Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 24/Part 1

August 1, 2014August 1, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 24:

It will be a long day with many breaks to Shigatse, so we started off by 7.30 in morning having a quick breakfast at 7.00am. This was the first real cloudy day, with dark sky in our entire trip, Cyclone Philine’s effect started showing far away in Lhasa even, we understood not all would be well in the route. We quickly started off and the heavy rain started as soon as we left Lhasa. The roads were brilliantly colorful with fall colors and the friendship highway was all made of concrete, a superbly built road and driving on that road was certainly a charm. There are couple of routes from Lhasa to Shigatse but we choose the one going Gyantse because of its dramatic view over 2nd most holiest lake for Tibetans, Lake Yamdrak Tso. Superior views make journey through this longer and more winding road worth. After exiting Lhasa, we crossed the Tsangpo Bridge and wind up to Khambala with stunning views all around. From khambala where prayer flags are shaken by winds, we saw the grand vista of Yamdrak Tso (Means the Turquoise Lake in Tibetans) in the backdrop of large snowcap of Kulakangri Range in the horizon on Bhutanese Border. This is Tibet’s largest freshwater lake. The funny part is you would see lot of people selling photo opportunities with beautifully decorated Yaks and big dogs like Tibetan Mastiffs for 10 Yuan. After crossing the great lake, we entered the town of Gyantse, that was established in the 14th Century and famous for its Palkor choide Lamasery and Kumbum Monastery. Later Centuries Gyantse was developed as an important centre of wool trade in Tibet and a bustling caravan stop on the trade route from Lhasa to India via Bhutan and Sikkim. The road from Lhasa to India through Gyantse and subsequently through the famous pass Jelep La is known as Young Husband’s track as this ancient trade route was used by British army to invade Tibet in early part of 20th Century. After China took over Tibet in 1950, they stopped trading through all these routes and Gyantse since then fallen into obscurity. By afternoon we reached Shigatse, the second largest town in Tibet after Lhasa (going to get its train connectivity with Lhasa and mainland China by 2014). We had an excellent Indian dinner at Tashi restaurant and then checked into Tashi Choten Hotel for night stay. This was a 4 star hotel and quite clean and comfortable at the height of 3750 meter.

The amazing Fall colors just outside of Lhasa towards South to Gyantse:

The epic river Tsangpo started from Mansarovar flowing eastwards till take the great bend near Namcha Barwa towards South, entered in India near Gelling, Arunachal Pradesh, named as Siang and then merged with Dibang and Lohit in Upper Assam to be named as Brahamputra in Indian Plains before flowing to Bangladesh and finally meeting the Ganges River system to become one of the mightiest river system in World to be flown into Bay of Bengal:

Friendship Highway leaving Lhasa Valley, winding up the mountains:

Guardian of Prayer Flags:

Amazing colors of Mountains, looking at them even in a cloudy weather is treat to eyes:

The Prayer Flags:

Far Away Lhasa Valley is peeping through cloud cover:

Holi Lake Yamdrak Tso (The three holiest lake in Tibet are Nam Tso, Yamdrak Tso and Mansarovar):

You can pay 10 Yuan and take snaps with them:

The magical lake:

Previous: Day 23

Next: Day 24/Part 2

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 23

August 1, 2014August 1, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 23:

The night was not gone well as my daughter didn’t feel well and we all had disturbed sleep, she specifically had some kind of stomach upset which made the matter worse. Nam Tso involved almost 10 hours up and down journey from Lhasa and means hitting an altitude of 4500 meters. So we decided to drop it off and rather decided to take rest for the day. We still had to travel more than 500km crossing the Himalayas over friendship highway to Kathmandu, so we didn’t want to take any chance in Lhasa. But instead of not sitting in hotel for entire day, we thought of visiting the old Lhasa town, the Barkhor, the Jokhang Temple and finally had a sumptuous lunch in Lhasa Kitchen with Nepalese and Indian Cuisine, our break from Chinese Noodles after a long time. Barkhor Bazaar was a lively combination of shops, pilgrim circuits and ethnic melting pot, it runs around the Jokhang and other structures and always remain busy. Jokhang is considered as Tibet’s most sacred temple, built in 7th Century by King Songsten Gampo, when he moved his capital to Lhasa. He had a Nepalese wife and Jokhang was originally built by Nepalese craftsmen to house a Buddha image brought by the Nepalese queen. In year 2000, this was also included in UNESCO World Heritage site in addition to Potala Palace.

After a nice stroll in Lhasa old town we were back to hotel and took an early dinner for sleep and ready for last few days of exciting journey through Friendship highway to Nepal.

Mother and Kid:

You would still find religious sites all around Lhasa:

Makye Ame , famous Coffee House where Dalai Lama used to come and relax, gone are those days:

The Prayer Flags:

Old Lhasa is still so beautiful:

The shops are quite interesting in Old Lhasa:

The colorful windows:

Jokhang Temple, Lhasa:

Enlightening the soul, inside the temple:

Bustling Old Lhasa:

Every 50 meters you would find yourself scanned in X-Ray along with your bags, typical security system of Old Lhasa, note it in background:

Old Lhasa:

Another lovely Kid, played lot of hide and seek before I could click her:

You can find the wide roads and modern transport even in older part of city, it’s changing, changing very fast:

Both direction you would find Beijing:

Lhasa Kitchen, gave us a break after a month long Chinese Food, you would get good Indian and Nepali Dishes here:

Old Lhasa City Center:

Tibetan Family:

Potala Palace:

We would start the final leg of journey from Lhasa to Kathmandu through Friendship Highway in 2014.. Smile

Previous: Day 22

Next: Day 24/Part 1

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 22

August 1, 2014August 1, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 22:

All Tibet trip must have to be conducted by Authorized Tibet Travel agent. Authorized Tibet Travel Agents mean those agents who are authorized by TTB (Tibet Tourism Bureau) To get Authorization the company has to be Chinese / Tibetan owned company and must have a registered office in Lhasa. Why I am telling all these because if you take help from a Chinese agency located in Beijing for a China – Tibet combined trip and Chinese agency doesn’t have a registered office in Tibet, they would certainly outsource the Tibet part to a subcontracting agency. Similarly when you do a trip from Nepal through a Nepalese agent you would surely pay additional commission to him as he would have to arrange the Tibet part through an agency located in Tibet. Things are more complex if you get help from an Indian Agent, only a very handful directly have any link with Tibetan agency, most Indian agencies go to Nepalese and then via Nepalese agent they go to Tibetan agents. So you would end paying double commission. Now Tibet is again like Arunachal Pradesh as you can’t cover entire Tibet at one go because of permits and other logistics issue. Tibet can be divided as 3 parts, Eastern Tibet, Central Tibet and Western Tibet and you need to travel thrice to cover each of these areas. For Central and Eastern Tibet you have enough choice to select your tour operators but for Western Tibet story is different which is out of scope of this report. As my target was Central Tibet, I spoke with a lot of Tibetan Operators and finally Chose Woeser Phel as because he was very transparent on his dealings, kept whatever he committed during negotiation phase and quoted most reasonable cost at first go. My choice proved to be correct and finally I found a very trust worthy person who was very honest and committed to his business, again I must say I was lucky.

Woeser came to us in the morning, provided a brief overview on how to cope high altitude, not really needed for us who have visited Ladakh 4 times but definitely a good intent from his part. He also cautioned us about political sensitiveness of Tibet and asked us not to take snaps without consulting guide and follow the guide very precisely.

Lhasa, the name is derived from the Tibetan word Lha (Sacred) and sa (Earth) Most buildings of Lhasa were built one the three distinct phases of construction. The earliest phase coincides with the construction of Jokhang Temple and first Potala palace during seventh century, the second phase with the buildings of great Gelukpa monasteries like Sera and new Potala Palace and Norbulinka Palace during 15th to 18th Centuries and third phase is recent expansion under Chinese rules.

Our first destination of the day was Potala Palace followed by Sera Monastery. Potala Palace got into the list of UNESCO World Heritage site list in last decade of last century.This is winter palace of the Dalai Lama since 7th Century CE, symbolizes Tibetan Buddhism and its central role in the traditional administration of Tibet. Potala now a days run by Chinese Govt and practicing of Buddhism is banned inside the palace. It’s a 13 – storey castle, almost 120 meter high built with rammed earth, wood and stone, this amazing palace contains 1000 rooms and thought to house 10000 shrines and 200000 statues, more than thriving religious place, it’s look more like museum to me under Chinese Governance where most of the palace and rooms were closed for visitors.

It’s quite costly to enter in Potala and current entrance fees was 200 CNY and that too very limitedly sold only day before the visit, so unless your agent could manage this, visiting this place is quite difficult. We spent almost whole morning here.

Afternoon we visited Sera, one the three greatest Gelukpa Monastic Citadels close to Lhasa (Other two ate Drepung and Ganden). They all were established in early 15th Century, Sera was built in 1419 and it’s population was around 7000 monks.The monastery was famous for its fighting monks, who spent years perfecting martial arts. They were hired out in ancient Tibetan army. One of the biggest attraction of Sera is Tibetan Style debating, which takes place in the afternoon between 2 to 3pm. They debate religious and philosophical questions in the Tibetan style of slapping the palm of the hand to make a point. Monastic Debating is the method used for passing the exams to obtain monastic degrees but now a days this is completely controlled and monitored by civil dressed Chinese army and police and remain as a shadow of its past.

We came back to our hotel by evening and took rest as tomorrow our plan was visit the holiest lake of Tibet, Nam Tso.

The inside of Tibetan House:

Our Hotel, Shambala Palace, an excellent Tibetan style hotel to stay in Lhasa, thanks to Woeser for choosing this hotel for us:

Tibetan style is preserved even inside the hotel room at Shambala Palace, Lhasa:

Lhasa road in morning:

Potala Palace, an UNESCO World Heritage Site:

View from Potala Palace:

Thangka inside Potala:

Design inside the Potala Palace:

The Dalai Lama’s residential building inside Potala Palace:

View of Lhasa Town from Potala Palace:

Tibetan Lady encircling Potala Palace with Prayer Wheels:

Entrance of Sera Monastery:

Sera Monastery – Second largest Monastery of Gelukpa Sect:

The abandoned Monk Quarter at Sera :

The famous debate of Sera going on:

Now at last we are in old part of Lhasa:

Lhasa Old Town:

Previous: Day 21/Part 2

Next: Day 23

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 21/Part 2

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

This railway is a wonder of modern world of engineering and covered in NGC and Discovery many times but still looking at it and believing that they really made it was certainly amazing. The road to Lhasa from Golmud would be a pleasure to drive with high mountain passes, ice and snow all around, vast grassland, Tibetan village, Nomadic tents, sheep and yaks, the blue streams, wonderful sky with lovely clouds all would make a treat to your eyes. Not only this, there are 5 roads to Lhasa from different directions, all 5 are said to be a must drive for anyone who wants to see how versatile nature could be.

They are:

Sichuan/Yunan South Road — Known as another face of Tibet, a lush green country inside Tibet called Switzerland of Tibet. Presently closed for foreigners.

Sichuan / Yunan North Road — Must drive if you really want to see the Tibetan lives and cultures, passes through heartland of Tibet. Presently closed for foreigners.

Golmud – Lhasa Road — Can be done but reaching Golmud is a big ask as from Xining to Golmud the Delingha county is completely closed for foreigners. This one I am trying to show but it’s easier to cross through train rather than road because of complex logistics.

Kathmandu – Lhasa Road (Friendship Highway) – Amazing road through High Himalayas, passes through Everest and Shisapangma (Whole region is filled up with 8000 meters peak) — This can be done and I did in this trip, will cover in this log later.

Kashgar/Karghilik – Lhasa (The epic highway 219) — Probably if someone needs to know what wilderness is in High Pamir / Karakoram/Himalayan region, its must drive, the road goes for 1500km over 4500 meter and cross innumerable 5000+ meter passes and most desolate and deadly road to drive. This cuts through disputed India-China LAC of Aksai Chin. Foreigners can do but severely restricted if you are an Indian Passport Holder.

The magical vista continues:

Pastureland will make you amazed:

The awesome vista continued:

The scenery continued (Remember all shots are taken from running train at 100 kmph, so capability of frame selection was extremely limited, it was just click as you like):

And the show goes on:

There was no chain to pull to stop Chinese Train, I was frustratingly keep clicking sometimes from left and sometimes from right window, missed at least 100 frames in every 10 mins.

Approaching the end of Changthang Region and the huge grassland that started 1000 km behind at Golmud:

Now inching towards Lhasa:

First view of Lhasa River:

Now we will enter Lhasa town but unfortunately we are entering from North where the characterless Chinese extension of Lhasa you will see first.

First view of Modern (Read Chinese) Lhasa:

Previous: Day 21/Part 1

Next: Day 22

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 21/Part 1

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 21:

We didn’t really understood how the morning 9 hours had been passed as we were simply mesmerized by the scenery and landscape surrounding us. Let’s see the snaps and enjoy the wonderful journey.
We came back to reality when the attendant gave us back the tickets and informed us that Lhasa was just 10 mins away. We quickly got ready and then finally got down the train and surprised to see the Lhasa station, some documentary film was being shot but still it was a very nice looking terminal building and we were suddenly caught by 2 persons who didn’t say anything but started escorting us. We didn’t understand, they took our bags and straightaway took us out of the station terminal. I spoken to my guide over phone and he said he would be waiting for me outside station. Guessing these guides as touts, I tried to convince them that my guide was waiting and I didn’t need any help but as usual they didn’t understand anything but kept walking with our luggage. Being little apprehensive I followed them and then suddenly spotted my guide with the a sign board, written my name on it, it was a big relief for me. The 2 persons took me to my guide and guide gave them a copy of our permit after signing that and then I realized it was the police without uniform and they don’t let any foreigners go unescorted. We got introduced to our guide Tashi who was another gem of a person and we were taken to hotel Shambala Palace, the traditional Tibetan Hotel where we were supposed to stay 3 nights. We were tired, just saw first glimpse of Potala Palace from our room itself. We had an early dinner and first time we started finding Indian and Nepalese food in menu card from here. We gone to bed as next day would be our local sightseeing in Potala Palace and visiting Sera Monastery.

The Magic Continues:

Nomadic Tents:

The Amazing Rivers:

Unique use of Bike – Running away the Tibetan Yak:

Small Village:

Amazing Vista:

The river flowing through grassland:

Mountain Scenery Continues:

A Village with 2/3 house:

River Bed:

The more I see, the more I surprise:

Yaks grazing:

Small Village:

Again a River:

Previous: Day 20/Part 3

Next: Day 21/Part 2

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 20/Part 3

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Scenery Changes every minute:

Clouds are adding dimensions:

The Rail gate though not like our level crossing, shows a glimpse of unpaved road of rural Tibet:

To protect fragile ecosystem, powers are mostly generated from non-conventional sources and a lot of wind mills and solar energy system you would see

The panoramic Qinghai Tibet Highway cutting across the Tibet Plateau:

Tibetan Village:

Qinghai – Tibet Railway:

The station : look at the setting and the height:

The Train:

Just outside the station:

The platform:

The Trains going through Plateau:

Small Village and pastureland:

Vast landscape:

Yaks Grazing:

Nomadic life at its best:

Lakes and rivers are abundant:

The Lake:

Run down Tibetan house:

Naggula Range:

Previous: Day 20/Part 2

Next: Day 21/Part 1

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 20/Part 2

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 20 Continued…

The harsh geo-climatic condition posed immense challenge to build this engineering marvel but the most challenging of them were

1. Doing such a mammoth work in such a great height with very low oxygen level, thus protecting health of the worker

2. Proetction of fragile eco-system of the region when building the railway track

3. Building 550km of rail road through permafrost (perennially frozen ground) region.

Low Oxygen Level:

85% of the track goes over 4000 meter where Oxygen level is 50% to 60% of sea level and many places annual average temperature is close to freezing point. To ensure the health of the workers and engineers, 115 medical facilities with around 600 medical professionals were deployed in project. 17 Oxygen producing plants were installed and a clinic in every 10km was setup allowing sick workers to access medical treatment rapidly and effectively. Chinese Claims that during 5 years of construction of this 2000km track not a single worker lost his life.

Fragile Eco System:

Qinghai Tibet Plateau is having a very fragile ecosystem and home to many rare animals and source of most of the rivers in China. China invested almost 2 Billion CNY to protect the eco system as a part of the whole project cost.
All waster waters were processed in sewage treatment plant and solid waste was recycled before discharging.
Routes were realigned to minimize the impact on animals like Tibetan Antelope, Wild Ass etc. even though that increased the project cost substantially.
25 passageways built for animals based on their migration habit and fences were installed on both sides of railway track to prevent wild animals wandering into track.
In order to avoid disturbance the Tibetan antelope mating season in June-July, the builders stopped work for a period, withdrew equipment from construction site, and also removed the colored flags, which would alert frighten the Tibetan Antelope.
Construction sites were selected and designed to ensure that vegetation was not destroyed. To prevent damage to permafrost, wetlands and grasslands, 675 bridges with a total length of about 160km were built between Golmud and Lhasa which was almost one seventh of the total distance of this section.
Since the operation of Qinghai-Tibet Railway in 2006, all the stations use environment friendly energy sources such as electricity, solar energy, wind energy for heating. All garbages are collected, processed and recycled in all the stations and all the rail cars.

Permafrost Region:

Around 550km the railway track had to pass through the places with permafrost which features soft and wet soil in summer and hard and stretching soil in winter, ensuring the roadbed stability is the biggest challenge to the engineers.
Chinese adopted few techniques like avoiding permafrost as much as possible by building bridge instead of railroad. It’s expensive but has lesser impact on the area. The 12 km long Qingshuihe Bridge is longest bridge ever built on permafrost region.
The most impostant solution to permafrost were stone embankments – a layer of loosely piled chunks of granite about the size of baseballs. that allow enough space between rocks for air to circulate freely and stabilizing the roadbed temperature.
In some places, the engineers buried ventilation pipes in the ground that allow cold air to circulate underneath the roadbed and monitoring systems were installed to see the temperature change along the railroad.

The Tuotuo River sources from main peaks of Tanggula Range, which is source of China’s longest river Yangtze:

Amazing Grass land and Pastureland:

Old Tibetan Village:

How many shades God used here:

Fencing to protect wild life to come to the railway track:

Low land with lake far away:

Reflection:

The Lake is nearing now:

Amazing railway station, just beside a glacial lake Am I dreaming!!

Day 20 Continued…

Major Milestones achieved so far:

June 2001, construction of Qinghai – Tibet railway officially started at Golmud.
Octobet 2005, rail links Lhasa to Golmud but track testing, signaling work was yet to be done.
July 2006, just 5 years after start Qinghai – Tibet Railway put in operation.
Number of passengers were 6.5 million in 2006 was doubled to 12 million by 2012
September 2010, first extension of Qinghai Tibet railway started and we saw it’s almost completed till Shigatse and in 2014, train till Shigatse will be operational.

Future Roadmap:

Shigatse will be further connected to Kathmandu via friendship highway to give Nepal it’s first rail network.
China already taken up plan to connect Lhasa Nyngchi as second extension.
Further to that the Sichuan Lhasa railroad would be built by connecting Chengdu to Nyngchi.
Next plan is to connect Yunan – Tibet railway from Kunming Dali, Lijang, Zhondian connect it with Sichuan – Lhasa line.
Last but not the least is the ambitious Chinese plan to connect Xinjiang – Tibet by railroad.
Once they execute the whole plan, we will see the rail road from Ladakh to Arunachal in the other side Himalaya where as we may still have walking trails for our army to man the remote post walking for days. I remember I spoke to Indian Army in Kibithu couple of years back in Eastern Arunachal where they said they need 21 days to go and come back patrolling the remote tri junction border of India with China and Myanmar by foot.

Cuona Lake – Lying 4800 meter above sea level this is one the highest fresh water lake in world and it’s closest to Qinghai Tibet Railway, amazing is the view from Train Much bigger than our Pangong / Tsomoriri :

Change of Colors:

Again some color Change:

Color change happens in every minute:

Lake and sheep grazing:

Reflection

Vast Grassland:

Previous: Day 19 and 20/Part 1

Next: Day 20/Part 3

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 19 and 20/Part 1

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 19:

We woke up early in the morning and realized catching a 9.30 flight actually means catching a 7.30 flight in Xinjiang (as whole China runs in Beijing time officially) and in autumn, in that latitude 7.30 morning local time means it still dark. We left 7.00 in morning which means again 5.00 as per local time and it was quite cold even in first week of October in Urumqi. We reached airport from hotel in 40 mins as traffic was thinner and this time we knew Chinese system, so quickly checked in our luggage and then at security I realized something gone wrong when the security desk personnel pointed me towards back and only thing I understood was he was mentioning the check in counter. Meanwhile my wife and kid had gone into security area, but I had nothing to do but to go back to check in counter, they looked at the computer and uttered only one meaningful word to me that was ‘luggage’, now I took 10 mins to understand that in China they gave boarding pass without scanning the check in luggage and luggage got scanned later and there was a designated luggage scanning center where you have to be present if there is something in your check in luggage which is objectionable as per Chinese rules. I ran to luggage scan center, they couldn’t speak English, so they took me to scanning monitor and pointed out something in my bag, I realized they were showing the camera battery which is not allowed in check in luggage. I quickly asked him in sign language to get me the bag, I took battery out, gone to security and she again pointed me towards check in counter, what a frustration!! I went back there understood they would stamp the boarding pass again and after that when I reached security desk again, I realized I have lost my passport, then the next 20 mins were the most tensed moment in my entire trip, family was inside the security, I couldn’t communicate with them, neither I could tell any airport staff that my passport is lost as no one as usual understand any English, even the key word like “Passport”. I was keep running to security –> Check in –> Luggage Scan center in different orders and finally got it under someone else bag in luggage scan center. I think somehow in hurry I put the passport when getting the batteries out and then it gone out of my mind completely. Lessons learnt was you need lot of time if you want to catch a domestic flight in China, profusely sweating I reached inside security where my family was anxiously waiting and next 10 mins I just sat and thought what happened to me for last 30 mins, surprisingly the Terminal 3 of Urumqi Airport has no smoking room, I badly need to smoke at that time to calm down my nerves. Anyway the flight departed on time. I booked my hotel in Xining through ctrip, it was a four star hotel and supposed to be only hotel in Xining where people understand some English. I arranged for a car to pick me up from Airport and drop me to Railway station next day and it was a Chinese woman who came to pick me up. Xining Airport is 45 km from city, so we spent 45 mins total with her without a single conversation, another frustrating moment of trip, just the language couldn’t help me to talk with someone who was driving me for 45 mins, helping me with luggage. Xining is a very nice looking town with lots of touch of Buddhism and I started finding Lamas with traditional attires there, felt like coming home. The Hotel Sanwant stay was quite good and it’s a highly recommended hotel in Xining though it’s costly, double room with breakfast was almost 500 CNY in off season. Now tomorrow would be another big day for us as we would board Qinghai Tibet Train, the world’s highest rail road travelling on average height of 5000 meters for 1000km between Golmud and Lhasa.

Day 20:

The High Altitude Qinghai – Tibet railway starts from Xining actually and the most scenic part of the route crossing Kunlun range and the Tibet Plateau starts after Golmud and continue till Lhasa. So it’s advisable to cross the Golmud – Lhasa (Almost 1000km) as much as possible during day light so you can enjoy the nature at it best. Now to do that, you need to catch train from Xining as late as possible. Presently there are 5 trains runs regularly between Xining and Lhasa though most of them originates from Eastern Part of Mainland China but all route finally meets at Xining and from Xining onwards it takes the same route. This year time table was as follows:

I have arranged the train as per their departure time sequence from Xining except for K9811 which is a seasonal train.

Few Thumb rules of getting Tibet Train Tickets:

1. Its always advisable you take help of a good agent to get these tickets rather than trying to buy your own as most likely you won’t get it in high season.

2. Try to get tickets in train which departs Xining later so you get best part of the route in day light.

3. Getting tickets easier from origin station of train than in between station. So if you take the train from Xining, your chance is highest with K9801 or K9811. Chances are very difficult for trains started from far yet popular cities like Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai.

4. It’s always easier to get tickets of train in reverse directions originating from Lhasa.

5. There are 3 classes, Soft Sleeper (4 berth like AC-2 tier), Hard Sleeper (6 Berths like AC-3 tier) and Hard Seat (Equivalent to AC Chair Car) and ticket price is costliest in Soft Sleeper and cheapest in hard seat.

6. Price varies between Berths, lower berth is costliest and upper is cheapest.

Boarding a train is kind of boarding a flight except the fact that you can carry all your luggage with you but most important is you need to wait in your designated boarding area after identifying the correct waiting room as the approach to platform is possible from that specific waiting room and travelers are allowed to platform only after train arrives and you hardly have 5/10 mins to go to platform and board the train.

Boarding Area (Waiting Area 3) for our Train 223:

It’s also advisable to get 4 copies of your Tibet Permit as you have to give one copy to enter the station with a Lhasa bound train ticket and other copy is collected at the waiting room check in gate to platform and another copy is collected by ticket checker at platform before you board the train. You need one copy with you as that will be asked for when you get down from Train in Lhasa and will be required until you are handed over to your guide by police. Once you get into the train, your tickets are taken away by Ticket collector and instead you would be handed over by plastic cards which you would carry till the remaining journey. You would get your original tickets back just 10 mins before arrival to your final station. This is good as you would get a reminder (even if you sleep) that your destination is approaching but I think another reason is to monitor your movement, you simply can’t get down in between any station you wish as you don’t have your original ticket with you and you would be caught in platform itself.

Xining City:

The Qinghai Lake beside the track is amazing, Qinghai lake is China’s largest lake:

Day 20 Continued…

Qinghai – Tibet Railway is certainly a modern day engineering wonder from China which must be experienced at least once in lifetime. The highlights of Tibet Railways are fascinating apart from the majestic scenery it offers.

Few of the highlights are:

1. The world’s highest railway, 960km of the railroad lies above 4000 meters where as highest point touches more than 5000 meters and there by at least 200 mtr higher than previous highest railway of world, the Peruvian railway in Andes.

2. This is world’s longest plateau railroad, total length from Xining – Lhasa is 1996 km where as highest part of Golmud Lhasa section cuts across Kunlun and Tanggula mountain ranges for a length of 1150km.

3. The world’s longest track on frozen earth. 550km of railroad built on permafrost region.

4. Tanggula situated at 5068 meter is highest railway station of World.

5. Fenghoushan Tunnel of Qinghai Tibet Railway built at over 4900 meter is the most elevated tunnel built on frozen earth.

6. Kunlun Mountain Tunnel is world’s longest plateau tunnel built on frozen earth having length of around 1.7km

7. Qinshui Railway bridge built on 4500 meter in Hoh Xil Nature Reserve is the longest plateau railway bridge covering around 12km.

8. World’s fastest train in frozen earth where it runs at 100km per hour speed on frozen earth and 120km per hour in rest of the track.

Tibetan Ibex:

Fencing to protect wild animals to move into the track:

The rivers in colorful plateau:

Shadow of the world’s highest train in highest plateau:

Amazing Tibet Plateau:

Golmud – Lhasa Road is going side by side:

Bridge cutting across Plateau:

Amazing Landscape:

Our height and note the graph on the watch for last 8 hours were in that height, it’s exactly the same, and so it’s a plateau:

Permafrost region near Kunlun Mountain Ranges:

Vast Plateau:

Blue river on colorful Plateau:

Passengers in this train mostly spend their time looking outside, it’s amazing journey:

Qinshui Railway bridge built on 4500 meter in Hoh Xil Nature Reserve is the longest plateau railway bridge covering around 12km.

Amazing vista all around:

This is harshest area along the track unmanned Hoh Xil , which is home to many wild animals and birds in China, though due to low oxygen level uninhabitable for human, it is haven for 230 species of wild animals including Tibetan Antelope, Wild Ass, Wild Yak,White lip deer, snow leopards, Tibetan snow pheasants etc.

Previous: Day 17 and 18

Next: Day 20/Part 2

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Things to keep in mind

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

International Air Tickets: can be purchased from any recommended travel site like makemytrip, thomascook, cleartrip, etc. specially if you are looking to buy China Southern or China Eastern Airlines, Except Air China no Chinese Airlines have any India Specific site (read where you can purchase using INR), else you can go the Airlines sites of US/Canada/Hongkong and check where you get it cheapest after forex conversion to INR. Air China India site doesn’t sell tickets between Chengdu to Kathmandu or Lhasa to Kathmandu for some reason which Air China helpdesk could not explain, if you want to buy any of these scenic route flights your option is to use Air China’s US/Canada website but don’t try to buy them from their original site which is Chinese and accept Chinese card only.
Usually in China like other places, there are 60 days, 30 days, 15 days slab and if you can buy ticket even just before 15 days you get cheap price, but within 15 days makes it double and sometimes triple. Also as I said earlier don’t plan during Chinese New Year and Golden Week Holidays as airfare goes beyond roof during that time.

Domestic Air Tickets: To busy Chinese domestic Air tickets your best bet is ctrip.com, elong.net and travelzen.com These are the 3 very reliable sites to book Chinese domestic air ticket in English and and using visa / master card. Ctrip is biggest and have best deal where as travelzen’s advantage is it’s the only site that doesn’t charge additional 4% when you use a non Chinese credit card. Start following domestic ticket price 30 days before and anytime between 21 days to 7 days before journey you usually get the best price.

Domestic Trains Very popular in China and there are several types of train, for detail refer seat61.com china page and you will get invaluable information. Train Tickets are issued from Chinese official railway site (www.12306.cn) 20 days before travel but unless you are proficient in Chinese and have Chinese Credit Card you can’t use this site. Tickets are on sale 18 days before travel from various stations and city ticket booking office and through agents as well. If you take high speed bullet trains from Beijing – Shanghai, getting tickets are easier but if you try to get tickets of mountain trains from Beijing / Chengdu /Guangzhou / Xining to Lhasa, or some other busy lines, you would find it sold out on first few mins of selling. It’s even faster than what we see in IRCTC here during some festival. So specially for Lhasa train, you need to depend on agent and be ready to shell out high commission (sometimes same as ticket price, that means 100% commission) if you want better class like soft sleeper. During high season, even agent can’t guarantee your ticket in your preferred train and preferred class.

Few things on Lhasa Train:

1. You arrange your Lhasa Train Tickets through Tibet Agents and don’t try to get it of your own or by other agents as many things need to be coordinated with train journey date and it’s very slim chance you would get the train ticket of your own unless you try in leanest season of Dec/Jan.

2. Negotiate with the agent on commission but that depends on time of travel.

3. Currently there are daily 5 trains between Xining to Lhasa between 15.00 hours to 20:15 hours (Departure from Xining), The later train you take, you would get better view as you would cross most interesting Golmud – Lhasa section in day time. But getting tickets on a later train is more difficult.

4. Usually it’s cheaper and easier to travel by train in reverse direction. So if you fly in to Lhasa and take a train out, availability of tickets will be more, and cost of commission will be less.

5. In China, age doesn’t matter for concession ticket, what they check is height instead If someone is below 1.2 mtr, it’s free, between 1.2 to 1.5 mtr its half price, above 1.5 mtr full price. This rule even applicable for scenic fee entries. In station I heard (not seen) they have measurement tape to measure the height in case of any confusion

Bus Tickets:
There are lot of long distance buses (sleeper type) available between almost all cities and if you can tolerate Chinese smoking randomly inside bus, it’s an excellent way to save money as bus travel is not very uncomfortable and quite cheap. This also reduce your hotel cost if you can get yourself in a night bus. Bus tickets can’t be bought online, you have to purchase from local bus station 48 hours before journey or can get it through agent.

Local Transport:
Local buses are there almost in all cities where the cost of travel is just 1 CNY where ever you go. Cabs are available but charges vary between city to city, in Beijing /Shanghai it’s costlier than cabs in Kashgar. Remember in Tibet foreigners are not allowed to take a local transport.

Self Drive:
Whatever I read, that self drive needs Chinese Driving License as IDP convention was not signed by China. But big Govt travel agents like CITS arrange the self drive tour (that even includes Xinjiang – Tibet) – China Self-drive Tours
Also companies like Navo is specialized in self driving in China, manages a temporary 90 days China Driving license for tourists but as you understand it’s not easy and straight forward like driving in US and Europe or Australia.

China self-driving tours; foreigners drive Chinese vehicle in China & Oversea

Hire car and Driver:
Hassle free but moderately costly option is a good choice if you can find a local driver who can speak in English, which is extremely difficult to find in any part of China. Most cars go by daily rate which includes fuel, driver’s charge, accommodation, parking, toll (There are lots of toll roads in China). But ice on the cake is if you can find an English speaking driver who can have a guide license. Actually only licensed guides can enter into any designated scenic places and sometimes in some areas, guide is a must for foreigners. But taking a separate guide will cost you a bomb (charges anything between 60 to 100 USD per day just for guide). Somehow I managed to find 2 such English speaking drivers who has guide license in both North and South Xinjiang trip and both were found excellent in their service. I will post details about their contact later but as none of them linked to any travel agency (Just independent driver / Guide) the cost was much lesser than arranging it through an agency.
Thumb rule: Don’t take Chinese Drivers, their driving record is worst in world and also specially if you go to minority dominated place like Xinjiang and Tibet, Local Uighur / Tibetans are better bet as they speak fluently local, Chinese and English (for your case) and have lots of local contacts which is pretty helpful to know situation in advance in a country where information flow is restricted.

Money:
Though agents / drivers / guides will ask you send in advance, I managed to bypass that and didn’t send any advance, sending money to China means even recipient bank deducts 4% bank charge on the amount you remit, in dollar that hurts. Also there is no PayPal and Western Union possible between India and China, your only option is bank transfer which is having lot of paperwork, Chinese visa and travel is so uncertain if your trip gets cancelled, to get your money back, you have to again pay commission to Chinese Bank.
So my target was simple, carry cash, cash and cash!! Many forex dealer like your bank or Amex or Thomascook will try to teach you to be modern and carry a forex card but no one can offer a card that is loaded in CNY as a result you will pay 4% as forex transaction charge each time you swipe that. Also no of visa / master enabled ATM is few specially in remote areas. China is a country where you will face lot of paperworks and processes in anything you do, even encashing TC will be charged 25 USD and a lot of time, your 3/4 hours will be lost to encash 1000 USD.
Always carry Forex in USD which is most readily accepted in China, don’t try to bring CNY from India as that will cost you more rather than converting USD there in China (In China CNY-USD rate is fixed and even in black market if you encash dollar it’s still same) and Chinese Customs is strict on carrying with large amount of CNY. Completely torn bad notes even work (as they say) till it bears the face of Mao. Using black market to convert is easier and very quick but problem is if you convert more than you require and need to get USD back when returning you need another black market to do it as without proper receipts no bank will change your CNY to USD.
Credit Cards are used only in big cities and big hotels, otherwise, master / visa card is not much use in remote china.

Connectivity:
Most hotels have wired network, few have even Wi-Fi. But configuring it not easy even for wired, plug and play doesn’t usually work and the instruction written in room/ modem all will come in Chinese which you won’t understand, if you call someone in hotel, he won’t be able to read English in your screen, so depending on that is little difficult and unpredictable.
I carried a Chinese Data Card available from Matrix and it worked nicely and saved me many situations.

Mobile
Your international roaming will be too costly, getting a Chinese local SIM is easy (though need some paperwork in sensitive areas of Xinjiang and Tibet) but worst is their bill plan works only in City. So if I buy a SIM in Urumqi, it will start roaming just outside of it and many times won’t work at all. Best is to get SIM which works across whole China, though that is not easy to find, so again I chose Matrix and though charges were little higher than getting local prepaid SIM, it helped me escaping lot of hassles. You need a good mobile as sometimes our driver left us on road to park and then we had to talk 15 mins over mobile to find him out because you won’t be able to tell your exact location as everything around you is written in Chinese.

Others
Good to have a health insurance if you are in a long trip to China but later I saw in my Bajaj Alliance insurance, in fine print it was clearly written “Tibet is not covered specially Mansarovar Yatra”
If you are very social and can’t live without Facebook or may need Google or some of your favorite site, 90% chance you will see they are blocked in China. So you need a temporary subscription of some VPN or Proxy Server which will route your browsing through some servers located in Hongkong or US.
Take all your important document printouts in Chinese, like your name, your details, etc. and documents like Air Ticket, Hotel Voucher etc should be printed in Chinese, we were almost missing our flight as we didn’t care for this. You will rarely get someone even in an Airport which is 3 times bigger than Delhi T3 where people can read or speak English.
So with all these in our tiny heads, we started the trip on 20th September from home to catch a Kolkata – Kunming Flight of 21st Sep, early morning (12.30 am).

Approaching Thong La, through which Friendship Highway crosses High Himalayas, Can you spot the Kiyangs:

The below road, can you identify? That’s going to Manas Sarovar, Mt. Kailash:

Seems Heavenly:

After Cyclone Philin the snow was so heavy, Chinese machinery took 72 hours to open just one lane of the road :

Thong La around 5500 mtr:

Inside mighty Himalayas:

Never seen a sunset in Himalayas sitting on top of it. Unbelievable!! :

The Border Town between Nepal and China (Tibet) at last, in Chinese Zhangmu, in Tibetan Drum. The landscape changed drastically with more green and height is now just 2250 mtrs

First View of Kathmandu where our epic journey ends as we catch flight back home from here:

Previous: Visa and Flights to China

Next: Day 0, 1 and 2

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Visa and Flights to China

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

There are many land borders of China with neighboring countries except with India, I knew of crossing overland to China from following countries:

1. Myanmar – With some requirement of additional permits from Muse to Ruili but note in Myanmar side you need special permits as these belt is infamous for Kachin militants, permit is not cheap either.

2. Laos

3. Vietnam – You can cross even in Train from Nanning

4. North Korea – Train crossing possible.

5. Russia – Only possible through Trans Manchurian Rail

6. Mongolia – Couple of borders along with possibility of using Trans Mongolian Rail

7. Kazakhstan – Both by road and train crossing possible.

8. Kyrgyzstan

9. Pakistan

10. Nepal

I have excluded Hongkong and Macau which are two special administrative region of China but you need separate Chinese visa to enter mainland china from either of these places. There are boat and road crossing between them.

So out of the above 10 countries which has overland border crossing with China, except Nepal, visa processing is same for others. This is more interesting topic of discussion who might have a dream of making it from Europe to Singapore overland as most likely you need to cross China sometimes (Unless India-Myanmar-Thailand overland is possible and you can get through Iran – Pakistan – India leg).

Other than that for lesser mortals, it’s much easier to fly into China, the visa requirement is same but it’s worth remembering one point, getting a Chinese visa from a third country (where you are traveling and not a citizen) is always difficult and dicey. Just before our trip in China, suddenly Chinese Govt stopped issuing visa from Kyrgyzstan embassy for non citizens and lots of foreigners who are making their ambitious Eurasian trip overland had to abort their trip midway. So when you plan to visit China through other countries, plan your route and visa accordingly.

Also whatever process I will describe below is actually what I experienced in Chinese consulates in India, a lot of people have different experiences in getting Chinese visa from one consulate to others in same time. So it depends on the consulate where you are applying for, check the history of it in some international travel forum. The Chinese visa rule changes very frequently as well, so before your trip, keep yourself updated with the process from local consulates.

In India, there are 3 consulates, in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and they have their respective jurisdiction and as of when I asked them last.

1. People having passports issued from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka can apply in Mumbai

2. People having passports issued from West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa can apply in Kolkata

3. Rest all have to apply in Delhi.

There are many different types of visa and for tourists, it’s the tourist visa (Type L) which you need to apply and that’s important as with work / student or other visas, getting permits (specially in Tibet) is extremely difficult. So whatever we will discuss it’s about Tourist Visa.

The requirements were:

1. You need to have 6 months of validity in your passport on date of application.

2. Passport Issue should be within consulate jurisdiction as I mentioned above.

3. You need to fill up an application form with your photo.

4. A covering letter mentioning your intent of travel and a detail travel itinerary

5. Your 6 months bank statement signed and stamped by bank (Stupid that they don’t accept bank statement printout from net banking) where closing balance must be 1 lac per person (Means if you apply for your family of 3, you should have 3 lacs in your account)

6. Your confirmed proof of arrival and departure (Read Air Tickets and that’s the reason entering / exiting china overland is extremely difficult unless you catch an international train like Trans Siberian where you get physical ticket issued much earlier than your departure date)

7. Your confirmed hotel booking voucher in each place of stay (Yes for a 30 days trip, you need to show proof of hotel for all 30 days)

You have to apply visa through their authorized visa processing agent (VFS Global) in respective cities where consulate is located.
Now most important is Chinese don’t understand that China is vast and people may have interest to see something else than Beijing / Shanghai / Guangzhou. Specially if you mention XUAR or TAR, you would most likely be declined your visa. Mention of TAR would not allow you to apply for visa with VFS, and makes it extremely complicated as VFS would direct you to Consulate directly who has clearly mentioned as their policy that Indians are allowed in Tibet as pilgrims only and in a group visa. So better don’t be honest here, be correct!!

So now you understand requirement 4, 6 and 7 would make your lives complicated, this mean you need a fictitious itinerary to start with and then support that with relevant documents. To write it simply, I prepared

1. Itinerary of 40 days covering Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Kunming, Xian etc. Itinerary of 40 days will make you eligible to get 60 days single entry visa which makes life little simple as otherwise for a long trip if you are delayed you are risking yourself to get into the tangle to visa extension. (normally they issue a 30 days single entry visa)

2. Then support it with hotel bookings, not a real problem as you can use many global booking engine to do this and then cancel it without any extra charge.

3. The real problem is air ticket, you need to either get a full fare air ticket which is fully refundable or you need to book something very cheap (may be like Air Asia) which you can throw away. All Chinese Airlines have minimum cancellation charges of 500 Yuan, (Approx 5500 INR per ticket) for discounted tickets, Air India has slightly lower cancellation fees. This you can’t escape and it’s better to consider your loss as part of visa fees.

Air Connectivity:
Following Airlines were the choice for you to get your real and fictitious tickets.

Chinese:

1. Air China – Connects Delhi – Beijing and Mumbai – Chengdu (Seasonally connects Bangalore to Chengdu too)

2. China Southern – Connects Delhi – Guangzhou

3. China Eastern – Connects Kolkata – Kunming

Indian:

1. Air India – Connects Delhi – Shanghai

2. Jet – Connects Delhi – Shanghai

3. Spice Jet – Connects Delhi – Guangzhou

You won’t get any direct connection to Xinjiang from India, rather you have to change flight somewhere in China and more eastern port of entry you choose, longer will be your flying time and cost to Xinjiang as it’s in extreme west, flight time is almost same as Coast to Coast flights of US
You might buy an air ticket to Lhasa via Kunming/ Guangzhou etc. when you book it with international leg but it’s not at all recommended because to board Lhasa flight from anywhere you need to produce original Tibet Permit which is extremely difficult to get before entering China as they don’t send your permit abroad. So discuss with your agent on how you can make it. Only international connection of Lhasa is from Kathmandu where again your boarding will be denied if you can’t produce Tibet Permit but that’s a separate story we will discuss when we talk about permits from Nepal.

Entering China (Tibet) from Nepal:

This is handled in a separate way through a treaty between China and Nepal. Even if you have valid Chinese visa in your passport, if you try to enter through Nepal, that’s have no value, it will be cancelled by Chinese Consulate in Kathmandu. Only Group visa for a minimum group size of 5 people are issued (which in 2012 was even stricter and all 5 were to be with same nationalities which was relaxed in 2013) but catch is it comes with your Tibet permit as from Nepal you have to enter into Tibet first to get into China. So if Tibet is closed for foreigners, you won’t get to enter through this route.

Pros:

1. This visa is completely handled by Kathmandu based travel agents, I have never heard someone applying of their own going to consulate, so you don’t have to go through all the paper works and other hassles as I described above.

2. Tibet Permit will be coming with it, a big plus.

Con:

1. It’s only valid for 15 days, so whatever you plan has to be done within 15 days and it’s non extendable anywhere in China.

2. It’s a group visa, so it’s just a separate paper and not stamped in your passport and one person if got sick in your team and need to leave, your whole team have to leave together, group visa mean you will enter and exit through same port at same time.

3. Depends on Tibet Closure, so shouldn’t plan other part of China with this special visa.

4. Consulate in Kathmandu only opens 3 days a week and you need to be present in Kathmandu keeping one working day in hand to allow agent to complete paperwork, consult your Kathmandu agent for your detail plan and arrival in Nepal.

Most importantly be careful as you are taking a big risk of not acclimatizing yourself by taking friendship highway from Kathmandu side. At Kathmandu you are at 1200 mtr, at Drum (China Immigration) you will be at 2250 mtr and then in another hour or so you will reach Nayalam which is at 3750 mtr and the height will never go below 3500 mtr after that, next stop Tingri or Pelbar will be at 4200 mtr.

So if you take this route, it’s always advisable to flying to Lhasa from Kathmandu (The best scenic flight, much better than so called mountain flight of Nepal where you will glide past Lhotse, Nuptse, Everest, Kanchanjungha, before crossing High Himalayas to Tibet but air ticket is quite costly and better you buy it through agent as you don’t know when you get your visa) and then drive out to Kathmandu through friendship highway after getting acclimatized in Lhasa which has best medical facility in whole TAR.

Sheep graze in backdrop of the Himalayas:

Pieku Tso Lake, on the way to Saga, if you go to Mansarovar from Nepal Crossing at Drum, you will see this beautiful alpine lake:

Pieku Tso:

The Toyota Land Cruiser, King of Off-roading, the most trusted and reliable mode of Transport in Tibet for decades:

Previous: Recommended time of Travel

Next: Things to keep in mind

Explore The Unexplored

Tag: Lhasa

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 24/Part 1

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 23

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 22

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 21/Part 2

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 21/Part 1

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 20/Part 3

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 20/Part 2

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 19 and 20/Part 1

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Things to keep in mind

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Visa and Flights to China