K917 from Lanzhou to Lhasa
My love affair with the mountains continues with a recent trip to The Roof Of The World - Tibet. Our journey to Lhasa was a 29 1/2 hours train ride from Lanzhou on the Qinghai-Tibet (Qingzang) Railway.
This is the first railway connecting the Tibet Autonomous Region with the rest of China. Since the launching of this altiplano railway on 1st July 2006, it has aroused much of the world's attention and it had certainly caught ours to try this novelty ride out. This railway is certainly something to rave about - from being the world's highest and longest plateau railroad to being an engineering marvel with technological breakthroughs in the railway construction since almost half of the total track was being built on permafrost (frozen soil).
The railway track is a total of 1,956 Km from Xining (capital of Qinghai Province) to Lhasa.
Scenery along the way
About 960 Km of the track is located 4,000 meters above sea level with the highest point being 5,972 meters at Tanggula Mount. Construction challenges include permafrost, oxygen deficiency, freezing coldness and ecologically vulnerable environment including the wild highland animals. To prevent the permafrost from melting and the railway track from sinking, insulated thermal rods (see below) and thick gravel pads have been used to keep the ground cool.
As the train went above 4000 meters, the inside of the train was regulated with oxygen like in an aircraft. Unwell passengers suffering from altitude sickness could easily get the additional oxygen by plugging a nozzle into these outlets located next to seats / sleepers and along the corridors.
The scenery along the Tibetan plateau was simply breathtaking - snow capped mountains, miles and miles of vast wilderness, yaks and sheeps roaming around in the grasslands, highlands with nothing except permafrost and the beautiful Cuona Lake which was a huge lake covering 300 square Km and the highest freshwater lake at 4,594 meters above sea level.
Snow capped mountains and permafrost
The cuisine on the train was only Chinese. As the train staff spoke only limited English, I was at times the menu translator for the foreigners. The Chinese food was delicious for the standard of a train. For a set dinner costing US$60, we had nine dishes including excellent cod fish and herbal soup with cordyceps (helps with altitude acclimatisation) and more than enough food for four people.
