I shuffled through the large room, stepping over bags and weaving through clusters of families sitting on the floor with their luggage. I could feel a sea of brown eyes on me, but I wasn't phased by this. India has made me a strong traveler. I could almost hear them thinking "girl, whatcha doin' here all alone?"
When the doors opened that allowed us access to the train, it was a mad dash, despite the fact that the train wasn't scheduled to leave for a good 30 minutes. "Why is everybody running? Am I missing something here?" I thought as I nonchalantly walked down the stairs to the platform, stopping to buy water along the way. Frantic passengers whizzed by me, like a bunch of crazy shoppers on Black Friday.
The scenery on the train did not disappoint, it was went on inside the train that made the trip less enjoyable. There was a constant hocking of loogie's, snot rocket blowing and smoking that I could have done without. I cringed every time I heard "cccckkkkk shoooo!" and heard the wetness splash against the sink in the hallway, the same sink I needed to brush my teeth in. It was nothing short of vulgar. Didn't their mama teach them any manners?
Despite the 'no smoking' signs clearly displayed, the Chinese men congregated near the bathrooms and puffed away on their stinky ciggies, day and night, polluting our precious air in the confined space, giving the air a look of perpetual fog.
The fact that they had no cosideration for everyone else's air just so they could feed their nasty addiction made it a difficult 48 hours. The lack of amiability along with the public display of bad habits that I have witnessed in China thus far make it very difficult for me to grow a liking. I just wasn't getting good vibes.
Not a single soul on the train spoke English, (surprise!) including the workers. While trying to communicate my order to the waiter (he didn't understand that fish wasn't vegatarian), a lovely Japanese lady named Joy piped up in her broken English and helped me order. She moved over to my table and we stammered through a conversation about our travels. She instantly became my new best friend as the only person I could actually speak to on the train.
The temperature dropped drastically as the softly rolling hills morphed into dramatic snow capped mountains. Suddenly I was in a winter wonderland. It was magical. Shaggy yaks and prayer flags became more frequent. So peaceful. Small villages with smoking chimneys floated by the windows as we chugged higher and higher over the barren land.
As the highest train in the world, supplemental oxygen was needed to counteract the thin mountain air. An outlet in each room hissed as it fed us oxygen. I was required to sign a waiver that said I was healthy enough to be in this high of elevation.
I was grateful to not experience any symptoms of altitude sickness; the same cannot be said about my friend Joy. She became ill from the decreased amount of oxygen and had to visit the hospital as soon as we arrived in Lhasa. Poor thing.
This reminded me of when I once had a patient, an ex-Hells Angels, that unexpectedly had a low oxygen saturation and started hallucinating. I secretly died from laughter as he started joyfully singing the song "yakety yak (don't talk back!)" in his loopy state. This song played through my head as I wondered if I myself wasn't hallucinating from the low oxygen levels. Was I rrrreally seeing all these yaks? Yakety yak!
24 hours into the journey over the rooftop of the world, we stopped at a desolate station to pick up more passengers. A group of Tibetans, carrying huge bags of who-knows-what hopped on the train. This was my first glimpse at the Tibetans. They had tan, leathery skin and were wearing their traditional attire. I couldn't help but stare. They looked like they came straight out of a National Geographic magazine. I was unprepared to see them so early into the trip, I caught myself saying "no way", as I looked at them with wide eyes. This was a "we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto" moment for me. One of the elderly Tibetan ladies made eye contact with me and gave me a genuine smile. I smiled back at her and felt so comforted to have personable contact with someone again after being deprived of this while in Beijing.
I'm going to like Tibet, I just know it.....
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