September 6, Day 16 In transit to Lhasa

September 5, Day 15 Xining to Lhasa

 

Xining Station

We arrive around 6:30am in Xining, Capital of China's Qinghai Province. It is a cultural crossroads of the Muslim, Tibetan and Han peoples brought together by trade along the ancient Silk Roads.  Our guide met us at the station and walked us to the hotel where we were booked for a day stay. Breakfast was included but it was the worst we had had so far. We were scheduled to leave for Lhasa that night for a long trip, about 24 hors, so we found a ‘supermarket’ and bought some stores. Our haul might hold some surprises as we had to go by pictures! 

Tibetan Cultural Museum 

Great Thangka Painting of Tibetan Culture and Art

We were then bussed to the impressive Tibetan Cultural Museum which houses cultural relics, architecture, medical history, ancient literature, folklore, calligraphy, astronomy and much, much more. Our visit, at least for Lindsay and me, focussed on the Great Thangka Painting of Tibetan Culture and Art. They say that it probably would have taken one artist 500 years to complete but this monumental work of art is the result of a collaborative effort on the part of artists and scholars from a number of regions of the Tibetan plateau. As you wander along its length it unfolds  as an encyclopaedia of Tibetan culture, history, and religion through paintings – and some beautiful fabric work. From a Tibetan Buddhist perspective, it records and exquisitely presents the Tibetan view of the evolution of the universe and human life. The Great Thangka took nearly 400 artists and a total of 27 years to complete and in its completed form it stretches to a length of 618 m with a width of 2.5 m – it holds a Guinness World Record for its extraordinary length.

The artwork of the Thangka was so beautiful and the woven and embroidered firezes exquisite

Part of the Tibetan evolution story

King Nyatri Tsanpo, the first of seven legendary kings of Tibet 

The illustrations of human physiology, pathology, embryonic development and medicines were numerous

Their writing, beautiful pictograms provided some small explanation to their modern writing.

Trade routes which criss-crossed the high Tibetan plateau

For me this visit presented a massively compressed history lesson of the region. I had little knowledge of China and even less of Tibet. People have inhabited this and the high plateau regions for about 1.7 million years. From the archaeological excavation of ancient sites and the relics found in the vast area of north and south of Tibet and western Qinghai, the early humans of the Plateau had mainly lived a lifestyle of hunting and gathering and used the chipped stone tools.  I could have become very lost disappearing down alluring rabbit holes, but it was time to leave. As we were leaving the 

museum, we were startled by sirens sounding across the city.  It seems that they are not an uncommon occurrence although we hadn’t heard them before but the sirens are tested or activated for specific, recognized events, particularly to mark anniversaries of war-related events. We were there a couple of days before the 94th anniversary of the September 18 or Mukden Incident, when Japan began its invasion of Manchuria. That day commemorates the resistance against Japanese aggression. The ones we heard may have been a ‘practice’.  Whatever it was, it certainly got everyone’s attention! We then went off to a local restaurant for lunch – and a much-needed sit down.

An interesting lunch

A cliff monastry

We passed on the afternoon excursion to a monastery so were dropped off ‘near’ our hotel and fortunately managed to find our way. That took us past a group of women in colourful traditional costumes looking as through they were practicing for a parade or performance. 

I imagine we must have had dinner but I don’t recall what. That evening we were herded to the station to board the train for the long journey to Lhasa – feeling very excited! We had exclusive use of a four-berth cabin, and we were quickly set up and in bed.  The train left at 11.45pm but we read for a while before trying to go to sleep.  The bunks were very hard, but we were tired so both got at least some sleep - but not all that much.

Our Lhasa-Xining train

September 3-4, Day 13 + 14 - Chengdu to Xining

This afternoon we left the Sichuan Province to travel to Xining in the Qinghai Province on the high Tibetan Plateau (~2300m). Our entree to the long-awaited Lhasa! but the visit to Xining promises to be interesting albeit short. It is the cultural crossroads of the Muslim, Tibetan and Han people who were brought together by centuries of trade on the ancient Silk Roads.

Leaving Kunming on a fast train!

Stunning scenery and thosse mountains!

That is tomorrow but rewinding to yesterday. We arrived in Chengdu after a very comfortable nine-hour train journey on a high speed train from Kunming - we reach 297 kph or more (I wasn’t watching all the time!). Feeling rather bedraggled after a 6:00am start (and a tiring day the previous day), the local guide took us on a ‘gallop’ around some of the streets of Chengdu before depositing us at the entrance to Jinli Ancient Street. It is supposed to have been built around 2000 years ago and some parts do look fairly old. Ultimately, it is a tourist location where you can buy anything from dried meats and fungi to nougat, clothing to panda trinkets (this is the panda district), green tea to ‘coral’ jewellery - and food and drink of course! We sat for a spell with a cold drink listening to a delightful young man and his guitar. All this was followed by another ginormous dinner - unfortunately the spice was toned right down for us Westerns. And there was me (and others) looking forward to some authentic Sichuan food!

Very quaint

I chose a delicious pork broth with fungi inc black cloud ear fungus, but could have had frogs! 

Breakfasts were very interesting - here we have fried sliced pork with fungus, and cabbage with chilli

To our great surprise and delight this room-service robot got in the lift after us 

This morning the majority of the group went to visit the panda research/rescue centre while Lins and I and another couple simply chilled out. Once regrouped, we devoured another humongous meal before boarding the overnight train to Xining, Qinghai Province, on the Tibetan Plateau (~2300m).

Our overnight train to Xining

As we travelled north and higher, the scenery that whizzed by us before darkness descended was really interesting - curiously shaped hills, rich crops of many different varieties. The train and accommodation is reminiscent of the Chinese and Russian trains we travelled on almost a decade ago. Perfectly adequate but a little noisy. We have just ‘turned in’ for the night so will pick up our story as we climb further towards Lhasa traversing the highest railway in the world - 4000 to over 5000m. Yes, we are definitely taking our altitude sickness pills!

Obviously the soil is very fertile

In the disctance we saw a number of power startion puffing steam reminiscent of Loy Yang  

This river looked wonderful in the gathering dusk. It could be a tributroy to the Yangtze

September 2, Day 12 - Kunming

We are definitely in higher altitude country  - the thinner air has begun to gnaw at our energy! With memories of our time in Bolivia and Peru two years ago still fresh in our minds, we started taking meds to combat altitude sickness. Today we struggled a bit breath-wise as we had quite a few steep steps to climb exploring the enchanting ‘Stone Forest’.  My app says we climbed 10 floors but I suspect it was more than that. Both of us trailed behind the group a little! 

The lotus flowers are quite beautiful

The Lion Pavilion offers a wonderful viewing spot over some of the Stone Forest

The Stone Forest has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and covers well over 300 sq km. Two hundred million years ago it was part of the sea bed which was uplifted. Over time the limestone has slowly eroded to form these intriguing, fanciful shapes. To me it was reminiscent of parts of the Kimberly which had their origins as part of a Devonian coral reef - i.e., very very old! It is also an extremely popular tourist spot.This is the territory of the ‘Yi’ people, a local ethnic group, who tend the ‘forest’. 

A popular viewing spot

People hire ethnic costumes and pose for photos

Two cuties!

Most of our group took to the rocks while we found our own way back to the entrance - oh so we thought!

It really is quite strange and other-worldly

You could hire little motor scooters and ride around

After getting lost for a while we eventually managed to get back to the group - thanks to our wonderful leader. Foot sore and a bit weary still we couldn’t resist a visit to one of the large flower market to gaze out over what seemed like acres of perfumed colour.  Vast and fragrant.

Lotus, lilies, orchids, hydrangeas and countless others - glorious

Buddha's Hand (a citrus fruit), gourds of all shapes, rose cuttings from the home of roses, many bonsais 

From simple arrangements or extravagant display pieces

According to our guide, Yunnan is the women’s kingdom but the men’s paradise because the women do all the hard work and the men do little! To be fair, once the men (or some of them) transported the unique tea of the region to Tibet to exchange it for horses – but no longer! The special tea of the region - Puer, grows on extremely tall trees many of which are hundreds of years old. The Yunnan men once trekked over the mountains to Tibet carrying this precious tea taking 6 or more months to reach their destination. It was a perilous journey and many didn’t return.  This route is or was known as ‘The Tea Horse Road’ (which has been on my list for a while - but now perhaps just to dream about!). Tea is a special product of this region so it seemed appropriate that we diverted on the way back to our hotel to experience a tea ceremony where we learned much about the renowned Pu'er tea of Yunnan. 

We tasted what the region had to offer

Learnt special tea-making techniques

This is a leaf from an old Pu'er tea tree

Again we had overreached our limits (most days we’re walking at least 10,000 steps often after very little sleep) so finally we retreated to our hotel room for a cup of soup before falling into bed exhausted. Tomorrow we were heading further north to Chengdu in the Sichuan province.

September 1, Day 11 Kunming

Today we had a full day of sightseeing. First we climbed to the Golden Temple, Jindian, a former Taoist monastery set on top of Mingfeng Mountain locallu known as 'Singing Phoenix Mountain', set within a lovely park. We both panted up that hill and wandered on our own at our own pace. Then we were whisked away to an amazing living Buddhist temple complex - Yuantong, where we lit incense sticks and watched devotees reciting scripture. 

Entrance to the park and the Gold Temple

In quiet corners people were engaged in Tai Chi

Entrance to the Golden Palace complex

Entrance to Yuantong a living Buddhist temple complex - a place of pilgrimage 

The air was thick with the smoke from 100s of burning incense sticks

A Chinese Lion Dog stood guard

Deities abound throughout the temple complex

A central temple, its mote dotted with flowers and tiny turtles, was surrounded by rooms for visiting monks 

We then wandered through twisting streets past tiny markets groaning with delicious-looking fruit to finally arrive at Cuihu Park surrounding Green Lake which was just that - green. It was packed with huge blowsy lotus plants bearing glorious, mainly pink, blooms - and lots of tourists, mainly Chinese. Here we grabbed some snacks and chilled out for a little while.

We all through these were humongous grapes but I think they're green plums

A lake full of lotus plants, fish and turtles. Young women dotted the edge taking selfies 

Peacocks - their lucky bird

Many places we looked we saw elephants and peacocks - statues not real ones! It seems that both are found in the jungles in the south near the Mekong River. Peacocks are their lucky bird.

The twelve core Socialist values of China