We left for the airport at 9, and as soon as we arrived at the airport, it is chaos again. The travel agent has asked folks to put 3-4 duffel bags in carts and go into the airport. And as herd mentality works, normally rational people have taken any duffel bag they can into their cart and pushed. My bags are nowhere to be seen, and the temperature rises in my body in a rapidly expanding spiral.
Karnali folks are there explaining that it is OK, and I told them exactly what I had told Richa Travels 7 years ago - I am not moving from the curb till I see my bag. Who in the world takes someone else's check-in bag at the airport and starts walking? Just because a travel agent they just met said so? Apparently a lot of people, and they are going to be yelled at. I asked Karnali to get the bags - 560 and 600 - I was not going to search for my bag thief. Being used to folks who blindly take their instructions, the travel agent is shocked that someone should question bs, but he is about to get used to that on this trip.
Once the duffel bags are found, we have to stand in two lines - Indian passports that has Swamiji and me in the line, and American passports that has three times as many people with no line monitor. If we were currently on the Friendship Bridge at Nyalam with a number of heavily-armed Chinese soldiers, it would be easier to force discipline. But we are at Kathmandu airport, which is one of the most informal among international airports. And the American passports line has some people standing outside the line, others sitting on the ground, some chatting without an understanding that they have to stand in a pre-determined sequence. I miss the discipline that Shivayoganandaji brought in groups - nobody behaved casually, all of us were well aware that we were in the presence.
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| first look at Lhasa, outside the airport |
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| the road to Lhasa |
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| first view of Potala Palace |
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| Lhasa is a good-sized town, the first one I have seen in Tibet |
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| the market in the street outside the hotel |
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| European mannequins in Tibetan attire |
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| this is the first urban view of Tibet |
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| love this |
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| Preity Zinta welcoming folks to buy fabric in Lhasa |
The hotel in Lhasa is in the middle of a market, with historic places withing walking distance. Tomorrow, we get to see Potala Palace, Norobulingka Palace and the temple.
Now I am in Tibet, and I still don't see myself going over the Dolma La pass. Shiva's will.
AUM Namaha Shivaaya
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