Returning from the last horizon

So this is the first of my travel blogs, I've been overseas for about three weeks now and have spent quite a lot of time in Hong Kong which i would like to write about at some time but i got back from Tibet yesterday and i want to get my memories/thoughts down while they are still fresh. Tibet was hard; physically, mentally, spiritually, politically, morally and intellectually. I'm quite sure i wasn't prepared for what i encountered there and I am now exhausted but I'm so glad a went and I'm very thankful for some of the things i encountered there.

I suppose i should start at the beginning (its a very good place to start). Cathy and I left for Tibet on the 19th, catching a train from Hong Kong into Guangzhou (China) then cabbing it across the city to the other train station and waiting outside KFC (which didnt sell chips, only chicken?!?) for an acquaintance of our travel agent's, who didnt speak a word of English, to find us and deliver us our Tibet permits. For obvious reasons the Chinese government aren't entirely comfortable with westerners visiting Tibet so this transfer of permits was somewhat under the table. After a little bit of worry because the lady hadn't turned up at the expected time and a couple of frantic calls to the travel agent, the lady found us and delivered us our permits and we were able to board the train to Lhasa. There is only one way to get into Tibet and that is from a mountain pass in the North and Guangzhou is south so the train crossed a large portion of China and took a somewhat arduous 56 hours.

The trainride, however, was an experience in itself, the scenery was extraordinary and changed vastly every few hours. We really got an idea of just how big, and how populated, china really is. We were the only non-Chinese on the train and so were a novelty and got stopped for photos at every station we stopped at. We made some wonderful Chinese friends on the train too. Tommy, the first friend that we made came and introduced himself to us when we were sitting in the corridor singing Paul Kelly songs and gave us bananas. He looked after us for the whole time, showing us how to fill out our health cards which were written in Chinese characters, giving us Chinese tea for altitude sickness (didnt work for me, more on that later) and acting as our translator in a number of circumstances. Then we met Joey, a little bit younger than Tommy but also a young uni student and so spoke a bit of English, he was an absolute sweetheart and helped us out when it turned out we had set ourselves up in the wrong beds in the wrong carriages because we couldnt read our tickets. We also made friends with some of the people in our berth who didnt speak English and who we lovingly nicknamed. Tubby singer was my favourite, he was a middle aged man who would sit looking out the window for hours on end and then, as if compelled by the scenery, starting singing these beautiful Chinese songs. Also in our cabin was Mr Magic, a very regal old man who had the most expressive face ever and was constantly bemused by our strange and often dramatic actions. We also had Da (we think thats what his name was) who had obviously come to Tibet to go trekking, was incredibly agile and we think hilarious, everybody else laughed at him constantly and im sure we would have too if we knew what he was saying.

My first bout of altitude sickness came on the third day on the train when we crossed a 5000m pass into Tibet, i woke up in the morning feeling weak and nauseous and continued to feel that way until about lunchtime when i had a good vomit infront of the whole berth. Sometime after that we were chatting in the berth with Tommy when one of the drivers came past and, excited at the prospect of wierdo white girls on his train, invited the three of us up to the driver's quarters to see the engine and have some watermelon. Tommy seemed pretty excited about this and i was really happy we could provide him some perks as he had given us so much. The drivers were hilarious. They psychoanalysed us, decided that i was introverted and Cathy extroverted. They also offered us cigarettes, we had made the decision that smoking at altitude was going to be a very very bad idea so we refused but they told us it was actually good for you because it helps you breathe in oxygen (dubious) and so we shared a few cigarettes with the train drivers at 4700m. We got off the train that evening and were picked up by our guide but i've written enough for today already so the rest of the tale will have to wait.