Are we there yet? - 2 October 2008

They turned the oxygen on during the night.  Since there's such an altitude difference between Beijing and Lhasa they pump oxygen into the cars to help you acclimatize.  Since I woke up every couple of hours I heard when it came on.

Any novelty of the train experience has worn off.  Mil warned us all to get snacks before we got on the train, so most of us grabbed a Noodle Bucket, as modeled below:

They're better than the Ramen I ate in college, but a cut below restaurant noodles.  Somehow Jennifer managed to mace herself with the sauce packet from her noodle bucket.  I think I managed to express some sympathy before laughing, but probably too much of the latter and not enough of the former.

As you might expect, we're ready to be off of the train, and ready for more food variety.  The dining car has basically 3 vegetables and 3 meats, and there are only so many ways to combine them.  Plus, as the trip goes on they're running out of things.

I did, however, add another thing to my life's to-do list:  Race against the sausages from the Milwaukee Brewers.  Kirk, who is from Chicago, told us about this race, and that he beat one of the sausages.  I'll admit that I'm intimidated, but assuming it's in July 2009 I intend to go give it a shot.  If you're curious, here's the link on the Brewers site.