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Leanne With a year off work. I am off to South America to experience living in country so different from my own.

Tibet

CHINA | Sunday, 9 October 2011 | Views [503]

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.

 
 

 

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