Well to get to Tibet is a hassle, to be granted a permit you
have to be in a tour group with a set itinerary. The flights and train tickets
are bought up by touts then sold at inflated prices. As we wanted to travel in
the October holiday week we paid a lot for our transport. The cost of the 6 day
tour was 4300 Yuan (this included van, driver, guide, accommodation and
breakfast), flight from Chengdu to Lhasa was 1700 Yuan and the train from Lhasa
to Xian was 1600 Yuan. According to our
guide we could have bought a cheaper train ticket once we got here but that is
really for the travellers on no fixed agenda and are willing to go through the
hassle of extending their permits if necessary. In summary I had an enjoyable
time in Tibet, the blue sky was startling and the endless hills/mountains are
incomparable though disturbingly barren. Lhasa was just a big new westernised
city but it does have the best palace and temple. As always I was looking
forward to getting out into the countryside and wasn’t disappointed with the
beautiful turquoise Yamdrok Lake (70km long). The distances between towns and
tourist attractions aren’t too bad but there are many checkpoints and time
stamps that are based on about 70km/hr (I think), I assume there are penalties
for vehicles that get to the next checkpoint too fast. Unfortunately it didn’t
stop our driver from speeding then taking a huge break just around the corner
from the checkpoint, what a tool, we requested that we would prefer to simply
drive slower and his response to this was to pointedly drive dangerously slow
whilst trucks etc whizzed past us, suffice to say he didn’t get a tip at the
end of the trip. If we had stuck to the original itinerary we would have
visited a lot more temples and monasteries but thanks to Gayle’s research she
cut that down to just the good ones. The rapid ascent is also a potential
problem but with a bit of luck and with the help of Diamox and some special tea
along with taking it easy for a couple of days we were fine, Shigatse is even
higher but it’s perfectly manageable after acclimatising in Lhasa.
We stayed in Lhasa for a couple of days and visited the
amazing Potala Palace, the forgettable Sera Monastery and finally the museum. We
took the old road to Shigatse and came back on the new friendship highway. Then
on Friday we boarded the train for the 34 hour trip to Xian. The train left at
noon so after dumping our bags we headed down to the dining car and were
treated to uninterrupted views of the countryside, we settled in for the
afternoon as did a group of Italians. The train doctor (?) set up shop behind
us and methodically recorded the blood pressure of the train staff, returning
our smiles with a grim look of seriousness. Not sure what that was all about I
can only speculate. On a visit back to our cabin I found a lone Brazilian girl so
invited her to join our little festive group. Then by promising the staff that
we would order another meal at 6pm and then ate really really slowly we managed
to keep our booth with its fabulous views until the night fell. I know I will
have to put up with the boring day tomorrow but this part of the train trip
will definitely make it worth it. I just woke up so it’s only about 13 hours to
go! We are in the last carriage on the train so last night was really quiet no
passing bathroom traffic, I did wake up a couple of times and had to ‘pop’ my
ears to adjust to the new pressure.
Itinerary
Sunday – arrive, staying near Norbulinka Palace. Barkhor
market Monday – Jokhang Temple, Sera monastery. Tuesday – Potola Palace,
Museum. Wednesday – Thru Gangbala Pass, visit Yamdrok Lake, Gyantse - visit
Kumpum stupa, overnight in Shigatse. Thursday – visit temple in Shigatse,
shopping, back to Lhasa via Friendship highway. Friday – city tour, train 12pm.
Saturday – 10pm arrive Xian.
