From Xining to Yushu

Yesterday we took a 20hour bus ride from Xining to Yushu. The bus was a sleeper bus (Jo had already taken one in India but it was my first time) - it was quite comfortable,we had one window seat and one middle so we keep switching back and forth everytime Jo wanted to stick his head out the window to take pictures. The first 10 hours were great, the scenary was amazing with all the yaks, tibetan nomads and beautiful mountains and lakes. We did feel the effects of the altitudes (at one point we were above 4000m). However, things went downhill when we stopped at 22:00 to have dinner. There were some Han Chinese on the bus who invited us to have dinner with them.We had already ordered somethingbut we joined them anyways. Then of course followed the inevitable exchange of conversation. Also I noticed that between Tibetan and Han they dont mix much. We had a pretty normal meal but somehowit didnt hit our stomachs well so I spent the remaining 5 1/2 hours cringing on the bus and I was sick at least 4 times (good thing I had the window seat!!!) I kept the window open all the time so this morning my face was completely red from the cold. Jo was sick as well but fortunately less than me.

We arrived in Yushu in the dead of the night and had to go around finding a hotel. This morning (well,afternoon actually because we had to catch up from the lack of sleep and food sickness) we had a look about town. Yushu is 97% Tibetan so people are actually dressed in Tibetan attire which was nice to see. Also it is a mountain town and completely surrounded. We are having trouble however trying to find a way out of the city.There are no more buses to Ganzi (which is on the way to Chengdu) on the day that we want so the only way is to get up very early to get the bus to Serchu (also on the way) but you cant buy tickets in advance so its really a matter of luck to find seats. We are still pondering whether to stay here one more day or move on down to"civilisation". The scenary is beautiful and the people are friendly but conversation is very hard and our guide book hasnt spent as much time researching this area as the others so we are a bit weary and ready to get back to where we can be understood and where we can buy train tickets. Not to mention that as much as I like Sichuan food you can get a bit tired of spicy food!!!

So,hopefully the next post will be a bit more optimistic!
Until then, Zaijian!
Love
Jo and Fil