Riding the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
For train enthusiasts everywhere, there's a new thrill to be had riding the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. This two day journey runs through desert, snowy mountains, and bucolic greenery of an Asian flavor - speckled with Yaks.
All Chinese trains have the same basic layout, but being on one of the new Qinghai-Tibet line trains is a totally different experience. First class is called "soft sleeper." It's about 1000RMB per bed. We didn't ride there, but it's equivalent to 2nd class on Russian trains. We rode in "hard sleepers" which are 6 to a doorless room. It can get cramped, but having the bottom bunk helped a lot. We met three other foreigners: a Dutch couple, and a surly Canadian with a penchant for sarcasm. When you're riding through passes of 5000ft and operating on less oxygen than usual, sarcasm is a much needed coping mechanism.
Every bed had an oxygen port on the wall, and tubes were handed out. I sucked down oxygen whenever I felt woozy. Everyone has a different strategy. Some preferred to deal with the altitude sickness as it came so as to acclimatize faster. Already symptomatic with my monthly peril and plagued with motion sickness, I was not ready for oxygen deprivation.
The restaurant car was good enough, although they had a tendency to run out of food...not a good strategy for a restaurant. Incidentally they never ran out of beer or cigarettes...gotta have the essentials, right?
There were amazing views from the train...I took so many pictures...sheesh.
We had watched some CCTV propaganda about how environmentally conscientious the construction of the Railway had been. Considering the fragility of the Tibetan tundra ecosystem, this was encouraging. Unlike other Chinese trains all of the windows were sealed. This means that the regular Chinese practice of tossing garbage out of the window was abated. The grassland around the train tracks was demolished in some areas, pristine in others. I was pleased to see that although the tracks were raised (increasing runoff potential), the concrete was arranged in a grid pattern with grass interspersed. This was the surface is permeable for rain. Clearly some intelligent and educated efforts were made to spare the environment during this construction. Then again, next to the railway is the old road to Tibet on which old diesel trucks carrying coal ran alongside us. Sigh...
It was a fun trip overall, although completely exhausting. If you plan on taking the trip yourself I guarantee it will be amazing, but be aware of the altitude sickness, the lack of privacy, and the constant noise that comes when your room doesn't have a door!
