Tibet is far from free!

Things are not going as expected. Then again, as I'm in China, I suppose that's to be expected.

I was fortunate to get a train ticket to Tibet on my thrid attempt AND going two hours before tickets were officially on sale. And I guess I was forunate to even get on the train. The unfortunate part about it is that it wasn't until 24 hours into my trip - and only halfway to Lhasa - that the train police decided to tell me that I needed a special travel permit just to get into Lhasa. So they told me to get my bags ready cause I would be getting off at the next stop. My five local bunkmates/80point partners (the longest Rook-like card game ever) were quick to jump to my defense that the train station shouldn't have sold me the ticket without telling me about the regulation. Nor should they have let me on the train without checking for a permit. But they did. And there I was, 24 hours away from home and 24 hours away from my destination. Boo.

After they kicked me off the train, I quickly made friends with the local train police and they made a few phone calls. We call this "guanxi". It's what greases the wheels in China and gets things done - unfortunately for me, it just doesn't get things done cheaply. That is to say, we got in touch with a place that would process a Tibet visa for me immediately; unfortunately, courtesy of the government regulation that all foreign travelers must do so by themselves and hire a car, driver, and tour guide for the entire length of their stay in Tibet, it would cost me one limb too many to make the trek. And so my Tibetan dreams have died. And I conclude that Tibet is far from free; rather it's about $800 overpriced.

Fortunately, I find myself here in the middle of nowhere, which isn't a bad place at all to be. It is beautiful country with naturally steeped mountains that make me ponder if God didn't put this part of the world together using one of those 3-D puzzle sets. I made it to a beautiful Tibetan Buddhist monastery today (next best thing to one actually in Tibet) and was pleased to chat with a few monks, exchange e-mail info (21st century monks!), and play pool with some Muslim kids. The lamb kebobs here are plentiful, though given the bathroom conditions, I'm kind of dreading when that plentifulness makes it through my system.

Tomorrow I'll be heading on a two-day trek to the supposed largest freshwater lake in China - Qinghai Lake - so I'll keep you posted on that and more adventures to follow!