This covers the two days traveling to Tibet.
Woke up this morning to a misty start. The city of Xining is different the others we have stayed at, it is much quieter both traffic and pedestrian wise. Te sidewalks are probably 6 to 8 times wider than Beijing. We left out marbled palace room and headed down to breakfast. The breakfasts are buffet style, and I went hunting for the omelette station; there wasn’t one. I asked one of the chefs who spoke English, and the next thing I knew a junior cook had been sent off to find and chop the ingredients an make me an omelette. Seems there is usually no call for them; it was the best omelette so far this trip.
Next we headed out to the local supermarket to get some snacks for the train, as well as some bottled water. The supermarket was enormous, think a large Walmart on steroids. Shopping done, it was back to the hotel for 30 minutes before meeting up with our driver for the trip to the railway station. Travelling to Tibet is not straight forward, you need a Chinese Visa, a Tibet travel permit, a train ticket and in our case two passports! Our passports were set to expire n April 2017 which would have been fine for this journey, but our travel agent advised us to get a new 10-year passport as this would allow us to obtain a multi entry Chinese visa good for 10 years. If we had kept with the old passport or got a 5 year one, then the visa would only be a single entry one for the same price.
We final obtained the boarding pass, and it was off to security, just like an airport. My can of deodorant was confiscated as it was deemed inflammable! All we had to do now was say good by to our guide and wait for the train.
The New Xining Railway Station
We had pulled a bit of a trick in getting the train accommodation we did. We booked a sleeper, but the best sleeper they had was 4 berths. Being the quiet, shy retiring couple we are we didn’t relish a 22-hour trip with a couple of stranger who, in all probability we wouldn’t be able to communicate with. We finished up paying for the 4 berths in the cabin which really wasn’t that expensive and so got it ail to ourselves. Once we got on board we were really glad we went that route, the cabins were minuscule with 2 upper and 2 lower bunks which doubled as seating.
Good for 2 Cramped for 4
We met up with a group of Chines people in the same car who came from Toronto, so that helped us greatly when it came to ordering dinner. Again good prices, a filling meal for the 2 of us for $20. Currently we are travelling on a plateau about 9000ft above sea level. By about 5AM tomorrow we will be at the highest point of 16,655ft before descending into Lhasa at a mere 13,500ft. The train is equipped with oxygen ports and breathing tubes are available if required! Below are general views along the way. 
A little hard to tell from the above photos, but that truck is carrying 26 vehicles, loaded 2 abreast!
Hand Cut Sheaves of Wheat
Many of the workers we saw were hand cutting the crops, a few had combine harvesters and one enterprising girl was using a whipper-snipper!!
Scare Crows Chinese Style
Our Train
Yaks
Village in the Foothills
Closer View of Village
More Yaks
Almost all the country houses we saw had large walled in areas.
Small Town – Big Police Station
Yak Close up
Army Camp
Military Helicopter
Not Sure – But it was colourful
Not Yaks – Sheep
5* Sleeper China Style
Up Marke House
In many places tents were set up in the fields.
The above is for our friend Charlie who was having problems installing a steel roof, it’s easy just weigh it down with cinder blocks!
We arrived in Lhasa on time to the minute. Once we had cleared “immigration” we met up with our guide and headed to the hotel. Compared with the recent “palaces” we have been staying in this one is a little less extravagant, but none the less perfectly adequate for us.
After arriving it had been suggested that we relaxed and acclimatised for the rest of the day as we are at 12,000ft or 3656 metres above sea level. After being cooped up on a train we decided to risk a slow walk for some exercise. What better to do than go and find the only geocache in Lhasa. We succeeded with no ill effects.
For homework you can read about Lhasa