I am an awful waiguo ren. Tonight, I had dinner at a Western restaurant, and I'm in Tibet. And I ordered chicken broth. The only people in the place were white. I am so ashamed. But there's a little more to that story, and I promise, it's good.

Yesterday we left school at 6 AM to catch our flight at the airport. The end of it is, we got here safely. The view from the plane as we descended into Lhasa was amazing. Here is one photo, but I took many more.



So we got in, got luggage, and then had the task of finding a cab into Lhasa, and hour's drive away. Jason asked an airport official, who informed us that a cab ride should go for about 30 kuai a head. We couldn't actually find a metered taxi, though, so we had the task of bargaining with the Tibetan guys who just drive their cars around. Actually, I shouldn't say "we" bargained, because really, it was all Annetta, and she was awesome. Here are three of the guys fighting about the price with us. There were a few more on the other side.



They started out asking 200 kuai; Anetta got us down to 35. They weren't happy, so clearly she did a good job. But then the guy ended up driving us for 5 minutes and switching us into a metered taxi. Apparently the airport charges taxis to wait there, so what these guys do is just go in their cars, pick up visitors, then hand them off to taxi drivers for a cut of the charge. Pretty smart, actually.



Our cab driver thought that I was Jason's 'laopo,' which those Chinese speakers out there may find amusing, if only for the fact that 'laopo' means wife, but it's also not the politest way to put it. I guess in English the equivalent would be one's 'old lady.'



So then we got to the hotel, which is quite nice. I started drinking lots of water, as Lhasa's altitude is about 12000 feet, which is rather high. I was very paranoid about getting AMS, or acute mountain sickness. The three of us made the mistake of carrying our suitcases up two flights of stairs. We were exhausted; just walking up without stuff leaves us winded. This must be what it's like to be an old lady. Even getting up to go to the bathroom makes my heart pound.

It didn't take long for me to get a splitting headache. I drank tons of water, but I still felt lightheaded and awful. The three of us had some quality Nepalese food at the restaurant on top of the hotel last night. Here's the view:





Yep. Life is hard. The sun here doesn't set until like 8:30 and doesn't rise until maybe 8ish. The sun is SO strong. I can feel the cancer cells growing. Surprisingly, it;s not very cold here. It was cool in the morning but warm in the afternoon. Don't let the snow on the mountains fool you; the weather us gorgeous. Unfortunately, I haven't had much of a chance to really enjoy it.

Last night we fell asleep at like 9. None of us slept well, but I kept waking up every three hours with a headache. My body hurt, too, but I think that's the uncomfortable bed. Then I woke up at 8 o'clock. The second I gained consciousness, I knew I was going to vomit.

I then spent the next 40 minutes in the bathroom as last night's dinner made it's way out of both ends of my body. I knew this was not a good sign; vomiting never is. Annetta went to the front desk to ask about what to do; they said get thee to the hospital. When Annetta told me that, I was not happy, only because I didn't know how I would get down the stairs, let alone survive a cab ride. I felt so ill I could barely tie my shoes.

Through my stomach pains and throbbing headache, the thoughts did cross my mind that perhaps a Chinese hospital, let alone a Tibetan hospital, might not be a fun experience. I pictured reused needles, herds of coughing people corralled in a small, crumbling, fluorescently-lit room with IVs dangling at whim.

Thankfully I was wrong. Somewhat. The hospital was clean(-ish) and cold. Jason registered me and then we found the altitude sickness/ heart disease room. The way it works here is that everyone gets in line in the room that pertains to their illness. Everyone sits on the bench in the room as the person who is up gets checked out. So we listened to quite a few people get diagnosed with "xinzang bing," or heart disease (one of our vocab words!). Basically, there's no privacy. Everyone watches as everyone gets examined. Fun.

When it was my turn, the doctor took one look at my eyes and made a face that, though she was wearing a face mask, conveyed concern. Not good. I described my symptoms, she pressed my stomach, listened to me breath, took my blood pressure etc. Then she sent me to the eye doctor. I have no idea why, as the eye doctor didn't tell me anything, but after that I went back to the first doctor and she gave me three different medications.

In the end, I paid 78 kuai, or just under 10 USD. What an experience. The whole time I was there, I could only think about what a great story this would make. And also the fact that my family would not be so happy to find out that I was in a Tibetan hospital and sick.

I am feeling much, much better now, so if you're concerned, don't be. I still have a headache, but after a day of watching a movie, taking a nap, and eating lots of bread, I feel back up to about 80% (versus maybe 30-40% this morning). Jason and Annetta have been wonderful. I know that they weren't feeling too hot today either (though Annetta is pretty much fine), but they took great care of me.

Tomorrow we plan to take it pretty easy again, though I think we're going to venture out and walk around and do some shopping. I'm pretty much planning on getting a new wardrobe and lots of jewelry. Let the games begin!