Travels, Trials and Tribulations: TIbet to Chengdu

The girls left us this morning for the airport and to embark on their own adventure. We all woke up and had breakfast together and after they left for the airport, the three of us had some down time until 1 o’clock. It was actually very welcomed because we had been running since Day 1 in Tibet. We spent time on line, updating our blogs, contacting friends and family and just relaxing. I was watching one of the worst movies in the world, “Hollow Man”, on HBO, simply because it was a relaxing day. If “Hollow Man” is your favorite movie, then I am sorry I offended you!!

Around 1 o’clock Tsedan and Taschi arrived at the hotel to pick us up and take us to Norbulinka, a summer palace for the Dalai Lama. We rode through the town and listened as Tsetan explained the story behind the summer palace. He told us that it had been the summer residence for the Dalai Lama, but now was a large park where people would come to picnic, watch Tibetan Opera, and pray for the safe return of the Dalai Lama. As it was a beautiful day in Tibet, it was crowded with foreign and domestic tourists.

We wandered around the park, ducking in and out of the former residences of the various Dalai Lama. At one point we stopped and sat near a small pond and talked about this and that. This was a day of leisure for all of us, decompressing and relaxing. For this reason we had decided we wanted to get a massage before leaving town. After stopping and taking in some of the Tibetan Opera, which at times sounds similar to cats screeching, we headed out to the van and then on to Tsetan favorite massage place. Here are some pictures from the Summer Palace in Lhasa.

We arrived at what Tsetan said was partly an orphanage. We pulled into the stone and grass parking lot and watched a man watering the stone. I guess he wanted to have grass growing in addition to the stone. We left the van and walked into the massage parlor. The girls were very excited and set up our rooms accordingly. John and I were in one room with Tsetan, and David and Taschi were in the other room.

The girls began by bringing in a large wooden container for our feet. The water was scalding hot, but they gently held our feet in the water in an effort to adjust to the temperature. After soaking our feet and washing them the girls started in massaging the top and bottom of our feet. She offered to clip our toenails, which I accepted, John and Tsetan declined their offer. She pulled out this scalpel look thing and began using it to cut my nails. I was a bit nervous, as it appeared to be a straight edge razor. I watched her every move, convinced that with one slip my toe would be laying on the ground. This of course did not happen and after clipping all of my nails delicately, she returned to massaging my feet. This time she really dug in, which was welcomed due to all of the walking and hiking we had been doing. While working on our feet they had placed hot stones on our stomachs and then placed a fleece “Winnie the Pooh” blanket over us. John and I both thought it would be a great idea to place them behind our backs to warm the lower part. This was not the best idea, because after a while the hot stones left marks. Nevertheless, we were in heaven. The girls were going to town on our feet, our back and then the most surprising, the pubic bone. She worked her way up my legs and then pushed and applied pressure with both hands to my pubic bone. This was the first time I have ever had a massage on the pubic bone and I have to say it was not unpleasant. The direct pressure actually helped to loosen everything up. She knew what she was doing, that is for sure. After this, she asked me to turn over and began kneading my back. This was the greatest “foot massage” ever. After a one-hour massage I had zero desire to move, so I lay there for a s long as I possibly could. By this time David had finished his massage, and John, Tsetan and I were putting our shoes on and getting ready. We were all hungry and since it was the last night I asked Tsetan to show us one of the restaurants where the locals go to eat. He knew just the place for us, and we headed out, after paying for our massage of course.

Tsetan told us about a cave restaurant near the Potalla Palace that was one of his favorite places to visit. We had heard of this place from Dan and Susie and were assured that we would be the only westerners. We pulled into the lot just past the Potalla Palace and walked to the entrance of a cave.

It was dimly lit, with benches running the length of the cave on both sides. In front of the benches were tables, which sat around knee height for me. Local Tibetans dotted both sides of the room and the wait staff greeted us kindly but gave a few quick glances in our direction. The entire room took turns staring at us, but more in a quizzical, curious way. Tsetan ordered from the menu for all of us. Taschi had the fried noodles, Tsetan had Yak dumplings in broth, and John, David and I had Yak Dumplings, noodles, and potato curry. Tsetan was correct in saying that the food was excellent. Everything was very tasty and traditional Tibetan style. Who knew that food in a cave could be so tasty? After finishing our food Tsetan collected the check for us to pay the total. The entire meal worked out to be around 3 us dollars each, our least expensive meal to date in China. Tsetan said goodbye to us until the morning and we returned to the hotel to pack our things, and relax and get some rest before our flight the next day. We had a scheduled flight to Chengdu at 11 am, a 2-hour flight, but we would have to leave for the airport around 8 am.

W awoke the next morning, showered and met Tsetan downstairs for breakfast. It was a brief, quick breakfast, but the Chinese breakfast is much different than the western version. I had a fried egg with a piece of toast and a few pieces of bacon and a cup of coffee before departing for the airport. The Lhasa airport is one hour’s drive from Lhasa and we had a flight to catch. Taschi drove us through the winding mountain roads and through the tunnel through the middle of one of the mountains and after approximately one hours time we arrived at the Lhasa Airport. We had about an hour before our flight would depart so we hustled across the street after saying our goodbyes to Tsetan and Taschi. We took our place in line, but it did not appear to be moving. After a short time we went through security and entered the airport, just in time to board our flight.

Our plane left the gate one minute early, and we were off to Chengdu to meet up with John’s friend Kate, who had booked an inexpensive hotel near her apartment for us. We arrived in Chengdu two hours later, stepped off the plane, onto the tarmac and took a bus to the main terminal. We waited for our luggage and watched infomercials about the Olympics and the Sichuan Province. The three bags fell onto the belt, and we grabbed them and pushed our way out of the terminal.

We grabbed a cab to the hotel that Johns friend Kate had booked for us. The ride was around 35 minutes, with the cab driver weaving in and out of traffic. Oh how I had forgotten about the driving styles in China. We arrived at our hotel and checked in and relaxed, after all we had accomplished much in just going from one city to the next. After a short nap, John and I began to walk through the neighborhood to check it out. Fairly non-descript, crowded and seemingly lacking an identity. But over time I have come to find that Chengdu is down to earth and midwestern feeling. It is a large city but the people have been incredibly down to earth. IN our time here we have gone and visited the pandas, sang karaoke, gone to a dumpling party with friends and just taken it easy. Exactly what we needed after TIbet. Here are some photos of the Panda's from Chengdu.