Alex's Asian Adventure

This morning I flew to Lhasa.

The flight was scheduled to leave at 8:20 AM. It took off at 9:20 AM. I am a bit irritated.

Here's the difference between, say, British Airways and Air China. If a BA flight is delayed on takeoff for whatever reason, an announcement is made saying "we are loading more fuel" or "there's some extra baggage on the plane, and looks like a bomb, so we'll take it off. Please be patient" or "our pilot is hung over." If an Air China flight is delayed on takeoff... you get nothing. The cabin crew didn't know anything about anything. They looked confused. Say "we definitely leave this morning, maybe wait 2, 3 hours". WHAAAAAAAAAAT!!!

Anyway, it was all worth it - the vista of mountains on the way made my heart melt in many ways.

The Lhasa airport is quite small, and situated in a valley about an hour's drive from the city itself. I was met by a smiling Tibetan with great English (Renzing) and his driver (Incognito). On the way, I picked up another traveller, a Frenchman named Julien, who's on his May Day holidays (works in Shanghai) and went to Lhasa with no real plans of accomodation. He's staying at the hotel (which is a nice 3-star affair. If anything, too nice for me).

About Lhasa. Lhasa is situated at roughly 3700m elevation. That means that when you get here, you should expect altitude sickness. Lhasa is the capital of Tibet, is home to around 200,000 people. It's not clear how many are Tibetan: Renzing says 95%, Murray (my prof friend here) says more like 50%. It's a touchy subject.

The Tibetans are the sweetest people in the world. Julien and I went out to wander the streets a bit and wandered into a school where they were holding some track & field festivities. I'd like to make three points:

• The fact that these people can sprint (nevermind run) at this altitude astounds me. I'm a fast walker most of the time - not here, not now.
• The children seem to be eager to practice their English (no idea where they picked it up). First thing I hear: "hello!!!! how are you!!!!" They're full of smiles and really - REALLY - sweet.
• All the kids are dying for attention from a foreigner like me - they were more than eager to pose for pictures and seem very excited to see us.

These people are incredibly friendly. Really wonderful to interact with.

After wandering the streets, I met up with Murray and his family and went to another track & field event, this time at Tibet University. Again, how these people can run a 3000m race at altitude is beyond me. We spent a bit of time walking around the campus (slowly!) and ended up at dinner.

Dinner. Near the Barkhor (the pilgrim circuit around the Jokhang, and also a big market). At a tourist-oriented restaurant. That serves yak steak. Yes, that's right, I ate a rare, bloody piece of cooked dead yak. Covered with butter. Served with potatoes and veggies. And chinese tea. It was a Sino-Tibetan-Canadian meal of the highest order. And the steak is so tender! Like eating a filet mignon at Ruth's Chris, except it doesn't cost $45/plate.

Mmmmm.

Lhasa is very scenic, very picturesque, and quite small. To compare, Beijing is apparently the size of Belgium. Xi'an has 8mm people. Chengdu has 11mm people. Sprawling, urban metropoli. This is the first city I visit where I can actually walk from one end of town to the other in a reasonable amount of time. It's refreshing!

The air here is clean, pure, and lacking in oxygen. The mountains around here are big and snow-capped. Unlike BC mountains, they're brown and have no vegitation. This is a high-altitude desert: not much percipitation, not much grows.

I think I'll spend well over a week in Lhasa and the surrounding areas. I'd like to visit a more remote place. Candidates include Rongbuk & Everest Base Camp (4-day trip), and an idea pitched to me last night by a trekker in Chengdu to go for a 6-day trip to Eastern Tibet, to see some high-altitude lakes and gorgeous alpine scenery. Not sure what I'll do yet - it largely depends on whether I can find suitable travel companions, since these trips involve hiring a private Toyota Landcruiser and its driver.

Ineed to leave this cybercafe. The Chinese girl behind me is smoking a foul-smelling Chinese cigarette and playing some stupid computer game not unlike DDR, with none of the physical exercise. More later.