Tibet - Just How Do We Get There??

With every turn our route through Tibet was being blocked and we were in fear of having to fly over such a beautiful country. Our plans of getting to Nepal from China have been fraught with problems first China had stopped all access to Tibet for the month of July by not issuing any travel permits to anyone. After leaving Mongolia we have two tasks: first get our visa for India when we arrive in the Beijing, which would turn out to be a paper filling, photo taking, photocopying exercise, followed by a nine day wait for the visa application to be processed. So we had to spend extra time in Beijing to wait for our visas. Secondly we need to find our way to Nepal, over land preferably. With the last resort of flying. But the cost of flying was high and would deplete our funds substantial. We found that the hostel we were staying in could arrange a permit and a tour guide from Beijing. Which would mean travelling directly from Beijing to Lhasa in Tibet. Something we didn't really want to do as Xi'an an Chengdu were on our itinerary. We also found out that it would be cheap to organise a trip to Tibet from Chengdu as it was not only closer to Tibet but they processed more travellers in the hostels. So we decided that we would try and organise our trip to Tibet from Chengdu. We contacted Lazy Bones hostel to find out more information on Travelling through Tibet. They could arrange a guide and journey through Tibet which would have us being dropped off at the Nepal border within seven days. Perfect, well we thought so, we had to make our own arrangements to get to Lhasa. Flying was out of the question due to the cost. So taking the worlds highest train journey would be the only option. The train would reach a height of over 5,000 metres, so altitude sickness would be a possible issue, Jody had been to Peru to a height of 3,500 metres and Bryan skiing at 3,000 metres. As altitude sickness effects people in different ways or not at all we did not know what to expect, so we needed to be prepared for the worst. Before travelling we tried to buy some acetazolamide, as suggested by Bryan's friend Lucy, but all the chemists in China are more like herbalist so we had to resort to Rhodiola herbal, which is a flower that grows at great heights and helps in altitude sickness. So first on the list would be to book the train journey, as without a train ticket we would not be able to get to Lhasa. This would prove a little difficult than expected. While we were in Beijing we visited the local train ticket office who had helped us the day before to purchase our tickets to Xi'an. They looked at our piece of paper and the ticket officer just shock his head from side to side. Okay so he said no, but why? After much sign language we finally got him to write down why not in Chinese. So back at the hostel they translated the small scrap of paper and it said you needed to buy your ticket in Chengdu. Okay, we arrive in to Chengdu an then need to travel to Tibet within five days, this would cause a problem as we needed to apply for our permit which would take five days. It was becoming chicken and egg. We contacted the hostel on Chengdu asking if they could book tickets for us directly and after a number of emails back and forth they said no availability. Bugger, so the locals can not get any tickets for the Lhasa train either. We even asked for the next available tickets, no none. So from Beijing heading towards Xi'an we had no idea what we were going to do. Perhaps flying was the only option and we would have to fly directly to Kathmandu and miss out on Tibet all together. We where not deterred and continued when in Xi'an to find a way to Lhasa, by hell or high water we were determined to make this work. So next in the plan would be when we would arrive in to Chengdu we would head directly to the ticket office. If anyone would know it would be the ticket office at the train station of departure. Upon leaving Xi'an hostel we got the locals to write down to ask fr a train ticket from Chengdu to Lhasa for the 19th it 20th of the months. So that when we arrived in to Chengdu it would be easier to just had over the scrap of paper an see if they supplied us with a ticket. We arrived in Chengdu in the morning about 11am, after a restless night on the train, so we were not in the best of moods. But we persevered and food the ticket office to the east of the train station. Now there are some 30 ticket counters stretching within a ticketing hall filled with people wanting tickets, hundreds of people crowed in lines leading up to the ticket counters. Okay, we picked one, ticket counter 20. About 20 minutes later we reached the front of the queue only to realise that at 11:30 this ticket counter closed and it was 11:27. NO! Alas we managed to be seen by the ticket agent who took our scrap of paper and shock there head from side to side. No not again. We spent some time asking how do we get tickets but with the language barrier it we proving a little difficult. Eventually they pointed use to the left side of the ticketing hall. So arriving at ticket counter number 1, they kindly pointed us to number 8. So queue number three, this time it took 30 minutes before we managed to the front of the queue. The tickets would go on sale at 2pm for the train on the 20th. At last we found some ticket we could buy. It was 12:15, so 45 minutes before we could buy our tickets. We headed to the hostel to kill some time and perhaps put in motion the permits to gain entry to Tibet. On arriving at the hostel our first job would be to find out about Tibet and what we could do. To our surprise they could get us some tickets on the train we were after. Hum, just the other day they said they couldn't, what was all this about? So to cut the cost we put up some flyers to see if anyone else would like to join us on the trip to Tibet and then onwards to Nepal. If we could find just two more people we would be able to reduce the price by almost half. The only problem we had would be that we needed to book our trip by Tuesday afternoon, giving the flyer only 24 hours to do its job. Tuesday afternoon came and we had no takes, time to make a decision. To fly to Nepal or bite the bullet and pay the extra to travel throughout Tibet by ourselves. There was only one option really, so we booked Tibet. Our permit application was started and the hostel began looking for tickets on the black market for the train journey. The train ticket would cost an extra 20% due to the black market but we felt that by booking everything though the hostel if anything was o go wrong we would e in a strong position to get more of our money back. So time to relax in Chengdu for a few days, Panda's, Changing Faces Opera, and a trip out to Pingle Ancient Town. Our train tickets would however be ready the next day and true to form by the evening no train tickets! It was not until Thursday morning thy we finally received our train tickets. A top bunk and bottom bunk in a hard sleeper. So first task completed. Friday came around and it was time to pick up our permit, it was not until 9pm when the hostel finally got an email with the permit. We could now fully relax knowing that we had everything in place to take an epic journey across the heights train ride in the world and venture in to Tibet to witness what we hoped would be some amazing scenery and landscapes.