Journeying into Tibet (Part 4 - Qinghai-Tibet Railway - The World's Highest Railway and City of Xining)

Greetings to everyone from the World Map Pin community, thank you for all the comments and support from three post from the past three weeks on my journey into Tibet. In the last post, the sharing was on my journey out of Lhasa and traveling to the west into Shigatse and passing by the majestic Yamdrok Yumtso lake. In today's post, it will be the concluding post for this amazing journey as we head out of Tibet through the world's highest railway, The Qinghai-Tibet Railway into Xining, the state capital of Qinghai where my buddy and I will take a domestic flight to Chengdu and transiting back to Singapore. The cover photo of this post is taken during a jeep ride from Xining City towards Qinghai Lake.

Background Recap
This is a 9 days trip span across 9 days, that me and my buddy, a fellow photography enthusiast went on.

The main cities that we visited in this trip includes: Chengdu (Sichuan Province), Nyingchi (Tibet), Lhasa (Tibet), Shigatse (Tibet) and Xining (Qinghai Province).

Mode of transport within includes an internal flight from Chengdu to Nyingchi, land cruiser driving through Tibet, a train ride out of Tibet to Xining and lastly an internal flight back to Chengdu before heading back home to Singapore.

If you've missed my earlier 3 posts about my journey into Tibet, fret not. Here are the links to them so that you can catch up on them.

Post 1 Link: Chengdu & Nyingchi
Post 2 Lhasa Link:
Post 3 Link: Yamdrok Yumtso Lake and Shigatse

So let's continue this amazing journey as we return to Lhasa to board the train on the world's highest railway.

Tibet Family Visit and Seeing a Live Tibetan Mastiff
As we came back from Shigatse, we made a stop at a Tibetan house which is open for tourist to visit. It was a short visit when we view the inner halls of their house and also their courtyard. From there we are able to have a small glimpse of how it is like in a traditional Tibetan household.

The devotion to Buddhism is strong for Tibetans and we can see that from the setup of prayer flags within their household. In the inner halls, we can see very colourful patterns and designs on how the Tibetans do up their house. The 3 ladies whom are in the picture below are the 3 daughters of the owner of the house. After giving us an introduction to the house, their costume and traditions, they sang us 2 traditional songs to welcome us to Tibet.

Another highlight of the house trip was that I was able to see a Tibetan Mastiff right before my eyes. And I tell you, it is really huge, its height approximately near my waistline and the one that we saw was of the lion head breed. After another 15mins of walking around the house, we bid farewell to the owner and his daughters then set off towards Lhasa Train Station.

World's Highest Railway Qinghai-Tibet Railway
Build at an elevation of above 4000m above sea level, braving all the harsh conditions such as permafrost and lack of oxygen during construction, this railway is considered an engineering miracle. And the starting point of this railway starts from Lhasa, the state capital of Tibet, and goes all the way till Xining, the state capital of Qinghai.

We arrived at Lhasa Train Station which looked super clean and had a very beautiful architecture.

Because this is going to be a long ride of about 21 hours, we decided that we need to get a proper seating with soft bed and hence opted for the soft sleeper carriage.

Thankfully I remembered to take a picture of the cabin internals to show the community how it looks like when I was about to reach Qinghai where we can see a glimpse of the Qinghai Lake. It is super comfortable and I did manage to have a good nap onboard the train. The window is also large enough for us to capture scenic photos along the way of the train ride. Here are some captures that I did:

So many beautiful sights as we travel along the railway. Me and my buddy even had to take turn to nap and only turn in together when night fall. Something startled us near midnight though as the train approaches the Tanggula station. A PA announcement to warn us that we are crossing the highest point of the railway line and if we are feeling unwell, to immediately hook up the oxygen mask provided by the train onto the oxygen outlet and breathe through it normally. While both my buddy and I were very much acclimatised, there were others whom didn't feel well and we heard sounds of people throwing up. And this is why, acclimatisation is very important for this trip. Do not rush to slot in loads of itinerary, focus on the elevation of the places you are going to and ensure enough time to transit and get used to the new elevation. However, if you come visit Tibet, this train ride to me is a must as the sights along the way is just breathtaking and not to be missed. The vast plateau, lakes and various geographical regions is like a full geography class showcasing loads of stuff that is found in the textbooks.

Xining

Qinghai Lake
After 20 over hours of train ride, we finally arrived at Xining, the state capital of Qinghai. Qinghai got its name because of Qinghai Lake which is located near the Xining. So we hop on a jeep and headed towards Qinghai Lake. As we drove towards Qinghai Lake, the weather got worse and become really cloudy after me capturing that beautiful mountain photo in the cover photo. There were also many yaks (hairy cow) spotted as we drove too, grazing on the big grassland.

Soon we arrived at Qinghai Lake but the weather was awful with no blue skies that we usually see during our Tibet leg of the trip. We boarded a cruise and had tour around the lake as the guide shared more about the terrain and the lake surroundings.

Kumbum Champa Ling (Monastery)
Our final stop for this trip is at Kumbum Champa Ling, a prominent Tibetan monastery located near Qinghai Lake. Generally, this monastery has elements of Jokhang Temple in Lhasa and also Tashilhunpo Monastery. One unique thing that this monastery had is Eight Pagodas of Buddha Shakyamuni which is an array of 8 pagodas in a straight line to commemorate the eight merits and virtues of Buddha Shakyamuni. This monastery is one of the biggest in this state and has a long history to it.

And with this last attraction that we visited, we took a domestic flight back to Chengdu and subsequently transit back to Singapore to wrap up this amazing adventure that me and my buddy had.

Closing
Wow, this is trip a trip that really allow me to see such beautiful sceneries that I seen before. This place is essentially a photo opportunity everywhere you go. Not just for the landscape, the people, heritage and history are amazing for us to discover.

This place is a must go once in a lifetime. But do remember, acclimatisation is very important. Do not go unprepared or you will feel the full effects of altitude sickness. Visa for Tibet is a separate document from the usual China visa. So make sure you get it settled before entering China. If you do have any questions, queries about Tibet or just wanna say hi, let me know in the comments and I will be glad to answer them all.

Thank you all for staying throughout this series of post on Journeying Tibet. I will be back again soon to share on another beautiful destination that I've visited recently. Keep a look out for it. See you around in the community and see you in my next post in World Map Pin!