After working hard all day yesterday during my first bundh in Kathmandu, "Notes from Tibet - Part II" is stuck on Candace's computer as the wireless went out at the hotel last night as I was finishing. I hope that she can get it sent to me soon!
After a long day on the bus, I arrived in Pokhara. I love the heat but the humidity is making my well designed haircut worthless as it stays up all day.
Thanks for tuning in as there is more to come.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Side Notes II
Back in Kathmandu. Blogger comes up in English, so I can read the comments now.
Knowing that I am long winded, I won't be offended if you skim my entries. At least you're reading this entry which is much appreciated.
I will add much more about my Tibet trip tomorrow.
Knowing that I am long winded, I won't be offended if you skim my entries. At least you're reading this entry which is much appreciated.
I will add much more about my Tibet trip tomorrow.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Notes from Tibet - Part I
While sitting in the back of a store in a room that is a combination of a bike tour shop and a dorm room, the rain patters against the window as thoughts of this amazing past week sprint through my head. Never before have I been more grateful to all of my friends because they couldn't come on a private tour of Tibet with me that I put together over e-mail with Tsedo's friend's tour company. Adamant to get a Tibetan tour guide, I signed up for a budget tour that began in Kathmandu with six days of driving to Lhasa through the southwestern portion of Tibet. Because August is the high tourist season in Tibet, all the other tours were booked with this agency.
Before I go on about my trip, I will make many references to the "peaceful liberation" that was granted to Tibet from China. To avoid confusion and to save me time, please check out wikepedia or something of that nature on Tibet in case you don't remember what happened between the 1950s and today.
I saw Tsedo quickly in Kathmandu when he warned me that I might not be able to leave for the tour because the Chinese embassy closed until further notice and therefore, was not giving out visas. Some protesters had flewn a "Free Tibet" flag on the Everest base camp and the Chinese government put a lockdown on visas. Tsedo's friend who was my travel agent, Sonam, met with me the day before the tour and luckily, things were going smoothly with my visa.
Day One - Kathmandu (1500m) to Zhangmu (2300m)
On Saturday morning, August 11th, Bruce put me in a cab and I met Sonam in Thamel, Kathmandu where he led me to a bus for the tour. I quickly started a conversation with Loes (pronounced Luce), a girl from Holland, and Simone, a guy from Italy. Then two others got onto the bus and I started a conversation with them; a father and daughter, Doug and Candace, who were traveling through Nepal and Tibet before Candace begins her semester abroad through Cornell in Kathmandu. Immediately, I felt at ease with these strangers which was inviting as I wasn't sure what to expect for my first group tour.
A few others jumped on to the older bus with carpeted ceilings and we finally left the parking lot so we could stop by a few places to get the paperwork we needed to travel in Tibet. It's a logistical hell to get through all the hoops and I'm sure that as the clients, we didn't see half of the effort that our tour guides put into it. Through the 90% humidity and 90 degree temperature, the only a/c available came through the wide windows as we whipped up the bumpy and unpaved road to the border. Most of the ride was along a road that either followed the edge of a gorge or hill, or there was a river many yards below. I wondered many times if we were going to get a flat or go over the edge first. To signal our approach to a bend in the road, the driver would honk which combined with some upbeat Hindi and Nepali music made the long distance go by quickly.
To spend the time wisely, I pulled out my camera and manual to continue to learn how to use my new digital SLR. Immediately, Doug and Simone asked about my camera and I was delighted to learn of their lengthy experience. My first lesson occured with in the first hour of the ride from my professors.
Arriving at the border in Zhagmu in the evening, we had done the best we could to make it up in time before the cut off time of 6:00pm. I hired my first porter to carry my bag up the hill after there was much fighting over it on the bus. These kids are desperate to make money in an area where two children were using the street as a toilet, not just a urinal. We went to the departure area on the Nepali side and had our passports stamped, then we had to cross a bridge to have our visas checked along with our passports. Our guide on the Nepal side briefed us that we could take pictures up to a red line, and afterwards we would get in trouble with the Chinese guards. Hank, from Holland, didn't see the red line like the rest of us, and was asked about the pictures he had just taken. We then had to go up another hill to our Land Cruisers where we dropped our baggage and picked our car companions for the next four days. Our group joined another group that had come up earlier that day to sit at the border upon arrival. Simone, Doug, Candace and I hopped in along with Tony, from Singapore. We then took a ride up another rough hill to get our passports stamped and visas checked again.
The US military probably taught the Chinese government the "hurry up and wait" mentality as we had to wait in line for our passports and visas to be checked for a half hour. We were then told by our Tibetan side guide (I'll call him TG) that we had to go through customs. As we waited on yet another line, our passports were collected and then we were sent away. Our tour was TG's first tour as a guide and he was only able to communicate with us in broken English. I found out later from Tsedo's friend, also a tour guide, that tourism has exponentially increased in Tibet these past few years so the more experienced guides were assigned to the higher end tours, thus we received the novice. While I did feel bad for him, it was frustating for us to not be able to understand him when he wasn't too sure about what was going on. Amid much confusion from the inability to communicate with TG, we checked in to a guesthouse and went out for dinner because the border had closed for the evening.
By that evening I had met everyone on the tour. Here are the players:
Simone - Italy
Loes - Holland
Doug and Candace - US
Kris and Jan - Germany
Tony - Singapore
Yolanda and Lola - Spain
Hank and Ada - Holland
Tom - Germany
Rosa - Spain (Canary Islands)
Tommy and Mike - Finland
Rob and Charlie (female) - England
Michela and Alessandro - Italy
Before I go on about my trip, I will make many references to the "peaceful liberation" that was granted to Tibet from China. To avoid confusion and to save me time, please check out wikepedia or something of that nature on Tibet in case you don't remember what happened between the 1950s and today.
I saw Tsedo quickly in Kathmandu when he warned me that I might not be able to leave for the tour because the Chinese embassy closed until further notice and therefore, was not giving out visas. Some protesters had flewn a "Free Tibet" flag on the Everest base camp and the Chinese government put a lockdown on visas. Tsedo's friend who was my travel agent, Sonam, met with me the day before the tour and luckily, things were going smoothly with my visa.
Day One - Kathmandu (1500m) to Zhangmu (2300m)
On Saturday morning, August 11th, Bruce put me in a cab and I met Sonam in Thamel, Kathmandu where he led me to a bus for the tour. I quickly started a conversation with Loes (pronounced Luce), a girl from Holland, and Simone, a guy from Italy. Then two others got onto the bus and I started a conversation with them; a father and daughter, Doug and Candace, who were traveling through Nepal and Tibet before Candace begins her semester abroad through Cornell in Kathmandu. Immediately, I felt at ease with these strangers which was inviting as I wasn't sure what to expect for my first group tour.
A few others jumped on to the older bus with carpeted ceilings and we finally left the parking lot so we could stop by a few places to get the paperwork we needed to travel in Tibet. It's a logistical hell to get through all the hoops and I'm sure that as the clients, we didn't see half of the effort that our tour guides put into it. Through the 90% humidity and 90 degree temperature, the only a/c available came through the wide windows as we whipped up the bumpy and unpaved road to the border. Most of the ride was along a road that either followed the edge of a gorge or hill, or there was a river many yards below. I wondered many times if we were going to get a flat or go over the edge first. To signal our approach to a bend in the road, the driver would honk which combined with some upbeat Hindi and Nepali music made the long distance go by quickly.
To spend the time wisely, I pulled out my camera and manual to continue to learn how to use my new digital SLR. Immediately, Doug and Simone asked about my camera and I was delighted to learn of their lengthy experience. My first lesson occured with in the first hour of the ride from my professors.
Arriving at the border in Zhagmu in the evening, we had done the best we could to make it up in time before the cut off time of 6:00pm. I hired my first porter to carry my bag up the hill after there was much fighting over it on the bus. These kids are desperate to make money in an area where two children were using the street as a toilet, not just a urinal. We went to the departure area on the Nepali side and had our passports stamped, then we had to cross a bridge to have our visas checked along with our passports. Our guide on the Nepal side briefed us that we could take pictures up to a red line, and afterwards we would get in trouble with the Chinese guards. Hank, from Holland, didn't see the red line like the rest of us, and was asked about the pictures he had just taken. We then had to go up another hill to our Land Cruisers where we dropped our baggage and picked our car companions for the next four days. Our group joined another group that had come up earlier that day to sit at the border upon arrival. Simone, Doug, Candace and I hopped in along with Tony, from Singapore. We then took a ride up another rough hill to get our passports stamped and visas checked again.
The US military probably taught the Chinese government the "hurry up and wait" mentality as we had to wait in line for our passports and visas to be checked for a half hour. We were then told by our Tibetan side guide (I'll call him TG) that we had to go through customs. As we waited on yet another line, our passports were collected and then we were sent away. Our tour was TG's first tour as a guide and he was only able to communicate with us in broken English. I found out later from Tsedo's friend, also a tour guide, that tourism has exponentially increased in Tibet these past few years so the more experienced guides were assigned to the higher end tours, thus we received the novice. While I did feel bad for him, it was frustating for us to not be able to understand him when he wasn't too sure about what was going on. Amid much confusion from the inability to communicate with TG, we checked in to a guesthouse and went out for dinner because the border had closed for the evening.
By that evening I had met everyone on the tour. Here are the players:
Simone - Italy
Loes - Holland
Doug and Candace - US
Kris and Jan - Germany
Tony - Singapore
Yolanda and Lola - Spain
Hank and Ada - Holland
Tom - Germany
Rosa - Spain (Canary Islands)
Tommy and Mike - Finland
Rob and Charlie (female) - England
Michela and Alessandro - Italy
Side Notes
A few things to answer some questions and provide some quick info:
Returning to the US on September 10th. Leaving for Kathmandu tomorrow, August 20th.
Everything on Blogger (this website) is in Mandarin while I am here in Tibet, so I might not be able to read your comments until I get to Kathmandu or possibly back to Bruce's house ~ Sept. 5th. If you want me to respond to your comments sooner, please send me an e-mail. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Sending out the pictures and posting them on the blog when I return. The internet is so slow here that I would spend an entire day just waiting for them to download.
Returning to the US on September 10th. Leaving for Kathmandu tomorrow, August 20th.
Everything on Blogger (this website) is in Mandarin while I am here in Tibet, so I might not be able to read your comments until I get to Kathmandu or possibly back to Bruce's house ~ Sept. 5th. If you want me to respond to your comments sooner, please send me an e-mail. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Sending out the pictures and posting them on the blog when I return. The internet is so slow here that I would spend an entire day just waiting for them to download.
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