On the evening, on our way to the train we visit a famous Buddhist monastery in Xining. On the way there, we stop at a museum for Tibetan medical art Replica Ray Bans, that is a shopping area with a fantastic concept: First, praising of the great achievements of Tibet in the Traditional Chinese Medicine over the last 3217 years or so - then preparing visitors for the torments tourists are normally exposed at high altitudes - after that showing of an enormous amount of over-priced Tibetan Medicine for nearly every situation of normal and abnormal life in stalls that disconnect you from the exit - and at last seducing to the purchase of medication that you do not need anyway. At least Cheap Oakley, by buying you will get rid of the stupid feeling of being an outsider.
We do our share by buying an odd root, that in hot water looks like a piece of over-aged beef with bullet wounds. It is supposed to help fighting altitude sickness. What is altitude sickness? Judging after the taste, this root must be an incredibly good piece of medicine. Later, we find that the same stuff comes in form of pills and is easy to be everywhere - at a much lower price of course.
We sleep on the train - a bit. Unfortunately, I cannot sleep so well when my space is restricted to 70cm times 2m. The train runs almost entirely over 3000m altitude. In the four-bed sleeping compartment are Television, Radio and oxygen access for everyone. We feel quite good and we are in an excellent mood, because we will soon reach the highest altitude a train can get to. Slowly, we start feeling a bit strange. It feels like headache, which is however not like a normal headache you can kill with aspirin or ibuprofen.
Have just reached the altitude of Mt Blanc in the train. Wow. Now we are over 4900m. - in the train with oxygen in the cabin. Outside a few yaks, sheep and goats. From time to time we spot a tent, in which the yak herders probably spend their nights. It would not surprise me if the tent looked much larger from the inside than from the outside (Have you watched "Click" with Adam Sandler?). I guess the tent comes with plasma television and induction hob. Maybe not.
At the moment we are on a 1200km-long plane, ie despite the altitude no mountains to be seen. The UV radiation is so high that many Tibetans suffer blindness. For us, UV sunglasses and hat are strong requirements. The next stop will only be in 6 hours. We drink our own medicine against the high altitude, extracted from the root. This is probably for the elderly. We do not have a bigger problem up to now. Let's see.