Journey to the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China

South of the Himalayas the Kathmandu valley is relatively low. Nepal has hot weather and jungles with elephant and rhinoceros. The Indian land mass moves north and under the Chinese land mass pushing up the Himalayas. North of the Himalayas is an enormous plateau with with an average elevation of 4,900 metres. High land that climbs gently up from China.

It is a thirty hour train ride from Xian to Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Within a few hours we have left the city behind and we are passing through a dry arid empty land.

I sleep restlessly overnight. In the morning when clear light is coming through the windows, I climb down from my top bunk eagerly. Nicole, our tour guide had described to us how wonderful it is to wake up in Tibet and look out on the grass lands with wild yaks. Outside the window is a vast desolate plain. I look out in wonder and take it all in. It takes about twenty seconds, then I go back to bed.

They turn the lights on. That's reasonable as people may be wanting to get up and attend to their breakfast. The train is still quiet when the turn on the intercom and pipe music and information. What's this about? Why won't they just let us sleep? It's not like they are going to feed us a meal nor do we need to get ready to disembark. I remember Nicole saying how in college every morning they were made to get up to do exercises. Perhaps this is part of the same philosophy. No sympathy for layabouts. Everyone get up and be productive.

When I next get up there are some low mountains and - is that some patchy snow on the top? Soon the snow on the mountains is obvious. We pass over many frozen streams. The ground is dry, cold and barren. The grass is barely visible.


The altimeter on the train goes up from 2300m to 2800m to 3300m and down again to 2700m. Inside the train it is 20 degrees. I wear a tee shirt, trousers and flip-flops There is well made double lane sealed road winding along side the train track, perhaps 500m distance. There is usually one or two tired looking trucks travelling in either direction. We approach some impressive snow covered mountains rising perhaps 1200m above the plain.



We pass a couple of glaciers - tongues poking out from the valleys between the mountains.




Nicole tells us we are still in China. This is disappointing. (Although we haven't reached the Autonomous Region we are on the Tibetan plateau inhabited by Tibetan people.) The train is running several hours late. She points out a rabbit by a fence. It is tan with lighter belly.A few minutes later I spot a solitary yak.

4200m, 4800m, 4500m. Now the ground is covered with patchy ice. We see a herd of about fifty yaks including calves. Nearby is the yak herders low tent. There is more snow and the land is covered in a white threadbare blanket with patches of dirt. The dirt becomes stonier and redder.





The landscape continues to vary. Flat land and and hills are the norm but the ground clears and low green grass appears. The snow becomes fresher and less icy but at most 5cm deep. The world turns white and then clears again.





I see a few deer. we pass through mist and occasionally there are patches of blue sky. I pass the day chatting and snacking, writing these words and taking photographs.

We reach the highest pass which is over 5000m. There is extra oxygen pumped into the train to reduce altitude sickness but even so I am often short of breath. We start to descend. We pass a beautiful clear blue lake with a backdrop of snow covered mountains the sky is blue with white clouds. It looks like it is snowing on the distant mountains.


On the other side of the train there are smaller lakes, clear blue with a white two metre ring of ice around the shore.





Lakes are holy in Tibet. When people die in the lake regions they are buried in the water. The Tibetans do not eat fish. When people die in the mountain regions they are buried in the sky. They are chopped into tiny pieces and fed to the birds. The Tibetans do not eat birds.



It is twenty past six and we are passing many small streams and rivers and herds of yaks every few minutes and some times herds of sheep and some horses here and there. The grasslands now only stretch about five kilometres to the mountains that are drawing closer.











The train has been further delayed so we are still two hours from Lhasa. We pass several small villages. Square buildings of brick and cement. Prayer flags fly from the tops of the buildings.



I just asked Nicole. "It is quarter past eight. Why is it still daytime?" She laughs "China is a big country. We only have one time zone." We have travelled so far west we have extra hours of light.

So now I put down my journal as I prepare for our arrival in Lhasa.