rach*in*china: Tibet Part 1

I AM BACK! Yes, yes, I know you missed me. I have much to tell you, so I will be spacing my Tibet trip out over 4 or 5 blog posts, just to make it a little less like a thesis in length. And it will also allow me to continue with my Friends marathon and gradual inebriation that has resumed upon my arrival in Beijing (heck, now I know what I'm missing out on, I think it is appropriate - the inebriation, that is.) And awaaaaaay we go (that's a quote from Grease for those playing at home):

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DAY 1 - SUNDAY

Our train departed at 9.35pm. We were in a hard-sleeper carriage, and our room consisted of myself, Aisanxin, Delia and Simla (they're all Turkish) as well as a French couple around my age. I was "lucky" enough to get one of the beds on the top level, so it is lucky I don't suffer from either claustrophobia or fear of heights. We just sat around listening to the Beatles on my iPod and singing along, until 10pm when they turned off the lights! We hunted for a light switch for a while, then gave up. I gave up and went to bed. The hard-sleepers weren't really that hard, quite soft actually. There are no doors on the rooms though, which makes changing into PJs mighty hard - thus the reason why I was the only one who did so. I'm sorry, but staying in the same clothes for over 48 hours? *No way*

DAY 2 - MONDAY

I woke up just as we were entering Xi'an. Amazingly it only took 12 hours to reach this far - last time we were in China, our train took 24 hours for the same trip! I didn't accomplish much that day - I slept a lot, and read a lot of my book. The train snaked its way between what seemed like hundreds of tunnels, around mountains and rivers. It was beautiful, apart from the pollution. I slept again, and when I awoke at 9pm, we had already reached 30000m. We ate dinner in the restaurant carriage, but I only ate a bowl of rice because it was expensive. Luckily I did, because apparently the food was appauling. I hardly ate anything on the train - I think it was a combination of the terrible headache that was setting in, and the fact I was lying down not using much energy. We started taking our Chinese medicine too once we reached 3000m - it was absolutely disgusting, but it seemed to help a bit.

DAY 3 - TUESDAY

Slept terribly, because my headache would not go away, no matter how much Panadeine I took. 4.30am I was awake, while we were stopped at Golmud. From there on, oxygen was pumped into the train, which helped my headache a bit. I spent most of the day sleeping again, or reading Stephen King. I think I ate an apple, that was it. Finally arrived in Lhasa at around 7.30pm, where we were met by a representative who took us to our motels. As soon as we got off the train, it was noticeable how thin the air was. It didn't feel like I was struggling for breath, it just felt... different. Aisanxin and I scored a king-size beds, so we dumped our bags and went for a little stroll to the Potala Palace, which was just down the road. Took some snaps that didn't turn out because of the poor lighting (damn dodgy camera). Returned to the motel, and I managed to fall asleep after taking some more Panadeine.

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So... I guess you want some photos? Well, here a just a few from the train days - I managed to take over 400, but it's going to take me a while to upload them all.