July 6 Part A

For July 6, 2007

Getting money still proves to be a hardship even with my shiny new card. From the treks to mutiple banks, I've gathered that the ATMs sometimes work and sometimes don't work. Fab.

It was imperitive I get the money today though, because I had plane tickets being hand delivered to me for my long weekend. I've decided to go somewhere but not exactly Tibet. It's the cultural region, not the autonomous part that requires a pass. I would love to be able to go inside Tibet and hike some of Mt. Everest, but I just waited too long to decide. Another time. However, according to Vivian, a girl on my trip, she said the place I'll be going is still beautiful and there is still plenty to do. She actually went on a 17-day tour that included backpacking through mountains and biking to temples, all of which were beautiful. I'm told there's also a hot spring. I'm beginning to think Asia might be home to some of the most beautiful places on Earth. It's so easy to be amazed and yet I'm realizing that the exclusive bubble in which I live and work in on a daily basis is not necessarily indicative of the rest of the world. If I really wanted this, I could get it but only at the expense of the (safe?) mass-produced desires/goals commercialism and my particular society has instilled in me. But I digress. I was only able to get 2000 RMB out before the spotty ATMs decided to suck at life. That left me in the red 2080 RMB for ticket person. I finally had to get Zhong laoshi to spot me the rest until I could make it to a bank and I now have in my posession two round-trip flights from Beijing to somewhere-in-Tibet with a layover in China somewhere. This will be fun. I'm not worried about not going with an established tour because Vivian said there are a ton of people hiking all the time. It should be easy to meet some one and tag along.

But in a nutshell, the first part of my day caused much frustration for many people.