Notes from Tibet - Part II

Never having been in a hostel or in a dormitory type setting for sleeping arrangements outside of the military, I didn't know what to expect in for our accommodations beside what Tsering had told me. The first three nights were planned for us to stay in Tibetan guesthouses. Our room members (my car plus Tom) climbed up the 4th floor to get settled before we went to dinner. There were six beds; a wooden frame with a stiff, yet slightly soft mattress topped with a folded comforter, blanket and a pillow. Being a bit of a germaphobe I never used the dirty linens. Tsering gave me so much guidance that I brought a sleeping bag, travel pillow and silk liner which gave me solace among the smell of urine wafting from the open hole toilets and dirty sink in the shared bathroom. This was the first hole with foot grips that I used since Kuwait. It's tough for western girls to aim considering how spoiled we are with toilets that capture everything, but I was very proud of my regained skill. The 10' x 20' room with a window over looking the street fit all of us with our stuff and Tom's bike.


Tom was almost half way through an around the world trip on a reclining bike. By the time he met with the group, he had cycled 16,000 km from Germany through western countries of the Middle East, down the east coast of Africa and then flew to south India where he headed Northeast until he arrived in Kathmandu. He had already been through the US; he started in Alaska and cycled south to LA. Tom planned on continuing through China to Beijing once our tour was over, then flying to Korea and Japan to cycle through those countries. He is planning on meeting his girlfriend in South America and then cycling up the western coast of Africa to finish. It was quite an eye opener to meet someone who was doing it rather than just talking about it and Tom is the perfect candidate as he is quiet, calm, laid back and very intelligent.

Lonely Planet (LP) travel books have such a strong hold on the market that there were at least five of us in the group that had the Tibet edition, if not the Nepal one as well. Unfortunately, because many of the food and sleep establishments were labeled in Mandarin, we ended up having a hard time exploring new places that weren't mentioned in the book. To play it safe we went to one of LP's recommendations: a Tibetan place. Thinking that Chinese cooking and their over use of monosodium glutamate (MSG – an artificial derivative of salt) could be avoided in a Tibetan place, I ordered some traditional Tibetan soup. My logic was very wrong as I could immediately feel the effects of the poison and discovered that Tom would be our group leftover "bottomless pit". If there was any worry about the starving kids in Africa and the guilt from throwing away food, Tom would solve the world's anguish. Tibetan cooking along our well traveled route was so greatly influenced by Chinese cuisine that I had to resort to eat curry dishes or just plain rice many times.

After a slightly awkward dinner of prolonged silences because of our quick run through of the usual initial conversations and slight exhaustion from the day of heat, I went back to the room to take a hot shower. Not knowing when I would be taking a shower again, I splurged the ten Yuan ($1.43) for a private shower room with a table to rinse the nasty Plebe (USNA freshman during the boot camp phase) smell from the day.

Day Two - Zhangmu (2300m) to Zhamgmu (2300m)

When we woke up and went to breakfast we were introduced to our morning usual for the next seven days: coffee or tea with a fried egg and toast or a traditional Tibetan bread that is slightly similar to an English Muffin. Breakfast was included as part of our tour, and it was certainly budget. This is where my nutritional experiment started to completely go off of the track, as I've eaten more wheat in the second two weeks of August than in the past six months.

Over food, we were disappointed for a second time as we would have to stay in the small town of Zhamgu the entire day because we finally were cleared through customs but had some blocks for our future road travel. Amid much confusion, we found out we would have to check out of the hotel, put our stuff in the car and wait until 11:00 pm to leave from Zhamgu to get to Nyalam. There was construction on the "Friendship Highway" and we could only travel over a certain portion of the road between 1 am and 4 am. Since nothing will ever compare to the insane work hours I kept in the Navy as a ship driving officer, I didn't think that this would be a big hassle.

Tom, Doug, Simone and I spent most of the morning walking around the continuous slight hill of a road town, discovering the Chinese version of Tibet as I received many photography lessons. The fog set in the evening before and the sight of many lines of prayer flags covering the sky over the street made me feel welcome. The day went by quickly between getting used to the unpredictable rains and the sight of two recently cut Yak heads on the road while the meat was being divided on a cart close by.

Day Three - Zhangmu (2300m) to Shigatse (3900m)

Around 11:00 pm we left Zhangmu to make up for our lost day. Tashi, our driver, was a rough rider with skill, like the drivers in Kathmandu. The late night escapade brought me back to the sand dune tour I took in Dubai, UAE, of 2001. The air was taken out of the tires before we entered the hilly, yet smooth playground. Land Cruiser drivers must take great pride in their jobs as a video of the trip would be a great ad for Toyota to illustrate what these vehicles can handle. Tashi had to get us through very rocky and tight roads in the dark while avoiding other cars and construction hazards. It was a tough ride that kept us awake along with the constant alarm of the horn. We arrived in Nyalam (3750m) at 2:00 am and rushed to bed in another guesthouse to wake at 7:00 am and continue our drive to higher elevation. I was very impressed by the lack of complaining over the choppy ride and lack of sleep, as everyone filed quickly from the guesthouse to the cars in the morning; it was so military like, I smiled.

The sun had risen by the time we left Nyalam and we were in one of the most beautiful areas of the world. The Tibetan landscape that I had been exposed to by the photos on a computer screen at AHF came to life within the first half hour. Filled with excitement, I couldn't sleep and just looked out the window. I took one for the team and as victim of my long legs by sitting in the middle seat in the back, so I had a hard time getting the photo shots that I wanted and many times had to ask Simone and Candace to move or ask Simone to take my shots for me. The really good pictures of Tibet on my camera were taken by Simone. We drove through Gutso and stopped in Tingri (4390m) for breakfast.

We passed Everest on the way and the mysticism of the mountains that had been described to me by many, finally came alive. I can now appreciate why people love the mountains as much as I love the sea. Tibet reminds me of the ocean when the sky is clear as almost every gathering of water reflected the pristine clouds and bright blue sky flawlessly. When the USS FLETCHER was off of the Horn of Africa, we were sailing at about 3 kts one morning, when I took the watch on the Bridge to find that the water perfectly reflected the sky; the horizon didn't have a defined line and the sky and ocean seemed to go to infinity.

The Tibetan teahouse visit was very rewarding as I saw a smokeless stove and witnesses a woman eating tsampa for the first time. A smokeless stove is a big deal in the remote areas of the Himalayas. Many people in remote Nepal live in caves where their food is cooked over fires and the smoke suffocates all who reside in the cave. AHF has a project named ISIS that replaces these stoves with a locally made smokeless stoves, adds light to the cave with solar panels energized LED bulbs and helps to maintain hygiene by building latrines. The before and after pictures in the reports on this project are amazing and seeing a similar product was gratifying.

Tsampa, a Tibetan food staple, is roasted barley placed in a bowl to be rolled by hand into a ball when mixed with yak butter, milk or water. "Kundun" is a good movie about the 14th Dalai Lama that has a scene of a family eating tsampa. Since then I was intrigued to see it in person and I was able to get a few live action shots of a woman going through the motions. While the drivers ate momos (dumplings) and other traditional Tibetan food, we quickly ate our fried egg, traditional Tibetan bread and a thin flour pancake that looked and tasted incredibly similar to a tortilla. I find those small semblances across the ocean in different cultures so ironic. A cat lived in the teahouse and sauntered on the stove. Candace called the cat, "The cleanest animal in Tibet" which could be true as every animal we saw from dogs to a kitten in Tibet was mangy, sick and tired.

We headed back on the road to make it to the high pass at 5220 m. Tashi, our driver, was very experienced and told me to get out of the car slowly as he observed all of us for symptoms of altitude sickness. Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) can be fatal if not detected immediately as fluid builds up in your lungs or brain or both. Being very sensitive to altitude as I would get a headache, dehydrated, and winded at 5,000 ft in Tahoe and Denver, taking a medicated precaution wasn't an option.

Tony had been car sick most of the morning because he sat in the farthest rear seat. Then Candace wasn't doing well with the constant bumping motion and altitude. While I found it hard to breath at the high pass, the pressure change began to affect my head. Once we left the high pass, we stopped at a police checkpoint to get our passports and visas checked again. Ada was the first to throw up and I was somehow surprised yet relieved of how helpful and understanding almost everyone was in the group. Having an insecurity about being sick in front of others because of the military unspoken idea that being sick or hurt shows weakness, I was worried that because of my altitude sensitivity I would need to find someone to take care of me. Oddly enough, I still felt that way a bit after the accident when I had to relinquish control to Angela and my mom for three weeks because of my brain and shoulder injuries.

We stopped in Lhatse for lunch when I sat down with an uneasy stomach and a headache to a Sprite. I took one sip, got up to walk outside to get out of the smoky air, came back in to go to the bathroom and found a garbage pail by our table. While everyone else was waiting for their food, I was getting rid of my breakfast violently next to the table. The embarrassment that had crept in to my head dissolved immediately as the eaters asked if I was able to sit instead of crouch at the pail, and consoled me. Although I felt as though I would have liked to have eaten, the plain rice I ordered wasn't appetizing. I gave my Sprite to Tom and went outside to buy three bottles of water.

In the car, I kept the bottle top off as I would take a sip every minute and my body felt as though it had been dehydrated for days. It was then that I realized I should have been shoving water down my throat that morning more than what I drank. Simone became sick that afternoon on our drive, so Doug was the only one who didn't get sick, ever.

We arrived in Shigatse that evening to a nice hotel. Loes and I decided to be roommates and I went immediately to bed in a normal hotel with an Asian shower (no tub, no stall, no curtain, just a shower head). Loes was my nurse as she got me cracker biscuits and made sure that I ate them along with some of her aspirin. We were supposed to stay in Nyalam over night on the second day and I'm grateful that we didn't as I would have been very sick for 48 hours rather than 24 hours.

Day Four - Shigatse (3900m) to Gyanste (3950m)

The next morning we went to our first monastery, the Tashilhunpo Monastery, which was a nice reprieve after three days of waiting, driving and vomiting. There were many Chinese tourists at this popular monastery which was a rude awakening to the culture. Getting through a doorway was like getting off of the 9ax MUNI bus in San Francisco where physically fighting the crowd is the only option to make the exit before the doors close. Chinese people aren't to blame, as it's just a difference in our culture. Paul from the Lhasa School for the Blind mentioned that Chinese travelers can take tourist etiquette classes for when they visit western countries which might save them from dirty looks in the States.

Second to the Dalai Lama is the Panchen Lama who used to reside in Tashilhunpo. When it was time for the most recent Panchen Lama to be chosen there was some debate on how the last one died, as many suspect he was poisoned by the Chinese. Choosing the next lama after the soul is reincarnated is a detailed and painstaking process. Here's the short version: an oracle gives some clues to direct the detective party who then find a few boys or just one who meets the criteria. In "Kundun", as a boy His Holiness the Dalai Lama (HHDL) had several objects laid out in front of him to chose when asked which ones were his. To choose the new Panchen Lama, messages were sent secretly from this monastery to HHDL's government in exile in Dharmasala, India. When the Tibetan Buddhist community found their new Panchen Lama, China also found a Panchen Lama. Rumor is the real Panchen Lama is in captivity in Beijing while the Chinese figurehead resides in Shigatse with little respect from Tibetans as the puppet of the Chinese government. Both are a waste as the real one hasn't received a true Tibetan lama education and the fake is living without purpose. While HHDL's picture is banned in Tibet, the fake Panchen Lama's picture is everywhere.

As the days moved on, the walls that we build around ourselves to be ultra polite to the other group members began to crumble and our true personalities started to shine. Hank, Doug, Candace and I had conversations about socialized medicine, Hillary Clinton, global warming and GW on our way back from the monastery. The entire tour was a cultural education for me; not only were Doug and I able to teach Simone slang words and phrases but I learned how much America affects the world's economy. There are so many things that we have an effect on in other countries and we don't even know about it. It frustrates me to no end of how small minded of an education we receive on post WWII history and our America-centric (Candace's word) news programs that focus on the country, state or city news with very little international news except for Iraq. It got to the point that I only watched Current TV the last few months on the posh cable package that Gary had in our house. Living in San Francisco, living with Gary and meeting the people I have been lucky to befriend have really opened my eyes to this issue. As I write this I wonder how many of you feel the same.

Still Stalled

Although I have most of my Tibet tour written, I think it's irrelevant to post the information until that portion is up which is still on Candace's computer.

Note to self: bring a portable USB flash or thumb drive on travels.