The high altitude is detectable: some airtight wrapped cookie packs explode. We have our altimeter: A bottle - tightly closed at 4900m - is getting "stiff" as we approach the maximum elevation of 5070m. At the moment, the bottle looks wrinkled, as we return to below 4200 meters.
We pass 5075m. The highest point accessible by train. A great feeling, but neither land nor humans and animals seem to share our excitement. Outside, there is no snow and the water looks rather watery - no ice. Yaks, sheep or goats do not display signs of enthusiasm. Also, the people - mostly shepherds - are not really affected by the feat of engineering.
Have now been more than 8 hours over 4000m with around 100 km/h on the train track. The area is huge! Slowly we feel the lack of air! Beside us a little giant. This should probably be more than 6000m. However Cheap Ray Bans, it does not feel so much because we are already at 4000m. Interestingly, there is almost no snow and it looks hot outside. At a station with an unutterable Chinese name we go outside for fresh air. Fresh yes, but air? We hope that we will somehow get used to the altitude. There are a lot of yaks outside and none of them wears an oxygen mask. But it is likely that the yaks feed from the said root. So we copy them and drink even more of our brew. Tastes shitty, so it should have a good effect.
After 24 hours on the train we meet in an ultramodern railway station in Lhasa. Unfortunately, there are still some aftereffects of last year's riots to be felt. There are a lot of army around the station. Buses are not allowed to drive up to the arrival hall, resulting in a walk of 10min for each tourist. Normally, no problem. However, there is a little problem if the tourists come from a train with oxygen supply and suddenly experience the "normal" low-oxygen air in Lhasa at 3650m altitude and have to carry their own suitcases. Perhaps this is a test of the qualities of tourists. Our tour group seems to pass the test.