Gonghar Airport to KTM The Chinese have done the people of Gonghar a favor by scheduling the only plane out of Tibet to Kathmandu to leave at about 7:00 AM. It flies but twice a week. Since Lhasa is a 3-4 hour drive, what this means is that most people have to spend the night in Gonghar. We did that. The only problem was that when we wheeled up to the hotel in Gonghar, where we had reservations, it had been shut down – gone out of business. Even our guide was surprised. We were left with the Chinese-run Gonghar airport hotel or a total fleabag. This quite large modern looking hotel was a real joke. Like many Chinese-run hotels in Tibet, this was essentially an emulation of what, here in the West, we would call a 5-star hotel. There were marble floors, high ceilings, long corridors, chandeliers, etc. But that was where the similarity ended. The Chinese communists have no clue as to what service is, serving other people. Communism is more of a self-serve kind of thing and the concept of real ‘Service’ is an unknown word for them. For one, nothing worked! The toilets didn’t work and there was no hot water. In point of fact, there wasn’t even any water, only a bare dribble. Our rooms were spacious, but had been totally trashed by letting the Tibetan people more or less camp in them. The lovely artificial pond outside our window was filled with trash and green slime. There were what looked like chamber pots (or spitoons) outside of every room, filled with old tea and who-knows-what? When our two daughters tried to take a walk around, they were directed back to their rooms by the Communist guards. Something not so obvious or easily put into words was the creepy feeling the whole place had. We had come to dislike the Communist presence in Tibet and the Gonghar Airport Hotel encapsulated everything we did not like. But it was our last night and we all camped out (like good Tibetans) in the 2-room suite we shared. As usual, we had airplane worries. The plane from Tibet to Kathmandu only runs two days a week. The previous plane was unable to take off for one reason or another, and all of the passengers had to remain in Tibet until our flight. What our guide feared is that all of these people, plus all the people scheduled for our flight, would turn up at once to claim the same seats. All would have valid tickets and there was every reason to worry that we might not have seats and thus be forced to wait for many days and the next plane, etc. But I had a plan. I would get up at dawn, before any reasonable person would be stirring, and get in line. And so I did. Five o’clock in the morning found me feeling my way down the darkened hallway of the hotel with a small flashlight. But when I got to the main doors, they were locked with chain and padlock, as is the custom everywhere in Tibet. I shudder to think what would happen if there were a fire. People would die. At any rate, I could not get out. I managed to find a room marked ‘guest service’ and beat on the door. After some time, a very tired and irritated Chinese man appeared. I pointed to the locked door and said I want to go out. He points at his watch and tried to shoo me away, but I would not go. He finally, after giving me a disgusted look, unlocked the door, turned around, and went back to bed. I stepped outside. It was raining quite hard. I, in my sandals, was not prepared for this, but I thought I could somehow make it quickly to the terminal. I wandered in the darkness and the wet from one vast building to another. All were locked tight and I was getting wetter. I found what I hoped was the right building and waited under an overhang. Nothing happening anywhere. Finally, I took off my socks and walked back to the hotel in my bare feet and waited there, where I did a short dharma practice in the lobby. Just before 6 AM, our guide shows up and together we set out again for the terminal. It is still raining. This time we find the right building and position ourselves at one of two possible doors. We wait and it is somewhat coldish. People begin to arrive. A tour bus full of treckers shows up, having driven all the way from Lhasa most of the night. Their Tibetan guide and our guide knew each other. More people trickle in, but the wait was long. When the doors began to open, we all raced for the locked gateway. The other guide and his people got there first, but I walked right in front of him and said that I had been here since 5 AM and was not letting him push me aside. He nods and together we plan to get our parties through the gate as soon as it opens. We pile our baggage high, making cutting in line difficult. It was another long wait. My family shows up and the children proceed to sleep on our baggage pile. At last the Communist officials arrive and the process begins. More positioning and shoving. This time, the same other guide cuts in line at yet another point, papers in hand, and tries to position his whole group ahead of ours. We stare him down and calmly hand our papers to the confused attendant. And so it goes, with nothing to be very proud of on anyone’s part here. But we did make the cut, got seats on the plane, and flew out of Tibet and back to Kathmandu, sorry to leave beautiful Tibet, but happy thinking of the much better food waiting for us in Kathmandu. ...back to the opening page go on to the next story...