Day 105. Kyle, Leanne & John joint blog.

Today is Leanne’s birthday and she’s thousands of miles away from my friends and most of her family but she’s so happy that technology enables her friends to touch her heart on her special day.  Leanne wants to thank friends whom she cherishes beyond belief for remembering to reach out to her on her special day! She is feeling blessed. 

We wake up in Chengdu and have to get to the airport.  Sammi our local tour guide the last three days is peppy and excited to see us off.  She’s been absolutely great, excited about the pandas making our stay really enjoyable.  

In the airport, she takes us as far as she can.  Thank goodness because pretty much we wouldn’t have been able to figure out this Chengdu airport without her guidance.   Immediately after we check in our bags, Sammi points to an electronic sign flashing our name. We don’t know what it says but know it can’t be good.  Then our name appears a second time both flashing red. Sammi explains that two of the bags we just checked were have already been flagged by security and we need to report to the “backroom” to sort it out.  

Kyle goes back with Sammi who has an animated conversation and says that the Kyle’s bag has a battery in it. Oh crap, here goes the solar charger mess again.  However; Kyle is 100% sure that the solar chargers are in his backpack so he proceeds to open the bag which has a mess of jumbled smaller items in it.  He is fishing through the mess when the security guard motions him to step aside.  The guard reaches deep into mess in the bag and pulls out the digital camera and says to Sami in Chinese “this has batteries.”  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Kyle thinks.  Yes, he packed the camera in the checked bag instead of the normal backpack and sure enough there are two small digital camera batteries.  But how the heck did the security guard know exactly where to find it?  Man, the Chinese really do know everything about you.

As for the second bag that got flagged, Kyle thinks it was guilty by association.  After the first bag got flagged, they flagged the second bag assuming we must be smuggling something else in.  The security guards check-over the bag and finding nothing, begrudgingly sends it on looking somewhat disappointed all they managed to get the American’s for was two camera batteries.

The plane ride has stunning views of snow peaked Himalaya mountains. When we land, we are greeted by the sight of five fighter jets and a military base in the middle of the runway. The Chinese show of control would be a common theme in Tibet we will come to find out. When we get off the plane, we are greeted by an airport that was the size of the car rental section in LAX and by our first of many security surveillance cameras in Tibet. 

Yes, given the small size of the airport, it is apparent Tibet does not get many visitors.  China does not make it easy. In addition to the Chinese visa hoops we had to jump through, there is a whole additional   complicated process to get a Tibet travel permit which our tour company did for us thankfully.  Also there is a Chinese requirement that any visitor to Tibet must be accompanied by a guide and driver.

The next unsettling sight we witness is Chinese military guards armed with machine guns standing watch on mostly every corner and every 25 yards or so.  While we haven’t done anything wrong, having a soldier with a machine gun staring intently at you as you walk by is just something we aren’t used to. 

We grab our bags, get our Tibetan travel permit checked and meet our guide Bemba. He gives us a white Tibetan scarf, a tradition of a peaceful welcome which we hope will be the case.  When we step into the van, John notices two things: a security camera and a picture of the Dalai Lama. The rest of us notice the Dalai Lama but not the security camera.

During the one hour drive from the airport to our hotel in Lhasa, we witness an intense display of all things 70th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.  Over the past week, we of course noticed similar red signs, flower displays, banners, digital displays in the other three cities we visited in China, but here in Tibet it was unbelievable overkill.  Over the top you might say.  You could not look in any direction and not see a Chinese flag or a red 70th anniversary advertisement around.  It was a display of power and dominance without a doubt over the officially Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).  In fact, every single billboard leading from the airport into Lhasa had a 70th Anniversary banner on it.  We get the picture. John quips that maybe there’s so many just in case you missed or didn’t read the previous three thousand billboards.

In addition to the signs, we have to go through numerous security checkpoint manned by the armed guards.  The interesting things is that the check points are on the one road smack in the middle of nowhere with desert flatlands as far as the eye can see in all directions. What are the chances that at the 8th check point, someone managed to successfully sneak past the first seven armed check points undetected? After clearing all the security checkpoints and seeing a thousand more 70s signs, we finally made it to Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. 

We check into our hotel room and plop ourselves on the bed, CRACK!! No the beds didn’t break, our backs did. John jokes that they must’ve lugged a boulder down from the mountain and made our beds out of it to save money. Upon further examination, Kyle discovers that the “bed” is actually just a box spring with no mattress.  Looks like it’s three nights on a concrete bed.

By this time, we are feeling the effects of the altitude.  We’ve gone from Chengdu at sea level to Lhasa at 11,900 feet.  That’s pretty high – higher than any of us have ever been. The risk of altitude mountain sickness (AMS) starts at 8,000 so we’re well into AMS territory.  Kyle has had us taking Acetazolamide which a prescription that is supposed to lessen the effects of AMS symptoms for the past 3 days. The first symptoms you notice are headaches and shortness of breath, especially when exerting yourself.  

Leanne is feeling it the worse.  The intense headache was hard for her to deal with.  She was hurting and immediately lays down in bed as soon as we check in to the hotel.  She is trying everything under the sun - altitude medication, water, humidifier, a Gatorade, two different multivitamins, ibuprofen, a shower, tea, soup, and even pure oxygen in a can.  Some birthday present.  

After taking good care of Leanne, Kyle headed out to explore Lhasa and buy water for the team.  He was overwhelmed with the shops being so different from anything we have yet seen on this trip.  And several Tibetan people and children just say “Hello” to him walking down the street.  

By 7 pm, the whole crew was hankering for a meal as lunch on the plane wasn’t so hot.  Our adventurous side wasn’t with us tonight and John and Kyle have looked up the best “western” restaurant in Lhasa and settled on Dunya Restaurant which TripAdvisor tabbed the best western restaurant in Lhasa.  It is about a 20 min walk and Leanne declares she can barely walk to the lobby let alone 20 minutes so we decide to go the taxi route.  It is her birthday dinner so she is bravely trying to tough it out.  

We go to the main street in front of the hotel to get a taxi. We were told the cabs in Lhasa are inexpensive but we weren’t told how they are hard to secure.  After about 35 cabs pass our group - all full - we finally hail two. A nice woman who spoke English talks to both our taxi drivers in Tibetan telling them what restaurant to go to.  Kyle’s taxi pulls up in front of Dunya and Kyle, John & Corey get out. Leanne isn’t there yet so Kyle waits outside while the boys go up to get a table.  Ten minutes tick by and no Leanne.  Hmmm…not a good sign as we both left at the same time and it was only a 5 min drive.  Meanwhile, back in Leanne’s cab…

Leanne’s taxi driver pulls up 2 blocks from the restaurant where there is an open space to pull up to the sidewalk.  Leanne looks down at Google maps and it says the restaurant is still a ½ mile away. No way Leanne is making that walk.  She shows the driver the Google maps but he points to the building. Leanne doesn’t see the restaurant and shows him her phone screen and says “but you haven’t taken us to our destination yet.”  He kept saying something to her in Mandarin or Tibetan. Leanne keeps showing him the address and he keeps pointing to the building.  He becomes frustrated and starts yelling and waving his hands effectively telling her to get the hell out of the taxi. The altitude sickness is preventing Leanne from thinking clearly and she decides she is not going to budge until he takes her to the restaurant.  Said taxi driver does not like this and gets out of the taxi and slams the door.  

“Umm, Mom, the taxi driver is talking to the armed police guard.  I think it’s time to get out of the taxi,” Justin says.  “Oh, crap! Everyone out of the taxi.” Leanne yells.  Everyone piles out of the taxi, Leanne runs up and shoves 20 yuan into the taxi driver’s hand and half expecting to hear a hail to bullets over her shoulder, runs like the wind with the kids without looking back.  Two blocks away, they run smack into Kyle standing in front of the restaurant.  It turns out the restaurant was only two blocks and the culprit was…Google maps which had the wrong address for the restaurant. The last thing we need is to see the inside of a Tibetan jail over a failed Google Map request and an angry driver!

Leanne’s first birthday present – altitude sickness.  Leanne’s second birthday present – almost spending the night in a Chinese prison. 

We eat at the western restaurant. The food was great and just what these tired Americans needed as we order various Naan’s, pizzas, soups, teas, and spaghetti.  We love these restaurants where we can get various cuisines.  We met two Australian women who loved the fact we were traveling the world.  They meet yearly for a two week sojourn to a different off the beaten place and this year they chose Tibet.   They were also feeling the effects of the high altitude so we commiserated. 

After the dinner, we find two drama-free cab drivers back to the hotel to share the cake that our tour guide surprised me with when we arrived at the hotel (another act of kindness that we have experienced on this trip - so nice!).  Strawberry Shortcake.  The kids all gather around me and surprise me with the cutest gifts they somehow purchased outside of me noticing on the trip.  The cards were sweet as well.  

It was exactly what I needed to feel better today for my birthday.  A little bit of love!