The world’s highest train passes the world’s highest lake.

This train goes to the rooftop of the world.

Passengers on the 25-hour rail odyssey, mainly Chinese tourists who don’t require a special permit to visit Tibet, positioned their cameras against the windows at 7:45 this morning to capture the high point of the adventurous journey. Not one of the many low-altitude smokers onboard celebrated by lighting up on a train that is pressurized and provides regulated oxygen to compensate for the thinner air.

Everyone wanted a picture of the Tibetan mountain high.

Passengers are kept informed of the altitude throughout the trip.

The outside temperature this morning was near zero, it was raining/sleeting and passengers looked out onto steppes, permafrost and rocky, barren peaks. The downhill run to Lhasa featured grassland, grazing yaks, Tibetan herdsmen and snow-topped peaks.

5,072 meters above sea level at daybreak on July 13.

Snow, yaks and Tibetan herdsmen.

Passengers were allowed two opportunities to get off during the journey, including a five-minute break at one station this morning.

The Idiot, who had been told yesterday by a contemporary Confucius at the Kumbum Monastery in Xining that he would meet an interesting young woman on the journey, was perfunctorily escorted back to the train by a young female attendant during the brief stop.

“You will meet an interesting young woman on the way to Tibet,” predicted this contemporary Confucius.

The ‘interesting young woman’?

The Idiot and other passengers arriving in Lhasa this afternoon were greeted with a nearly new train station and sternly advised not to take any photos that included members of the Chinese military or police.

There are no Chinese military officers, policemen or other people in this photo of the Lhasa train station.

Text: Joel Stratte-McClure

Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure (6) and Martin Hofmann (3)