American traveler Paul Theroux once prophesized that the Kunlun Range was an insurmountable obstacle, "a guarantee that a railway will never get to Lhasa". Now, this guarantee has been forgotten since trains have finally come to the "Roof of the World".As we prepared to board train K917 from Golmud to Lhasa, my eyes were drawn to the wine-red uniform worn by ticket collector Qu Xiaoyong as well as to the designs on his collar.
"In order to better illustrate Tibetan culture to our passengers, the clothes we wear have been dyed with the red ochre used by Lamas and the designs are made by Duixiu (barbola, a special Tibetan embroidery, especially found in the Ta'er Monastery)," said Qu, punching tickets on the platform.
At precisely 7.22 AM, the train steamed out of Golmud Station (2780m), the starting point of Qinghai-Tibet Railway's second section, and began its trek southwards.
After introducing himself in Chinese, Tibetan and English, Qu served hot water to the passengers. Originally hailing from Shaanxi, 30-year-old Qu used to work on the Beijing-Xining route. Earlier this year, he was selected as one of the attendants for the Qinghai-Tibet railroad, the first railway connecting the Tibet Autonomous Region with other parts of China.
"To qualify as an attendant on this train, one must be under 35 and in good physical condition. Before beginning to work here, we also received a one-month crash course in English and Tibetan." Said Qu. "However, I am still reluctant to use my Tibetan since I learnt the Amdo dialect, which people from other areas of Tibet such as Lhasa and Damxung have trouble understanding." he added, blushing as he smiled.
Running at a cruising speed of 100 kph, our train soon reached an altitude of 3000m, at which point the ceiling-mounted air conditioners released jets of fresh air, with an oxygen content of 20 percent.
