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Lv Xuesong said he felt lucky to be among the first to take a train journey to Tibet from Beijing.
It took Lv and his 800 fellow passengers 48 hours to complete their 4,060-kilometre adventure from the Beijing West Station in Beijing to the Lhasa Railway Station in Lhasa, Tibet, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, on July 1.
Following his return to Beijing, he shared his experiences with BTM.
Lv, a senior member of www.hasea.com, which is one of the largest train-fan forums in China, was quite satisfied with his journey on the world's highest and longest railroad, the first railway to connect Tibet with the rest of China, the Qinghai--Tibet Railway.
“It was rather comfortable and enjoyable,” he said.
His sun-burned cheeks and ethnic fashion accessories made him stand out among the crowd at the train station upon his return; he started the interview by displaying his “hard-sleeper” ticket.
“It was hard to get a ticket, because they sold out almost immediately,” Lv said, as he recalled the long queues in front of the Beijing West Railway Station, but he got lucky. “There were three types of tickets available at different prices for the journey.”
The basic coach or hard seat ticket sells for 389 yuan (US$48.60) from Beijing to Lhasa, while a ticket for a hard sleeper or bunk costs 813 yuan (US$101.60), and the price for a shared compartment or soft sleeper is 1,262 yuan (US$157.75).
“Sleeping on the hard sleeper from Beijing to Tibet is an inexpensive way to see the ‘Roof of the World’; it costs only one-third of a one-way air ticket, which is 2,430 yuan (US$303.75). Some people who did not even have time to make the trip bought hard seat tickets for their collection.”
The two-day journey was not too much to endure, and he very much enjoyed himself during the two-day trip.
“I loved looking out of the train’s windows as it climbed gradually onto the plateau and crossed no-man's land," Lv said. The best part of the journey, for Lv, was the wonderful views he had along the railroad, especially after the train passed Xining.
“Outside the windows we could see endless snow-covered mountains and lakes at a short distance. Sometimes we were only 20 metres away from sights; I felt I could almost touch the snow. What’s more, there were many wild animals to see and we enjoyed their company. If you are lucky, you may even get a chance to see one or two lovely Tibetan antelopes (chiru).”
Lv said the trip has been designed to be as comfortable as possible. “The train always rode very smoothly. It doesn't have even the slightest bump on the long stretch of frozen earth on the plateau.
“The train’s interior is clean, and the sleeping compartments are cosy, not crowded.” Lv said the passengers could watch pre-recorded television programmes on the train, and the only pity was that he missed watching some of the 2006 World Cup Germany football games live.
Passengers on the first train were mainly officials, tourists and journalists from home and abroad, according to Lv, who had a chat with some foreign journalists. They were aware of and seemed to appreciate that all the Chinese characters that appeared on the electronic screens in each railway car had been translated into Tibetan and English. Their main complaint of the foreigners was that the sleepers were too small to fit their bodies, though they were similar to those always used by ordinary Chinese people in their train travels.
The train’s is one of the fastest in China. It stops at major stations such as Shijiazhuang, Xi'an, Lanzhou and Xining only.
“We could get off for photos at the Tuotuo River, in Golmud and Damxung, but I was feeling dizzy at the time.”
Lv said he was slightly upset when he began feeling symptoms of altitude sickness during train climb of more than 4,800 metres through the Tanggula Mountain Pass, but he added that he was grateful that in the enclosed compartments of the train, the content of oxygen was kept at a fixed level throughout the trip, while oxygen equipment was also available for emergencies.
“We had oxygen outlets above each bed; it was quite convenient,” Lv said. He said most if train’s passengers experienced little difficulty with the altitude, and he said he thought a cold that he had not quite recovered from might have contributed to his. The passengers were required to complete a health registration card after they had purchased their tickets, and a health check was also suggested.
Lv regards the Qinghai--Tibet Railway as a "road to heaven" that will bring Tibetans harmony, happiness and economic prosperity.
“I met a high school student in Beijing, who comes from Tibet, on the train. He told me he was so happy that the railway is finally open. He hasn’t been home for almost two years because the air tickets are so expensive.
“The student, anticipating his homecoming, said, ‘It is a railway that people of various ethnic groups in Tibet have looked forward to for more than half a century.’ ”
As President Hu Jintao said at the launching ceremony of the railway in front of the Golmud Railway Station, “The project is not only a magnificent feat in China's history of railway construction, but is also a great miracle of the world's railroad history.”
[ 本帖最后由 Df11-0128 于 2006-8-17 13:32 编辑 ] |
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发表于 2006-8-17 13:24:02
楼主
