To Xining in Qinghai Province

As the train left the Tibetan plateau the next morning, we were breathing much easier, perhaps even on a oxygen-rich high.

The scenery gradually became more typical of Han China, with terraced agriculture and deciduous forests.

Xining, the capital of Qinghai Autonomous Region, was greatly undersold by our Guangzhou agent who described it as a "nowhere" town. We found instead a reasonable size city with an obligatory city square drabbed in national colours (being China's National Day the following day) and surrounded by relatively modern buildings with departmental stores. What's more, the museum had a rich and well presented collection of Tibetan artefacts.

But we had to seel the refuge of KFC before we could find a cup of coffee.

Lhasa-Xining (2) The Scenery

Before I came on the trip I had expected the Tibetan plateau to be a boringly flat plain of high altitude most famous for the engineering of the railway that runs over it. What we found was something quite different.

The scenery was picturesque;

occasionally bare but for the railway line . . .

. . . but with striking colours and hues . . .

. . . a dry land sometimes laced with clear mountain streams . . .

. . . with a backdrop of distant snow-capped mountains . .

. . . yet elsewhere we saw patches of sandy desert . . .
. . . but mostly grassland with grazing yaks . . .
. . . watched by herdsmen and railway workers . . .
. . . when our eyes were not on the info display.

Lhasa-Xining (1) How China built a new railway

We heard much about the newly completed railway which in parts rest on subsoil permafrost and runs at altitudes higher than 5000 m above sea level. This new link for Tibet to the rest of China raises environmental and cultural concerns for some but for others it promises to bring much for the future development of Tibet. We found the train surprisingly ordinary. Perhaps the intention was not for a luxury style travel for tourists but economical transportation for the masses.

Nowadays China does everything in a big way. The massive Lhasa Station has a grand entrance hall . . .

. . . . . and an equally spacious plateform . . . .

. . . and very soft seats in the soft-seat lounge .

The locos looked surprisingly similar to the thousands all over China . . .

but the bus interchange was the biggest we have ever seen.
Inside, it was just like any other carriage, but neat and clean .
. . . with unusually modern wash basins . . .
. . . and bright dining cars which turned out to be more for the staff because we were eventually asked to leave so that they could have their dinner. After all it was the Workers' Paradise.


For all of us, the greatest comfort was from the oxygen enriched atmosphere.