Far East meets Midwest

A friend’s wedding, Mount Everest, Tibetan monks, frog egg soup and a run in with authorities — Scott Graham takes us through his two weeks in China

Travel location: China and Tibet

Travelers: Scott Graham

Where you stayed: Wenzhou International Hotel (Wenzhou, China), Park Plaza (Beijing, China), numerous cots in southwest Tibet in villages that don’t have names of which I’m aware.

Activities of note: It was the perfect excuse to go. A college friend was getting married to a girl who was from Wenzhou, China, and I had the pleasure of officiating the Western portion of the dual-culture ceremony. It’s not often you get to say, “Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife…” and really mean it. The Eastern ceremony was much more involved and included two wardrobe changes, a traditional comedic roast of the groom and an abundance of toasts, most of which required us to “Gambei,” the Chinese pronunciation meaning “Chug.”

While the beverages were free-flowing, I was hard-pressed to find a Chinese dish that hit the spot. Over the span of the two-week trip, I tried jellyfish, duck tongue, shark-fin soup, hairy crab, bamboo, yak meat and frog egg soup to name a few. Walking into a restaurant felt like walking into a pet store. I’m glad I tried everything, but I wouldn’t go back to China to get another mouthful of fish jello.

But after my officiating duties were over, I wanted to see more of the country. From Wenzhou, I departed for Beijing, where I would only stay long enough to enjoy the Chinese version of a pizza buffet. Regretfully, this would be the only major city I would spend time in because my sights were set on Mount Everest.

But before I could get to Chomolungma (the Tibetan name for Mount Everest), I made a few stops at Lhasa, Shigatse, Gyantse and other nameless villages en route to Everest. Lhasa, for all intents and purposes, is the capital city of Tibet. Highlights included the Potala Palace, where the Dalai Lamas and Tibetan monks have lived up until the current Lama was forced to flee to India, the Ganden Monastery, perilously built into the steep side of a mountain, and Barkhor Market, where residents and monks walk endlessly along a circular walkway as part of a religious ritual.

The last stop of the journey put me at Rongbuk Monastery, the highest monastery on the planet, approximately five miles from the base of Mount Everest. Five miles sounds like a reasonable hike, but at 17,700 feet above sea level, I had trouble taking six steps without being short of breath. But breathtaking is the exact word to describe Mount Everest and the surrounding Himalayas. Everest resembles a giant magnetic dagger piercing the cobalt sky and “those who attempt to climb it... shouldn’t,” as one monk said. It has the power to make you feel so blissfully small yet still on top of the world. My trip was made.

The people, the culture: I had the most fun immersing myself in the cultures of Tibet. The drive along “The Friendship Highway,” the only roadway connecting Kathmandu to Lhasa, offered me the chance to visit the very rural parts of China where houses are built of dirt and stone, warmth is generated by burning the dried-out cakes of yak dung and people walk hundreds of miles to Lhasa, dropping to their knees and stomachs every step to pay homage to their spiritual leader. Tibetans absolutely live their religion, and the ones with whom I could actually communicate would only talk about their prayers to make Tibet a country of its own.

What makes you want to go back: Although it was by choice, my itinerary afforded me very little to no time in the major hubs of China like Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. I don’t regret it, but in hindsight, I missed out on seeing the brand new Olympic buildings, walking the Great Wall of China and the full experience of being in a city that houses 18 million people.

The costs: This was easily the most expensive vacation I’ve ever been on, but the major costs were the flights (accounting for the invaluable seating upgrade on the overseas return flight) and hiring an English-speaking guide. I booked everything except for the international flights through a travel outfitter, paid a lump sum, and let them take care of the particulars like where I would be staying and how I would get there. In general, things are fairly inexpensive in Tibet. Even with the plummeting exchange rate, meals averaged about $3. Snickers bars were also about $3, but considering my lack of affection for the aforementioned food, they were well worth the cost. I also purchased a stone ornament for 49 cents from a family residing near a waypoint on the road to Everest. Upon hearing this, my guide doubled over in laughter insinuating that I had been ripped off. Whatever.

What you’d do differently: I would ask the travel agency to specifically lay out, in writing, where I was going, how I was getting there and where I was staying. I was very frustrated with the lack of communication between the travel agency and the English-speaking guide they hired. Frustrated almost to the point where I felt I had been scammed. Upon arriving in Tibet, I discovered that my guide wasn’t even aware of the itinerary I had lined up with the travel agency. This was a disappointing trend that, in the end, prevented me from visiting several pre-selected locations and also forced me to stay in accommodations lacking hot water, electricity or even a floor other than dirt despite the oral promise from the travel agency that five-star hotels were included (except at Everest).

Luckily, my friend’s wife gave me a nugget of advice that saved me. I had only paid 40 percent of the lump sum fee before starting the trip. And despite repeated requests, I refused to pay in full until the trip was finished, as my friend’s wife had suggested. And upon returning from Tibet, I had enough ammunition to front a well-balanced argument to pay only a fraction of the remaining balance. $3,200 is a lot to pay for a few cold dirt naps and a week without a shower. Not surprisingly, this infuriated the travel agency, and they introduced me to the People’s Armed Police Force. Luckily, the police chuckled, walked away and let me go. It wasn’t the way I wanted to end the trip, and it probably could have been prevented had I gotten more information upfront, but it didn’t at all diminish the experience for me. Not many people start off their vacations with a wedding and end it almost getting arrested, but this was China. And although it wasn’t everything I planned, it turned out being everything I wanted.

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