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. To get to Lanzhou was indeed a long journey, flying eastwards from Dubai to Shanghai, from Shanghai westward back to Xian, from Xian onwards to Lanzhou.
Having a four hours transit time in Shanghai, we decided to take the famous commercial high speed Shanghai Maglev Train from Pudong Airport to the heart of the city. The line runs between the airport to Longyang Road station in Pudong and is a distance of 30km.
Having Haagen Dazs ice cream in Shanghai
The journey takes about 7 mins and 20 secs and the train could reach 350 km/hr in 2 mins. The maximum normal operational speed is 431 km/hr. Amazing!!
After an ice cream at Haagen Dazs and a quick look at Shanghai city, we went back to the airport to catch the night flight to Xian. Arriving late at night in Xian, there was nothing much to see except what was on the streets near to the hotel. After a few hours of sleep, we were on our way to the airport for the flight to Lanzhou.
We flew past arid mountainous regions before arriving in Lanzhou. Lanzhou is the capital city of northwest Gansu Province and lies in the upstream of the Yellow River at 1518 meters above sea level. It used to be a key point connecting the central China and the western region as well as a vital city on the Silk Road. There are mountains in the south and north of the city with the Yellow River flowing from the east to the west.
Having only the morning in Lanzhou, we had a quick look at parts of the busy city and a noodle meal in the restaurant. It was also interesting to see a beautiful mosque in one part of the town as we were unaware that there are Muslims living in this city. After lunch, we headed to the train station for the the much anticipated train ride to Lhasa.
