Travel with Wendy: Dream Trip to Tibet via Xining

“Life is like a box of chocolates that you never know what you gonna get.”-Forrest Gump

In September of 2016 when I was experiencing so tough a time, much pressure from life and work, that I determined to start my steps to Tibet, a holy dreamland in the hearts of countless people including me. I used to be worried about the high altitude sickness in Tibet when traveling alone, but it turned out to be fine, we’d never know what we’d get without stepping forward and having a try.

Starting from Chengdu, we have a lot of choices about the trip to Lhasa. We can take a direct flight from Chengdu to Lhasa, or a train or have a stopover on the way and then get to Lhasa via train/ flight. I finally chose the last option and flew to Xining first and then took the overnight train from Xining to Lhasa.

My trip arrangements

Day 1 Chengdu - Xining by flight
Day 2 Xining -Taer Monastery -Qinghai Lake
Day 3 Qinghai Lake – Chaka Salt Lake-Xining-Overnight train to Lhasa
Day 4 Lhasa arrival
Day 5 Lhasa City Tour
Day 6 Lhasa-Yamdrok Lake -Lhasa
Day 7 Lhasa city tour
Day 8 Lhasa-Chengdu by flight

China map and my travel route

Day 1 Chengdu flight to Xining
Chengdu is usually a good start for the trip to Lhasa. With developed transportation networks, Chengdu is well-linked with many international cities and domestic cities in China. Before traveling to Tibet, you can take a short stop to visit the adorable pandas as well as experience the slow-paced life in the city of Chengdu. There are quite a few flights from Chengdu to Lhasa every day and it’s only a 2-hour journey. The train to Lhasa departs from Chengdu every other day, and it lasts 36 hours. Want to experience the train ride to Lhasa but don’t want to spend so many hours on the train? You can do like me, fly to Xining first and take a train from Xining (Qinghai Province) to Lhasa. While in Xining, if you can spare 1 or 2 days, the highlights like Ta’er Monastery, Qinghai Lake, etc. are worthy of a visit.

My flight from Chengdu arrived in Xining in the late morning. After getting to the hotel and having a break, I went out to wander around the city and enjoyed various local snacks at Mojiajie Food Street.

Day 2 Xining-Taer Monastery – Qinghai Lake
Having made an appointment in advance, the driver picked me up from the hotel on time. Our first destination today was to visit the Ta’er Monastery located 30km in the southwest of Xining.

Ta’er Monastery, the birthplace of the Tibetan Buddhism master, Tsongkhapa, the founder of Gelug(a sect of Buddhism), is renowned as one of the six Gelug monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism in China. Murals, barbola and butter sculptures constitute the three best arts in Ta’er Monastery. Besides, it is a crucial institute to learn about Buddhism, Medicine, history, philosophy, etc. Buddhist ceremonies are organized in the monastery as well each year.

Eight Pagodas at the entrance of Ta’er Monastery

It was a cloudy day when visiting Ta’er Monastery

Ta’er Monastery

After the Ta’er Monastery, we kept driving to the west, passing by Riyue Mountains and Daotang River, and finally got to Qinghai Lake located 150km away from Ta’er Monastery.

As the largest inland lake in China, it was formed by the fault collapse of Qilian Datong Mountain, Riyue Mountain, and Qinghai South Mountain. The best time to visit Qinghai Lake is late July to early August when it’s surrounded by vast golden rape flower fields, however, July and August are during the summer holiday for students in China when family trips are popular, which makes July and August the peak season for traveling in Qinghai and the most crowded at the scenic spots.

Good weather is essential for natural sightseeing, but it’s all for luck. It was raining, unfortunately, when we arrived at the Qinghai Lake on the first day, but luckily it got clear when we returned from Chaka Salt Lake the next day so that we could get a few nice pictures.

Crystal blue Qinghai Lake in the distance

We were lucky to meet the horse racing on the grassland by Qinghai Lake

After the visit to the lake, we were transferred to Heimahe Town near Qinghai Lake for accommodations. Heimahe Town was a perfect place for sunrise viewing, but we failed due to the rainy weather.

Day 3 Qinghai Lake–Chaka Salt Lake-Xining-Overnight train to Lhasa
After breakfast this morning, we headed for Chaka Salt Lake by 1.5 hours driving.

Chaka Salt Lake, together with Taer Monastery, Qinghai Lake, and Tianchi Lake, is called "Four Best Sceneries in Qinghai Province”. Despite the reputation as “the mirror of sky”, it’s not so advised to visit the Chaka Salt Lake if you don’t have much time in Xining, nice weather is too important for the visit of it.

Chaka Salt Lake on a cloudy day

Chaka Salt Lake

After the visit at the Chaka Salt Lake, we were transferred back to Xining city, I was dropped at the Xining Railway Station directly for the overnight train to Lhasa.

The train boarding time was around 8 pm, I found my bed in the right compartment, and then had a quick wash and fell asleep quickly.

Soft Sleeper on the train

Soft sleeper on the train: The Soft Sleeper is a settled single berth with soft beddings equipped in some carriages on the train. Usually, there are only 2 carriages which have compartments of Soft Sleepers, accommodating passengers up to 64. Each compartment is a single cabin with a private door facing the aisle, and has 4 Soft Sleepers inside, two upper berths and two lower berths, which are about 30 inches (75cm) wide and 75 inches (190cm) long. If you are taking a Soft Sleeper, you can put your luggage or suitcases on the luggage closet above the door in each Soft Sleeper Carriage. It is about 16 inches (40cm) high and 20 inches (50cm) wide.

Day 4 Lhasa arrival:
When waking up early in the morning, I was astonished by the fantastic view outside of the train window, sunlight, white clouds, snow mountains, glaciers, and clear blue lake, etc. constitute a magnificent picture. What a visual feast! The outside scenery varied constantly with the train going by. We passed Kekexili Nature Reserve, Tuotuohe River, Tanggula Snow Mountains, Anduo, Naqu, Dangxiong and eventually, arrived at the final stop, Lhasa.

Stunning scenery along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway

Our train arrived at Lhasa Railway Station at approximately 5:30 pm, fresh air and cool weather welcomed us when taking off the train. I could feel a little bit oxygen deficit on the way to the hotel and took a break in the hotel room and then did some slow walking around to make myself adjusted to the high altitude.

Tips:
1. You’d better not take a shower on the first day when you arrive, it’s easy to get cold and aggravate high altitude sickness.
2. Having a good rest and sleep is helpful to acclimatize to the high altitude.

Day 5 Lhasa City Tour: Potala Palace -Jokhang Temple-Barkor Street
Potala Palace, more than 117 meters in height and 360 meters in width is occupying a building space of 90 thousand square meters and is regarded as one of the most beautiful architectural buildings in the world. The whole palace is mainly composed of White Palace and Red Palace, the former is the white part of the entire building and was the former Winter Palace of the Dalai Lama and also the former Tibet local government office. Located in the center of the building, the Red Palace is like a religious temple and spiritual pagoda that houses the Dalai Lama.

Travelers could climb up the palace along the zigzag stone paths with white-and-red walls to the top of the palace where you can not only appreciate the exotic Tibetan-style architecture but also get a great view of Lhasa’s urban areas, then walk into the inner space of Potala Palace to explore the stately chapels and learn about the history of the palace.

Majestic Potala Palace

Potala Palace night view

Sit 1.5 km east of Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple owns a history of more than 1300 years and has always been regarded as the heart of Tibet and the center of faith throughout Tibet. The whole temple is divided into three floors and the biggest attraction is the isometric Buddha statue on the first floor which is always full of people lining up for pilgrimage.

Jokhang Temple

Outside of Jokhang Temple is Barkhor Street which is the most prosperous commercial street in Lhasa. Similar to the Jokhang Temple, it has a history of over 1300 years and was originally built and developed with the development of Jokhang Temple.

No matter in summer or winter, from dawn to dark, there are always pious pilgrims at all ages preying around in a clockwise direction or kowtowing along the way. Many of them are not local people, they might have been trekking and kowtowing from their hometowns for quite a few months.

Faithful pilgrim on Barkor Street

Pious pilgrims kowtowing outside of Jokhang Temple

Day 6 Lhasa-Yamdrok Lake -Lhasa
Today the only destination is to the Yamdrok lake, 120km away from Lhasa.

Wendy on the way to Yamdrok Lake

Yamdrok Lake is mainly located in Langkazi County, Shannan City, Tibet. Yamdrok lake, together with Namtso Lake, Lake Manasarovar, is called the holy lake in Tibet, and it is the largest inland lake in the northern foothills of the Himalayas. The lake, calm with turquoise blue, looks like a sapphire on the southern plateau of the mountain.

Yamdrok Lake

Yamdrok Lake in the distance

Yamdrok Lake

Some tourists are wondering which lake to visit, Yamdrok Lake or Namtso Lake when making Tibet tour plans, my suggestion is to choose Yamdrok Lake if your travel time is not so sufficient and you’d prefer a more relaxing tour. Compared with the 120 km’s journey to Yamdrok Lake, it is 250 km, 5-6 hours’ driving single way, from Lhasa to Namtso Lake.

Day 7 Lhasa city tour：Norbulingka Park & Drepung Monastery-Sera Monastery
Norbulingka Park, a key national cultural relics Site, is located in the western suburbs of Lhasa, Tibet. Founded in the 1840s (Dalai VII), it is a typical Tibetan-style garden &the summer palace of Dalai Lama. After the expansion of more than two hundred years, the park covers an area of 360,000 square meters with more than 100 species of plants. It is the largest garden in Tibet with the best scenery and most monuments.

Norbulingka Park is composed of several groups of palace buildings such as Gesang Po Zhang, Golden Po Zhang, and Dadan Mingjiu Po Zhang(Po Zhang means Palace in Tibetan). It was the beginning of September at the time of my visit, green trees and blooming flowers can be seen everywhere in the garden.

Golden Po Zhang( Palace) in Norbulingka Park

Norbulingka Park

Drepung Monastery is located in Kuoli, on the southern slope of the Genpeuzi Mountain, about 10 kilometers west of Lhasa. The whole monastery is large in scale, with white buildings lined by hills and mountains. With 141 manors and more than 540 pastures, it is the largest temple of Tibetan Buddhism. Founded in 1416, it is one of the six major temples of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Together with Ganden Monastery and Sera Monastery, they are called three major temples in Lhasa, and Drepung Monastery owns the highest status in the Gelug Sect.

The entrance of Drepung Monastery

Drepung Monastery

Buddha on the stone and white ladders were drawn for the death

Drepung Monastery

Lhasa city view from Drepung Monastery

Drepung Monastery-the whole monastery buildings are located on the slope of the mountain.

In the afternoon, I came to Sera Monastery, a smaller monastery than Drepung. Similar to Drepung Monastery, it is one of the six major temples of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism as well. The highlight is the grand ceremony of Buddhist debating and its beautiful temples with sensational icons, murals, and history.

Sera Monastery

Buddhist Debating in Sera Monastery

Day 8 Lhasa-Chengdu by flight
In most cities of China, the airport is only 20-30km away from the downtown, nevertheless, the distance between Lhasa city and the airport is as long as 70 kilometers, it’s necessary to leave 1-1.5 hours for the transfer on the way. I flew back to Chengdu in the late morning and the 7 days trip came to an end. This is an unforgettable journey and life experience, leaving a lot for me to think about and Tibet is definitely a destination worthy of a go at least once in a lifetime for all whichever corner of the world you are.