Golmud

The only legal means of entering Tibet is by air. It is not, however, the only way. Occasionally young Americans or Europeans hitchhike rides on the road that leads from Golmud in Qinghai province over the Himalayas to Lhasa.

1985 June 9, Mark A. Cohen, “Tibet: Open to the World at Last”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Oct 2023

We arrived in Golmud, formerly Tibetan, now a Chinese town, a small oasis in a barren area, at about 7 A.M. The Golmud Hotel dorm ($5) housed only a young Japanese man who had worked as a cook's assistant in Milan. He was going home to Tokyo to open an Italian restaurant. I went over to the office of CITS, the Chinese equivalent of the old Russian Intourist, and booked the last leg of my trip, from Golmud to Lhasa by bus, for $160, including a three-day tour, a low-end hotel and the necessary Tibetan permit.

1997 October 19, Karen Swenson, “Approaches To Tibet”, in The New York Times (Travel section), New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 May 2009

We had left the frosty campsite at Koko Nor after a hearty Sherpa breakfast of hot porridge and fried eggs, the car heater was pumping out warmth, we had slept well, and we were a few minutes into our drive to Golmud, 580 kilometres further towards Tibet.

1998, Rosie Thomas, Border Crossing, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 111

'Social development' could obliquely mean a new Chinese invasion - a massive influx of Chinese settlers, drawn by financial incentives and tax breaks. There are precedents here: you do not have to look any further than Golmud itself. Fifty years ago, Golmud was open steppe with nomad herders. After the railway reached town, immigrants from eastern China arrived in droves, leading to the present population of several hundred thousand and a sprawling town.

2006 August, Michael Buckley, Tibet (Bradt Travel Guides), 2nd edition, Globe Pequot Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 17