TIbet to Chonqing

Tibet to Chonqing and River Cruise

Today was a quiet day all told.  We left our Tibet hotel early (7:30)AM to head to the airport for a 9:30 flight.  When we got there we saw that it was delayed an hour. One hour turned into three hours, so we spent most of the day sitting in the Tibet airport!  We were all sitting together and at one point a very nice Tibetan man came over and sat down across from me and asked where we were from.  When we told him we were Americans he launched into a very frank conversation about the situation in Tibet, the Chinese occupation, the extent to which Tibetans yearn for the return of the Dalai Lama,  the extent to which they feel as though the Chinese are trying to obliterate their culture.  He said Tibetans can't get passports to travel abroad.  If they want to leave Tibet they have to illegally cross the border, but of course, if they do that and are spotted by Chinese military they are usually shot.  I was amazed that he was being so frank with us right in the airport.  One of the members of my group asked if he could take his picture and he said no, because he would get in trouble if the picture were to appear online somewhere particularly if what he was saying about the Chinese were to be associated with him.  We asked him if he felt he was taking a risk talking to us in the airport and he said most of the Chinese and the Tibetans don't speak English so he felt safe enough engaging us in conversation. He said he wanted to practice his English.  He said he loves America because we support the Dalai Lama and the campaign to free Tibet.  He felt safe knowing that Americans are supportive of the Tibetan people's desire to be free of Chinese occupation. He learned his English from an American who lived in Tibet for a couple of years.  So, our delay actually gave us a picture of Tibet that we did not get on the tour!

Our flight to Chonqing was two hours so we got in around 4.  By the time we collected all the luggage and got out of the airport it was time for an early dinner.   We stopped at a restaurant in Chonqing.  I only ate rice, as my stomach is still not completely over the bug I got yesterday and Chinese food is NOT what I want at this stage of recovery!  I feel much better, and the meds have kicked in, but Chinese food just doesn't appeal right now.

We then came to our ship, the Katarina.  I had to laugh as we were boarding the ship a small marching band of Chinese kids play music as we come up the gangplank.  They played "O Susanna" followed by Jingle Bells!  We all had a giggle over that one!  Turns out that I signed up for the Executive Level (don't remember doing so but it gives me more perks, so I'm fine with it!).  Got into my room and am looking forward to a relaxing evening.  They have a stocked bar on this ship so a G&T is in my immediate future!  I've included some pics of the ship, my stateroom and the view from my balcony.  We all have a little balcony that we can sit out on and watch the river go by!  Its quite nice.  So that's it for today!  It was a long travel day and I'm glad to be able to relax on the balcony and go to sleep early.