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

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.