Our flight from Beijing to Lhasa was early, way too early. Though sleepy, I could hardly contain my excitement to visit Lhasa. The Air China plane was pretty new, about half of the passengers were foreign looking. The airline food was not great, but we were too sleepy to worry about it. I woke up about half way through the flight. This is the view of the Tibetan/Qingzang Plateau (I think) from the plane:
The Lhasa airport was built along the famous Yaluzangbu River. The river is sandwiched on both side by hill (relatively speaking, this is all pretty high mountain). It was quite a view from the plane. The river appears yellow from the plane, like sand water. Though Levi's research indicated that landing could be rough, our landing was smooth.
Our guide was already at the airport waiting for us, although one of our luggage did not make it to the plane, so it took us awhile to take care of the paper work. Air China delivered the luggage to the city which is one hour away from the airport the next day as promised. The Lhasa airport was fairly modern, though not very busy. The flights appeared to mostly come from Chengdu, Beijing, and Yunnan.
Upon arrival, I did not feel the effect of high altitude sickness (AMS), but I would soon find out that AMS is real and very uncomfortable. We asked our guide if we need to get oxygen or medicine, he suggested to get the items only when needed. The picture on the left is an ad in the airport for AMS medicine.
The drive from the airport to Lhasa downtown is about an hour. The route first followed Yaluzangbu River, then Lhasa river.
Yaluzangbu River up close.
Lhasa River
Field along the road
Tibetan houses. Notice the colorful flag. Almost every house has this. It is for luck according to my guide.
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