Day 1 Xining (Qinghai province)

Here I am, safe and sound in Xining. The trip from Lhasa through the Qinghai railroad went pretty smooth. Once you arrive at the train station in Lhasa, you can see the huge and modern entrance. If this is the way the Chinese wanted to show their unlimited capacity of power, then it certainly worked. We were aloud to wait in the leather sofas lounge, because of our first class tickets. The lower classes had to wait on hard benches on the other side, which was totally crowded. At our lounge, in contrast, there was hardly anybody. Couldn't this wasted space better be used for the crowded lower class waiting rooms? I guess the Chinese wanted to show a clear distinction in wealth.

The train provided decent facilities and the hygiene was above average. Of course, you wouldn't expect anything less from the prestigious and 1 year old Tibet train. I think the fact that we travelled first class (soft sleeper) had some influence on our comfort. The total duration of our trip was 25 hours. The train took us through different kind of landscapes and altitudes. We started at the 3600m of Lhasa, we passed the 5100m highest pass and we ended in the 2100m of Xining. The landscapes varied from green mountains, mountain lakes, deserts, flat graslands, rugged mountains to city views. It was very impressive to experience the highest train in the world. Too bad it's pretty hard to keep your eyes aimed outside for the whole trip. I think it's because of the fast change in altitudes.

Once we got on our train, we arranged all our meals. We paid 445 yuan for a four-person-table for lunch, diner and breakfast. At the lunch and diner, we were served with 6 dishes and soup. These meals were actually pretty good. Most of the travellers didn't book a diner table. They eat instant noodles or meals of a plastic plate. We actually didn't get the most luxurious food arrangement. There were two more expensive diner table versions for approximately 600 and 1200 per table (ours costed 200). The chinese are very good at distincting these meals, so that people can clearly show off their wealth. Just like at the waiting room in Lhasa. For our meal, we would get a regular white table cloth with paper wrapped chopsticks. The 600yuan version would get a silver coloured table cloth with silk napkins and the 1200yuan table would get gold coloured table cloths with dark wooden chopsticks plus the appropriate standards. Isn't communism about equality? Well I guess the equality comes after the money.

In general, the train isn't that different from other chinese train which I have been on. The biggest difference I think, are the oxygen tanks. If you feel unwell because of the altitude, you can ask for a rubber tube which you can put in one of the appropriate sockets. I tried it and I can imagine that it would be helpfull if you have a hard time breathing. Otherwise, it's very annoying because of the noise and the constant hard stream of air. There are also flat tv's for the first class travellers. Each person has his own tv at the end of the bed. This sounds pretty cool, but actually it's pretty useless. There are only 4 channels from which 1 works and the one that works shows a boring chinese soap opera or something.

Once it turned dark, there wasn't much to see outside, so we chilled out in the restaurant. We got bored and decided to play poker with beer. Luckily, I got some good hands and so I made Jacky drink most of the beer. He got really wasted. So after three big bottles of beer, we decided to eat some instant noodles and return back to our cabin. Unfortunately, we stayed in cabin 1 and the restaurant is in cabin 10, so we had to walk through half the the train to get to our cabin. The doors were locked at some places to ensure the safetyness of the first class passengers. You had to knock and a train attendant would come to open the door. I showed my cabin pass and I could go through. Drunken Jacky followed me rapidly without showing his pass, so he was stopped by the attendant. He said that she poked him on his chest and so he scolded her. After that, he made an attempt to find the cabin pass in his messy handbag. After a while, he could finally pass.

The next day, we got up and got some breakfast. At noon we arrived at Xining. The moment we came out of the train station, we could see that Xining is just like one of the many typical Chinese cities. With this, I mean the highrise buildings with wide 4 lane streets and big poles to accentuate the size. Furthermore, the many shops and colourfull neon lighted signs. This place isn't really exciting, but it's a good place to take a rest and to prepare for the next adventure. There isn't much to see but the lamb kebabs and hotpot are great. We have no idea what we'll do tomorrow. Probably, it will be just hanging out, doing the laundry and getting some rest. Starting from now...