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Aug. 15, 2010 I was back in China briefly recently, August 3-10, 2010. I lived in China in 1997 and 1998, and I gained some proficiency at Chinese, reading newspapers, novels and history. In the intervening 12 years, however, I see that I’ve forgotten at least 80% of what I knew. Oh, the futility of trying to learn and retain these exotic languages! Anyway, I was informed that the Chinese government does not allow individual tourists to travel from Nepal to Tibet. So I joined a touring party led by Nepal Vision, Ltd., that would take me from Kathmandu, Nepal, my present location, to Lhasa, Tibet. In my earlier trip, I did not visit Tibet. The tour turned out to include nine travelers, eight Europeans and myself. We drove over the Himalayas for three days to reach Lhasa, we spent four days in Lhasa, and we flew back to Kathmandu by Air China. We had a large bus, so there was plenty of room. The Nepali Himalayas were absolutely gorgeous, green to the summits, with dozens of waterfalls everywhere. In fact, in several places, water was flowing over the highway, and I wondered whether we would manage to cross. In a couple of places, there were muddy quagmires that we had to cross, but no problems arose. The Tibetan Himalayas, though, were massive barren rocks that kept coming in limitless proliferation, reminiscent of the Argentine Andes. The road ascended to a maximum elevation of 17,000 feet. We passed through Chinese customs the first afternoon and stayed in some village at an elevation of 12,000 feet. As I was alighting from the bus, I fainted, for the first time ever. I was aware of three or four Chinamen guiding me into the lobby of a primitive hotel. Next, they were shaking and jostling me, trying to bring me to. When I regained consciousness, they carried me into a big warm bed and administered oxygen, but I suffered severe nausea all night. That was Tuesday. I didn’t eat again till Saturday, and I didn’t sleep again till the following Monday. I underwent acute anorexia, insomnia, fatigue and nausea. But somehow I managed to drag along with the group, as we proceeded to Lhasa and visited several monasteries. Nepal Vision wanted to return me to Kathmandu, and refund my money, but I refused, signing a waiver to release them from responsibility. We saw herds of yaks in several places in the country and in towns. Let me say right up front that I consider Buddhist doctrine fantasy. There is no reincarnation and no good or bad karma. This is wishful thinking. Apparently, the monks take it seriously though. The rooms we stayed in were very fine. The walls, columns, lintels and armoires were all handsomely hand-painted in Chinese motifs. I was amazed that Lhasa has broad avenues, well-paved, with spacious sidewalks. It puts Kathmandu and New Delhi to shame. There are vendors, but they are neat and orderly. Finally, Tuesday we flew back, passing by Mount Everest. I am just now recovering my health. So I guess I could write it off as a fiasco, but it was informative. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Visit my website here. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! 
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