Phil's Fabulous Tibetan Journey: Part 5--Plot Thickening

There was one other slight piece of business our traveler had on his mind. There are several ways to travel to and from Tibet, most commonly people take a train in and leave by airplane. Our traveler planned to do the opposite of this and leave by train, the train ride supposedly quite the trip. But it is the way of things in China that one cannot actually purchase a train ticket more than a week or so in advance, so our traveler had gone to Tibet without plans for escaping from that country—blindly hoping that he could purchase a train ticket in Lhasa.

This would prove much harder than he had imagined. Our traveler asked around Lhasa and found that he could only purchase a train ticket in two locations. One was the official tourism office in the western part of town and the other was the train station about 5 miles out of town on the other side of the river. Our traveler made his first attempt in the evening and so found the first location closed and was forced to go across the river.

At the train station he waited through an stupendously slow line until his term came. Confusion ensues. Our traveler, as fearless as he might have been, was also slightly foolish. He was not actually sure of the date on which he wanted to leave, knowing only that it was the next Sunday. When he tried to convey this idea to the woman behind the counter, she somehow misunderstood him, suggesting the 8^th of May as a date of departure. It turns out that the 8^th is a Tuesday. Our traveler did not have a calendar with him and so didn’t know this. He agrees. Lady behind the counter tells him that while she suggested this date, it was actually some form of rouse and that he couldn’t actually purchase a train ticket for this day.

Still laboring under the misunderstanding that the 8^th was Sunday, our traveler is heartbroken. He had counted on being able to leave on Sunday, but if the fates were against him (the fates being the Chinese government) well then he would do what he would do. He asks for the next possible day of departure. Lady behind the Counter suggests the 9^th which would actually be Wednesday, although our traveler imagines it to be Monday. He reluctantly agrees. With a cry of triumph she reveals that she has tricked him yet again, telling him that he can’t actually purchase this ticket for three more days. (China’s lovely can’t purchase ticket more than a week in advance policy).

Feeling that the woman behind the counter is too much of a comedian, our traveler looks at her with loathing, and departs from the line in failure.

This leaves him in no pretty situation. Train tickets in China generally sell out two or three days in advance. If he does end up traveling out to Everest, he will not be back until the day before he would like to leave, possibly the evening before. This would make it incredibly difficult for him to purchase his ticket, and in all probability he would end up being stranded in Tibet.

Fortunately he has a chance conversation with another person and discovers the evil joke the woman behind the counter had been playing on him. He could actually leave Tibet on the 7^th which was Monday, not the 9^th. This wonderful thing cleared up, he returns to the train station, this time a different window and purchases his ticket for the 7^th. Life is much better now, although the original woman behind the counter might step in at any moment to challenge our traveler to mortal combat.