Tibetan village(If you’re wondering why we’re planning to spend the night on the road, check out previous posts in the Tibet Category).
The other vehicles backed up and prepared to spend the night. W was more resourceful. He knew of several places we might be able to sleep: the road menders’ hostel, the hydro-electric power station hostel and an army hotel. The first two were closed and the last would not (understandably) let us in. By this time we had reached a small village with a teahouse and, after some negotiation, we were invited in for tea with the possibility of using the place to bunk down for the night. It was filthy, buzzing with flies and the roof leaked. We accepted the tea (which was fine, untainted by yak) but declined the offer of accommodation, preferring to sleep in the Landcruisers. W and the drivers said they would use the teahouse, but a young, single woman ran it and she didn’t want to share it with three strange men. W then reported that the farmers had offered us the use of their bedrooms and I asked if they would be clean. No, he said worse than this. We declined again and all six of us elected to sleep in the vehicles, so W and the drivers went to the farmers’ houses.
Teahouse and our LandcruisersTo say we were the talk of the steamie at this point would not do the situation justice. The entire village, it seemed, was ranged against the teahouse wall watching us. This was actually very typical of the whole trip. Wherever we stopped, however remote the location and however bad the weather, within a couple of minutes an audience would materialise to stare at us. Sometimes they would come right up to the car and stick their noses to the window, and if the doors were open they would stick their heads right in for a better look. The only word they knew was “hello” which they would say over and over again with C, being blonde, attracting the most attention. It was quite un-nerving.
Waking upFinally, we got settled down for the night. The village had no toilets so W advised us to “go anywhere”, which we did. The down jackets provided by our tour company, which we had been lugging around reluctantly, were now pressed into service and proved very cosy to sleep in – and, surprisingly, we did sleep. At least we did after fits of hysterical giggles when C pointed out that a week ago we had never even met, and now here we were sleeping together. The fact that this was in a Landcruiser in Tibet, and a privilege for which we had all paid out thousands of dollars, just made us worse. John remarked plaintively that I was always nagging him to take more time off, and look what happened when he did. I gave him permission to shoot me if I ever again suggested anything more adventurous than a fortnight in Bournemouth.
Tibetan village
Tibetan village
Village haystacks
We got up about seven the next morning so that we could attend to the necessary ablutions before it got too light and our audience got up. Having done this, and breakfasted on water and crackers, we waited for W and the drivers. And waited, and waited. There was no sign of them, but the rest of the village appeared as expected to watch – except one guy who decided to provide his own show. John suddenly hissed to C and me that there was a man masturbating across the road from us. We were too ladylike to look, of course, but this was another example of how, just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse, they always did!
The road is under here somewhere!We finally got away about 9.30, quite annoyed because we all felt that the sooner we got to Lhasa and were able to fix up flights the better. When we reached the washed-away part of the road again most of the other vehicles had already gone, but I was very relieved to see the Chinese minibus was there. The river over the road was still in full flood, but we got through it by driving upstream to a point where the bank was quite low, and onto the road at the other side from there. After this, it was plain sailing back to the Hotel Lhasa where we were met by a manager from W’s company and started to negotiate our way out.
Well, here I am 16 years later writing from Scotland so I can’t leave you with too much of a cliff-hanger. However, I hope you’ll come back on Thursday for the conclusion to my tale.
Just catching up on your Tibet series Anabel – my computer has been playing up for the past 10 days though Monsieur seems to have fixed it now 🙂 Gosh your holiday sounds such a nightmare and after you’d paid so much money. Had to laugh as that’s the sort of thing I’d keep saying to Monsieur LC “you need to take more time off work” don’t think he’d appreciate this type of trip though. At least you’ve been there and from an outsider’s viewpoint it sounds fascinating!
Oh, “Murder in the Red Barn!!” as a very old friend of our family would have said. 😯 A village with no toilets would be my idea of hell on earth. I have to say that John doesn’t look like ‘the morning after the night before’. Does he always wake up looking so refreshed? Your horror stories have put to bed any romantic ideas I might have had about visiting Tibet. 🙂
No he doesn’t! I think we were all running on adrenalin by then. I think if you stuck to Lhasa you’d be ok – just don’t try the road trip would be my advice.
What surprises me most is that this wasn’t just a day or two of bad travel luck, but – as you wrote – things just kept getting unimaginably worse. It’s fun to imagine you wrote this sitting at a cozy writing table, sipping a nice hot tea. 🙂
Most of it written on the plane on the way home! Has only needed some light editing – and a bit of debate about whether to leave in the masturbation episode.
I know that part of the travel experience is to immerse ourselves in another culture, but I have to admit that I draw the line at dirt and filth. I would have opted for the land cruiser, too! This trip does sound horrific, but I’m glad you were able to laugh about it, at least a little bit. Did the travel agency every reimburse you for any of your money? I know this happened a long time ago, but still, I’m reading this, I keep feeling so sorry for you!
That’s a very good question! I thought about including something about compensation but decided it would sound too moany. When we got back we did ask for return of at least some of the extra money we had had to spend on land cruisers and flights but their response was “not our problem”. We should have taken it up with the companies in China and Nepal. Our reply was that a) our contract was with them but they had passed us down the line several times and b) we were reliant on the goodwill of the local companies to get us home. It cut no ice and we didn’t take it further. They sent us a voucher to use against one of their tours the following year. Needless to say, we didn’t take them up on it. I believe they are no longer in business.
Reminds me of a friend of mine in Tibet whose guide offered her accommodation at his parent’s house and she woke in the night to heavy breathing by her bed. It turned out to be the family cow which they’d put in her room to keep her warm! Hospitality comes in all forms. Loved your story.
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
I’ve just forwarded this to my friend Myra who is currently touring in Tibet. I thought it might cheer her up if she gets into any difficulties!
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I hope I she doesn’t have the same experiences!
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It was a nightmere O_O
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Just catching up on your Tibet series Anabel – my computer has been playing up for the past 10 days though Monsieur seems to have fixed it now 🙂 Gosh your holiday sounds such a nightmare and after you’d paid so much money. Had to laugh as that’s the sort of thing I’d keep saying to Monsieur LC “you need to take more time off work” don’t think he’d appreciate this type of trip though. At least you’ve been there and from an outsider’s viewpoint it sounds fascinating!
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It was fascinating! I don’t regret it, but I wouldn’t want to do it again….
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oh, this is very good stuff. Ommmmmmm.
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Didn’t quite seem that way at the time!
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Superb material for a novel! Good to know you all managed to find the funny side that night, almost disappointed it is going to finish next week!
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Last bit came out this morning! Spoiler: we got home 😉
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Ooh I’ve lost a week this week! Off now to read it 😊
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Oh, “Murder in the Red Barn!!” as a very old friend of our family would have said. 😯 A village with no toilets would be my idea of hell on earth. I have to say that John doesn’t look like ‘the morning after the night before’. Does he always wake up looking so refreshed? Your horror stories have put to bed any romantic ideas I might have had about visiting Tibet. 🙂
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No he doesn’t! I think we were all running on adrenalin by then. I think if you stuck to Lhasa you’d be ok – just don’t try the road trip would be my advice.
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What surprises me most is that this wasn’t just a day or two of bad travel luck, but – as you wrote – things just kept getting unimaginably worse. It’s fun to imagine you wrote this sitting at a cozy writing table, sipping a nice hot tea. 🙂
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Most of it written on the plane on the way home! Has only needed some light editing – and a bit of debate about whether to leave in the masturbation episode.
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Well, the best stuff you just can’t make up! That part does add something to the tale.
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I know that part of the travel experience is to immerse ourselves in another culture, but I have to admit that I draw the line at dirt and filth. I would have opted for the land cruiser, too! This trip does sound horrific, but I’m glad you were able to laugh about it, at least a little bit. Did the travel agency every reimburse you for any of your money? I know this happened a long time ago, but still, I’m reading this, I keep feeling so sorry for you!
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That’s a very good question! I thought about including something about compensation but decided it would sound too moany. When we got back we did ask for return of at least some of the extra money we had had to spend on land cruisers and flights but their response was “not our problem”. We should have taken it up with the companies in China and Nepal. Our reply was that a) our contract was with them but they had passed us down the line several times and b) we were reliant on the goodwill of the local companies to get us home. It cut no ice and we didn’t take it further. They sent us a voucher to use against one of their tours the following year. Needless to say, we didn’t take them up on it. I believe they are no longer in business.
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Reminds me of a friend of mine in Tibet whose guide offered her accommodation at his parent’s house and she woke in the night to heavy breathing by her bed. It turned out to be the family cow which they’d put in her room to keep her warm! Hospitality comes in all forms. Loved your story.
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Oh my goodness! That’s one experience we didn’t have.
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