Tibet was a mysterious land. In the fifties of the twentieth century, Qinghai-Tibet Highway was constructed, starting from Xi’ning of Qinghai Province in the east to Lhasa of Tibet in the west. The construction was begun in 1950 and was open to traffic in 1954, whose overall length is 1937 meters. Taking a coach to Lhasa was a story of Arabian Nights and you had to fly there if you want to pay a visit to Tibet. Qinghai-Tibet Railway began to be constructed in 1958 and Phase I Project was from Xi’ning in the east and to Golmud in the west, which took 26 years and was completed in May of 1984. Phase II project from Golmud in the east to Lhasa in the west began on June 29, 2001 and five years later on July 1 of 2006, the whole line opened to traffic. The overall length of Qinghai-Tibet Railway is 1956 kilometers, almost the same as that of the Highway.
The railway has made ordinary people turn their dream to travel to Tibet into reality. From Xuzhou, you can take the train to Tibet, which runs between Shanghai and Lhasa and it will take you about 41 hours, soft sleeper ¥1144 and Hard berth ¥720, which excited us to generate the idea to travel to Tibet. However, Tibet is plateau section, the region you’ll get to is 3000m to 5000m above sea level. After all we were close to the age of 70, we were afraid we would suffer from altitude sickness. In Sept. 2009 we were touring in Huanglong Scenic Area of Jiuzhaigou, and the colorful Wucai Pond is the highest location where the altitude is 3900 m. The tour guide introduced a kind of liquid and told us to drink it to prevent the altitude sickness, outright lies, leading us to spend, wasting money. Almost all tourists on the colorful Wucai Pond had not any adverse reaction including ourselves. So we drew a bold conclusion that we could go to Lhasa without any hesitation. If we waited, we would grow older and the courage would become smaller and smaller.
… On the evening at 11 of Sept. 11, 2011, we left home for the railway station. At 1:30 next morning we got on the train to Lhasa. We didn’t get there until 10 p.m. of 13, lasting 42 hours. We went through several depopulated zones. Inside Qinghai Province there was a large region covered with white sands, as if we were driving on the moon. On Sept. 14 we began to tour in Lhasa, paid a visit to Jokhang Temple, climb the Potala Palace and look down whole Lhasa from above. The mountains around Lhasa were bald, and the city lied among lofty ridges and towering mountains.
The City of Lhasha
At six in the morning of Sept. 15 we directly started for Nyingchi Prefecture and went through Mira mountain pass, whose altitude is above 5000 m. The coach stopped and we got off, feeling such a high altitude. Again it was OK and we didn’t have any adverse reaction, making us completely relaxed.
Altitude of Mira mountain pass is above 5000 m
In the afternoon we visited Basongcuo Scenic Area, which was the only 5A-level tourist scenic spot for natural scenery. Basongcuo Scenic Area is 120 km from 8-1 town (Aug. 1 town), and 360 km from Lhasa. It was 18 km long and the area of the lake has 27 square kilometers, whose deepest spot was 120 meters. Sea face altitude was 3480 meters, the lowest lake altitude among all lakes in Tibet (altitude of Namtso lake 4730 m; that of Yamdrok Lake 4440 m). Within the scenic spot, the forest was dense, oxygen content was higher than that of other lakes, which is impossible to cause any adverse reaction.
… Snow mountains, lakes, forests, falls, pastures, cultural relics and historic sites, and famous historic temples have made the scenery particular, which change according to the different seasons. In addition, all kinds of wild valuable and rare plants come together, so called heaven on earth, with the title of “Small Switzerland”.
blue sky, white clouds and green hills and blue waters
At also six in the morning of Sept. 16, we got on the coach to the grand canyon beauty spot of the Yarlung Zangbo River. The total price of the ticket was ¥640, the yacht fee only being ¥250. We first sat in the yacht and then went ashore to the second highest peak, Namjagbarwa.
yacht on the Yarlung Zangbo River
the second highest peak, Namjagbarwa
In the early morning of Sept. 17 we arrived at the castle of Gesang M Wang, who used to be the ancient hero of Tibet, and nowadays people still think of and sing the praises of him.
Castle of Gesang M Wang
At 11:25 p.m. of Sept. 18, the train left Lhasa Railway Station and we arrived at Miaogou of He’nan Province the train had to stop because of the landslide caused by flood in the front. We waited in the train for six hours before it began to move again. On schedule, we should get to Xuzhou at 5:30 of Sept. 20, we arrived at 2 p.m. instead.
… Chicago time: at 23:48 of May 18 of 2011, Beijing time: at 12:48 of May 19, our granddaughter Angie M Song was born. We have two sons and on Aug 23 of 2002 our grandson Wuyang Song came into being, all of whom are male. Now a granddaughter came we got very excited. Looking at the photo we received, we feel that she will become a beautiful girl when she grows up. We are anxious to go to America to undertake the obligation to look after her although the old age limits our good wish.
On Oct. 25 of 2011, we took the train and arrived at Beijing West Station in the next morning. Our classmate in Nanjing University, Fengying Hou waited on the platform for us and helped us to the Airport Bus. At 4 p.m. we took off from the Capital Airport and arrived at O’Hare Airport of Chicago also at 4 p.m of Oct. 26 local time.
On Nov. 14, 2011, I created a sentence bank folder, collecting example sentences for the book “brand new English grammar”, which would continue about two years, and then I would spend two years writing the grammar book, planning to complete it at the end of 2014 and trying to publish in 2015, in memory of my 70 years’ age. I tried to ease my mind and stay calm, not anxious for success, patient to accumulate drops. I estimated that there would be a lot of difficulties and twists and turns in finding a publishing house. I prepared for the worst, and even if it would not be able to be published, I would try to complete it.
When I left for the United States I would to bring the giant Quirk’s work with me, but it was too heavy. I found its scanned pdf file, downloaded it into my notebook PC. However, I worried that it would not be convenient for my use. After looking at it carefully I found that it was OK. I made a general catalogue and it became much easier to find what I wanted in the computer than in the paper book. What made me most excited was that I could copy what I needed. After I pasted what I copied I found some mistake, which was not matter, and I could correct them. I could engage in this project now.
Do you want to know the process and the fate of “Brand New English Grammar”? You’ll wait long and I keep it in mind to narrate it in later sections.
Oct. 29, 2018 Fenghuayuan Xuzhou
Proofreading on Jan 5 2019 Fenghuayuan Xuzhou
Uploading on Aug. 2023 in Xuzhou
