Day 1 (28 March 24)
Left home at 10.10pm, to catch early morning flight at 0055H to Beijing, then transfer to Xining. But, ended up had to queue for 1.5 hour for check in. By the time we clear the immigration counter, it was already 0003 H.
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| The long queue |
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| Boarding gate A9 |
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| Waiting outside the boarding gate |
原以为提早出发到机场去，能悠哉闲哉的登机。哪里知道，办里登机处排了蛮长的队伍，结果等候了1个半小时后才领到登机票，再过50分钟便是预定的飞机起飞时间。
The flight to Beijing Daxing Airport departed on time; we had about 4 hours' of transit time in Beijing - went to take some noodles/dumpling during the transit.
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| If you thought Changi Airport is big, Daixing Airport @ Beijing will surprise you... |
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| The garden @ the airport |
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| Leaving Xining Airport |
DAY 2 (29 March 24)
After checking into our hotel, we went to visit the largest mosque in Xining - 东关清真寺。Was pleasantly surprised that there was also some busy street market selling local delicacies and crops (红枣，纪子). The street was rather crowded.
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| 清真寺 |
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| Busy street vendors and visitors |
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| Whole sale market for clothes, bags, and miscellaneous accessories.. |
After that, we walked back to our hotel - took some beef noodles in a restaurant located in the basement of a buildng complex next to our hotel.
DAY 3 (30 March 24)
Joined a small local tour (9 pax in a van) to visit the highlights of Xining - Qinghai Lake 青海湖 and Salt Lake 咔茶盐湖。
Qinghai Lake is the largest lake in Xining - 6x the size of Singapore. We drove pass 日月山 along the way. (the mountain pass that separated the pastoral zone in the west from the agricultural zone in the east. The name 日月山 was to commemorate Princess Wencheng who smashed her sun-moon shaped magic mirror in despair when she was enroute to marry Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo in the 7th Century.
ON THE WAY TO Qinghai Lake...
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| statue of WenCheng Princess |
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| Part of Qinghai Lake in the distance |
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| In front of the entrance to Salt Lake |
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| Entrance |
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| 驼峰广场 |
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| 倒影还是模糊。。。 |
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| The trolley train |
因为尚属于淡季，来青海湖与茶卡盐湖来游玩的旅客并不多。不需要排队打卡，或争先恐后上油瓶火车。We felt that Salt Lake had much better scenery and charm compared to Qinghai Lake!
By the time we returned to Xining, it was already 9pm. The bus driver dropped as at night market 西宁新千夜市 for dinner.
Took a cab back to hotel after that.
Day 4 ( 31 March 24)
Took a public bus (about 1 hour journey) to another major attraction in Xining - 塔尔寺 Kumbum Monastery - This is a monastery buildt in memory of Zongkaba 宗喀巴, the founder of the Yellow Sect 黄教创始人. The first 塔 was built in 1379, with further extension in 1560 to 1612.
It is rather spacious, and has many temples, colleges 书院 , and quarters for monks.
We spend about 2 hours there, 走马看花。To understand the significance of various temples, it is advisable to engage the services of local guides in the monastery (we didn't engage their service). Photography is strictly forbidden within the temples.
Snap shots of the buildings within the compound of the monastery.
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Pleasantly surprised to see some Sakura trees blooming in the park adjacent to Bus and Train stations。靖凯说，在日本看不到樱花，居然在西宁碰上了！ |
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| on board the public bus to the monastery |
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| REACHED the terminal bus stop for the Monastery |
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| Walking for about 5 minutes to the monastery |
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After purchasing the entrance tickets, we had to walk a further 200 m to the entrance further down... |
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| Entering the compound of the monastery |
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| Took our lunch in one of the restaurants along the road here... |
We took our lunch at one of the restaurants there, then took a cab back to our hotel (<30min ride via highway).
Checked out from our hotel at 6pm -> walked to the Xining Train Station about 10 min walking distance away --> took our dinner in the train station while waitng to board our train to Lhasa at 11pm.
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| Xining Train Station |
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| 6-bedded (hard bed) open cubicle |
We could only buy 6 bedded hard-bed open cubicle for our trip from Xining to Lhasa.
Slept overnight on the train. First thing we saw at day break the next day.
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| 措那湖 |
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| 牦牛 |
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| 羊 |
Other sceneries along the way... As the inhouse radio broadcaster said --> there is no trees in the Tibetan mountain range...
Arrived at Lhasa at 8pm (no photography allowed in Lhasa train station -> and was brought to our hotel immediately.
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| Hotel lobby |
We walked to a nearby restaurant for a quick bite (dinner consists of local noodles).
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| ordering our dinner |
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| Buying some snack drink |
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| Lhasa old district |
Day 6 (2 April 24)
Woke up in the morning, getting ready for breakfast. Just over 7am, my sister called me to inform me that my mother had passed on around 6am.
Called our tour agent to book urgent flights (for myself) back to Penang the next day.
In the meantime - managed to visit the famed Potala palace in Tibet in the morning, followed by 大昭寺 after lunch.
POTALA Palace:
大昭寺：
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| Walking to our restaurant for lunch |
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| Streets adjacent to 大昭寺 |
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| Devotees praying in front of the 大昭寺 |
Took our welcome dinner at 6.30pm. View from the roof top of our restaurant...
Rested after that - but could not sleep well, as my flight will depart from Lhasa to Chengdu at 8am; which meant I had to wake up at 4am, took a ride from our tour guide to airport at 5am. The journey to the airport took nearly 1 hour.
Day 7 (3 Apr 24)
A busy day travelling from Lhasa all the way to Penang - it was one flight after another - from Lhasa to Chengdu, then from Chengdu to Guangzhou, and then from Guangzhou to Penang --> finally reached Penang around 9.30pm - took the rental car, and drove back to Nibong Tebal subsequently (reached home around 11pm).
TRIP CURTAILED because of unforseen circumstances. I flew back, while the others (CK, CJ and my wife) stayed back for the rest of the trip in Tibet...In the end, I missed out 5 days of travel to the outskirt of Tibet.
Nevertheless, I managed to visit the highlights of the TIBET trip - 青藏铁路 Tibetan Train, Potala palace. (in addition to the three heavily recommended tourist spots in Xining).
Missed some other sceneries beyond Lhasa - the glaciers, lakes and snow-capped moutains.
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| Glacier |
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| Lake |
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| Mountains |
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| Lake |
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| Base camp |
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| Sunrise at 珠峰 Base camp |
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| Lake |
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Will I make another trip to Tibet? - probably not....
