Oct 28th, 2009

My escape from Tibet was a success! Last night I found a nice inexpensive hotel room for 50 yuan with a toilet and a shower. I checked in at 6 and at that time there were a couple dozen construction workers whittling away on the mountainside next door with jack hammers. I jokingly asked the chinese clerk if the noise would cost extra. She just smiled. I mistakenly assumed that the noise would end at dark. I was wrong. When the sun went down massive floodlights went up and the beat of the jackhammer continued well into the slumber hours. In spite of the noise there was such a lovely view of the Himalayan foothills and I was so happy to be somewhere warm and green that I didn’t even mind having to stand in the toilet while I took a shower.

9 am next morning all of us foreigners lined up at immigration for the interrogation. The Chinese go through everything looking for photos of the Dalai Lama or foreign ‘propaganda.’ Wondering if I had anything to be concerned about I suddenly remembered the article my friend from Human Rights Watch had given me in Hong Kong. It documented the tragedy in Tiananmen square and was titled something fairly incriminating like “How Beijing totally slaughtered innocent people and why it was a serious human rights violation” It was more eloquent but that was the gist of it. Since I didn’t want to visit a Chinese prison, I slowly, casually, nonchalantly rifled through my bags until I found the article. Then, in the most un casual manner you could imagine I whipped it out and folded it awkwardly, trying to stuff it into the tiny pocket in my jacket. Every single Chinese person within a one mile radius was staring at me as I half walked half sprinted toward the bridge and placed this big wad of crumpled blasphemy on the railing. There was just no way to be cool about it so I just stared at it for a minute then with my middle finger I flicked it off the edge Slowly, so slowly it drifted downward, toward the river 30 feet below and then, yes this part is true, the wind lifted it back up to me as the pages unfolded themselves revealing the words Beijing-Human Rights Violations” In the largest font I have ever seen. And then there it sat, on the ground right next to my left foot. All I could do was go back into the line and wait. Even if no one noticed my completely clutzy bungling, I was still at risk of being detained. Photos of any Chinese government outpost or military was strictly forbidden and I had both in my camera and on my laptop.