No wifi on gaotie on the way to Xining

Put clothes into plastic bag and go down to wash up, brush teeth and change

Wash and dry bra if possible

Wear the new white shoes

Bring purple bag and sweater tmr

Ask if it’s possible to go to qinghai hu with bus, 30 塔尔寺, ask which bus station to buy bus ticket to xiahe bayilu, where to fix oppo phone

Fix oppo phone

Buy phone card

Settle bank card

Shop for sd card

Buy bus ticket to xiahe

Inform yangkor Tibetan homestay of your package

Write down the booking number for all hostels booked

Is ruoergai grasslands in zoige?

Might change kangding booking to one night, spend the other day touring jiuzhaigou Chengdu local tour 

By 0900, we were ready. We flagged down a cab which my travel mate got in to head towards the airport whilst I got into the next cab for the railway station. My cab driver was a very pretty female in shades who seemed a little surprised I was unaccompanied. I told her I had just finished the first leg of my journey and will be going southwards alone from now on. My only worry, which I related to her was that I had neither internet connection nor phone line till I reach Xining. She probably sensed my nervousness and assured me that I would likely be able to get a local SIM in Xining which helped ease my nerves a little. She went on with questions about my two weeks in Xinjiang, about Singapore and my expenditure thus far. I felt rather calm speaking to her. It turned out that she herself was a mother with a 22 year old son whom she says she would not object if he were to decide on solo travelling. “But you’re a girl, you must be careful though.” she warned. “All the best.” she said as she dropped me off at the railway station.

A young security guard in uniform stopped to ask for my passport at the entrance. Chinese citizens can simply pas by automated doors by scanning their IDs but those with passports will have to show them to enter every railway station. He asked why I was heading to Xining. I said for leisure. Then he asked if I had any photography equipment. I was taken aback, was he going to check through my footages? Boy I’ll have no time for that. I said yes anyway as it might have been worse to tell a lie. Then he asked if I had a long lens. I was getting confused by his questions. 

“No..Is 18-135 considered long lens?”

“No, I shouldn’t think so.” 

How does knowing whether I have a long lens or not important to his job? With the nature of his questions it was evident that he wasn’t going to check my camera and I relaxed a little, realizing he was simply asking out of interest.

“You know quite a bit about lenses don’t you.”

“I play with these kind of stuff too.” he smiled and let me pass.

I had a 10 hour journey by high speed rail from Urumqi to Xining. Looking at the ticket I had bought over the counter a few days ago, I realized I was allocated the aisle seat. As much as I wanted to change to a window seat, there was a queue at the ticket counter which was a little too long for the half an hour I had left before departure. In future, request seats when I buy my ticket!

The gates open around 15 minutes before the 1107 scheduled departure. Queues started forming at the gates much earlier though, everyone seemed anxious to board the high-speed rail first although it would wait at the platform till its departure time. I simply took the waiting time to buy some goodies for the long ride.

(Photo)stewardess served blankets to those who requested for it

Abroad the train, the stewardess checked my ticket, asked for my destination and wrote on my ticket the estimated time of arrival for my reference. I was to reach at 2115 and secretly hoped that the window seat beside me would be unoccupied for the journey. Unfortunately, it was constantly filled, with a Chinese man who slept through most of the journey and blocked my view of the outside with his hunched up posture. I spent my time exploring the different carriages, the standard dining vendor was in Carriage 5 which sold set meals at around 35 yuan. There are free hot water dispensers in every carriage, most Chinese would simply purchase cup noodles from outside and consume it during the ride. 

List of train stations the strain stopped at during the 10 hour journey:

乌鲁木齐站

吐鲁番北站 (didn’t stop at 乌鲁木齐南in between! 暂停一分钟，stewardess goes down the aisle to check that the correct passengers (she has the list of seats that are to be emptied) are preparing to leave their seat there will be an announcement over the speakers as the train pulls into  the station)

善北站 (Took photos of surroundings, on one side is rocky mountains on the other side is shanshan city with kumtag desert behind it)

吐哈站

哈密站 1420

柳园南 1547 this is where you alight at if you want to go to dunhuang!

玉门站 1647

嘉峪关南 1733

酒泉南 1748 (has snow capped mountains in the background! Photos of it are after the button activated toilet door video)

临泽Ze 2南 1847

张掖西 1857 (white buildings, sky a little dark)

民乐站 1935

门源 2030

西宁2115

With the sleeping man hunched up over the window, I resorted to looking out of the windows at the end of the carriage. The landscape changed from rocky to lush green towering mountains, suddenly we were travelling in and out of dark tunnels dug through these mountains. By 2000, it was raining and the skies were darkening but it was quite clear that we were already well within Qinghai province with its characteristic dark green gorges and valleys that stood their ground under the pelting rain and sky that flashes occasionally with lighting.