Train trip to Lhasa, Tibet Day 2

That short nap yesterday at 4:00 p.m. went until about 9:00 p.m. last night, and then I only woke briefly. The times I did wake up after that, it was usually from a sore body. These hard benches push my shoulder blades and pelvis up to places they weren’t meant to go, and inversely my spine is going the other way. I slept most of the night until about 3:30 a.m. I woke up and read for about an hour (Anthony Bourdain’s “The Nasty Bits”) and went back to bed about 4:30 a.m. until 6:30 a.m. I woke up to find two more chocolate bars by my bunk and two more by Aaron’s bunk left there by Liueea. How nice!

Speaking of food, it was strange how little we ate yesterday. Just one bowl of noodles, half of a protein bar, and the chocolate bar we were given. It’s probably a combination of the inactivity and the altitude.

Everyone including us is eating these instant ramen noodles:

The oxygen vents in our cabin are really pumping now. We’re at 12,556 feet. We were at 10,000 feet only an hour ago. Some of the mountain peaks are covered with snow here. It is very desolate, just the odd truck on a road we pass now and then.

In just twenty more minutes, we have risen to 14,000 feet. All of the mountain peaks are covered in snow now.

We are now passing through a nature preserve. There is great excitement at the windows as people spot wildlife – antelope, yak, and wild donkeys.

We’re certainly an oddity on this train. People stare I walk through, as much for my height as anything I’m sure. A girl of about five has spent an hour cumulative at least peeking in our berth, then running to the other side and peeking in from that side.

We just passed the highest fresh water lake in the world – 14,639 feet by my altimeter.

It’s hard to believe, but after 48 hours we have arrived at the Lhasa train station! It’s a beautiful new facility as well. Past the gate, we see a sign with my name on it. It is our guide for Tibet, Ci Ren La Ji, the person who put the itinerary together, Miss Ma, and our driver Mr. Tang. Ci Ren La Ji is a native Tibetan, and speaks English very well. They greet us with white silk prayer cloths that they drape around our necks. We climb into Mr. Tang’s Land Cruiser and hit the road for our hotel.

The mountains around Lhasa are simply stunning. It is amazing to be here. We pass some of the sites we will see tomorrow, like the Potala Palace. It’s even more impressive than it looks in pictures.

We arrive at the Jin Bo Hotel. It’s a welcome change to have our own room with real beds. Oddly enough, these beds are nearly as hard as the benches on the train! It’s kind of like laying on box springs. We’re not going to complain. It’s still an improvement. I decide to sleep on top of the covers for more padding.

The lobby of the Jin Bo Hotel:

As we’re going off to sleep, we watch some Chinese television. Foreign television is usually just that anywhere you go, and entertaining. After watching a Chinese version of “Ninja Warrior”, we came across the oddest track meet we’ve ever seen. Sprinters racing backwards, hurdlers who crawl under the hurdles instead of jumping over them, a long jump where jumpers land face first with outstretched hands, and the best of all, competitors standing on mats who fall forward and are timed to see whose face hits the mat the fastest.