Train to Golmud

I wake up far earlier than I'd wanted to and take a combination of buses to the train station to buy a ticket to Golmud.

Lhasa Train Station.

I'm told off by the military for taking a shortcut through the car park and instead have to go around it, past the two police checking ID (they wave me through) to get inside.

I find a line to queue up in (not the best service line, or the communist party members line) and after half an hour's wait, I'm second in line. At this point, the woman at the counter decides she's had enough working for the morning and closes the counter, hooray for Chinese customer service.

I eventually buy a sleeper ticket for the fifteen hour trip and figure it'll be a great chance to catch up on lost sleep.

The view from the window.

Instead of sleeping, I spend the trip gazing out the window and writing up my Tibetan travels.

I arrive in Golmud safely and have successfully spent twelve days in Tibet, illegally and without a permit and made it out without being fined, arrested or blacklisted from the country. On a return trip to Tibet, I'll make sure to make the trip from Lhasa to Kashgar via Ali and Mt. Kailash.