Tibet

18 July 2008
Zhongdian/Lhasa, China
                At 7am we waited outside for a driver/handler to pick us up.  A few minutes later he arrived in a van.  Then he hailed a cab and loaded us up in it and paid the driver.  We were a bit confused why we weren’t riding in the van, but we were getting to the airport.
                Once the cab dropped us off at the airport we were greeted by another traveler who was in the van with the driver/handler.  He introduced himself as Rob from Canada.  When the driver/handler was out of ear shot Rob says, “The driver said not to tell you that I don’t have a guide.”  We found it interesting that the driver/handler would trust a fellow traveler not to divulge such information.  We thought this was most fascinating because we were told that we HAD to have guide everyday in Lhasa along with a number of other things.  We HAD to be picked up at the airport, lodging booked through the tour agency, and the return train ticket booked through the tour agency.  Rob booked through the same company and didn’t have any of these.  We were not too happy, but glad we had found a traveler we could trust.
                Inside the airport the driver/handler had us wait and he ran around to various people to allow us to check in.  At one point he was talking to a lady at the check in counter and she was shaking her head.  He made a call on his cell phone and handed it to her and then she let us check in.  Although we couldn’t say for sure, we are pretty sure the driver/handler was greasing a few palms to get us on the plane.
                The security check was a little more thorough than usual but we chalked it up as China trying to make sure we weren’t going to stage big “Free Tibet” protest.   Thankfully the plane was about three quarters full.  The three of us were all seated in the same row.
                About 30 minutes after takeoff we began flying over the Himalayas.  They were absolutely breath taking.  We took a number of photos from the airplane window that turned out pretty decent.
                After we landed we gathered up our stuff and Doug found our guide for the next 5 days (who shall remain nameless because he told us some things that are a bit sensitive).  Rob didn’t have any transportation previously arranged so we told our guide we had one extra for the ride.  The only thing that concerned our guide is that he brought scarves for us (but only two).
                The ride was beautiful and we learned a few things from our guide.  Thankfully he was Tibetan (we were worried we would have a Chinese “chaperone”) and he was being very honest with us.  Doug asked if the guide, if he had seen the Olympic torch when it had come through Lhasa?  He said no and that “Only certain people could go watch it” (read: because he was Tibetan).  On the way to Lhasa we stopped at a big Buddha carved in the side of rock.  The guide explained today was “incense day” and that Tibetans would burn lots of incense and put up prayer flags.  On top of the rock (about a 100 feet up) a Tibetan threw a fresh string of prayer flags down to his buddies on the ground.  Our guide explained that each color of the prayer flag is for something different.  Red is for fire, green for water, blue for sky, white for clouds and yellow for earth.  He also said that higher the prayer flags the more meaningful.  He also explained to us what the number of scarves (like the ones we had just received) on the side of the stone Buddha meant.  He said Tibetans would put a rock in the scarves and throw them up as high as possible…the higher, the better.
                The car arrived at the hotel and we went to check in.  Our guide checked on possibly getting Rob a room there, but the room would be much more expensive because it wasn’t booked through the same tour as us.  We exchanged info with Rob and he took off to find a more budget accommodation.  While the staff was sorting out our room we saw our “mythical” Tibetan Travel Permit.  Our guide book said most people never see it.
                Our room was nice, it was a three star hotel so it had a nice bed, real shower (the toilet wasn’t underneath the shower head), towels, AC/heating, mini bar and TV…the whole bit.  Our guide told us to be careful while we were out in town, don’t take any photos of the army personnel (who were everywhere…and we did get one photo) and don’t go in any temples/monasteries without him.
                We walked to the corner and saw four army personnel guarding the intersection.  Down the street was the Jokhang temple.  Our guide recommended a restaurant called the “Lhasa Kitchen.”  The food was decent enough, but we were anxious to get out and see the town.  Around the temple were rows of street vendors selling all the usual stuff but also prayer flags, Tibetan jewelry and other odds and ends.  We did a lap around the vendors stopping at one to look at postcards.  The guy tried to sell us 11 postcards for 120 yuan (nearly $18 USD).  Later we came across a bookstore that was selling books of 10 postcards for 10 yuan (and brand new ones to boot).
                It was interesting to walk around Lhasa.  We had both seen Seven Years in Tibet, so we didn’t quite know what to expect when we arrived.  The town had definitely different than depicted in the movie.  The town is essentially in two sections, new town and old town.  New town is filled with lots of cement high rises and old town is smaller and quaint.  Unfortunately old town is surrounded by new town.
                Back at our hotel we inquired about laundry.  A guy working the front desk took us down the street to a place and we dropped off our clothes.  They went through and counted every article of clothing.  Then they told us that every article cost 3 yuan (close to $0.50 cents).  This seemed a little crazy considering socks cost as much to clean as a pair of jeans.  We decided to pull all of our underwear and socks out and do it ourselves.  Back at the hotel Anna started scrubbing our clothes while Doug rung them out and hung them on a clothes line and on hangers.
                In the evening we went out to look at the famous “Potala Palace.”  This was the winter residence of the Dali Lama.  There was a large plaza right across the street from the palace.  The Chinese government put some sort of monument opposite of the palace, but nobody was taking any photos of that.  They also put a huge flag pole with Chinese flag in front essentially guaranteeing that any photos of the former center of Tibetan politics/religion would have a Chinese flag in front of it.  We did our best of find angles excluding the flag (but ultimately we can just photoshop the flag out).
                On the way back to the room we came across a restaurant with a bunch of tables outside.  We sat down and ordered.  While we were eating we got a number of curious looks.  Whenever we got a look we would say “way way,” which is an informal Tibetan greeting (read: hi).  This drew a number of smiles.

19 July 2008
Lhasa, China
                 Our phone rang around 7:30.  The front desk called to tell us breakfast was ready.  We got dressed and found the restaurant.  They had bunch of buffet chafing dishes out and only half of them had food in them.  Anna poured some juice and said, “It’s warm.”  When Doug picked up the glass he was shocked.  It wasn’t warm…it was hot, like soup.  They brought out a couple fried eggs to add to the toast we had made.
                Our guide met us at 9:30 in the lobby.  We headed off to go see the Jokhang temple.  On the way our guide began speaking with another guide who was leading a couple girls.  We got to talking with the girls and it turned out they were from Columbia.
                At the temple our guide explained more of the prayers and the form of praying.  Tibetans mix their prayer with exercise.  One example: they put their hands together in traditional prayer posture.  With their hands together they touch their head in prayer for the mind, then they touch their mouths in prayer for speech, then their chest in prayer for the body, then they kneel and put their hands on pads and slide forward until they are lying flat and they touch their forehead to the ground before standing back up.  They do this over and over.  Some will even do this as a form of travel from their village miles away all the way to Lhasa (we would see this the next day).
                Inside the temple was a small court yard with one of the Dali Lama’s former living areas looking over it.  After we paid our entrance fee and went inside, our guide took time to explain many of the different Buddha’s, Dali Lamas and various customs.  The place was flooded with Chinese tour groups and Tibetans in prayer.
                We went to the roof top next to get some photos of the court yard outside.  While we were up there Doug saw a small patrol of Chinese military personnel marching through the court yard.  Despite being told specifically not to photo them…Doug took a photo of them (Lhasa 16).  Before we went downstairs our guide under this breath said, “Undercover cop,” and gestured to a guy hanging out on the roof top.   It was nice to know that our guide was keeping an eye out for us.
                Outside of the palace our guide said he would like to take us to a couple stores that friends of his ran.  He also cut right to chase and told us that he would receive a small commission if we bought anything.  The first store we got a couple t-shirts but we were more impressed by the Tibetan silk rugs.  Doug bought an Iranian rug while in Qatar during one of his deployments, and these Tibetan rugs were just as nice.  The asking price for the rug we liked the best was over $3,000 USD…we passed.
                After doing a little shopping with our guide we went to lunch.  We picked a touristy restaurant, Anna had some good soup and Doug’s chicken sandwich wasn’t half bad.  Outside we meet a few other tourists and began talking about Tibet.  We talked about the military personnel and then they clued us in on the video cameras that were on nearly every street corner.  This was a little disconcerting.
                Next we headed to the post office to send off our post cards.  On the way back to the square to meet up with our guide, it began to rain.  We were running late to meet back up so Anna went to the hotel for jackets and Doug went to meet the guide.  By the time Anna showed up it was a full downpour.  After it let up we headed off to a Buddhist nunnery.  We got some photos of them in prayer and then headed down to a cave.  Inside was a nun who was praying.  She spoke a little English and wanted to know about us.  Doug showed our route on a map in our guide book.  She seemed quite impressed.  She had a English vocabulary book.  Written next to the English word was the word in Tibetan.  Shortly she signaled for Anna to sit down next to her.  The nun pulled out the book and had Anna help her with her pronunciation.  For about 15 minutes Anna helped the nun and was probably one of the highlights of the trip so far for her.
                After visiting the nunnery we parted with our guide and headed back to the room.  We had arranged to meet up with Rob (from Canada) for dinner.  We meet him in the lobby and headed to a roof top restaurant overlooking the Jokhang temple.  Just after we sat down Rob decided to invite a solo traveler to join us for dinner.  He was from Holland and had just traveled to China via the Trans-Mongolian railway. He had also traveled to Lhasa by train, so we were very interested to hear about the train trip.  He was also about to go compete in a world champion sailing completion back in Holland.  It started to rain pretty hard so we retreated downstairs.  While we were there Anna invited another solo traveler to join us.  He was from Prague and was a journalist.  We spent the next hour or so drinking beers and trading travel stories before heading back to the hotel.

20 July 2008
Lhasa/Nam Tso Lake
                At 9:30 we meet our guide downstairs.  We loaded our stuff up in the Land Cruiser and headed off to Nam Tso lake.  On the way we stopped at a police station on the side of the road.  Our driver jumped out and ran into the station and then came back.  Back on the road for about 30 minutes, and we stopped at another police station and once again the driver ran out and came right back.  We asked what was going on.  Our guide said that at every police station they record the time you arrived to see how fast you were driving.  Later while driving, we would slow down to make the check point “on time” and not be speeding.
                We arrived at the ticket booth for the Nam Tso lake and our guide said we would have to pay the 80 Yuan admission price (160 Yuan total).  When we booked our tour we were told that the lake admission price was included so we told the guide this.  He was a bit troubled and tried to make a phone call to confirm it.  Unable to reach anybody with any info he dipped into his own pocket and paid the admission but said when we got back to Lhasa we would have to call the tour agency to clarify who had to pay.  This whole admission thing sort of put a damper on the mood, nobody likes arguing over money.  We were a bit mad at our guide first then realized the people we should really be upset with was the tour agency we booked the tour with.  They told us a lot of things that weren’t true and this admission fee was the nail in the coffin. 
                Nam Tso lake was gorgeous, but unfortunately the weather was a bit drizzly.  We braved the foul weather and headed up the largest of two hills to get an aerial view of the lake.  Nam Tso lake is over 15,000 feet high so we were a bit exhausted going up the hill.  On the way back down the drizzle got a little heavier so we went back into our room to hide for a bit.
                After a short nap we found that the weather had cleared.  We grabbed the camera and headed out.  The smaller hill was on a peninsula that went into the lake.  We decided to walk around it and grabbed some great photos on the way.  There were yaks, prayer flags, carved stones and a beautiful sunset to get photos of.
                Back into the living area of Nam Tso, we grabbed the instant noodles we bought back in Lhasa, and brought them to a common area.  The people there boiled some water for us and we filled up our instant noodle cups.  Doug’s instant noodles were inedible.  There is a strange type of spicy seasoning in China that makes your lips tingle…and this cup of noodles was loaded with it.  Thankfully Anna’s were good.  We threw some crackers we bought in the noodles as well and made it twice as good.
                After eating we went back to the room for the night.

21 July 2008
Nam Tso Lake/ Lhasa, Tibet
                The both of us woke up around 7:30, we got dressed and went outside.  The day was beautifully clear.  We walked over to the second hill, and began climbing.  The climbing went very slowly.  Yesterday hiking up the other hill was slightly easier.  But we had just woken up, and our muscles needed some time to warm up.  We eventually reached the top, stopping along the way to take photos.  This hill top did not have as good of views as the other, but it was still nice to be overlooking the lake.  We headed back down the hill.
                Arriving back at the room, we packed up our things.  Our guide said he would pay for our breakfast.  This was very nice of him.  The breakfast consisted of a tortilla and a fried egg for each of us.  The food was decent enough.  After breakfast we all loaded up into the truck, and left the beautiful lake.
                On the way out we must have passed at least 20 tour buses coming into the lake.  We had left just in time.  On the way back we saw some guys standing next to a jeep waving for help.   We asked the driver if he could stop, and help the guys.  It turned out they had a flat tire, and needed a jack to assist with the tire changing.  The driver took the jack from his truck.  We waited until the tire was changed, and left.
                The drive back to Lhasa was much shorter than the drive out to the lake the day before.  We arrived back in town around 2:00pm.  The driver left, and the guide said he would see us the next day at 8:30 to go to the Potala Palace.  We checked back into the hotel, and put down our bags.  It was time to take showers.
                After taking showers, we needed to now call the Tibet Café, and sort out the entrance fee to Nam Tso lake.  Doug ended up downloading skype into one of the business centers computers.  He then plugged in the headset we had purchased a couple days earlier, and made the call.  The connection wasn’t as good as other calls through skype, but he was soon getting the conversation underway.  He had to repeat himself at least 5 times explaining we were told the entrance fee was included in the price of going to the lake.  The girl was denying what we were saying.  But then, Doug began saying, “You also told us we HAD to have a guide, you also told us we HAD to book our accommodation through you, you also told us we HAD to take a taxi from the airport, you also told us we HAD to pay for an agency to get our train tickets out of Lhasa.  We met another traveler that booked through Tibet Café and he didn’t have any of these,” after all of these things the girl said ok, you don’t have to pay the fee.  Doug ended up giving them our guides name and number before saying goodbye.
                It was time to eat.  The only thing we had eaten was half of a tortilla and a fried egg.  It was now after 3:00.  We ended up going to a restaurant the guide book recommended called Tashi 1.  Anna ordered a Bobi (traditional Tibetan food with a meat/vegetable stir fry on one plate, a couple tortillas, and a small bowl of homemade onion cream cheese), Doug ordered a bowl of tomato/onion/mushroom soup, and for dessert we shared a piece of cheesecake.  All of the food was very good. 
                We then decided to go walk around for a bit to get the food digesting.  During the walk Anna ended up buying a few necklace trinkets.  On the way back to the room we ran into our guide.  He had just picked up our train tickets.  This was good news.  Everything was finally falling into place.  He handed them over.  We also told him we had phoned the travel agency, and we didn’t have to pay the fee and he would get reimbursed for the fee.  Anna gave him the business card for the Tibetan Café.  The phone number given to him by the travel agency he works for didn’t work.  He said he would return the card the next day.
                At the room we hung out relaxing for a while, downloading photos, and writing journals.  After a couple hours we wandered out to the Summit café for a cinnamon role.  By now Doug wasn’t feeling very good.  He just wanted something that tasted good before going to bed.  On the way back to the room Anna stopped by a small convenience store buying a bottle of Sprite, and a Chinese version of ramen noodle.  She was still a little hungry. 
                At the room we got ready for bed.  Anna boiled some water in the tea pot.  We shared the noodles before retiring to bed.

22 July 2008
Lhasa, Tibet
                Anna was out the door first to go downstairs and call her brothers.  Doug soon joined her about 25 minutes later.  He woke up with the crud, and was moving a little slow.  The guide showed up early.  He was going to meet us at 8:30, and showed up around 8:10.  Anna finished up her call, and we left.
                The day was clear, and the palace looking amazing as usual.  We walked up to the front entrance the guide showed them our permit, and we were let in.  Then we went through a metal detector past the front entrance.  The guide took a photo of us then we proceeded up the right staircase.  Arriving close to the top, the guide went to then get our tickets to enter the palace.  We were not exactly sure of the whole process, but then again this whole experience of coming to Tibet was a little out of the ordinary.  There were no photos allowed to be taken once inside the palace.  Throughout all the different chapels, and different rooms the guide thoroughly explained their use.  We were able to see where the Dalai Lama sleeps, would visit his family, where he would study, where he would meditate.  We were also able to see some of the previous Dalai Lama tombs from the previous reigns.  It was amazing to see the architecture, and listen to the history of Buddhism, and Tibet.  As we were touring the palace there were many many pilgrims going through prayers, and donating funds to the different areas. 
                We were able to enter the palace around 9:00, and were only able to tour it for an hour and a half.  This time frame is only during the busy season, to see that all the visitors were able to make it through.  We entered through the front, and left through the left side entrance.  As we were leaving the left side entrance we saw many other pilgrims enter through here.  This is a special entrance for the Tibetans to go through and pay their respects inside the palace.  They are able to buy yearly passes, and go as many times as they pay for.
                After the palace the guide walked us back to the monastery nunnery.  We had previously gone to a book store looking for a Tibetan/English translation book.  All we were able to find a Tibetan/English phrase book.  There were many different Chinese/English translation books, we only found one translating Tibetan into English.  We bought five of the books, and gave one of them to our guide.  The remaining four we wanted to give to the nunnery.  The book one of the nuns was reading, and had Anna assisted with didn’t have the Tibetan language next to it.  She had had some students write the words in Tibetan for her, for her to study.  The book we got for them had the Tibetan wording was already clearly written, and she could then share the remaining books with everyone in the nunnery.  She seemed grateful; we had our guide translate for us.
                After the nunnery we walked to a nearby square, and said our goodbyes to the guide for lunch.  We were not able to get any food before the palace tour, and were both pretty hungry by now.  The guide said he would meet us at the hotel around 2:30 to visit the Sera Monastery.  Doug was still not feeling the best, and suggested we got the Tashi restaurant we had been to the day before.  He wanted to get some chicken noodle soup.  Anna loved her Bobi’s from the day before, and ordered them.  We then went back to the room to relax.
                The guide met us promptly at 2:30.  He was reading the phrase book we had given him.  It was nice to see that it would be used, and that he didn’t accept it just to not offend us.  He led us across the street to a bus that would take us close to the monastery.  He wanted to take a taxi, but since we were paying the fare, we asked if there was a bus.
                Getting off the bus, there was about a ¼ mile walk to the monastery.  Along the way he explained this was the second oldest monastery in Tibet, built in 1419.  It once held around 5000 monks before 1959, now it had about 500 monks.  Arriving at the entrance we paid the fee and walked in.  It was very quiet.  The first place he took us to was where some of the scripture is written.  We saw a man sitting on the floor copying scripture onto scroll with ink (see: Sera Monastery #3).  Next he took us to one of the universities in the monastery.  It was very bare with only a few monks working.  The guide took us around explaining the different statues and their meanings.  After this we left.  There wasn’t too much he could show us.  This is one of the only monasteries in the area, where foreign tourists could go.  The oldest monastery in Tibet, Drepung Monastery is still off limits to foreign tourists.  We walked back to the bus, and back to the hotel.  The guide said he would then see us on Thursday, escorting us to the train station. 
                We went back up to the room.  By Doug really wasn’t feeling very well, and wanted to rest.  After a couple hours Anna was getting restless.  She suggested she go get some orange juice soup, and snacks for the evening.  Then back to the room for the night. 

23 July 2008
Lhasa, Tibet
                Anna woke up feeling a bit sick.  Doug had managed to successfully pass on his germs to her.  We didn’t have our guide today, so we were on our own.  After staying in the room for a bit, we packed up some books we wanted to trade and headed down to the Summit Café for a couple cinnamon rolls.  While we were there we traded 3 books (South East Asia on a shoestring, Mosquito Coast and No County for Old Men) for two books (Clan of the Cave Bear and Mystic River).  Officially the policy is 2 books for 1, but Doug rationalized that the Southeast Asia book is huge, and they managed to get a good deal.
                We headed down to do a lap of the Jokhang temple.  During the lap we picked up some souvenirs for friends, family and ourselves.  Next stop was the post office.  In the back corner of the post office they had a section dedicated to Official Olympic Games souvenirs.  We picked up a couple things for ourselves and others and sent off a couple packages.
                On the way back we stopped in a grocery store for some food for the day and for the train trip for the next day.  After getting some instant noodles and other things we headed back to the room.  We had been coughing, sneezing and blowing our noses at a pretty regular rate, and bed rest was sounding pretty good.
                In the room we sat and relaxed for the rest of the day.  We played a lot of cards, read and even watched “Balls of Fury” because, laughter is the best medicine.

24 July 2008
Lhasa, Tibet
                Our guide and driver were ready for us at 9:15.  We got our stuff loaded and we were driven to the new train station.  Once our guide ensured we were past the first row of police, he waved us goodbye and headed out.
                Our next stop was a security check point.  We loaded our bags on the metal detector and then went through one as well.  Doug pulled all his usual metal stuff out of his pockets, cell phone, wallet and Swiss Army Knife.  The guards freaked out and said Doug couldn’t have the knife.  Doug tried to ask if he could check the knife in his luggage, but “No knife,” was the extent of the guys English.  The guards brought Doug back to the front entrance and showed him a sign, written in Chinese, which supposedly said no knifes on the train.  Doug continued to try asking if there was somebody on the train he could have hold onto the knife until he arrived in Chengdu.  The only response he received was “No knife.”
                (A little background history on the knife.  Doug bought this Swiss Army knife when he was in Switzerland with his best friend Sean a few years ago.  He then took it on two separate deployments to Iraq.  During the last deployment, the knife was “stolen/misplaced” by some Marines in Kuwait that were watching it while Doug was in Bahrain.  After a couple months, the knife miraculously made its way back to him.  Since then he has had it through 24 countries on this trip.  He wasn’t just going to leave it for some rent-a-cop at the train station.)
                Finally a girl came out that spoke Chinese and English.  Doug explained what he wanted and she asked the cops.  They didn’t know and deferred to another cop.  The higher ranking cop seemed to be going on along with the plan but decided he should talk to somebody else.  He took Doug through security and waved for him to follow.  Doug asked if he should grab his luggage which was with Anna.  (He wasn’t able to even tell Anna what was going on, she had no idea what was going on with her husband, only that he had been with the security guards for the past 20 minutes, and they were taking him through security to another building without her.) They said to leave it and follow.  Doug followed.
                Doug, the cop and the translator all went to the main train station and went behind some roped off areas and then took an elevator to the second floor.  We went down the hall reaching an administration office.  Doug was told in short that if he wanted to keep the knife he had to give it to someone to mail for him.  The only person Doug knew in Lhasa was the guide.
                Back outside Anna had managed to move all four backpacks out of the security area outside.  (But without the train tickets, or Doug she was not able to get much further.)  Doug, two security guards, and the translator finally joined her about 45 minutes later.  Doug got the phone number for the guide out of his bag and borrowed on the police officers phones.  Doug explained the situation to the guide and then handed the phone off to the translator girl.  She explained the rest and then handed the phone to the cop.  The cop seemed to feel pretty bad about the whole situation and after the phone call he insisted on escorting us to the train.  He carried on the bags, helped us fill out the paperwork that came with our tickets, and even found our train car for us.  After he helped us get settled he waved Doug outside and showed Doug the knife and to confirm that he had it and he gestured that he would make sure that our guide would get the knife.  Then he showed his badge to make sure Doug could write down the badge number.
                Back on the train we had a 6 person sleeper berth.  Our bunks were the very bottom, which also served as the communal couch for everybody that wasn’t lying in their bed.  In our room was a single girl who we soon saw only came out of her bunk once or twice to use the bathroom, a pair of grandparents traveling with their granddaughter, another woman with her two little girls, and a lady from Tibet.  We spent the most time with the granddaughter who was four years old.  She and Anna spent a lot of time the first day “playing” cards. 
                The train ride through mountains and plains of Tibet was stunning.  The photos we took don’t nearly do the scenery justice.
                Around 10pm the lights suddenly went out and we crawled into bed and tried to get some sleep.

25 July 2008
The Train, Tibet
                The both of us woke to people meandering throughout the train getting themselves ready for another day on the train.  Anna went to brush her teeth, and clean up.  Next it was Doug’s turn.  Unfortunately Anna felt worse today than yesterday.  A rough night’s sleep on the train is not what her sickness needed.  Doug actually slept pretty well. 
                During the day we played many games of cards, attempted to watch a movie, Anna took in a couple naps trying to feel better, Doug read, and finished a book.  We did all of these things, and played a bit with the little girls that made themselves at home in our berth. 

Middle China

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