our 9pm train to Lhasa (spelt Lasa in China). We tried to get into the station, but were rejected at the ticket check, so we assumed that because there were so many people, and we were early, perhaps we would only be allowed in one hour before our train departed so we joined the masses on the big station forecourt and waited until 8pm.


At 8pm, the ticket inspector at the entrance seemed to be saying the same sentence in Chinese that I could not understand, and realising that I had no idea, she just let David and I in anyway! Once inside we could see no sign of our train number or any platform indication, so we tried to ask some of the station guards...when I say ask, I mean we waved our ticket at them and looked lost! After being passed from station guard to station guard, someone at the station was able to translate for us thankfully. It turns out our train was delayed until about midnight due to storms and flooding. At least we knew what was going on now, and took our seats in the hot, noisy waiting room.


Hours passed and the crowds grew. A lot of water-drinking and clock-watching later, and we had an estimated departure time of 00:20. It was a bustling waiting room, as per usual, and the only time I have ever heard that many people in a Chinese train station be quiet all at once was when they made an announcement about the T28 to Lhasa! Everyone let out a big groan when the late departure time was removed and they said it would be even later. We finally got on the train at about 00:45 once we had presented our Tibet travel permit. We both went straight to sleep on our "hard-sleeper class" beds. We were in an open compartment of six beds, joined by three ladies from Kunming and one other guy who kept himself to himself on the top bunk.

27th and 28th July...Train days

Two days on a train is quite a long time, but with scenery outside and interesting company, a simple train ride can be quite amusing and eventful!


We had food to keep us going, but every now and then someone would wheel a trolley down the train and shout about whatever he or she was selling, be it fruit, rice, tiger balm or playing cards. I had a bottom bunk which meant we could sit on it during the day, and by the window the train had two pull down seats. We met one man wearing the Spanish football shirt who kept smiling at us every time he went by, and eventually he plucked up the courage to say hello and shake our hands. Needless to say we were two of very few western people on the train, and the only ones in our carriage. Eventually "Spanish shirt guy" came and sat with us and wanted to talk. He said that we could be "freds". Soon enough the Mandarin phrase book came out and we were discussing music and hobbies, and he said he liked rock and roll and began to sing Queen's we will rock you! Then he, and the Kunming ladies wanted me to sing something in English - for some reason David got away scot-free and I was being pressured to sing!! So....Michael Jackson was sung to the Chinese crowds!! I had to stop when David reached for his camera!! They were very friendly people, and invited us to spend time with them in Tibet and go for some tea, but we had to explain that as foreigners we had to be with a guide and were not sure how restricted we would be. They thought it was very funny that our "tour group" in Tibet was just my brother and I because Chinese tour groups are usually rather large! We were later joined by a very nice high school student who was able to translate lots of their questions for us. His mother was very proud of him! It was nice to be on a train with fellow tourists - all just as excited as us to be looking out of the window at the snow-capped mountains, sunset and great scenery including the highest fresh water lake in the world. Seeing a single farmer and a herd of sheep in the middle of absolutely nowhere really makes you think about how other people live.


Our train arrived into Lhasa very late at night as a consequence of our late departure, and we were met at the station by our tour guide, and given a white silk scarf as a welcome gift. We got a lift to our hostel where we had pre-booked a room, only to find out it had been given away because we had arrived so late! Being on a train, we had been unable to let them know we would be late. They put us up in the shabbiest of shabby staff quarters, with no shower, and it was so shabby they didn't even charge us for it! We felt like pitied travellers after a long journey! Thankfully it was only for one night.


Journey complete, and a highly recommended journey it is. We had finally achieved the dream of getting the train to Tibet!
We were excited to see what daylight would show us of Lhasa in the morning!

J x

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Comments

[anonymous]

What a journey!
Can't wait to read your next blog about what you did in Llaha. This train ride blog is a good teaser!

[JHG]

Thanks! The next blog is out now!