My trip to Tibet went by quickly, but the journey home was long. Our mere 4-hour flight to Tibet was mirrored with a 4-day return trip to school, by train.
Completed in Summer 2006, the Qinghai-Tibet railway is the highest railway in the world. Just last month, a Lasa-Shanghai route opened up, which accompaines the routes from Beijing and other Chinese cities closer to Tibet. The train was spanking new and clean; our soft sleepers were comfortable and warm. I enjoyed the oxygen on this 28-hour trip!
We deboarded the train in Lanzhou, a city about halfway between Lasa and Beijing. Matt and I spent one day in Lanzhou to stretch our legs; unfortunately, the city was rather dull. We boarded a train the next day, bound on a 25-hour trip to Shanghai, where we met our friends at a youth hostel. This train was old and dirty; no soft sleepers were available, so we had hard sleepers. I didn't enjoy this leg quite as much, but I rested and survived just fine.
The sights from these two train rides were incredible, particularaly those from the first train. Snow-capped mountains, tundra, yaks, and rivers populate most of the pictures. The train ripped through the landscape - most of my 1.4GB worth of pictures didn't even come out - but a few pictures came out nicely. Occasionally I saw a truck driving along the Tibet highway, and I frequently saw makeshift homes in the middle of absolute nowhere.
The second train plowed through China's farmland, with amazing terraced hills. But no more snowcapped mountains; we were clearly back in China.
The pictures from these train rides are really cool. Check them out.
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