From the Rooftop of the World

We're currently in Lhasa, Tibet in the roof of the world and it's amazing to be here.

We took the Trans Tibetan train from Beijing on the 2nd of June and arrived here on the evening of the 4th. Getting here was as much of an adventure as actually being here and I will treasure the memories from that trip forever.

We travelled hard sleeper class which was an education in itself, believe me. We were due to travel soft sleeper which is slightly more salubrious in that there are only 4 berths per room and they have the luxury of a western style toilet. However hard sleeper it was for us due to the railway company overbooking the train. So we quickly adapted to the 6 berth rooms, no doors for privacy and the joys of a squat toilet on a train. Like I said it was an educational experience. We had a ball on the train despite the initial inconvenience. There were over 100 middle school children returning to Tibet after being in school in China for the past four years who decided to adopt us for the journey. There were times I was glad of the oxygen being pumped into our room as there were so many people gathered around us asking questions or simply just smiling at us. It was amazing.

On reaching Lhasa, I'm afraid I succumbed to a fairly serious bout of altitude sickness but thanks to a Tibetan drug called Gao Yuan Ning Jiao Nang I have rallied successfully. I would recommend this drug to anyone if you come here and suffer from the hell that is Accute Mountain Sickness.

Lhasa is an incredible city. The Tibetan people have the most beautiful faces I have ever seen. When the smile they light up all around them. Their language sounds like music and when they work together they sing. It's an amazing sound and one that makes you want to join them in their joy. I feel so lucky to be here and my only wish is that I could stay longer here.

The East is Red

We've been in Beijing for a week now and we're settling in nicely here! It's a cool and crazy town with lots of positive things going for it, as well as the inevitable negative ones as well.

If you're arriving into the city from the railway station watch out for taxi touts and make sure you have the phone number of your hotel so that even if you don't have the name of the place you're staying in Chinese script at least a phone call can be made to get directions!

We stayed pretty quiet for the first few days, we were lucky enough to have chosen a hotel right in the middle of the Chinese, not tourist, shopping district so there was plenty to keep us occupied for the first few days without us having to travel too far! Once we ventured into Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city we were glad we had gathered our energy first! Unfortunately most of the buildings around Tiananmen are closed for renovations before the Olympics next year. So we weren't able to gaze on the face of Mao this time round! But we did encounter a very persuasive scam operation whilst just hanging out!

As westerners we are attracting a lot of attention where-ever we go. This came as a surprise to me to be honest and everytime we get our photos taken or just stared out of it I have to laugh! We're like mini celebrities! But the biggest surprise I've had is when a lovely looking Chinese girl approached me to stroke my arm and to tell me that my skin was beautiful! I didn't know where to put myself! But apparantly that's the reason for all the attention... She also invited us to view some paintings in the Forbidden City which in turn became a hard sell routine to get us to pay massively inflated prices for student art! Be warned flattery is a weapon too!


The Forbidden City

We did meet a real artist whilst wandering along minding our own business who was great fun and filled us in on loads of info about Chinese paintings etc. It made me glad we hadn't shelled out in the Forbidden City.



For now we can't upload any of our photos from the Trans Siberian trip or any of the ones we got here in Beijing as the facilities just aren't available here, which is a pity. As soon as we have any I'll post some to the relevant posts, promise!

We're heading off to Tibet tomorrow night on the train! I'm really looking forward to it. The train at it's highest point goes up to 5000m. We'll be provided with oxygen and will be on the train for 2 nights. One of the apparant slogans for the staff on the train is "Lack of oxygen is no excuse for not working". I'll leave you with that one and will hopefully report back after our foray into Tibet...