A few relaxing Lhasa days

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This is a Blatant Advertisment for the Low House Music Bar, Beijing Zhonglu, Lhasa, Tibet

We got back from the EBC tour and Xiao Hua and I needed to make sure we could get train tickets leaving Lhasa in the next few days, so as soon as we put our stuff in the room we were off to find a bus to take us to the train station. Xiao Hua had assured me that he had found out which bus we needed and wehre it left from, so we walked and got on a minibus. However, this minibus only took us to the bus station where we then had to catch another bus. The ticket lady in the minibus who was in charge of the tickets told us that this was our stop and we got out on the side of the road and I looked around and thought 'this is a funny looking bus station.' We were just dumped on the side of the road and told that the bus would be by here any minute adn that we needed to take bus 86. So we waited for 5 minutes and then we saw it, bus 86 screaming down the road, on the far left lane, nowhere near us and not looking like it would make it over to us in time, and it didn't. It just kept drivi ng adn we stood there, arms raised waving at the bus, o the side of the road, watching it drive away. I was slightly pissed off as I hadn't had lunch and it was well into the afternoon adn when I get hungry I get grumpy. Xia Hua asked a few people were the supposed 'bus station' was and we were directed down another road, and after walking for another ten minutes down this road and not finding a bus station I cracked. I stopped and told Xia Hua that I wasn't walking any further and the bus had ten minutes to arrive or I was taking a taxi. We sat on the side of the road and I watched the clock count down, and with one minute to go and me ready to take a taxi the damn bus turned to corner adn was driving straight towards us. This time however the driver saw our madly flapping arms and we were on board and heading to the station.

At the station I was able to take advantage of my Chinese friend and he helped me buy my ticket and I was saved from using my embarrasingly bad Chinese or pointing to the phrasebook. I had a ticket to Lanzhou for the 26th of December which gave me two more days in Lhasa, including Christmas. The bus ride back was just as frustrating as the ride there as Xia Hua informed me that we could take bus 96 back to town, which i itself is entirely true, but what he neglected to mention was that it went the very long way back to town and this did not bode well with my hungry hungry tummy. Nevertheless we made it back to Lhasa and back for a quick snack or two. The rest of the night was spent at the internet cafe updating the old blog adn grabbing some dinner with Xiao Hua and then a few quiet beers at the Low House Music Bar which is just up the road from the Dongcuo International Youth Hostel. We had both been there a few times before our EBC trip enjoyed; I had been here twice before our EBC trip, the first time I bumped into one of the guys from the secret Great Wall tour in Beijing, but it was the music that brought me back. The owner buys most of it from Nepal, burns it and then offers the copies for sale to patrons if they like what they hear. His collection is vast ranging from catchy Nepali classics, amazing Indian tabla marathons, beautiful Tibetan harmonies and even the odd Guns and Roses or Nirvana!

The bar is fantastic but unfortunately the owner relayed to me that not many laowai (foreigners) find the place, admittedly it is pretty low-key and especially hard to see inside it at night as the windows are all steamed up from the candles and the heater, but the owner did say that once they find it they usually come back which was most definitely the case for me! We had a few beers and then headed back to the hostel for some shut-eye.

Christmas Eve

The next day I caught up with the crew from the Namtso tour who were going on a shopping spree so I tagged along. They really did go to town buying things and I would have if I had found things that I really liked, or wanted, but only found a few little things that I bought for family and friends because up until this point I had bought things mostly for myself.

We caught up with Xiao Hua in the afternoon adn headed into a Tibetan tea house for some sweet milky tea (that stuff is good) and then made our way slowly back to the hostel and headed to a fast-food style Chinese resturant near our hostel that was packed to the gills and served quality food. Xiao Hua and I had decided that we would go back to the Low House Music Bar that night for some Christmas cheer and we recrutied the rest of the crew from the Namtso tour and arranged to meet them later after going to the internet cafe. I was last to arrive at the bar, as I had been finishing the EBC blog, and I found everyone playing cards and in good spirits. After a few rounds of cards the Namtso crew left and Xiao Hua and I were left behind. Xiao Hua and I ended up being the last people in the bar, staying for quite a while (read 2am) and spending a bit of money, as I bought a few CDs and paid for the beers (which aren't cheap by Chinese standards, but you are really paying for the atmosphere of the place).

Merry Christmas!

Because of our late night the night before and because I really didn't have anything to get up for I slept almost until midday on Christmas day, and when I woke I wasn't feeling very cheery. But once out and into the streets I spent the day amongst the people of Lhasa, wandering around as many backstreets as I could find and spending as much time as I could lingering in markets mixing it with the locals. In the end it was the best thing I did as I found so many interesting little streets and different districts if you will, for example the pool hall area which was a whole bunch of streets with pool tables crammed into every available space. Whilst watching a game I was invited to take a shot and naturally I completely stuffed it up and was thoroughly embarrassed but what the hey, it was good fun.

I once again caught up with Xiao Hua for dinner and we headed to a Tibetan place for some good old Tibetan tukker, curried beef with rice and potatoes and then some internet cafe goodness. Somehow time had slipped away from us and it was 10.30pm and since I had a train early the next morning I thought that I had better head to bed but after cleaning my teeth adn changing into my jimjams, I looked at Xiao Hua and said 'It';s Christmas and my last night in Lhasa, maybe we should have one more beer.' So we walked back into the Low House Music Bar at 11pm and we warmly greeted by the owner who now knew us quite well, he told us off for being late but soon brought over some beers and joined us. We chatted for a while, Xiao Hua acting as translator as the owner asked my thoughts on his bar; obviously pleased with my responses he got me to write what I thought about the bar onto one of the CD covers and pinned it to the wall where there were a few others. Many many beers later, me Xiao Hua, a Tibetan guy and the owner were crowded around the Tv and dvd player putting on different musical dvds; at one stage the owner was trying to teach me how to play the tabla but I was useless, and no matter how many times he told me to watch Bikram Ghosh doing it on the tv or his own demonstrations I couldn't get the hang of it. Then it was time for some air guitar goodness as the Guns and Roses came out, then back to some Nepali classics and then to Blues. After we passed 2am I stopped looking at my watch and worrying about sleeping as I figured I had plenty of time to sleep on the train and besides there was too much good music being played now!

At about 3am a fresh batch of people came in and Xiao Hua and I thought we recognised them from the hostel so we went over and joined tehm but it turned out that they weren't who were thought they were as they had lived in Lhasa for two years working for a local newspaper. Stories were swapped and different languages were spoken as one of the guys had taught himself some Japanese (which is a language I can speak!) and he also amused us with his Spanish, which he learnt from movies and basically involved him mimicking lines from movies like a parrot. By the time the clock struck 4am I was done, it truly was time for 'some' sleep, and despite Xiao Hua's attempts to keep me up until my train, I thanked the owner for his hospitality and told him I would be back at some stage in the future.

Time to say Goodbye

The alarm went all too early and left a ringing in my head, which puzzled me as the phone was on silent, but then I realized that my head wasn ringing before the alarm went off. Somehow I managed to get my stuff together and stumbled out of the hostel and into a taxi, who took me to the train station and ripped me off big time but I was to tired and my head was to sore to care. I got onto the train, managed to stuff my bag up in the overhead compartment, got all my stuff out that I would need for the trip - food, music, camera, wallet only to have someone come into my compartment and tell me that I was in the wrong bed. EXPLETIVE DELETED. So I packed up all my stuff again, removed my bag from the overhead compartment and moved, next-door. EXPLETIVE DELETED. I slumped down onto the bunk and was out within a few minutes. I slept for about four hours and then when I woke-up, the only thing I could manage was to sit up a little and put my ipod on and I sat on the bunk for most of the day.

The train ride to Lanzhou was pretty uneventful as I slwoly recovered from the massive night before, so I mostly sat on my bunk listening to The Power of One on audiobook or I slept. So I arrived in Lanzhou today and when I got here I somehow managed to negotiate the queues at the train station and using my best craptastic Chinese and my now skillful use of the art of pointing at the phrasebook I had a ticket to Jiayuguan for tonight. I pnce again used my craptastic Chinese and put my bag into the luggage storage and I had nine hours to kill here in Lanzhou, fun. So here I am, nah I haven't been here for nine hours, I wandered around the shops and finally satisifed my craving for western food which developed somewhere over the last few days, finding a KFC and getting a sweet sweet zinger burger mmmmm. I then wandered around a mssive shopping mall and when I emerged Lanzhou was more polluted than ever before! However I soon realised that the smog was moving, getting closer to where I stood adn it was coming fast. What I thought was smog was actually a massive dust-storm. I braved it for a little while but it became unbearable and I sought shelter in a coffee shop for the next two hours.

Towards the edge of the world

Now I have been here for two hours writing this blog (unfortunately the compy I am using doesn't have working USB ports so I can't upload any photos, frustrating I know, but soon) and checking out the news in Aus and it is almost time to head back to the train station for another 10 hour train ride to Jiayuguan. Jiayuguan was pretty much the edge of imperial China and the fort at Jiayuguan had a gate which opened out on the desert from which poets, politicians, prisoners and pretty much anyone who really peeved off the person in charge were exiled and left to fend for themselves in a desert full of nothing but hordes of barbarians: good luck with that. So it should be interesting but I won't be there for too long before I move onto more interesting Dunhuang, but I'll tell you about that when I get there 😉

Thanks for reading.

Matt out

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Comments

[mike vicars]

Hi
sory you missed my last geetings however enjoying your blogs. continue to enjoy the trip. looking forward to hearing it all on your return. Grandies.