The Train To Tibet...

One of my life ambitions has been to take the train journey to Tibet. It's the highest train journey in the world crossing the Tanggula Pass at 5072 meters. It's so high – they even have oxygen available.

The group met for the first time at Sim's Guest House, and after introductions we set off for the train station.

Here's a pic of the travel permit:



Just trying to get into the station was fun in itself. It was Chinese queuing at it's best. The huge queue was trying to get through a tiny gap, where everyone's permits were being checked. It was like being at the front of a huge rock concert – with people behind really pushing. I even had a woman leaning really heavily on my backpack trying to push me through the gap – even though there were loads of people still ahead. The more I shouted at her to stop, the more she pushed, and at one point I thought I was going to be pushed over.

And then the train journey started...and what a trip.

First – the bad news. Two of us ended up sleeping in the two middle bunks in a hard sleeper cabin with six other people. Except the two women on the bottom bunk had two young children with them. We were slightly worried about the noise – but in the end it wasn't the children that were the problem – it was the woman (grandmother we think)...

The kids were really well behaved - but one of the woman just kept shouting at one of the kids and really hitting him - for doing nothing at all. She even smacked the kid for not waking up – and at one point was force feeding it medicine, and smacked the kid when it started to choke.

It was on the verge of child abuse – and was really heart breaking as the kids were cute and well behaved. Even worse still – the woman (who we ended up calling Satan Woman) even held the kid up so it could urinate on the carpet in the sleeping berth. Yes – really...

And now – the good news. The journey is really incredible – through the most amazing scenery. We decided that we'd all sit in the restaurant car as it was way more comfortable (and more pleasant than having to listen to Satan Woman shout at everyone).

But the woman who ran the car was totally crazy and didn't want us sitting in there for some reason. We had to keep buying stuff – just for the privileged of taking a seat – even though it was empty most of the time. We had a lot of fun trying to find ways of keeping the seats (although I do hasten to add that we did vacate when the lunch / dinner time rush was on).

Here's some shots of the scenery:















On the second day, they give out oxygen masks, and we ended up “doing” serious amounts of oxygen. When you've got a slight headache and feel drained – the oxygen gives you a real kick and after an hour – it's totally awesome.

It might have taken two days to arrive – but it was a journey of a lifetime.