Friday 21st November 2014
Second Day on the World’s Highest Railway
Kyichu Hotel, Lhasa
Happy Birthday Dave! Another birthday celebration on the world’s highest railroad. Dave is 64 today and while he opened his cards I played the famous Beatles song ‘When I’m 64’ on my tablet and Anne and I sang along.
The stars were still visible at 7.30am when we woke, apparently they were amazing at 2am but I was sleeping. We had our hot drinks and made our instant porridge.
I woke with a headache this morning and I thought that perhaps it was because I had slept for too long. The four of us sat in the carriage or in the corridor photographing and absorbing the stunning views that we were passing.
There were scenes of clear blue skies and mountains sprinkled with snow. A picturesque lake was one of the next panoramas.
Unfortunately as the morning progressed so did my headache and I started to feel nauseous too. As these were symptoms of altitude sickness I decided to take a tablet. We had all read opposing reports about the tablets.
Some articles suggested taking the tablets before one reached high altitude, others only if symptoms occurred. The four of us all decided not to take the tablets unless it was necessary. After a while I also got an oxygen tube from the train staff and connected it to the outlet in our cabin. I sat and attempted to relax. Unfortunately Dave started with similar symptoms so at my insistence he too had some oxygen.
We passed the odd small group of houses. Walls, made from dung bricks surrounded the houses. We spotted one or two yaks near the dwellings. Colourful prayer flags flew proudly from the flat rooftops. We saw beautiful turquoise rivers and caught sight of wandering deer and yaks.
At a scheduled stop some policemen got on the train and checked all permits and passports. They disembarked from the train at an unscheduled stop.
Gradually Dave and I started to feel better. Although neither of us felt hungry we knew it was important to eat something so we ate a small snack. We then slowly started to gather all our gear together ready for our arrival in Lhasa.
We are here! We have arrived on the rooftop of the world – Tibet. How lucky we are!
As we walked away from the station’s platform, a couple of policemen immediately approached us requesting our documents. In the confusion of finding the paperwork, and the policemen who now had our documents asking us to follow them, Dave and I thought that we had left one of our bags behind. Dave and Pete pursued the police who had our paperwork and Anne said to me ‘ I’ll watch the bags if you want to run back’. Run? Was she trying to kill me? At this altitude it was taking me all my time to breathe and walk! It turned out that we did have the bag and when we had our documents once more in our possession we headed out of the station complex.
Our guide greeted us all with a traditional Tibetan white scarf known as a khata. The khatas are usually white, symbolising the sincerity of the giver and meaning that he is without negative thoughts or motives. In Tibetan Buddhism the khata is used as a welcome or as a farewell, it is often used in ceremonies too. It is also a custom to place a khata on a Buddhist statue or Thangka.
We are all delighted that we have a Tibetan guide. His name is Dawa, which means moon and apparently this name, is often given to a Tibetan child, male or female who is born on a Monday. Dawa introduced us to our Tibetan driver who was named Lobsang and they drove us directly to our hotel.
On the way to the Kyichu Hotel, which is situated in the centre of Lhasa, Dawa went through our itinerary with us for the following few days. The four of us were shocked to learn that Dawa was not aware that Pete and Anne were going onto Shegar and Everest Base Camp next week. According to his schedule, we were all leaving Tibet on the same day. Dawa promised to contact his agency regarding the matter later that day.
We arrived at our hotel and were told that our rooms were in the new wing. We were surprised to find lots of building rubble in the lift and we joked that we weren’t aware that they were still building the wing!
Dawa advised us to rest for a while, not to have a shower and not to drink alcohol. He arranged to meet us for dinner a couple of hours later. This is the general advice when reaching high altitude. Lhasa is 3650 metres above sea level, (12000 feet). Dave and I were feeling better but we were not feeling 100% and I was walking quite slowly and breathing more deeply than normal. Luckily Anne and Pete were both feeling fine. Dave and I tried to sleep before dinner but neither of us succeeded.
Dawa met us in the hotel lobby and we walked together the short distance to the Mandala Restaurant. The restaurant was opposite Barkhor Square and although it was dark we had our first glimpse of this place, which is home to the revered Jokhang Temple.
Dawa reminded us again not to drink alcohol and advised that we order a light meal and suggested that vegetarian options would be the best.
So today’s birthday celebration was toasted with coca colas and lemonade, but Dave did have birthday candles! Pete and Anne both ordered curries. Dave and I requested a vegetable chow mein and a vegetable sizzler. The sizzler had a vegetable burger in a brown sauce on top of the vegetables. We all agreed that our first meal in Tibet was delicious.
Dawa was born in Shigatse, he is 37 years old and he married a young lady also from Shigatse just seven years ago. They have a six-year-old son. He tells us that he was late getting married as at the age of 11 he started to study Buddhism. After the first two years of studying, at just 13 years old he became a monk. He remained a monk until the age of 25 when he moved to Lhasa and studied English in order to become a tour guide.
After dinner we returned to our hotel. Dawa informed us that breakfast was available between 8am and 9am and said he would meet us at 10am to start our sightseeing schedule.
Dave and I were both in bed by 9pm.
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