Tibet Day 5: Xining - Plans Almost Ruined (DOH!)

Rooftop view of Xining. Note the hills in the distance.

Another view with haze/smog obscuring the horizon.

Xining is a tiny city by Chinese standards although it has roughly the population of Greater Toronto (2.2 million). It's the capital city of a poor, remote province but it has risen somewhat in recent years as a transportation hub. It is notably the first stop of the new Qinghai-Lhasa railway line and also served by a regional airport which is why it was a crucial waypoint in my itinerary and the logical start of my trip into Tibet.

Its climate and geography are particularly noteworthy as well. With an altitude of 7,400 ft. and it's northerly location, Xining is attractive to tourists for its mild summers. As a Canadian who is not a fan of hot, humid summers this was a welcome reprieve from the extreme south of the country! In addition, its high altitude also served another purpose - a place to start acclimatising to altitude without the risk of altitude sickness. I read somewhere that spending 2 days in Xining was recommended for people going to Tibet. Unfortunately, I had a packed itinerary so I only spent one night in Xining. Although I wanted to do some sightseeing something came up that threatened to derail the whole trip.

Lete Youth Hostel

One of my soon-to-be traveling companions suggested over email that we stay at the Lete Youth Hostel in Xining. He found it on an international hostel booking website and the rates were quite reasonable. It occupied 2 floors in a high rise building with an open concept layout. The rooms were simple and facilities almost rustic but the cafe and hot water made up for that.

Shot of my room. Should have used fill-in flash for this shot.

Lete Cafe. Had a great breakfast of muesli, yogurt, fruit, and tea.

I was pretty tired after all the air travel and I was getting ready to turn in when my companions arrived back from a night on the town. This was when I met David, Annette, and Aleksi for the first time. David (UK) and Annette (German) were a couple from Switzerland and booked a few months off to go on a very interesting Moscow - Kazakhstan - Urumqi (China) - Qinghai - Tibet - Nepal - India trip. Aleksi (Finnish) was traveling from Mongolia and went across China from Beijing. It's too bad I can't drop everything for 3 months to go a really long road trip like these people were!

After brief introductions, I asked if they had received the Tibet Travel Permit (TTP) -- the document which would allow us foreigners to board the train. David then told me that Lumbum (our tour guide) had told him that I was supposed to have a copy of the TTP since he had emailed it to me several weeks ago. Ooops! He did email it to me but without explicit instructions -- I assumed he did it just to show we were approved. I didn't realize I was supposed to print it out and bring it with me! The files were sitting on my home computer thousands of miles away and there was no way anybody could access them. Our only hope was to contact Lumbum in the morning and see if he could email the files to us again. Fortunately, there was a travel agency (Tibetan Connections) upstairs who would be able to help us out.

The next morning, I headed upstairs and ordered some breakfast. The menu was tailored towards western palates which undoubtedly due to the clientele. I had a hungering for fibre so I ordered the muesli with yogurt and fruit. The serving was North American sized so it was a pretty good breakfast. After packing and getting ready for the day, I camped out and waited for the travel agency upstairs to open.

They opened at 9 am and I eagerly asked if they had a copy of the TTP. Unfortunately, the lady who handled our forms hadn't arrived yet -- she was expected to be in but nobody knew at what time! The two other female employees had no idea if a copy of our TTP was even in the office. OK, so we decided to try something else -- we'll try contacting our Tibet tour guide and see if he can fax/email another copy of the TTP to the travel agency. We tried calling both his office's landline and his cell phone -- no answer at either number! I could slowly feel my blood pressure starting to rise -- our train leaves at 3 pm in the afternoon and we absolutely needed a copy of the TTP or we wouldn't be allowed into the train station!

For the next 3-4 hours we would try calling the various numbers every 30 minutes or so. Once, we got through to somebody on the landline and we explained the situation and requested that the TTP be resent. She seemed to understand and so we eagerly waited...and waited...and after 30 min. nothing came in. We tried calling back and again, no answer! Arrgh!

In desperation, I tried searching for the scanned images on the travel agency's computers but had no luck. Around 11 am, one of the employees managed to dig up the scanned images on her hard drive -- success! Well, almost. The last page was corrupted and it just so happened to be the page with my name on it. I guess karma was working that day.

The ladies in the travel agency then phoned their contact at the central Chinese tourist agency in Lhasa -- apparently this government institution keeps a file of the all the TTPs issued and she requisitioned the last page. After a nervous 20 min., it arrived and we finally had our TTP with several hours to spare! With much relief, we headed downstairs for lunch feeling very fortunate for staying at this youth hostel. I also paid the travel agency several hundred yuan for their hard work.

After lunch, we packed our bags and then headed out to the train station. There was no time for me to check out the city thanks to the delayed flight the day before and the TTP issue. We crammed ourselves and our bags into a VW Jetta cab. We had to put a big backpack on the laps of everyone in the backseat. I was riding shotgun but had to carry a big backpack on my lap as well. We set off and fortunately the cab driver did not take the scenic route.

(L to R) Aleksi, David, and Annette in Xining West Train Station

We arrived at the station and had our luggage scanned. As soon as we were through to the other side a guard waved us over and asked for the TTP. I triple-checked before we left the hostel that it was in my backpack -- no way I was going to forget it! With our papers in order, we settled down and bought some essentials from the little shop in the station. I was a little worried about security and getting into trouble so I only took one picture of the station.

We were seated according to destination and the large number of tourist groups in our area confirmed that tourist season had indeed started. We also saw a handful of Buddhist monks as well.

When the train finally arrived we all got up en masse and prepared to board the train - Chinese-style. (Translation: no attempt to form lines and just keep pressing forward). We found our train and compartment and settled in for the long (23hr) ride ahead.