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.

Tibet Day 4: En route to Xining

I was only able to spend 2 nights and 1 day in Leizhou which, regrettably, was not much time. I would have preferred to see Guangzhou and even Hong Kong but I just didn't have enough vacation time. I was on a strict schedule and this morning I had to catch a morning flight to Shenzhen and then to Xinning where my Tibet trip will start in earnest.

My parents had prebooked a taxi to pick me up at 6 AM. We drove along a new highway which was constructed to speed traffic between Guangdong and Hainan island to the south. At this hour in the morning the highway was fairly empty and we made good time (~45 min) heading north into Zhanjiang.

When I was dropped off at Zhanjiang Airport it was just before 7AM and the airport wasn't open yet. When the airport opened up I headed up to the restaurant for some breakfast. I was offered by the taxi driver to have breakfast at a nearby restaurant which was quite tempting but I decided to be safe and eat at the airport instead. Strike one: everything at the airport is more expensive.

Zhanjiang Airport before opening. Cloudy and humid morning.

The waitress welcomed me with a wave of her hand and gestured towards a table. I sat down and spoke to her in Cantonese...and she didn't understand me. And so, my assumption that everyone in Guangdong spoke Cantonese was instantly blown to smithereens. I'm not sure if it was because they exclusively spoke the local dialect (Leizhou) or maybe they were economic immigrants who were raised from other parts of China. With this language block I switched to Mandarin and instantly broadcasted the fact that I was not fluent and thus a foreigner. I asked for the menu and she handed me the English one. Strike two: English menus have inflated prices.

So, I paid a princely sum for some lowly beef and rice noodle soup and some hot soy milk. I winced as I imagined the disapproval of my father -- had he been there he would have a) vigourously bargained them down or b) stormed out in anger at being exploited. I just kept silent and enjoyed my breakfast proving once again that expediency can trump principles!

Thinking the lack of Cantonese was a fluke, I attempted to speak it during the check in process. The lady at the check in desk spoke and understood it and answered my question about my luggage -- yes, it will go all the way to Xining. Feeling encouraged, I spoke to the security guard...and heard Mandarin in return. Unfortunately for me, my comprehension of Mandarin is practically non-existant, so the security guard had to mime his instructions to me.

Once I made it through to the waiting area I could see the B737 sitting on the tarmac. I could also see a flock of birds sitting on top of the plane! I was slightly concerned since I'm a regular viewer of "Mayday" on the Discovery channel which is a show about aircraft accidents and their subsequent investigations. The last episode I saw was about that famous landing in the Hudson River in New York after some Canada Geese took out both engines on an Airbus. Given the secretive nature of China (translation: censorship of embarrassing news), I wasn't entirely sure I could trust the airline industry in China. Fortunately, by the end of the day, my opinion was going to change.

SHENZHEN AIRPORT

The one hour flight to Shenzhen was uneventful except I noticed the increasing cloud cover as we got closer. It was threatening to rain and when we arrived it we got a virtual gate: deja vu all over again but unlike Hong Kong this was in reverse. We stopped in the middle of the tarmac and deplaned onto two waiting buses which drove us to the Terminal. Also, like Hong Kong, there were signs of construction and expansion at the too-busy airport.

I had a 2 hr. layover and I explored the airport before settling down at a Starbucks for some free Wi-Fi. I walked up to the counter and ordered in Cantonese....DOH! Once again, the dominant language in Canton province has failed me. I pointed at what I wanted and tried to say "decaf". After a few blank looks they understood and told me they didn't have any (sigh). Ultimately, I settled on lemon tea and a pastry while I caught up on email and the news back home.

The rain was picking up and when I headed over to the (virtual) gate to wait. Some other flights were being delayed and when boarding time came and went I was starting to get nervous. After the departure time passed, some customer reps showed up. I couldn't understand the Mandarin dialogue between the crowd and the agents but it didn't sound good. They later taped up an English/Chinese notice which I understood -- Delay due to Weather.

By this time it was pouring rain outside and the entire airport had ground to a halt as red "Delayed" signs starting filling up the information screens. Not wanting to miss out on anything important, I stayed by the gate and waited. To Shenzhen Airlines' credit, they fed us lunch. It was a simple meal (rice, chicken, chinese greens, bottled water) in a plastic tray but it was still warm when I ate it and fairly tasty, too.

As the hours dragged on I started to get a little uneasy. Xining is a small airport and this was the only flight from Shenzhen for the day. I would have almost zero options if the flight was canceled. Not the end of the world but it would really complicate my travel plans. In retrospect, I didn't need to worry because the plane was already at the airport waiting to go and we were a nearly full load of passengers.

A cheer went up when it was finally announced that our flight would be boarding soon. Roughly four hours late we boarded when the rain started to ease up. I winced at the thought of running through the rain but the customer service reps handed out ponchos to everyone - nice!

Fortunately, the rest of my flight to Xian and then Xining was uneventful. The level of service on Shenzhen Airlines was quite high and I was fairly impressed. Later I would discover that SkyTrax rated Shenzhen Airlines as a 4-star airline. We had a full meal during each leg of the flight so I was well fed and happy for the day. It reminded me of the way North American airlines were before the rise of the discount carriers. However, what was also noticeable was the reduced seat pitch in economy class. A friend of mine commented that when flying internationally, the increased space in North American planes was noticeable and I completely agree. I'm sure it's for cultural reasons (Asians and Europeans are used to cramped quarters) and physical reasons (Asians and Europeans aren't very big -- yet).

HOW TO TELL YOUR AIRPORT IS TOO SMALL #2

After circling for about 30 min. we landed in Xian for a brief stop before carrying on to Xining to the west. Fortunately, we had a real gate in Xian this time. The airport in Xian looked fairly new and seemed large enough to handle the traffic (although the amount of time we spent in a holding pattern suggested another runway might help). This wasn't surprising given the fact Xian is a major tourist draw for its history (Terracotta Warriors).

After yet another meal (I think I ate too much that day), we flew into the sunset and landed at Xining well after sundown (9 pm). I collected my luggage, bought a ticket for the bus into town, and struggled with my Mandarin when the driver asked where I was going. It was around 10 pm when I was dropped off in the center of town. Oddly enough, it took me a whole 15 min. to flag down a cab despite the fact I was at a busy intersection and roughly 6 cabs per minute was passing by! They all had passengers so I guess they were very busy. Fortunately, I had no trouble telling the cab driver where I wanted to go (I converted the address into pinyin the night before). I was pretty tired when I finally arrived at the Lete Youth Hostel.