Have spent 2 days here in Xining. When we checked in they put us on the 8th floor and it was so hot over 25C so asked for a room change after 2 hours to a cooler room, relocated to the 3rd floor unfortunately not as big as the 8th floor room but Penny is happy with it, so that counts. Penny is still not well coughing a lot. I go walk abouts and we are just part of a big city. I get a few things and head back to the hotel.
Next day Penny is feeling a little better not coughing as much, she needs to get better for when we arrive up in Lhasa which is 3,656 m or 11,995 feet above sea level. Here in Xining it is 2,275 m or 7,464 feet. In the UK Ben Nevis is the highest point 1,345 m 4,409 feet. We will be going up to Base Camp Mt Everest Tibet side 5,150 m 16,900 feet. The 3 days here in Xining will help with acclimatising to the altitude much better than flying direct from sea level. It snowed during the night and it was -18 C a bit slippery when I went walk abouts later on. We decide to dine in the hotel which shows pictures of dishes better than we have seen or experienced. We both don’t rate the Chinese food so far. Penny had a steak which was not good, she enjoyed the salad part. I had some shrimps deep fried and a beef noodle dish was okay followed by a big salad great to have some greens again. We both ordered freshly squeezed mango juice which would have been nice but they boiled it and presented it to us hot. After dinner Penny had a massage in one of those chairs which she enjoyed.
Today Penny is feeling much better we both sleeping a lot which is good. There is no snow and we decide to find a park area close to the hotel. We found the Peoples Park what a beautiful location located in the city. The lake is frozen people riding various types of toys on it and another area they are doing speed skating. There were pagodas dotted around the park colourfully painted and we sat in one for over 30 minutes it was so relaxing. Setting like this would be ideal in other countries the Chinese I admit do this so well and there is no signs of vandalism. Stop in the shop next to the hotel and stock up on some comfort food for the train ride to Lhasa tomorrow. Back to our room Penny feeling really tired the outing in the park has done her well.We both have a 2 hour siesta feel good for it. Off to the restaurant later just have a salad they can’t fuck that up and have a sprite to drink cold I hope.
Our train departs after 14:00 tomorrow and takes 22 hours to Lhasa hopefully we will get some good photos on the way. I will try and buy train tickets for Feb from Chongqing to Guilin all our other tickets were purchased through travel agents.
Maurice's Travel 