Lhasa, December 26

Christmas is nearly over now. Not that it was mentionable here. Some Chinese shops have a little Christmas decoration and even play Christmas music, but I haven´t been inside a lot of Chinese shops recently anyway, here in Tibet.

Let´s start with the railway to Lhasa. All superlatives about it are true. It is the highest railway in the world. It goes through some of the world's most dramatic, desolate high altitude plateau landscapes. And indeed the train begins to produce extra oxygen as soon as it passes Golmud (2800 m). There are free plastic tubes available, you stick one end in the outlet and the other side in your nose for extra oxygen when you experience problems with the altitude (and many people did). I met Chris on the train and since then we've been a 2 person company on a private tour. On the way to Lhasa, I woke at Golmud (5 'o clock) cause some people got off the train, shouting loudly and waking the rest of the passengers. Perhaps it is a cultural thing, but many Chinese just seem unable to be considerate. Slept again till 7:30. The train was still gaining altitude and the sun rose above a barren plateau with snowy peaks in the distance.

Somewhere I began to feel dizzy, especially around the highest pass (Tangu La, 5180 m), where the border between the province of Qinghai and the Tibetan Atonomous Region was drawn in the 50's. After that pass, small settlements became more common and we saw a lot of yaks and sheep grazing. The train passed through the Nyenchentanglha range, with high snowy peaks and glaciers in the distance, before it descended to Lhasa.

Lhasa is still 3600 m above sea level and I have a slight light feeling in my head all the time. Walking stairs is heavy exercise here, too. Chris has more serious problems, he feels tired and has a bad headache. He bought a traditional Tibetan medicine by the name of 'Plateau Safety'. It seems to relieve the pain a little.

In Lhasa we were welcomed by Yeesh, our guide, and Tunso, our driver, who will guide us through central Tibet. Yeesh is a thoughtful, bright young guy who has been a monk and knows a lot about Tibetan buddhism. His explanations have given our visits of the Potala palace, the Barkhor (old city), the Jokhang temple and the Sera and Drepung monasteries an extra dimension that most tourists will miss.

Lhasa is a special place, even though the old centre is surrounded by new Chinese bussiness parks and hotels now. It is also a very religious place. The whole day long, crowds of pilgrims walk around the Jokhang and Potala (in Tibetan Buddhism, pilgrims walk clockwise around a holy place - a ritual called kora). Also, people will throw themselves to the ground in the middle of the street, praying. Walking along with them is a wonderful experience: they are all so talkative, friendly and colourfully dressed. Many people try to say a couple of English words or just give you friendly smiles. Because Tibetans also have the nasty habit of rising up against their rulers now and then, there are now police posts and security cameras at (literary!) every street corner and military patrolls marching along the streets. But this hardly changes the magical atmosphere of this city.

Tomorrow we're off to Shigatse. If I don't have time to write again this month: my best wishes for 2012 to you all!