Train to Lhasa
July 4th, 2006 | Published in travel | 7 Comments
The recent completion of the infamous Golmud-Lhasa line, home to some of the most treacherous terrain in the world, really does open up some travel options. Instead of taking the 48 hour bus journey from Golmud, Qinghai, getting to Tibet is now a breeze.. as far as trains go anyway. The interiors of the train, whose “1,200 miles of tracks traverse 342 miles of permafrost, much of it at altitudes exceeding 13,000 feet” (citing Wired), look very nice.
Guess where I’m planning to go this December? (Plotting to put my family on the train to Tibet.) This is the moment every trainiac has been waiting for, a historical moment (I know, Save Tibet and all that, even though I’m a member of those oppressive Han Chinese). Anticipating an increase in tourist numbers, there is news that the Potala Palace will impose a limit on its number of vistors so as to not place too much strain on the site.
Chairman Mao said he couldn’t sleep until it was completed. I hope he’s sleeping well now in his grave.
Dec 2006: Reclaiming Chineseness.
