SKYTRAIN TO LHASA

Beijing is dominated by the Forbidden City, China’s Imperial Palace for nearly 500 years, where generations of terrestrial emperors lived cloistered lives, surrounded by mystery and intrigue, ceremony and ritual. No one could enter or leave the palace without the emperor's permission.
Four thousand km to the west was Lhasa, the unvisited capital of Tibet, the Forbidden Kingdom, enveloped in the the snowy heights of Kun Lun and Himalayan ranges, ruled by the monk-emperors, the Dalai Lamas, and their army of maroon-robed monks who chased away outsiders trying to trespass the roof of the world. 
Over the years, the closed gates of the Forbidden City and the Forbidden Kingdom have been wrenched open, the ground shaking under the feet of stampeding tourists who flood their ancient buildings to examine the wilderness of paintings, statues, ceramics, bronzeware, remains of dried-up lamas and other curiousities of every description and every age. 
In July of 2006, a spanking new train, the world’s highest railway, speeding from Beijing to Lhasa in 48 hours, opened the floodgates, transporting a deluge of tourists to the holy land. Celebrated explorer, Akhil Bakshi, describes the journey.

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