Expert: 'Step-by-step travel' to Tibet will prevent from plateau illness

by:Sophia Zhang

As the hot season of Tibetan tour is coming, more and more tourists will enter Tibet by train. Wu Tianyi, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering reminds tourists not to go to Tibet directly but enter Tibet step by step, which will effectively prevent from the plateau illness.
Wu Tianyi has focused on the plateau illness study for a long period. He says the 22-hour train journey from 3,000 to 5,000 meters is a limitation of oxygen-lack for tourists. "Plateau illness responses occur at two places, from Golmud to Kunlun Mountain and after passing the Kunlun Mountain. So tourists may have danger of plateau illness on their journey to Lhasa from Golmud," said Wu.

"Aged tourists can stay in 2,200-meter Xining for one or two days to adapt to the plateau environment and then go to Golmud at 2,800 meters for another one or two days. Tourists then can decide when go to Lhasa. If one feels uncomfortable in Xining and Golmud, we suggest him not to visit Lhasa," said Wu Tianyi.

He also reminds that tourists should have medical checkup before visiting Tibet. Those who suffer from heart and lung diseases, fever, catching a cold or tiredness should delay or cancel their plan to visit Tibet.

From the operation of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway on July 1, 2006 to the end of this February, over 1.66 million tourists had visited Tibet and Qinghai by train.