Leaving Chengdu
It was an early morning wake-up and we were picked up at 0530. The ride to the airport was faster than yesterday on a new road. At the airport, the domestic terminal was very nice and modern unlike the international arrivals area which had overflowed into the tarmac.
We have Denise, from the USA, on our tour. We had booked a seat-in-coach tour so it was very nice to learn that there would only be three of us. We later learnt that she had paid two-and-a-half times what we paid for the trip. Partly because she’s travelling by her self (ie. not twin-sharing), and using better accommodation.
But there’s still a huge difference that she can’t work out once she found out how little we paid. We suspect she booked the “private tour” and we booked the group tour. The tour probably Company separated us out from the mainly Chinese group and put us with her, so that they would save on an English-speaking guide for our original group!
Inflight
Our China Southwest Airlines flight from Chengdu to Lhasa departed at 0630. The Airbus A340-300 was packed with Tibetans, Han tourists and Han settlers. But more notably, the flight had the largest collection of Westerners I had ever seen in China. I think the idea of visiting Tibet is of tremendous appeal to many. Even in Chengdu, the gateway to Tibet, people more spoke more (ie. a little) English than we had ever encountered before.
The scenery along the way was rather spectacular as we flew over mountains the entire duration of the 1h50 flight. The Tibetan Plateau wasn’t flat flat but had lots of snowy peaks. I guess those peaks and troughs are quite insignificant compared to the overall height of the terrain.
Scenery on the flight from Chengdu to Lhasa.
Scenery on the flight from Chengdu to Lhasa.
Arriving in Lhasa
As we descended, the golden hues of the dry grassy landscape against a backdrop of snowy peaks reminded me of Canterbury in New Zealand. As we landed and taxied, I could feel my heartbeat strongly and also racing from the excitement. [Edit: I realised much later it was from the altitude at 3650m or 12000ft as the cabin pressure had equalised with the ambient.]
Another flight from Chengdu had just landed and it was a considerable wait for our bags. Once out in the public area, our guide wasn’t there. We looked around and eventually he turned up. He had been helping his departing guest at the check-in area.
Our guide introduced us to his colleauge, a Chinese driver. The ride from Gonggar Airport to Lhasa too about 1h30, partly hugging the banks of the Yarlung Tsmapo (Brahmaputra) river. There were a few yak-skin boats or rafts being used in the river.
Descending into Lhasa’s Gonggar airport.
Arrival at Lhasa’s Gonggar airport.
Unwell
At the Airway (singular) Hotel, the walk upstairs to our room nearly killed me. I had already felt my heart racing, breathless and light-headedness since landing.
Soon after, our guide took us for lunch, dropping Denise off at her hotel first. We rested for the rest of the day apart from a walk along Lhasa’s main drag and a visit to the supermarket and internet café.
Potala Palace on our brief walk.
I threw up a couple of time around 1800 from the altitude sickness. Both of us had headaches and muscular pains. It wasn’t a nice feeling.
As a small consolation, our room looks straight up at the Potala Palace. We weren’t so impressed about the two phone calls from women offering massage services in the evening.
Potala Palace from our room.