Day 1: Nyingchi, Tibet

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Even though yesterday was the first day of my trip, which I took the high-speed train from Chongqing to Chengdu, it wouldn't be considered as the first stop as I only had a dinner and walked around in the department store for the day. I did not do any sightseeing in Chengdu at all. (Maybe next time if I ever have the chance to go back to Sichuan, I will definitely write something about Chengdu!) 

I went to bed pretty early last night, because I set the alarm at 3 in the morning to wake me up for the Euro Cup final - Spain vs Italy. There were also a lot of other people watching the game with me, but the atmosphere was not as great as in Hong Kong or somewhere else, that people barely made noises and I could only restrain myself when there were exciting moments. Finally, my beloved Spain National Team won Italy by 4-0 and successfully defended the championship title of Euro Cup! Vamos!!!

When the game was finished, I had to leave at once, as the flight to Nyingchi would take off at 7 a.m.. Luckily I could also share a taxi to the airport with 2 other girls from the hostel to save the cost. It was especially strict to go to Tibet, people usually need not go through custom when taking domestic flights. But there was an additional custom for Tibet. There was even a specific line for passengers from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. I felt like I was already monitored before even taking the flight! (Still didn't recognize there would be more troubles later on in the trip)

The mountains next to the plane

The plane to Nyingchi was actually quite fast. Once I was told it was very scary for the plane to land in Lhasa, since the mountain ranges were very close by the plane. However, it wasn't less scary for the plane to land on Nyingchi airport either. When I woke up and saw the adjoining mountains, I almost screamed my lung out, it was indeed very terrific! 

Once landed, I could only take taxi from the airport to Bayi town, it cost  50 RMB per head and had to share with other people. The distance was quite far, if taking the bus, it maybe needed at least one hour and a half. But there was no bus in reality, don't even think about it. 

The taxi driver dropped me off in front of Nyingchi Dukou Youth Hostel. When I stepped inside of the "reception", I felt shocked. It was packed with many backpacks, the wall was worn-out and the floor was very dirty. I immediately wondered, "Why there are so many good reviews on the internet of this hostel? Do they really need to pay for somebody to write the reviews when there are not many competitions here?" 

When the hostel staff got to know I was from Hong Kong, her face was changed obviously (this was my first time I ever felt cold-shouldered just because I am from Hong Kong, seriously!!!). Then she told me to first go to the nearby police station to make the registration in some very difficult understanding Mandarin, and then come back and check in for the bed later. 

At that moment, I was already tired as hell plus a little bit high altitude sickness. I lacked the strength to walk to the police station. However, no matter how much I resisted the idea of going to the police station first, the staff still urged to push me. At last I gave in and left my stuff in the room before getting going.

The plane was landing

In the room I am staying, I met this girl who comes from Chongqing. Actually she trekked all the way from Sichuan to Nyingchi (I really do not understand why mainland people like trekking that much, I mean it's more understandable if you are telling me you are hitchhiking or biking, but seriously, trekking across the provinces!!! If I did the trekking, it probably would take me more than a year to get to Nyingchi!!!) She told me she was bitten by a dog on the way, that's why she was stuck in Bayi town for a good few days already. 

When she knew I was going to the police station, she voluntarily walked to there with me and nonstop chatted with me (NONSTOP). The policeman asked me some very difficult questions, for example, how long are you staying in Nyingchi? And how long are you staying in Lhasa? I answered that it depended. Then he said I had to give him an exact number of days, otherwise it would be hard for him to finish the registration. And then I thought, "Hey sir! How many backpackers out there ever have a solid plan of their trip? In addition, I do not have any plan at all, how do I know the days I will be staying? Perhaps I might hate Tibet so much and decide to leave the next day?" After a series of my insincere response, the registration was done successfully. It was just a photocopy of my Return Home Permit with the autograph of that super smart policeman!

The apron

Afterwards, the girl from Chongqing took me to walk around Bayi town. Besides the colorful decoration of the stores and some sutra flags, Nyingchi in general does not look like the Tibet in my mind. After having lunch with her at a local restaurant, we went back to the hostel in the afternoon! 

Although the hostel was unadorned, they surprisingly had WiFi covered for the 2 levels. I decided to take the whole afternoon off for rest, and played with my iPad as long as I wanted in the common room (At that time, the girl from Chongqing was still nonstop talking next to me)!! 

At around 4 p.m., I saw a very familiar face walking towards the door. They were the "friends" I have known for more than 10 years. I said "friends" because our relationship was kind of weird. We got to know each other because we all played volleyball, and they were playing in the adverse team. We never truly talk with each others, but we indeed have known each other for many years. This time I met them in Tibet, it's proved that it's a fated coincidence! 

S and M came to Tibet together with another volleyball friend B, three of them are now playing for the Hong Kong Team, their passion for volleyball has never burnt out. Because they are still active athletes, their altitude sickness was unbelievably severe. S and B even puked and had headache for one whole day (It is alleged that people who always do sports will easily get serious altitude sickness, they can be the actual proof. However, it is not completely reliable, when everyone has different physique. It's still the best to get full preparation before heading to the high altitude). 

The street scene of Bayi town

They hired a van to Nyingchi with a group of other people they met in Lhasa. Yesterday they went to Basum Lake and stayed with a Tibetan family for the night. And they went to Lulang today, but missed the Mt. Namche Barwa because of the bad weather condition. And they will all go back to Lhasa tomorrow morning! 

At night, I went out to have dinner (Chicken in a stone pot) with them and the group. The place that other people are staying is very neat and tidy with the same price as I paid for my dirty hostel. We were rejected when we asked if we could stay in this nice hostel, not because they were fully occupied. It was because Hong Kong people can only stay at the designated hostels/hotels in Tibet. If other non-designated hostels/hotels accept travelers from Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, they will be fined and can not operate business anymore in the future. Once again, I strongly felt the restriction to travel in Tibet as a Hong Konger, sigh!!!

The famous "Chicken in a stone pot"

At night I started to have headache to plan for my following trip, as it was very inconvenient to travel around Nyingchi. There was no travel agency, the weather was very volatile in this region, and I knew I must not see Mt. Namche Barwa for sure, plus it was difficult to find other people to share a car with me to travel around (It was ridiculous that many people were trekking instead of taking car). Therefore, I decided to take the car with S, M and B to go back to Lhasa tomorrow!!! Maybe next time I will come back for Nyingchi!!!

P.S. The shower room of the hostel is extremely nasty. The dirty squat toilet and the super wet floor and the obnoxious smell totally repelled me to go inside. I hold my breath tight and quickly rushed inside and briskly took the shower and then went out from it at rocket-speed. Otherwise I would throw my stomach out and faint in the shower room pathetically. The worst part was that I left my flip flops at the hostel in Chengdu.........my life was written apparently! (Fortunately S lent her flip flops to me and saved my life, couldn't be more thankful!!!)