Gyantse
Trip Start
Apr 04, 2004
1
25
34
Trip End
Jun 07, 2004
Gyangze,
Tibet,
China
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
Wednesday 2nd June
We set off about 7am. This time a white Landcruiser, the same model. We are stocked well with food, booze and hashish. The friendship highway takes us south west towards Gyantse. We stop and get out to observe Yamdrok Tso lake. A vast fan shaped lake of the deepest blue which wraps itself around craggy bays, inlets and islands. There is a small temple on one island and our unwanted tour-guide tells us that Buddhist monks fled here when the marauding Chinese appeared on the scene. I'm not sure if he used the word 'invaded' or 'liberated', but we all know the truth of the matter.
We do not consent to taking lunch at a dusty roadside restaurant that the driver and guide clearly know very well
1.road trip
. Instead we organise a small picnic from our own food supplies at the site of another crumbling monastery. Our small petrol stoves serve us well again for hot tea and coffee. When we are ready to move on, we summon the driver. At Gyantse we are shown several hotels by the unwanted tour-guide and we discuss the merits of each. At one, there is a long debate about the reason why we must pay in advance before knowing if the hot showers work properly. Can we not pay after we are satisfied ? The unwanted tour-guide has a quiet word in my ear. His English is dismal. But the gist of his complaint is that if the Israelis don't loosen up a bit he will reverse the trip back to Lhasa. Later Subhash's counter-complaint is that the tour-guide is not necessary and he is free to leave and make his own way back to Lhasa. He suggests that if silence prevails between the two of them " I like it better that way " The basic cause of friction between the two camps is clear ; The Chinese driver and guide are treating this like an organised tour and have their preferred stops ( and no doubt kick-backs ) Our party of travellers however have paid for the use of a car and a driver nothing more. Where the tour-guide eats or sleeps is no concern of ours.
Once satisfied with out hot showers, we go out to eat noodles and other cheap fare at a brightly lit restaurant with plastic furniture and a loud TV. Before we leave the establishment, some dirty beggars from the street rush in and begin eating the left-overs from various vacant tables. They just stand there, infront of paying customers filling their mouths with handfuls of slop. Like scavenging animals might do at a rubbish tip. Appalling poverty.
Next ; From bad to worse
