We hit another milestone today for the three of us: Claire's first train ride and the longest train ride for all of us. They changed the engine after the Pass and high altitude and now the train is running on electricity.
We are back to more normal altitudes. Overnight they pumped in oxygen to our berth so that we could breathe more comfortably. This came with the warning not to smoke. Even if it was honored at the time, now that the oxygen is off, we have wafts of cigarette smoke.
The scenery today reminded us of the moon and Mars in terms of desolation. Consequently we were able to do a little reading and card playing.
China clearly is in a building mode - we saw major construction everywhere. We saw mining for miles. We could barely take a picture without a telephone or electrical pole in it. Originally, we referred to the picture obstacles as "perspective" but now we have lost that perspective with the number of poles in pictures.
Planting crops also is in progress. Here, however, planting all seems to be done by hand.
So far, China does not seem to have quite the scenic beauty of Tibet. We should be in Beijing tomorrow morning and beginning a whirlwind tour of the city before heading home.
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