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Had to go back
Entry 12 of 17 | show all | print this entry |
Bridge is out, had to go back, on our way back to Chengdu to catch a flight to Lhasa.
Don't worry, we have time to see Lhasa and get back to Shanghai.
I will update the map and give more details when back in Chengdu in about 3 or 4 days
Mimi said she wants to sleep for 3 days when she gets back to Shanghai. I want to wash my stuff and take a 2 hour hot shower.
We are both fine.
Update
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I am updating this entry well after the events occurred. Everything below is new. Pictures will follow. I am using voice recognition software so let's see if the software is better than my typing.
We left the Chamdo/Bangda/Pomda airport late this morning. Our driver said we could make Batang, Sichuan Province today. Anything east of Markham, Tibet will be new to us because we came up from Yunnan Province. The driver drove somewhat fast for most of the ride. The road was mostly 'somewhat' good during this part of the trip. I say 'somewhat' because I'm using the Tibetan standard and the road was also mountainous with lots of turns. He slowed down later in the day. Mimi felt he might have been staling. We stopped in Markham for the night and we stayed in the same hotel as two days earlier. We wanted to go further, it was still early, I think around 4:00 pm but the driver wouldn't go.
Permits Needed by Foreigners
In additional to a China Visa, foreigners need additional permits to travel in Tibet. Some say this is to control who enters Tibet. Other say it is a form of taxation to get more money from foreigners similar to the two-currency system they had on my previous trip. Back then, there were two types of currencies, one for foreigners with one exchange rate, the other currency was for everyone else. I'm sure whoever came up with the dual currency idea got a big promotion in the government, obviously, two currency, one country couldn't work.
Anyway, foreigners flying to Lhasa needed one permit from the Tibet Tourism Bureau (TTB). Foreigners driving to Tibet need that permit and several others. It is a big bureaucracy adding expense, delay, and difficulty to Tibetan travel. Some permits take over a week to get. I'll scan and post copies of my permits later. My TTB permit was the original. My other permits were faxed copies. My research showed this was normal because some permits are only issued in Lhasa and faxed to the city of departure.
Over Zealous TTB Employee
I say TTB employee and not official because his ID was not a proper TTB ID like his superior's ID who later came when we had all the trouble. Mimi thinks he was in training.
When we passed through this town a few days earlier, the hotel told us to report to the PSB, the Public Security Bureau. All they did was look at my papers and took copies for their files and everything was fine.
This time the TTB came to our hotel. The TTB employee said my overland permits were fake because they were copies and was going to confiscate all my papers, even the original TTB permit. Mimi was lipid and had a big argument with him. They are not used to people questing their authority and he did not know what to do so he called his superior.
When the superior came and assess the situation he immediately apologized to Mimi and had the employee also apologized to her. He said the employee was going to be punished. Maybe the apology was his punishment. I always hear people say that someone is going to be punished when they make a mistake in China. This guy did deserve to be punished because he greatly overstepped his authority. However many people seemed to be told that they're going to be punished when they make an honest mistake. This must be a carry over from the Cultural Revolution.
To make a long story short, the supervisor told us we were not at fault. He said the tour company was at fault. He ended up fining our driver 1000 Yüan, over a month's pay for a typical Chinese worker. The fine was for not having the original permits, for one of the permits been missing, and for not having a guide.
That's it for this entry. I think I'll concentrate now mostly on adding pictures and telling the stories for the pictures with a description of the pictures.
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