Barely had our heads touched the pillow when it was morning call at 5 am and we were on the road again. This stage would take us from Tuotuo He to Naqu over 433km in blank hours, no one dared hazard a guess. We were beginning to feel suicidal and fatalistic as the previous days pattern was replayed. The worst ordeal was when we were held up for 3 hours. Some of us then decided to convert our seats into daybeds by pulling out the centre aisle seat and settled down for a well earned snooze. Those of us who did not gain this privilege commented that the coach was taking on the appearance of an ambulance.
After all the jams and blocks and diversions, we were finally riding on the highest road in the world. With glaciers flanking both sides of the road we ascended the Tanggula Pass at 5231m which is the highest point in the Qinghai Tibet Highway. For a lowlander like me, 5231m was indeed a high point in my life. And now I felt that the hardship of traveling this road was well worth it. I couldn’t get over the wonder that I was higher than the peak of Europe’s Mt. Blanc or the Annurpurna base camp. “What is a mountain peak elsewhere in the world is but a highway in Tibet!" - is an appropriate tribute to the ingenuity of the Chinese road builders.
At this altitude harsh natural conditions are the order of the day. The average annual temperature is -8C with the lowest temperature reaching -40C. The oxygen content here accounts for only 50 percent of the volume at sea level hence the area is regarded as a “life-threatening zone" Even in August we donned down jackets and mittens when we stepped out into the thin air and bitter cold to experience the barren wilderness.
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You used the highway did you use oxygen masks in the car ? I've read some people do.
ReplyDeleteWe were promised oxygen masks but in the end there were none. And luckily no one needed the masks though one passenger was pretty sick.
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