December 29, 2013 — Tibet: Until we meet again. Onward to Kathmandu! On Our Own Again.

December 29, 2013. Kathmandu, Nepal

Namaste – Well.. we made it to Kathmandu.

Packed up and got ready for today’s journey. Pemba and Tashi (the driver) would pick us up at 9 for the hour-long drive to the Lhasa International Airport. In reality, the only thing “international” is the twice weekly flights that go to Kathmandu; all other flights are domestic (well to China). The drive to the airport was interesting, passing over the Lhasa River and realizing just how much new infrastructure has been created in Lhasa and the rest of Tibet in recent years (I assume this is the upside to the Chinese situation). The road was incredibly good, new bridges, and even the airport was fairly new (originally set up as a military airport and converted to commercial just a few years ago.)

I asked Pemba when the police substations that we saw all over the city were established and that was just done two years ago!

Leaving was bittersweet; we’d actually grown fond of Pemba (although his laugh drove Mike crazy). He was really eager to tell us about Tibet and very curious about the US. He lives in a strange situation — not being able to leave and ever-inquisitive about the places the people he shows around Lhasa come from. As we started to say goodbye, he reminded us that the Tibetans don’t say good-bye.. more like “until we meet again!” and he encouraged us to return in spring or autumn when the country looks so different.

Then the airport fun began. Started with a very quick inspection at the front door.. running the bags through an x-ray machine. By the way, no photos from inside the airport. A lot of guards and police and figured they would not appreciate photos.

Then we waited first on a very short line to go through step number one of the customs departure procedure. In front of us were two Belgians and two Germans, and us. That was it. But this little line never moved because no one was at the “post” to look at our paperwork. It was now about 10 am; the flight was at 11:55 am. At about 10:20, someone came to the desk and looked over our passports, our travel permits, and our departure cards and sent us to the counter to get our boarding passes (they do use e-tickets, but none of that online checking 24 hours in advance). So step number two – showed the same paperwork to the woman at this counter and she gave us our boarding passes; no window seats left because everyone wants to see Mount Everest (and those in the know are aware of which side of the plane to sit at; we were obviously unprepared so we got aisle seats on the wrong side of the plane… next time we’ll know better!) We each checked one bag and kept computer bag and camera bags as carry on. I was told I was ok to go to the next checkpoint, but Mike was told to go to where his bag was sitting on the conveyor belt; something in his bag was of concern. Turned out they couldn’t figure out what it was and just said to move on to the next point. Step three was a guy standing in the middle of the area, who just looked at the paperwork again. Asked where our group was and then seemed OK that we weren’t in a group. OK.. moving to step four.. lots of progress. It’s now about 11:10 am. Still just us, the Belgians, and the Germans.. and lots of airport personnel, military, etc.

Step Four is to get through security. We lined up behind the other four people and nothing happenned for about 10 minutes. Then the Belgian guy says that they told us all to just take a seat (no real chairs around), because they are having a computer problem that they have to fix before we can board the plane. They cannot scan our passports and paperwork until the computer is fixed. Now, remember that language is always challenging. So we all stood around and watched as several people opened different panels in front and under the counter. Then the airport folks appeared to have a solution and we saw them bring out a caulking gun! They loaded the caulking gun and adhered two parts together (they looked like rollers).. and then all was good. By then several large tour groups (mostly Chinese, but one Japanese) arrived and lined up as well.

Showed our papers yet again to the guy at the counter with the former computer glitch, and put our bags on the screening device. They made us take out more stuff (computers, cameras, etc.) and they wanded everyone (same staff regardless of gender). OK made it through security, and then off to Gate Number 1 in the “International” Terminal. It was now about 11:40. But time doesn’t really matter since it’s the only flight that goes that day. They can really just take off whenever they want. Given the large number of people in those tour groups it was clear that we weren’t leaving at 11:55, although no announcement was ever made of a delay and the board continued to say that we were leaving at 11:55!

They have a little shop in the waiting area with some rather good stuff. I decided to use up whatever remaining Chinese Yuan I had and it was funny to be negotiating prices at an airport store. So I purchased a lovely little hand-drawing and they proceeded to roll it up and put it into a really nice box.. But then when I was fishing for my money, they put a wad of scotch tape on the box so I asked if they could remove the tape as it really didn’t need anything to close the box. So they all had a little conversation and then one of the women got an implement from the drawer, which I thought was a pair of scissors — but it was a nail clipper which she used to crack the tape and then peel it off the box.

Finally boarded the plane at about 12:20. The Chinese, and especially the Japanese, were totally prepared to photograph Mount Everest — complete with huge telephoto lenses, multiple cameras, filters, etc. They all had the window seats on the correct side of the plane. Once we got to the viewpoint, you could understand why getting those seats was a gem. It’s definitely a moonscape with jutting and jagged snow-capped peaks everywhere – as far as the eye could see; some just a few thousand feet below the plane. It was pretty funny as everyone on the other side of the plane got up to peer out the windows from the aisles…. with the Japanese tourists using gigantic telephoto lenses to photograph. Can you imagine scores of passengers standing in the aisles – mid-air -on a United flight?

Landed in Kathmandu — with great signs throughout the airport, like “tallest peaks, shortest people;” “Nepalese take their time so chill out”, etc.; went through their rather gentle customs entry; got our bags; and off we went into the traffic, pollution, and hustle bustle of the city and its 2.5 million people. We were supposed to stay two nights in a small, very cheap hotel and two nights at Dwarikas which was clearly a very upscale and beautifully appointed hotel (that we found on the Internet). Given that we still were under the weather, last night we made a very last minute decision to stay at just one hotel instead of packing and unpacking after just two days. So naturally we picked Dwarikas.

It’s sort of a collection of several traditional Nepali houses surrounding courtyards. It has 76 rooms and apparently took more than 30 years to construct; it’s the winner of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award for Culture Heritage Conservation.

The founder Dwarika Das Shrestha supposedly decided — on impulse — to save old wood carvings from traditional Kathmandu buildings that would have been thrown away. And then the carvings drew a lot of interest and she decided to construct rooms that would house these traditional wood carvings, and apparently that is how the hotel began. Shrestha is also credited with reviving the traditional method of making carved bricks. The hotel is still managed by the family, and owns one of the biggest private woodwork collections in the world. The hotel meanders through the courtyards with several restaurants, a pool, a spa.. and probably more (although I’ve yet to walk the complete 5-acre site.) And, mind you, this hotel with this acreage is smack within the city.

On the drive from the airport to the hotel, we saw two monkeys balancing on electric wires above head height to avoid the growling street dogs below.

Had a light lunch at the hotel, outside in the sun (it was about 65 degrees!) and then set off to take a walk in the area near here, which is quite different from the hotel itself. Once you leave the nirvana of Dwarikas, it’s definitely a developing nation — a city with potholes that reach knee-deep on the sidewalks (?) without warning; buildings constructed ad hoc and torn down even more ad hoc; electric wires hanging down to my ankles and a cacophony of wires above — everywhere; piles of bricks just scattered about; motorcycles zipping down the streets making crossing from one side to the other a challenge. It’s a far cry from the orderliness and rules of Lhasa! From these first few hours another striking point is that we don’t see people on iPhones! We walked for about two hours and then settled into the hotel. Oh, and there are monkeys everywhere–on the wires, on buildings, walking about…everywhere.

Then we walked to another part of town for Nepali food, a neighborhood joint (again we were the only westerners) where we had momos, and a “set” dinner — typically Nepalese with many different dishes and delicacies surrounding rice. Then back to the hotel.

More tomorrow.

Fern