August 14 - Tibet: Lhasa
We met in the lobby of our Kathmandu hotel at 7:00AM this morning and all 13 of us got on a bus to go to the airport. Our flight to Tibet didn't leave until 9:50, but Kath (our trusty guide) says that the International Airport is always a nightmare. And was she ever right! There were about 60 people in line for the one security gate and X-Ray machine and it was not moving quickly. Then we had to check into the flight and this took a while as well. Then we had to go through customs and clear another security check. By the time we got through to the lobby it was time to get on the plane. I'm glad we saw what a nightmare this was, because Jon and I will be leaving from this airport at the end of the month to go to Hong Kong. So now we know what to expect.
Our Foray into Smuggling
Kath has asked us for a few favors. First of all, there is a school for the blind in Lhasa which teaches blind children to read and write in braille, to speak a few different languages, and also teaches them a skill or trade so they can return to their village. It's an initiative that Intrepid Travel is very closely tied to and we'll visit the school while we're in Lhasa. Kath says that the the only supply of braille paper they get is what Intrepid travelers bring to them. So we carried two reams of braille paper on the plane. This is an honorable cause, so of course we were willing to help!
The other favor was for a "lovely restaurant" where we're going to dinner tonight. Apparently they can't get a Chinese liquor license to purchase liquor so they've given Kath a list of "urgent" alcohol to bring. We stopped by the Duty Free Shop in the airport and picked up 13 bottles of liquor (rum, vodka, gin) to bring to them. We all got quite a kick out of our new "smuggler/boot legger" status. But this is just as honorable a cause as the braille paper, right? So we're doubly good people today!
Everest
The flight was quick and uneventful save for one thing: EVEREST. We were sitting on the right side of the plane which is the wrong side to see Everest. But needless to say when we flew past it everyone on the right side scrambled over the people on the left side to see out the windows. That's a big friggin' mountain!
View of Mt Everest from the plane
Lhasa
We touched down in Lhasa about an hour later, but the time change is 2 hours and 15 minutes because Tibet is on Bejing time. So we are officially 12 hours ahead of US East Coast time. Lhasa is at 3500 meters, and - just to put this in perspective - this is how high we climbed after two days on Kilimanjaro at Horombo Hut. But this time, our bodies haven't had time to adjust on the climb since we flew from one level to another. Regardless, Jon and I learned our lessons from our bouts with altitude sickness on Kili and so we started taking Diamox two days ago. Hopefully the Magic Pills will make the adjustment a bit easier.
Kath says we'll stay in Lhasa for 4 days to acclimatize to the altitude. While we waited to clear Chinese customs, there were quite a few people from our plane who were already feeling the effects - one of whom had to be carried away on a stretcher. Bummer. A few people in our group weren't feeling too great, but all in all we were OK.
We boarded a bus to make the 2 hour drive to Lhasa. Because Lhasa is situated so close to mountains the only place they could put an airstrip is far out of town. The weather was lovely and the ride was very scenic. Tibetans are beautiful people and we've all been surprised that they look so different from the Nepalis.
Pentoc Guest House
We checked into our hotel in Lhasa - the Pentoc Guest House. We're definitely not traveling on a high-fallutin' trip here, because the rooms are small and the showers and toilets are both on different floors. But we can get back into our "camping mode" mentality pretty easily. And we'll have to keep this mentality because - apparently - there will be a few days coming up where we won't have access to showers at all. No worries! I have been there - done that. I've taken a bottle shower in the Serengeti and I've gone 4 days without showering on Kili. This will be a piece of cake. (Famous last words, right?)
We rested in the hotel for a while, with instructions not to do anything overly exerting because our bodies are adjusting. At 7:00, we met and went to dinner and brought our bootlegged liquor to the restaurant which was naturally very happy to see us. It's owned by some Tibetans and some Europeans, so they call it "Durya" which means "World". Jon ordered Momos for an appetizer which are Tibetan dumplings and pasta for dinner. I had some soup and vegetable chow mein for dinner. It was yummy and we all felt a bit better after having eaten something. (However, we have 3 altitude casualties who didn't make it to dinner at all - hope they feel better!). The owners gave us each a free tea or coffee or dessert for bringing the liquor and I had some "Altitude Relaxation Tea" which is supposed to counter the effects of altitude sickness. I guess we'll see if it works tomorrow!