Out of China, well not technically

I've left Chengdu. I'm so glad I did. Yesterday, I had to wake up really early for the second day in a row. Well, I suppose 7:45 isn't all that early but yesterday I woke up at 5. That's right 5am. I needed to be on the end of the alley by 5:20. I managed to make it by 5:15 but I had to sacrifice one of my t-shirts. I could've gone back for it I suppose but technically it's just an undershirt and I have at least 2 others the same in my bag. I also lost the key to the room and despite there being a key deposit I didn't lose any money. They even gave me the key deposit back. I'm glad that I reported the loss to some young guy working there who either didn't know or didn't care to charge me and just gave me a new key.

Right, I needed to be on the street by 5:20 because I was catching a shuttle bus to the airport. I was catching my flight to Tibet. I hadn't been on a plane in over 6 months which is the longest I've gone for 5 years or so, maybe more. It was a typical flight except the food was really terrible. It was basically some type of rice gruel that barely looked fit for prisoners. I had a bit. I think it was because I knew that I should be eating but I looked around and didn't see anyone else eating it so I folded the aluminum foil back over it.

I arrived at the airport in Tibet and was pretty worried. It was freezing. I don't have a jacket either. I just have all these layers. Then, they warned us all about altitude sickness. I was a bit paranoid about that. I actually went from being about 500m above sea level to 3700m. One woman fainted while we were waiting for the luggage. Then we got on this bus to head to Lhasa (the airport is over an hour outside of town) and someone had puked in the back seat. I didn't look but someone said it looked just like the plane food. Of course, puked up rice wouldn't have looked any different.

Tibet so far though has been amazing. Everything looks so different. I think I was a bit down on China just because it didn't seem all that different from Korea. Tibet feels nothing like Korea. The people look different. The food is different (much better in my opinion). The buildings. The air. The atmosphere.

I took it a bit slow yesterday. I stayed at the hotel and watched a movie, "Kingdom of Heaven," with some guys I met. One had been staying at my hostel and I'd gone out for pizza with him and some people. The other guy had been teaching in Korea for 3 years on and off. I met him on the bus along with an Aussie girl who's been traveling for 8 months now. We had gone out for lunch shortly after getting here. It was such good food. I love meat and potatoes. It was more than that though. I haven't really eaten potatoes in 6 months, I guess almost 7 now.

I walked around town by myself for awhile. I had a bit of a headache actually, because of the altitude I think. It was so nice. I actually felt like I was traveling. All these people in traditional clothes, actual traditional. Everything just feels so authentic. Not like in China or Korea where you might see something traditional but made it new ways so it was only superficially authentic. You know what I'm trying to say. The hostel in Chengdu, Lonely Planet said that it dated back to the Ming dynasty or Qing at least. Turns out the building dates back all the way to 1993. Nothing felt authentic in Korea. Well most things technically weren't since most really old things had been destroyed by wars and fires. "This temple dates back to 1338 but was destroyed many times, the current structure was built in 1974." I bought a bit of bread and was eating it while I walked around. I saw some little Tibetan boy who was also eating bread and he stared at me for a bit and then said hello to me. Some other kids said hello to me also. It didn't annoy me at all and actually made me a bit happy. In Korea or China, I was either indifferent or annoyed. I usually wasn't indifferent by the way.

So even though I really haven't seen anything in Tibet aside from the street life, I'm really enjoying it. They speak English much better than the Chinese also, which is interesting/unusual. I've been disappointed by a few things here but mostly just how much more modern it is than I would've imagined. Of course, this is Lhasa, Tibet's largest city. They have ATMs, electronics, internet obviously. I bought some stuff from an old lady today and afterwards, she got a call on her cell phone. I don't even have a cell phone and I don't imagine many old women around the globe carry cell phones with them. It's nice for the people though, just a little depressing for the traveller. I've realized though that even if I go the ends of the Earth, I'm still going to find someone there blabbing away to someone on a cell phone.