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The Harbin Ice Festival has been underway for a week now. Sadly, I have not been able to go this year but there are plenty of photos on the web to see of this year’s exhibits. The best collection of have found is here – from the Boston Big Picture site. My photo below is  few years out of date but still – enjoy.

The train to Lhasa can be taken from a number of cities in China. We took it from Xining in Qinghai province but it can be taken from Lanzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing and Guangzhou as well. Arguably the most prestigious train in China Railways fleet and passing through some of China’s grandest scenery this rail journey has become the preferred way to go to or from Lhasa. This makes competition for tickets intense and that combined with the need for a Tibet Travel Permit means booking well in advance is necessary.

Much of the route is over 4,000 meters in altitude but the train is comfortable with oxygen pumped into cabins meaning that the real effects of the altitude (and the train reaches over 5,000 meters at some points) are not felt unless you get out at the short and infrequent stops. We had a soft sleeper berth which was better than the usual soft sleeper cabin on Chinese trains in that the berths were slightly bigger than normal. The dining car food was above average for Chinese trains and the staff kept things clean and made an effort to communicate in English which we appreciated.

The scenery is, needless to say, spectacular – especially a few hours before Lhasa. We passed lakes including Qinghai Lake, as well as 7,000 meter glacier adorned peaks. On board information keeps you updated on altitude, speed and, at this time of year, the sub zero outside temperature. Inside the train it was warm, perhaps too warm sometimes, and that combined with the oxygen supply made looking out onto the high Tibetan plateau in early winter a slightly weird experience.

We reached Dunhuang by overnight train from Turfan. Exhausted we all slept well on the train. Our first day in Dunhuang was free to catch up on e-mails and relax and have a look around this pleasant oasis town. The second day we headed out to the Sand Dunes which are 6km outside of the city and were covered with snow – an unusual sight. To add to the weirdness there were camels thrown into the mix – not  a creature normally associated with snow. Later in the day we headed to the UNESCO recognised Buddhist Grottoes at Mogao the scope of which was breathtaking. We left Dunhuang that evening by train heading east to Jiayuguan where the next update will be from.

Over the weekend Beijing had its first snowfall this year and it is early (and possibly induced). Earliest for 22 years according to the South China Morning Post. Photos of the latest snowfall can be seen in the China Daily here. Also a slide show here from China.org

Despite the cold winters snowfall is not that common in Beijing with the weather being bright – well hazy – and extremely dry throughout the winter months. Photographing Beijing in the snow was never an easy thing. Firstly, as mentioned, snowfall is rare. Then, when it did snow, armies of street sweepers appeared almost immediately to start removing the snow. The emphasis is on removing – it literally disappeared in a matter of hours – a war against snow. So in a very short time much of the city looked completely snow free. Then, any snow remaining quickly lost it’s whiteness due to the usually dirty air becoming a horrible gray and providing an unwelcome remainder as to what you are breathing in!

So, the upshot is that in all my years in Beijing I only really caught a good untouched snowfall once – some photos of which are below – from way back in February 2006!