vysean

We awoke the next morning much better off – the beds were comfortable, the electricity worked, it was very comfortable in the room, and most importantly, we had hot water in the morning for showers and flush toilets. We felt like kings. Wesley experienced the breakfast, reporting back that it wasn’t very good and I enjoyed a few extra minutes of sleep at the expense of the (apparently) not-very-good breakfast.

Of course, things worked out wonderfully for Wesley and we weren’t charged an express surcharge (we also didn’t get our clothes for about 14 hours after they were dropped off, and they were damp when returned to us). As it turned out, the hotel in Shigatse’s laundry service was a relative bargain when compared to the prices for laundry service in Lhasa at the Four Points – the rates for most things were 300% more.

We got our bags loaded in the Land Cruiser and departed. On our way out of the hotel compound, the security guard/bellman saluted in a very official manner and we set off. With that we were off on our way back to Lhasa. We stopped for gas and the driver was given a free decorated washcloth as a gift. We stopped shortly thereafter for a speed check – in Tibet they give you a slip of paper with a time on it. You drive along and arrive at a checkpoint, before, exactly at, or after the appointed time. If you arrive before the printed time, you were speeding and have to pay a fine. If you arrive at or after, all is well with the world. This was an ineffective way to prevent speeding, as we would simply drive fast right up until the checkpoint, pull over for a few minutes and wait and then drive to the checkpoint and on to the next where we would repeat this behavior. Judging by the other cars on the sides of the road near these checkpoints, we weren’t the only ones doing this.

We arrived in Lhasa around 3pm. We were hungry and tired of sitting in the car, but we had some more immediate priorities – the purchasing of stamps and postcards, a final visit to the ATM, and last minute gift purchases for friends and family. With that in mind we first stopped at a China Post outlet to buy stamps and postcards. That complete, our next stop was the Bank of China for money and then on to a nearby upscale jewelry store for a gift for Wesley’s girlfriend. That was a lot of fun - almost an hour of milling about in a store with two or three people following my every move and attempting to get me to buy things I didn’t need or want for ten times the price I was willing to pay while Wesley indecisively shuffled around unable to pick something out. After much hemming and hawing, he finally settled on a necklace and was assured he was getting “super best discount”. A few minutes later we were finally able to leave, and so we went back to the Barkhor Square. We saw all manner of things walking through here, including knock-off clothing and accessories, tasty looking fried potatoes (chips to our friends across the Atlantic), and much more.

My first stop was to purchase a few more small purses for 10 Yuan each since they were so cheap and ornate. Next we went in search of prayer beads. We tried negotiating but I thought they were too expensive, so only Wesley bought at this stall. And it was immediately after this that the funniest thing of the whole trip happened – An elderly Tibetan woman walked up to us, put her hand on Wesley’s shoulder and said “hello how are you?” to us. Wesley responded complimenting her on her English, and she smiled. Her smile widened into a huge grin as she reached out, patted Wesley’s protruding stomach, and without another word, turned and walked away. It was too funny, and I regret not thinking to pull out my small camera to take a quick video. The joke for the rest of the trip was that when he tired of working back in the States, he would move to Tibet, strip off his shirt, and sit in front of a temple or monastery with a cup for donations. I’d post a side-profile picture of him, but that would be mean (and invite retribution). So you’ll have to trust me when I say that Wesley might indeed resemble a happy, rotund-bellied Buddha.

Despite that most funny of things, the overall mood was quite different from earlier in the week – there were tons of police and military, most heavily armed with riot gear and AK-47 rifles and/or tear gas. There were armed police or military on the rooftops surrounding the Barkhor Street market. We were told that there was an 8pm curfew this evening (though it was never clear if that was an official thing or whether it was simply known to exist – other nights an official 10pm curfew was apparently in effect). Many of the vendors were packing up their things and leaving, and there seemed a sense of urgency in the air, kind of like that feeling you get as a storm is approaching, so we made our last stop to pickup a few more things. After some haggling, I purchased two prayer beads and a bracelet. After my purchase, the owner motioned me closer and asked where I was from. I said, “America – the United States – Arizona”. He stepped even closer and whispered in my ear, “I like Americans” and smiled broadly. After that he handed Wesley and I each a bracelet and wished us well on our journey. I’m sure it didn’t cost much if anything, but it meant a lot to me. We then tried to leave but the owner of the next stall over grabbed me by the arm and wanted me to look at what he had to sell. He had the same things I had already purchased, and I was low on cash. I tried to politely walk away but he was pleading with me to buy something and he had a very firm grip on my arm. It took nearly five minutes of me trying to break free while repeating “no money”, “no cash”, and “sorry”, before I was finally able to leave. Wesley was of no use – he was highly amused by a little Chinese boy who was marching in front of a group of police officers – and the police appeared to be equally amused. After we left, I was annoyed with the guy for grabbing me the way he did, but at the time I was more concerned that a Chinese military or police person would grab him and take him somewhere.

Having broken free of the literal and figurative reigns of commerce and obligatory souvenir purchases, we had one last stop – to meet up with Natalie and her friends at the nearby café. It was just after 6pm, our appointed meeting time, and when we arrived at the café they were nowhere to be found. We waited a few minutes but they never showed – we later attributed it to the hushed atmosphere and increased police/military presence for the Opening Ceremonies. We were hungry (neither of us had eaten all day) so we went back to the first restaurant we had eaten at in Lhasa – across the street from the Yak hotel. We were seated upstairs and ordered a much smaller amount of food and no beer this time. The food came out after a short wait and was good – not quite as tasty as the first night, but still good. We asked for the bill and paid. As we were getting up to leave, I wanted to say thank you to the waitress, so I said, “shu shu”. She immediately started laughing and turned around apparently embarrassed. Her friend/waitress heard and started laughing too. I sheepishly got up and left – the whole time being watched by the two waitresses. It wasn’t until we got back to the hotel that I learned that “shu shu” means “uncle” and I meant to say “shi shi”, or “thank you”. I have no idea if she thought I wanted to be her uncle or what, but I guess it explains her reaction…

We noticed one other interesting thing on our walk back to the hotel – almost every storefront and apartment had a Chinese flag prominently displayed out front. Earlier in the week we saw few if any, so it was quite a change. Beyond that, we must have counted five large trucks each filled with 12-20 fully-armed military personnel in riot gear. Clearly, it was not a night for wild celebrations in the streets.

After returning to the hotel, we relaxed and turned on the TV so we could watch the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. While this was going on, I got caught up on emails and major issues at work and filled out a bunch of postcards to mail to friends and family. Wesley had wanted to order a pizza but he wussed out and never did it. We were pretty tired anyway.