Trains, Planes, Taxis, Buses, Mopeds
In June-July 2019 I had the opportunity to join a small group to be the first Westerners to attend a special program at a Chinese University. Located in the Chinese province of Gansu, this University is located in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Gannan, also known as Hezuo, also know as the Gateway to Tibet. The Gannan Normal University has a large Tibetan student population and we were invited to have dinner with a student’s family. Tibetans are largely nomadic, so this is how our total trek from the US to the Nomadic tent went:
And then a fun bumpy 15 minute ride on the back of a moped holding a watermelon with one hand and trying desperately not to drop it.
There are no real lines in China… similar to cars on the road, it’s every man for themself.
Sleeper train leaving Beijing. Our group of five was split up with cabins only having 4 beds. I drew the short straw and bunked with three Chinese men. Still jet lagged I ended up sleeping 16 of the 19-hour train ride.
Hailing a taxi to take us from the train station to the bus station in Lanzhou.
Our taxi took us as far as he could on our way to have dinner with Tibetan nomads. He drove us through the beautiful Himalayan plateau until the road literally ended.
My friend Anne asked me to be a part of a small group of five for this three-week trip to a remote part of China. Traveling with a small group to such a foreign and remote place makes for fast friends. I was thankful for Anne’s knowledge of the language to help translate along the way.
I did not mind the 12-hour flight at all. Although, I have never witnessed so many socks and bare feet on a plane before.
You must have a visa to enter the country. I used a third party and obtained a 10-year tourist visa. There were multiple screening checkpoints throughout the customs process, but it was not that difficult. The person manning the temperature screening was asleep, but that was 2019.
China keeps a very close eye on visitors throughout their entire stay. Every hotel we checked into copied our passports and notified the authorities that we were there. There were multiple bus stops where authorities would board and check everyone’s passports or papers.
The squatty potty on the train was a hard pill to swallow.
The bus played bus crash videos before we departed, giving a graphic reminder of why you should always have your seatbelt buckled.
The actual travel part of traveling can sometimes be stressful and uncomfortable, but the destination is often worth it. This was definitely the case for Hezuo, China… the Gateway to Tibet.
Arctic glaciers viewed on the flight back.
