3 May 2009

The Most Terrifying Night

Last night, I experienced the most terrifying night of my entire trip.  I'm not sure how, but I made it through to tell my tale.

 

I had a day stopover yesterday in Kathmandu after returning from Lhasa.  Claudia, a Chilean girl I met on the Tibet tour, and I had decided to split the costs of a double room.  Instead of costing me $5 for the night, it would cost me just under $2.  We had a chill day, but I was well exhausted by the end of the day.  We headed back to the hotel early and I passed out around 9:30.  Claudia was out by 10:30.  We were both looking forward to a nice night’s rest.  How naive we were to expect a calm evening.

 

I suddenly awoke when something touched my hand and I heard someone rustling through my stuff on the bedside table.  I quickly wakened and opened my eyes, expecting to see Claudia standing next to my bed.  There was no one there, but the rustling continued.

I looked to where Claudia lay and suddenly, she popped upright, scared.  “I’m turning on the lights!!” I yelled, as I lunged forward to hit the light switch.

As the fluorescents flickered on, I saw a flash of her leaping up, then on the next flash, she was jumping into my bed, screaming.  We clutched at one another, gazing in horror at the wall behind her bed.  And it was then that we saw it – a 4 inch long cockroach along the wall, its wings fluttering, scurrying around.

We then heard rustling right next to my bed and realized it wasn’t alone.  Fluttering and flying we heard – cockroaches could fly, I wondered??  We screamed and ran for the door – outside, away from the terrifying situation.

We were absolutely useless together, I realized, as I stared into the room at our intruders.  Claudia and I looked at one another with horror in our eyes.  “We can’t stay here,” we both said, petrified.  This was worse than the moth attack I had experienced during my trek.

I grabbed the key from the bedside table (a very brave moment, I have to admit).  We ran downstairs and got the man working at reception, a small older family man.  We babbled about the horrid intruders, the fear making it difficult to even construct a comprehensive sentence.  We led him up to our room.  He came armed with a short flat round swatter-like instrument and an 8 inch long stick with bristles sticking out of it. Claudia and I peaked into the room, pointing straight ahead where the offensive creatures were last seen.  He slowly walked forward.

The walls and ceilings of our room were old and made of huge tile-like material.  This meant gaps where bugs could enter.  There was an indentation behind Claudia’s bed (similar to a shelf), where one could put candles, laptops, etc.  This is where one of our nightmares had entered.

The receptionist stuck the long stick with bristles into the holes of the wall and started scraping around.  Claudia and I screeched as we saw something drop onto the bed; it was only dust.   Then, more scraping.  We stood outside, gazing in horror as we saw that Claudia’s stuff was scattered across the bed and bedside table.  Thankfully, I had pre-packed for my early departure. 

Eventually, the receptionist emerged with a dead cockroach (or rather, dead-ish, as it was still squirming) and dropped it on the ground near the room entrance.  Claudia and I screamed and ran down the hallway in fear.  “There was another!” I yelled.  “I saw 5 or 6!!” Claudia insisted.  So again, our savior went to work.  “Don’t worry, this one (referring to the one laying on the ground) – he is male,” he said.  “The other (motioning towards my bed) – she is female.”  At that point, Claudia and I dissolved into hysterical giggles.  It was all too shocking for us.

He then motioned with the swatter and said, “I leave this – you can use.”  He motioned the swatter as if to kill a bug.  I just looked in disbelief at him and started laughing again.  “The Hyatt,” I thought.  “We’re going to the Hyatt – I don’t care how much we have to pay.”  I knew Claudia was ready to leave as well.

The receptionist soon emerged victorious, pushing two cockroaches toward the door.  He then picked each up and tossed them to the courtyard below.  We giggled hysterically once more, imagining someone getting struck below.

We refused to stay yet it was well past midnight.  Rationally. I knew it’d be hard to find another place so late.  He insisted that he had another room.  “Cockroaches infest buildings, not just single rooms,” I said, as I ran in to help stuff Claudia’s scattered possessions into a bag.

At one point, the bag Claudia was pulling outside caught on the one I was holding.  Her fear was so strong that she didn’t realize and started yanking me out of the room.  It was a horrifying moment as we had to pack, convinced that more intruders might come.  The receptionist started to leave as we were packing, but I firmly insisted that he stay.

We decided to look at the other room.  Thankfully, it was in an adjacent building, not the same one.  As we entered, we saw that the ceiling was cemented and it was likely safe.  We stayed.

We took the beds closest to one another.  We discussed our situation; the cockroaches had come out when we turned out the lights.  We had to keep the lights on as long as there was electricity.

We read for a long while – anything to distract us.  Claudia repacked her bags entirely.  Every slight sound we heard caused us to jump in fear.  We were high strung after our last room.

Eventually, we fell asleep around 3:40 AM.  I got up a couple hours later to leave for the airport.  We had survived through the night.  I was so relieved.

Claudia and I hugged goodbye and then I was off – heading to my next adventure: Jordan. 

 

 

30 April 2009

We visited Potala Palace in Lhasa today.  It was worth all the misery that I’ve experienced so far on the trip.  All the vomiting, the nausea, the headaches – all forgotten. 

The Potala Palace was formerly the home of the Dalai Lama prior to the 1959 Cultural Revolution when China invaded and took over Tibet.  As we entered, we were able to see the official reception area where the Dalai Lama would greet visitors, the special meeting room when important leaders, and his study where he would learn from his teacher.

The palace itself was amazing.  There were several stupas and tombs of former Dalai Lamas.  One featured over 3700 kg of gold to honor the 5th Dalai Lama, who unified all of Tibet.  There were scriptures that were being well-kept so that the original gold ink would not fade away and be destroyed.  China has spent millions of dollars restoring the palace and it shows.

As much as one can argue that China has brought some improvements such as electricity and modernity to the city, it’s hard not to feel sadness while walking through the Palace.  This was the home of the Dalai Lama – on his throne, the Chinese have laid out an outfit that signifies where he would sit.  Yet he is denied the right to return home to live with religious freedom.

In the afternoon, we visited Sera Monastery, built in 1419.  This monastery used to house and serve as the university for 5000 monks prior to the Cultural Revolution; after, 500 monks remained.  After the 2008 monk uprising in Lhasa, there are now only a small number left.  We had the privilege of entering the courtyard to watch as the monks debated.  A teacher (sometimes more than one) would stand in the middle of a group of sitting monks and drill a student on a discipline; if the answer given was correct, the monk would slam his right hand into his other with the palm down.  If incorrect, he would slam the back of his right hand into his left.  All in all, it was a lively entertaining show for us to watch, as the monks continually yelled out questions and slapped their hands.

I’m quite happy to have arrived in Lhasa and seen such amazing sites.

 

 

27 April 2009

Shigatse, Tibet

Tibet has proved to the most difficult part of my journey thus far.  I spent the first two days adjusting, or rather, not adjusting to the altitude.  The overland journey is quite brutal: in the first two days, we went from 1500 m to a height of 5200 m at the highest pass.  The recommended altitude ascent rate is 1000 m per day for trekkers.  We were hauling ass up the mountain in Landcruisers.

The second day, after the second and highest pass, I had to launch myself out of the car (thankfully, we were stopped for views) and I vomited on the side of the road.  Altitude sickness has quite a huge impact on the body: intense headaches, nausea, and vomiting.  All this, mixed with ‘guesthouse’ stays where there are no showers and the toilets are squatters (mostly holes in the ground) – well, let’s just say, it broke my spirit for a couple days.  Having traveled before, I knew there would be a day I’d reach my tolerance point and simply breakdown – this was it.  I dreamed of hot showers as I lay huddled under my blanket, fully dressed.  I wanted out of this horrid barren freezing place.  Tibet has a harsh climate with a strong sun during the day and freezing temperatures at night.  My savoir in all this has been Carol, a fellow car member, who brought all of her trekking gear.  She had done a 17 day trekking trip to the base camp to Everast, so she was quite prepared for the cold weather.  She’s lent me her sleeping bag fleece liners, her fleece top, and a pashmina.  Without her, I would likely be dead from the cold.

The benefit of taking a budget overland trip to Tibet is that I’m meeting travelers of like caliber.  Many are women traveling alone, independent, and very well traveled.  I admire them for their ability to stay so long in a region where toilets are a plus and hot showers are, well, quite unheard of.  Many have stayed in either Nepal or India for several months already.

Today, my third day, I’m feeling worlds better.  The day before, I caved in and took the Altitude sickness pill that my newfound friends offered.  The drawback was that I had to use the disgusting squatters every 10 minutes, but the pill did its trick.  I made it through.

Entry to Tibet

Getting into Tibet itself was quite a task for me.  Of the 24 travelers in my tour group, I am the only Asian and thus, the only ‘suspect’ one for immigration.  As all the others breezed through the entry, my passport was taken and I was made to wait with no explanation.  After about 15 minutes, another American had hers taken as well, so I thought it was simply an American thing.  Nope – she passed the test with flying colors within 5 minutes.  I was then taken into a room with the Chinese officials.

Can I say, Thank the Lord that I speak some Chinese, even if it’s crappy?  The officers were quite impressed that being born and raised in America, I actually spoke Chinese.  I tried making small talk, assuming that if they liked me, maybe they wouldn’t be such assholes about the whole ordeal.  Over the course of the next hour, they quizzed me on the places I’ve been in the world (comparing it to the stamps in my passport), curiously observed my drivers license, and searched my entire bag, going as far as putting the blank CDs I had into the computer to see if there was any suspect material.  They claimed that I looked nothing like my picture in my passport; I tried explaining that the photo was taken 8 years ago when I was a bit chubbier and whiter in skin.  They inquired if both my parents were actually Chinese, since the eye color on my drivers license states “Brown.”  I explained in my horrible Chinese that when light reflects into Asian people’s eyes, it’s actually a dark brown more than a black.  They were quite curious about me.  At one point, they gathered all the American passports within my tour group and brought it into the room for comparison.  I had to explain that I had a supplemental section added to my passport since I had room out of room.

Finally, after an hour of chit chat, they let me through.  After that, the officials were light and joking, saying “Oh, you’re just Chinese like us.”

It was odd coming to a country where free speech is simply not allowed.  Our tour guide on the Nepal side announced that if anyone had anything with the Dalai Lama or “Free Tibet” on it, it simply wouldn’t be allowed into the country.  In a bus full of Westerners traveling to Tibet, most of us had read the Dalai Lama’s books and were Tibet supporters.  Many on the bus started tearing off the covers of their books with the Dalai Lama on it.  One girl hid her Free Tibet patch in her bra.  Others went as far as to tearing their Dalai Lama books into sections and passing it to others to carry.  Even after all these precautions, many books were taken at Immigration Control.  One guy was forced to tear out all pages about Taiwan from his China book, since it didn’t properly present Taiwan as a part of China.  The Control was all about flexing its powers.

Today we visit a monastery where we’re told that if we discussing politics with the monks, we’ll be sent back to the border.  The Chinese are definitely in control here.

6 PM.  Back from Monastery.

Just arrived back from the Ta Shi Lhun Po Monastery.  This was once the home of the late Panchen Lama until his death in 1989.  I was surprised that the monastery was left in tact, considering that the Chinese Cultural Revolution destroyed so many valuable monasteries in the region.  It is in fact one of the most popular monastery, proven by the numerous Tibetans we saw praying in each temple.

A picture of the current Panchen Lama was present in many of the temples.  It was a sad travesty to see that the photos portrayed the Chinese chosen Panchen Lama.  When the late Panchen Lama passed in 1989, selection of a new Panchen Lama had to be made.  The Tibetans had a select group of potential Panchen Lamas; however, the boy recognized by the Dalai Lama was locked up in Beijing and today remains the youngest political prisoner.  The Chinese government selected their own choice to be the Panchen Lama; it is his picture that hangs within the temples of Ta Shi Lhun Po Monastery.

The Monastery itself was beautiful.  It was amazing to see the faith in the Tibetans as they made their counter clockwise rounds of the Buddha, then struck the bell outside three times before departure.  It made me realize that it’s one thing for a foreign government to take your land yet it’s another to deny a people their culture and faith.

We were very careful not to discuss anything political.  In one temple, I noticed a monk sitting behind us in the windowsill, simply watching us.  One lady, Susanna, pointed at the picture of the Panchen Lama and asked our guide, “Is that the Panchen Lama selected by the Chinese government?  Or the one selected by the Dalai Lama?”  Our tour guide froze with a look of fear on his face and I quickly reminded her that we shouldn’t be asking political questions.  After all, it’s not a free country and we’re not allowed to say whatever we please.

On the way back, we found a fruit stand and couldn’t have been happier.  It’s odd how something as simple as finding fresh fruit, having a shower (even if it’s not hot), and having a flushable toilet makes a person when traveling in countries such as these.