[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 20 October 2015]
24 July 2015, Friday
Seven months after first mooting the idea, it was finally time to set off to Tibet. Our Air China flight was scheduled to depart Singapore at 2:00am, so we checked in at the airport just before midnight. It was only the second time meeting the rest of my travel companions (we had an introduction dinner a few days prior), so we were still quite shy and polite with each other. After bidding farewell to my parents (who never fail to send me to the airport whenever I go overseas), it was time to hop on the flight to Chengdu.
It was my first time taking Air China, and it was quite an experience. The air stewardesses were fierce! For example, when one of the passengers stood up while the plane was taxiing from the terminal to the runway, the air stewardess straight up shouted and scolded the passenger. No room for niceties at all. Power.
The flight took 4 hours 25 minutes and we arrived in Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport Terminal 1 at about 6:30am. As we had a 6.5-hour layover before our next flight, we had made plans to do some sightseeing in the city before departing for Tibet.
After retrieving our luggage, we contacted the agent who was supposed to meet us to pass us our Tibet Entry Permit (issued by Tibet Tourism Board, or TTB). You will remember that this permit is supposed to be applied before your trip and you will need to present this permit at the Chengdu airport immigration before you can even set foot in Tibet. The travel agency we engaged had mailed the hard copy permit to their agent in Chengdu beforehand, so we just needed to collect it from the agent.
However, we did not see the agent anywhere. Luckily, KL had a China SIM card so she used it to call the agent, who had apparently mixed up our arrival date and thought we would only arrive the next day. Thankfully, he lived nearby so he said he would board a taxi right away to meet us at the airport.
We then proceeded to Terminal 2 and checked in our luggage early. By the time that was done, the agent had arrived and he handed us our permit. We paid him a small fee for his service and then hailed two taxis to take us to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in the city. XY is a huge panda fan so she specially planned a trip there.
Chengdu is famous for its giant pandas because it is the city nearest to the centre of the pandas’ natural habitat, just 70km away from where they roam among the wild. Well, we have Kai Kai and Jia Jia in Singapore, but you can’t beat Chengdu as they have many more pandas here.
The taxi ride from the airport took 40 minutes and it cost RMB 100, which we split among the three of us. The entrance ticket to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding costs RMB 58. The park opens from 7:30am to 6:00pm every day. When we arrived at 8:50am, there was already a big crowd, but it got even more crowded later on, so it is advisable to arrive as early as possible. We also paid another RMB 10 for a shuttle bus ride, which is advisable because the park is quite big. As we were pressed for time, paying for the shuttle bus was a good choice.
As its name suggests, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is actually a place for research, but it was later expanded to provide a tourism experience so that more people can learn more about the adorable bears, which are an endangered species. Like our zoo in Singapore, it generally has an open concept, where the pandas are not housed in cages, but in open-air enclosures where the environments are kept as natural as possible with lots of trees and water features, while still maintaining a safe but comfortable distance between the pandas and the humans.
It is unclear how many pandas are actually housed here, but I estimate there are more than 20. However, some of the enclosures were empty so I’m not sure if we even saw that many. The keepers seem to move them around the different enclosures on different days, as there are signboards showing the “Current Pandas” in each enclosure.
One of the highlights is a visit to the Nursery Facility, where visitors get a glimpse of a tiny, baby giant panda (that sounds like an oxymoron) in an incubator. It is amazing how small the baby panda is (less than 30cm long,) but when it reaches adulthood, it can grow up to 1.5m long. We managed to see one baby panda sleeping in its incubator, and it was the cutest thing ever.
We also visited the gift shop, which was stocked full of every type of panda merchandise imaginable. XY almost went bonkers in there. She bought a panda head and hand warmer, which was really cute.
When we had our fill of panda goodness, we wanted to catch the shuttle bus back to the main gate, but the shuttle buses seemed to be full or they operated one-way only. After making several failed attempts to board the shuttle bus, we decided to walk back to the exit. By the time we left the place, it was 11:12am.
KL used her impressive Mandarin skills (she has the best command of Mandarin among us all) to negotiate with the taxi drivers, and she found a “ninja van” that could carry all six of us. Instead of hiring two separate taxis, it was a flat fare of RMB 100, so it was cheaper. It was then a 40-min ride to the second attraction that we had planned – the old street of Jin Li, and we arrived just before noon.
Jin Li is an ancient street that existed during the Qin Dynasty, as early as 221 B.C. The narrow street has been preserved with old-style buildings flanking its 350m length. Today, it is occupied by teahouses, shops and hotels. There are also many pushcart stalls selling handicraft, souvenirs and snacks, making it a very lively place. That is a nice way of saying “commercialised”. However, the main clientele here are the locals, and we saw many families taking their young children here for a stroll, or a squeeze, more like it.
Due to time constraint, we were not able to explore Jin Li and the surrounding areas fully. We also had to settle our lunch, so we popped into one of the more decent looking restaurants for a quick meal. We ordered beef noodles, which was “ma la” flavoured, and it left a spicy aftertaste and a numbing feeling in our tongues.
After gobbling down the food, we left Jin Li hastily, departing at 12:52pm. The ride to the airport took only 25 minutes and the taxi fare was RMB 57. As we already had our boarding passes, we just queued up to clear immigration. Note that you will need to stick together in your group and present your TTB permit to the immigration officer. Without sight of this permit, you will not be allowed to depart Chengdu for Tibet. We then boarded our flight and departed Chengdu at 2:50pm.
The flight took 2 hours 10 minutes and we touched down at Lhasa at 5:00pm. Lhasa is the capital of Tibet and the elevation is 3,650m. I did not feel the altitude immediately, but the first thing I noticed was that the sun was very strong, and it was very warm, but not humid like Singapore. After collecting our luggage (it is always a relief to see my luggage emerge safely from the conveyor belt), we stepped out of the airport into the warm Tibetan sunshine and met our tour guide, Tenzin.
Tenzin is a young fellow, about 28 years old, and he was dressed quite funkily – wearing a pair of jeans and T-shirt with a denim jacket, topped off by fashionable sunglasses and a trendy skateboard cap. He spoke quite good English and he welcomed us each with a traditional offering scarf known as khata. The scarf is made of silk and it is white in colour, and it represents the sincerity of one’s offering, with no negative thoughts or motives in mind. I remember the Nepalese have a similar tradition as well.
Tenzin then introduced us to our driver, a portly man called “Zai Xi Shu”. It is an affectionate term where “Zai Xi” is his name, and “shu” means “uncle”. He didn’t speak much to us but helped us load our luggage onto the van. Tenzin, Zai Xi Shu and the van would be our close companions for the next two weeks in Tibet.
Tenzin also offered us each a bottle of mineral water. One of the first things he asked us was “are you feeling ok?” Over the course of the two weeks, I slowly realised why it was an important question that needs to be asked every time he first saw us in the morning. Tenzin told us that if we were not feeling well, or if we were suffering from Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) aka altitude sickness, the best remedy is to drink lots of water. We should also keep ourselves well hydrated at all times. Hence, the bottle of mineral water as a welcome gift.
With all the formalities settled, we departed Lhasa Gonggar Airport at 5:45pm and headed to the city. The drive was surprisingly long and we only arrived at the city at around 7:30pm. There was some confusion as we arrived at the hotel and unloaded our luggage, only to be told that it was the wrong hotel. We then loaded everything back onto the van and drove to the correct one, Tibet Gorkha Hotel, which is a 3-star establishment located in the Barkhor circuit. We were assigned three double-rooms. After giving us the administrative instructions for the next day, Tenzin and Zai Xi Shu left. We would be having dinner at our own expense.
Our room was distinctively Tibetan, with a huge blanket imprinted with an endless knot symbol adorning the front door entrance. It was also quite old fashioned, with lots of wooden furniture and the walls painted bright amber with some decorative designs. Aesthetics aside, it was actually quite nice and comfortable. Most importantly, the bathroom was huge and there was hot water. It was also nice that there was a water dispenser in our room (which we found out from ST and RL that their room did not have one). All in all, I was quite pleased with the room.
I later found out that the old buildings in Tibet Gorkha Hotel used to be the seat of the Nepal Consulate in Tibet, and the main building and trees in the courtyard are about 200 years old. So it is actually historic in its own way.
As it was our first night in Lhasa, we did not want to venture too far. We walked around our immediate neighbourhood and found a nice and cosy restaurant called Hai Guai Jia. It had an easygoing vibe and there was even a guitar, which XY picked up and played a few tunes on it. We ordered a fried chicken dish to share, as well as some rice dishes and tomato egg noodles.
All was going well until I was suddenly hit with a bout of headache that came out of nowhere. I clammed up and broke out in cold sweat, and the headache just got worse. It became so bad that I could not even sit upright. I managed to gobble down a few mouthfuls of food but soon decided that I could eat no more, and I needed to lie down on a bed immediately. So ZJ brought me back to the hotel. Thankfully it wasn’t far away and I could still walk back.
About 1.5 weeks before coming to Tibet, I had consumed Hong Jing Tian pills, twice daily. The pills contain the Chinese herb known as rhodiola, which are known to activate blood circulation, replenish energy, clear the lung system, alleviate physical fatigue and generally counter altitude sickness. I was hoping that taking Hong Jing Tian would prevent me from getting hit by AMS.
For every Chinese medicine option, there is a Western medicine counterpart, and for Hong Jing Tian, the Western medicine equivalent is Acetazolamide, more commonly known as Diamox. It is used to treat and prevent AMS, and can only be obtained by a doctor’s prescription. However, there may be some side effects like dizziness or drowsiness.
ZJ managed to obtain some Diamox and had also been consuming it before coming to Tibet. At the Chengdu airport, just before entering immigration to depart for Lhasa, I took half a Diamox pill because I wanted to try it out to see if it was effective for me. I did not take Hong Jing Tian the day before the flight, so I thought the medicines would not clash and it would be ok for me to take Diamox.
When I suffered from the sudden headache and cold sweat that night, I am not sure if it was the side effects of Diamox taking place or just a bout of AMS hitting me. I can never know. What I do know is that our body needs a few days to acclimatise to the high altitude and it is very common for people to fall ill during their first few days in Tibet. Even the fittest person can suffer from AMS, so it’s not really about fitness. I believe what I experienced was definitely some sort of AMS.
As to whether Hong Jing Tian or Diamox is more effective (or even effective at all), I do not have the answer, because I had travelling companions consuming both drugs and yet they also fell ill at some point during the trip. So I believe it really depends on the individual.
I don’t have a preference of Chinese or Western medicine and I am open to both. In my case, I could very well have fallen ill regardless of whether I had taken Diamox or not, but as I fell ill shortly after consuming the Diamox, I decided to stop taking Diamox just to be safe. I’m sure Diamox works, otherwise it will not be recommended and used by thousands of people. But at the end of the day, only you know your body best, so you have to decide on what is best for you. Listen to your body.
The good news was, after sleeping it off, I woke up the next morning feeling better. I was still a little groggy in the morning but I recovered soon after breakfast. It was surprising how AMS could suddenly hit me, and I was just glad that it did not happen while we were out on the road or somewhere where a bed was not readily available. It was a sucky feeling and I did not wish to experience it again. It was certainly a memorable way to start off the trip!