The Qinghai - Tibet Railway - A Path To The Sky (Part Two)

Episode 4

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PART 2: SKY

(Continued From Part 1)

I woke up in the middle of the night.

My left arm felt numb. My body must had crashed right onto it while I was sleeping. I raised up the curtain a little bit - it was all dark outside. I could see the moon shining outside the train window. I wrapped the blanket tighter against my body, because it was very cold inside the train compartment.

I went back to sleep for a very short bit, like an hour or possibly a little longer. When I woke up again, my left arm was underneath my body once again, and it felt numb.

I turned on my cellphone and checked the time: it was 4:00 AM in the morning.

I put on my fleece and my jacket. I raised the curtain again, and this time I was totally in awe.

A Mountain Covered In The Snow

Outside the window, the landscape turned somewhat dramatic: Mountain peaks were right in front of my eyes. Covered in snow, the bright moonlight made the surrounding area quite mysterious and bold. Near the railway tracks, I even saw yaks grazing in the snow - so calm that the darkness and the harsh environment didn't seem to bother their appetites. The train was moving fast, so it became literally impossible for me to take pictures of these scenes in such low light conditions. In the darkness, I saw a human like figure standing still near the train tracks. I wasn't sure what it was.

A Mountain Covered In The Snow

As the sky lightened up, the layers of my surroundings began to become more and more visible. Anything built by the humans were dwarfed by the giant silver peaks in the background. The snow seemed to be something eternal rather than seasonal as in other places. I could even feel the cold air, although I was sitting inside an air conditioned train compartment with a blanket wrapped around my body. 

The Tanggula Mountains in Tibet

A Military Post in Tibet

The Tanggula Mountains

A House, A Ruin, And The Tanggula Mountains

A Snowy Peak of the Tanggula Mountains

Then the train passed by a giant glacial lake. The mountains in the background became only more dramatic in sharp contrast with the lake. I looked up on my phone, and the name of the lake came up： Cona Lake. For a moment I thought it was the holy Tibetan lake of Namtso, only to realize later after looking at the map again that it was a different lake.

The Tanggula Mountains And The Cona Lake

The Cona Lake

A Tanggula Peak and the Cona Lake

Cona Lake and the Tanggula Mountains

The sun, which had been hiding behind the thick cloud, finally appeared over the horizon. On the quiet lake, as far as the eyes could see, there were no signs of any lives, with the exception of a few birds, who flew through the lake like jet fighters.

The Sun Rising Up At The Cona Lake

Two Birds Flying Over The Cona Lake

Cona Lake and The Tanggula Mountains

The Shore of Cona Lake and The Tanggula Mountains

A Prayer Flag Near Cona Lake

Then Mr. Cui woke up. He asked me whether I felt any discomfort, I told him that everything was good as usual. He said that he felt very dizzy and needed to sleep more. I suddenly realized that I was probably somewhere high up. I skimmed through my photos to find a shot of a train station sign I took just before the Cona Lake. Underneath the name of a station, there was number that I did not pay attention to at all:

                                           4702 M 

That was like a train station almost on the top of Mont Blanc.

The Tanggula Mountains

It was very ironic that it was Mr. Cui, who took the anti-high altitude pills the night before, became a victim of high altitude sickness; whereas I, who didn't take anything, was the one who didn't feel any discomfort at all. 

Tanggula Mountains

Yaks grazing in the snow

After ensuring Mr. Cui was OK, I went to the restaurant car for breakfast. While having my breakfast, a heavy snowfall occurred. Crystal like snowflakes fell on the window but disappeared within seconds due to the train's fast speed and strong wind.  The train also passed through several villages, which made me wonder whether the inhabitants of these villages even know the feeling of summer. I bet that an image of the tropics would be rather a shock than an excitement. 

A Tibetan House in the Tanggula Mountains

A House, A Mountain, And A Rising Sun

Horses Grazing In The Snow

The Tanggula Mountains

A Village

When the train passed by a hut, I was surprised by what I saw.

Yaks In A Snowstorm

A Village In A Snowstorm

A Tibetan Village

In the middle of a heavy snowfall, a railway guard stood still beside a hut. He fulfilled his duties by saluting at the train that just safely passed by. The snow was ferocious, but his sense of duty and determinations were stronger.  I could imagine the think air he had to breath, and the coldness he had to endure on a daily basis. The human figure I saw earlier in the darkness must had been another dedicated railway guard.

A Tibetan Village

The Tanggula Mountains

A Prayer Flag Pole On A Hill Behind A Village

A Tibetan Village

At one point the train began to descend. The snow eventually stopped and the clouds began to disperse. Mountains in the background became green or the rocky color instead of the seemingly eternal whiteness I just saw since the time I woke up. The train was running farther away from the sky, but was getting closer to our destination.

A Village At The Foot Of A Mountain

A Village At The Foot Of A Mountain

When I returned to my compartment, Mr. Cui just woke up. He told me that he felt better, and I explained to him that there was a reason for it: we were descending down in elevations. He looked at the outside, amazed by what he saw. As we both stared at the outside, a familiar sight passed by once again: a railway guard saluting the train by a hut. This time I didn't miss the chance to take a shot of such an iconic scene. 

A Railway Guard Saluting The Train

For much of the rest of the journey Mr.Cui and I talked about taking photos while on a moving train or a vehicle. The closer we were to Lhasa, the greener the landscape and the clearer the sky had become.  Mr. Cui looked up to the blue sky, then said:

“You know what buddy? When I look up the sky right now, or even yesterday when we were in Qinghai, I see the kind of blue sky I grew up with. I was poor when I was a child….I mean probably every single Chinese was poor back during my time. Our family ate the food we grew by ourselves and drank the water from a well in our own backyard. We didn’t have anything else, and all we had were a blue sky, a water well, and our simple lives. Now I have money - probably more than I ever really need. Many people in the country became very wealthy in the past 30 years or so. But look at what’s happening now! The air is polluted, the water became dirty, and the food became unsafe.  It’s such an irony that the kind of life I dream to live right now is the one I had when I was young and poor: clean air, clean water from a well in the backyard, clean food grown by myself, and blue sky. These are the things you simply can’t buy with money, doesn’t matter how rich you are!”

Blue Sky In Tibet

Solar Panels Were A Sight Everywhere, Due To The Region's High Amount of Sunshine It Receives Every Year. As A Result, Many Villages Were Able To Achieve Energy Independence, Thanks To Solar Panels

When Lhasa appeared in front of our eyes, it was like an alien settlement out of no man’s land. Skyscrapers were being built near the train station and very modern bridges and tunnels popped up like you wouldn't expect to see these kind of things in a remote place like Tibet. 

Villages Near Lhasa

A Tour Bus On A Road Near Lhasa

Shipping Trucks Returning Back To Other Parts of China From Lhasa

At the train station in Lhasa, Mr. Cui and I exchanged our contact information and bid farewell. I'd say that I learned so much from him during the two days we spent together on the Tibetan train journey. But I believed that there was a whole new journey right in front of me, just waiting to be unraveled.