Boarding August 18's flight TV9870 from Mianyang (MIG) to Lhasa (LXA) was delayed by two hours. We finally took off Mianyang at 8:40pm, but as the flight approached and began descending near Lhasa, we are told by the crew that they had decided to return us to Chengdu (CTU) for safety reasons due to bad weather. Chengdu is only slightly over 100 km away from Mianyang and we spent more than 4 hours for MIG-CTU. The flight arrived Chengdu after midnight. We were soon transferred to a hotel. Just before 4am, we were waken up and told that we are reassigned to a new flight to Lhasa. The flight number was TV980X, scheduled at 6:30am. This flight went smoothly and we were in Lhasa just after 8am on August 19.
Lhasa to Shigatse Railway opened on August 15, 2014. The first passenger train departed from Lhasa at 9am August 16. We were interested to experience this new rail line. So we booked a train ticket and headed to Shigatse on August 22. Shigatse is Tibet's second largest city after Lhasa. One way trip took just below 3 hours by train. The next morning on the return trip, we managed to find a car to Gyantse for CN¥35, somewhere between Shigatse and Lhasa. From Gyantse we find a taxi to Nagarze. The taxi driver refused to take us beyond Nagarze unless we pay three times the price, or CN¥1500. Nagarze is on the bank of Yamdrok Lake, one of the three holy lakes in Tibet. We decided to leave the taxi and walk along the lake. We walked a few km before picked up by a lonely self-driving tourists from Inner Mongolia. He took us to Qushui for free. Qushui Railway Station was opened a week earlier along with the new rail line. The train trip from Qushui takes 49 minutes to Lhasa.
Tomorrow we are going to take Tibet Airlines flight TV9807 from Lhasa to Ngari Gunsa Airport, which is world's 4th highest airport, lies 4274 meters above sea level. Report will come later.
Lhasa to Shigatse Railway opened on August 15, 2014. The first passenger train departed from Lhasa at 9am August 16. We were interested to experience this new rail line. So we booked a train ticket and headed to Shigatse on August 22. Shigatse is Tibet's second largest city after Lhasa. One way trip took just below 3 hours by train. The next morning on the return trip, we managed to find a car to Gyantse for CN¥35, somewhere between Shigatse and Lhasa. From Gyantse we find a taxi to Nagarze. The taxi driver refused to take us beyond Nagarze unless we pay three times the price, or CN¥1500. Nagarze is on the bank of Yamdrok Lake, one of the three holy lakes in Tibet. We decided to leave the taxi and walk along the lake. We walked a few km before picked up by a lonely self-driving tourists from Inner Mongolia. He took us to Qushui for free. Qushui Railway Station was opened a week earlier along with the new rail line. The train trip from Qushui takes 49 minutes to Lhasa.
Tomorrow we are going to take Tibet Airlines flight TV9807 from Lhasa to Ngari Gunsa Airport, which is world's 4th highest airport, lies 4274 meters above sea level. Report will come later.