48 hours... from Chengdu to Lhasa...

And what magnificent views...

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is an engineering gem... Decades of research has gone into construction on permafrosts, i.e. soil that is permanently frosted in high altitudes... And since 1st July 2006, this railway has set the record for being the highest altitude rail system in the world... the highest altitude is at Tangula Station (5072 metres)... and the train climbs steadily from Chengdu (168 metres) to the Qinghai Plateau (average 3000 metres) to the Northern Tibetan region (aka the 3rd Pole averaging 4000 metres) till it reaches Lhasa (3650 metres)...

Very glad that I took this option of travel because it gave me the time to acclimatise gradually instead of flying into Lhasa over a 1.5 hrs flight... Pressurized train cabins and regulated oxygen supply helped passengers survive the thin air and low pressure in the high Tibetan plateau altitudes... And even so, I experienced some headache on my second night on the train when the train was climbing towards the 3000 metres Golmud station... Pretty torturing, but thankfully it didn't last too long... My headache went away when I woke up in the morning...

And with stunning 3rd pole views greeting me, I felt I was closer to heaven...