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The China Train to Lhasa
The most lasting impressions of the China train to Lhasa is Marathon Trip and lonely. The Tibet Plateau is very sparsely populated with few towns and even fewer cities. The train goes up to 5000 meters so they make you sign a release that you are in good health and then they pump oxygen into the car as well to help the travelers on the trip. On the trip you are guaranteed to see exotic China wildlife as you cruise along at a very good clip most of the time over 80km a hour while on the vast plateau.
The highlight was seeing a large fox. We also saw hawks and other large birds perhaps eagles but they were at a distance so I couldn't be sure. Yaks were very plentiful as they grazed very close to the train tracks.
I am not sure of the reason but they passengers as we got close to Lhasa started throwing out different color bags I am guessing that it was a greeting or a protest against the Chinese taking over Tibet. We saw more Chinese flags in Tibet than we saw in China.
The train made few stops and the stops were for never more than 15 minutes. You had a limited amount of things offered for sale on the track and most of it you could buy for the same price on the train. The train has a dinning car that serves food and drinks by necessity a limited menu the food was OK. We made a stop at a grocery store before the trip that was a smart move to buy some fresh fruits and snaky things like chips If I were to do it again I would by more to drink and some different snack things like some peanuts or pop corn.
All the passengers that talked too were disappointed in the bathrooms. I felt for a train that you would be on for that long that there would be a shower Even if they charged extra for it a shower it really should be available. Also disappointing was the servicing of the bathrooms which for long periods of time the toilets were in a disgraceful state if you were a woman or needed to make a prolonged stop if you get my meaning otherwise there was the other bathroom that was a Asian style squat which for allot of the trip was more appealing.
The train has TV's in all of the first class cabins but there is literally nothing on it a good idea would be a DVD player or a way to connect your laptop or make some movies available either for free or on a pay per view basis and pipe them in from the conductors room that they have on all of the passenger trains.. I was concerned that they would not have electricity but they do have a couple of plugs in the room as well as in the dinning cars. So I would bring some dvds with the computer Ipods and cd players would be a good thing to bring as well a good book would also be in order to bring. If you forget the view is always rewarding if a little redundant on the plains.
Maps and Permits for train to Lhasa China
Salt Lamps - Himalayan Salt lamps - Ionic Lamps
Tibetansalts.com provides a wide variety of Rock Salt Lamps, Salt lamps help to naturally clean the air of dust and other pollutants .
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