Golmud to Lhasa

Journey so far: .. Taiwan > Hong Kong > Beijing > Harbin > Yanji > Songjianghe >Changbai Mountain > Dandong > Dalian > Dandong > Chengde > Beijing > Datong > Hohhot > Huitengxile > Hohhot > Taiyuan > Zhengzhou > Xi'an > Lanzhou > Zhangye > Jiaugyuan > Jingtieshan > Jiaugyuan > Dunhuang > Urumuqi > Kanas Lake > Urumuqi > Kashgar (Kashi) > Tashkurgan > Karakul Lake > Kashgar (Kashi) > Hotan > Qiemo > Ruoqiang > Shimianquan > Golmud > Lhasa (Tibet) ...

[I've removed some parts of the original blog as I felt I was ranting rather than giving a fair account of what happened to us... I meant no offence!]

So we arrive in Golmud and sleep the rest of the night, I get some sleep and feel much better in the morning. Kate and Ally are still a little off colour. We are at roughly 3,000 metres, enough to get Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS).

We had no time to feel pleased with ourselves, we did this later, we needed to tackle the next problem, getting into Lhasa without paying for the Tibet Travel Permit (TTP). The TTP includes a tour and is the only official/legal way of entering Lhasa.

The basic permit is Y1700 (115 pounds) per person, this is a 4 day tour including hotel room (dorm) and bus journey of 24 to 30 hours. The cheaper permit is Y1440 (98 pounds) and is the same but 3 days.

Most trying to bypass this compulsory tour and TTP, bribe the bus driver and hope they don't get caught. It costs from anything you agree on, I have heard Y600 and Y1000 paid to the driver. Some get in with no problem, and some get sent back. It's also about surviving the gruelling bus ride. There are many horror stories of people being put into the luggage compartments, having the driver stop and demand more money and the general foulness of being locked in a confined space with people smoking and vomiting at high altitude.

This interesting and knowledgeable guy is married to a Tibetian women and knows first hand the trauma this journey inflicts:
http://kekexili.typepad.com/life_on_the_tibetan_plate/

So back to Golmud, our Taiwan friend is still with us, so we ask for her help. We decide that given the bus journey's terrible reputation, a train ride on the brand new Qinghai Tibet Train would be lovely. We spent all day looking for a leagal and cheap way in, nothing. So eventually we ask her to buy the tickets, we can't do this as the ticket office staff will ask for the permit.

After a nerve-racking 20 minutes she came back with 4 tickets for the next day! Score! She had decided to come with us too. She was very pleased with herself and so were we. We don't think this is so bad as we have been told that the TTP will be "officially" stopped in January 2007. Good for China!

So the total cost: Hard seat to Lhasa Y143 (9 pounds).

OK, we have no TTP now so we thought about the train staff asking for it. I didn't sleep a wink that night, excited and nervous about the day ahead. We woke at 6:00am got dressed and headed for the train station. We decided to stay seperate from our Taiwan friend, in case we ruined it for her.

The staff check the luggage in the x-ray machine, we queue, the ticket checker comes and looks at the tickets... not us! We are in! What a relief.

The train line was completed in July 2006 to much hype and engineering brilliance. Western engineers said it was impossible and those consulted repeated the sentiment. But it's running, at what cost though is unknown.

The train takes 14 hours, not the 30 hours by bus along bumpy roads. The train is quicker so affects of AMS are less likely to kick in. The journey into Lhasa rises above 5,000 metres for long periods of time, meaning death is a real possibility if not taken seriously. Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the British Isles is 1,344 metres.

The train travels some 1,750 miles through permafrost that can buckle the track if not treated, I think they use "Thermorods". For the mechanic nerds, they use 3 locamotives each pulling 3,800hp, needed to pull the train through the thin air.

The train route


On the train I asked for exta oxygen, under all the seats, after I felt a little dizzy. We'd stopped for over an hour at over 5,000 metres waiting for other trains to pass. I took no Diamox, a drug used to lessen the affects of altitude sickness. It was an amazing ride in comfortable surrounds. We met a Tibetian family and saw some wonderous sights outside.

It's official, my girlfriend is more a geek than I! How? Well she has posted our hotley debated journey onto the Lonely Plant Thorn Tree Forum. A brilliant place for up to date information about peoples travels and the changing situations out there.
Kate's Lonely Planet Post on Thorn Tree

Here we are, time to explore this lovely place.....

MC