Arrival in Tibet

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Arrival in Tibet
We thought we were experienced custom and border crossers after our experiences on the Trans-Siberian, but nothing quite prepared us for our entry through airport security to fly to Tibet. There was a long queue ahead of us which was moving very slowly so we were somewhat aware of the process that was about to happen to us. First we had to go to a desk with our boarding card, passport and permit then a very stern looking young man looked at you very carefully in the face for what seemed like a life time. If you were lucky they stamped your forms then ushered you forward. It was here the fun really began. We had to sit on a chair, take our shoes off and put plastic bags on them and then sit on a chair with our feet outstretched so that they could scan our bare feet. Next we had to put all of our stuff into trays, which went through an x-ray. We were asked to take numerous things out of bags on more than one occasion and they were put through the x-ray machine again and again. The whole body metal detector was next and then we had to stand on a little step and have a handheld body scanner all over and then we were patted down by a female officer; eventually we were let through, it was a bit scary to say the least. But throughout this whole process nobody spotted the error in Jacks Visa. Phew!!
We arrived at the airport and were met by our guide Sampo or English name Oliver, who was a trendy shaven headed practicing Buddhist. He presented us each with a pure white silk scarf on our arrival. He told us we could ask him questions about things we saw or wished to know about and he would try to answer them however he then said he was not allowed to talk about politics with us at all and that we must try to understand the situation at the moment. He also said that the airport was the birth place of Tibet. The drive was in a big 4x4 which was far more comfortable than the off roading in Mongolia. On the way we stopped off at a Buddhist shrine etched into the rock face, people would come there to pay homage, there were thousands of pray flags floating in the wind above us. On the rocks they had painted white ladders; Tibetans believe it gives you good fortune.
We arrived in Lhasa and it appeared to be another busy faceless city with rickshaws, supermarkets, car fumes and car horns. The Tibetan’s love their horns, they sound them if a car is in front of them, behind them, next to them or if it is going to slow, too fast or just because they can. We drew up at our place where were staying, can’t say I was that impressed, that didn’t change much when we went inside either. Yep our first ‘the pits’ hostel. It got even worse when we went inside, a dark cold room with a skanky loo, sink and shower, and to top it off no hot water. The Mongolian train was better than this and that’s saying something. After a few choice words and some grumpiness from both of us we decided as hardened travellers we had t o get on with it. The hostel was mainly set up for Chinese tourist and so had no information in English. We asked about some better rooms and was told that they were in the new side and foreigners had to stay in the old side. She muttered something about permits. Bloody permits!!! Everything here relies on permits even taking a bus.
Our first night was pure hell, we had gone from 34 degree heat and air con in our room, to about 7 degrees or less and a cold damp smelly room. We ended up sleeping in the same bed, two duvets and fully clothed and it was still cold. Breakfast was included but we were both too tired to be bothered to get up for it. After having cold washes we ventured out in hope of finding the real Tibet. I know these following words will not convey what we found....

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