i'll be honest, when i got in the cab to the airport at 4:30 this morning, i was stepping right back out of my comfort zone. i was nervous to be alone again, after having the company of estella's family, tenpa, and various new friends at the traffic hotel in chengdu. my fears were compounded by nonstop lightning and thunder on the way to the airport, being the only foreigner at my gate, having my tibet permit cross checked and my baggage unpacked, and observing that half of the other passengers were uniformed people's liberation army soldiers.
once i was on the plane, everything turned around. the girl next to me was a super-friendly little newlywed, meeting her husband up in lhasa. it was her first time going as well. as has often happened to me here, she took it upon herself to make sure i had everything i needed, could communicate with the flight attendants, and got my baggage when we arrived. lots of my foreign peers have experienced the same thing. some chinese people will yell in your face and wave you away, but others will treat you like their own child. i suppose it's the same in america. we were both so excited when rugged, snowy peaks began to pop through the clouds as we approached lhasa.
when we landed, i was dragged on to the airport bus to fill the last seat... the one where the tour guide usually sits, in the very front! awkward. apparently the people behind me thought it was funny too, because they all started joking back at forth, "look at the foreign girl! she's so confused! where are her friends! where do you think that one is from?" when i turned around and expressed recognition, the ringleader exclaimed, "你听得懂？" or "you understand?". i said that i did, and i wished they would not talk about me like that!
i have debated this approach a couple times before, because i know that chinese people don't necessarily mean to offend foreigners when they single them out or talk about them. it's literally the normal reaction here. children point and say 外国人 "foreigner" from the time they can talk! i feel like we certainly don't do that in america, or at least do it very subtly. anyway, once this crowd discovered i could speak chinese and was half chinese, they were even more fascinated and we became fast friends. they gave me gum for the altitude, wanted to see pictures of my family, and made sure i had contacts in lhasa so i would be safe. certainly not the direction i was expecting the conversation to go in! a pleasant surprise.
oh dear. i'm sorry i haven't even gotten to the city yet. well my tibetan guide, dikri, met me at the bus station and took me to the snowland hostel. she is adorable... i am really excited that i'll be traveling around with another girl :) she informed me of two things i already knew... (1) i can't go to any point of interest without a guide, and (2) do not photograph the PLA soldiers. she helped me get set up at the hostel and we agreed to meet at 9:30 tomorrow to begin touring.
snowland is the same price as traffic hotel for a dorm bed, but not nearly as cushy (uhhh the picture makes it look a lot nicer than it is!). in light of lhasa's isolation, i wasn't surprised. i spent the morning doing my laundry in a metal basin with the tibetan girls that wash the sheets, and then hang drying it on the balcony. the sun here is so strong... they will be dry by the time i go back. while doing laundry, i befriended a hyper, middle-aged chinese lady from guangdong who teaches english but is traveling with her friends right now. they road-tripped here from guangdong... some crazy ladies! she invited me to eat lunch with her buddy and look around the barkhor shopping square with her when we were finished... perfect :) she took me to the stalls where she has gotten good deals and introduced me to the shop keepers so they'd give me equal prices when i came shopping later this week.
after we parted ways, i wandered around a little, then came to the summit cafe to do all my catching up and relax. so far, the best part about being here is that i really feel like i am in tibet. that may sound silly, but between all the chinese tour groups and hordes of foreigners... i wasn't sure i was going to see a tibetan person in lhasa! but the culture is everywhere and you just soak it up. you see lots of older pilgrims in stunning traditional dress, accompanied by their children in more modern clothing. the highlight of my day was a ancient tibetan woman grabbing my arm to stop me from tripping over a bicycle as i snapped a picture... then sticking her tongue out joyfully as i thanked her and she waddled away. michelle sans explained to me before i left, it's a disappearing gesture that women here used to make all the time! i feel so intrusive taking frontal photographs of people just because they are natively dressed, but maybe i'll get a few sneaky ones this week.
i'm here!!!
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