Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks Week Five: Tibet
Happy Friday! Welcome to the fifth week of my fictional story, Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks. This one is a bit different from the other ones as you'll soon see. I hope y'all enjoy "traveling" around with Annie, I know I have been having fun with her.
Around the World in Fifty-Two WeeksWeek Five: Tibet
I woke up Monday morning with a rhythmically thumping headache and the sensation of a giant, unseen hand squeezing my stomach. I sat up, then flopped back down on my sweat-drenched pillow. It took me a couple of minutes of lying there panting before I felt enough energy seep into my body and I was able to get up and get ready for the day. I had just finished doing my hair when Sophie Skyped me so she could see where the destination for the week was. “Wow, girl, you don’t look like you’re feeling the best.” Her greeting made me roll my eyes, “You think?” “What happened?” “I’m not sure if I got food poisoning or picked up a bug somewhere; either idea is quite plausible.” I grimaced. “Let’s hope your next country is nearby so you don’t need to travel far.” Sophie’s face showed her sympathy. “Yeah, no kidding.” I took several deep breaths. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road.” I put on my perkiest smile then started filming so we could upload the video of me choosing the country onto the blog. I gave the normal intro, hoping I didn’t look as terrible as I felt, then closed my eyes and spun the globe around a couple of times. When I put my finger down and then opened my eyes, I almost started crying. Tibet. I so did not have the energy to travel around the world again. After barely pulling off what looked like an excited good-bye to the camera I threw my hands up at Sophie. “Um, before you start freaking out on me…” Sophie held up a hand to stop my teary monologue that was about to start, “Let me see what I can do. I’ll hook you up with first class or something.” “Okay.” Our planes didn’t have first class, but I understood what she was trying to do. She would find someway to make the trip more comfortable for me. “Now get something to eat and the rest in bed and research what you want to do when you’re on top of the world, sound good?” “Yeah, yeah, thanks.” I heaved a huge sigh, everything was in Sophie’s capable hands. Life would be fine and keep going even though I felt like I’d been attacked by a derailed train. A few minutes later I got a notification from Jake who helped edit the vlogs I made. He said that the video of me choosing Tibet was live on the website, so I clicked over to watch it and see if I looked as horrible as I felt. The video hadn’t had much editing done on it, but to my surprise I didn’t look too shabby. I should become an actress. I found some the food I had bought the day before for the trip and then climbed back into bed and nibbled on the corn tortillas. My plan had been to study about Tibet, but next thing I knew I was awakened by the sound of Sophie skyping me again. I ran my hand across my face and yawned. The sun was pouring through the sheer curtain at the window, proclaiming that the morning was well on it’s way to becoming afternoon. “Soph?” I answered the Skype call. “Good news. For you. Not such great news for us on this end.” “Okay?” My brain couldn’t keeping up with what my co-worker was saying. “So, to get into Tibet you have to get special permission and all that kind of stuff.” “Oh?” “Which means you’re not going anywhere today. Just hang on tight and try to get better. I’m exploring our different options here and I’ll keep you posted.” Relief washed over me. I did not want to travel in the condition I was in. After signing off the call I was able to summon enough strength to head down to the hotel lobby and then across the street to a little cafe. I ordered hot tea and chicken soup that sounded good to my still hurting stomach. The smell made my insides feel like they were churning, though, so I asked for the food to go and slowly made my way back to my hotel room. After resting for a few minutes I pulled up the internet on my computer and began my research. Tibet was gorgeous. It reminded me of Mongolia. As the day progressed I got lost in the history and culture of the people who lived in what is sometimes called the"Water Tower" of Asia. It’s called that because several very major rivers have their source up in the Tibetan Plateau. The beautiful Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, along the Yarlung Tsangpo River, is among the deepest and longest canyons in the world. After spending a few minutes looking at pictures of the canyon I wished I could visit it; it looked so different from our Grand Canyon. I made a note to see if we could somehow fit a visit into the schedule once I arrived in Tibet.
Tuesday morning found me still in Guatemala and feeling slightly better in body, but a little ruffled in spirit. Much to our chagrin Sophie and I had discovered the day before that some people didn’t even consider Tibet to be it’s own country and our supervisor at Exploration Airlines wasn’t too thrilled with our faux pas. They worked at making sure we didn’t reap any ill effects from China (who we needed to have a good business relationship with) and continued to see if we could somehow work out a visit to tibet. Meanwhile, I rested, researched, and answered several written interviews from various travel blogs and one travel magazine. The news was beginning to get slightly interested in the year of traveling I’d been doing and it felt rewarding to see the page views on the blog and likes on Facebook growing.
When Wednesday morning rolled around I knew I would be spending the rest of the week resting in Guatemala. It would have been pointless to travel to Tibet for only a couple of days. Instead of being disappointed, I enjoyed getting to rest and catch up with comments, emails, and other day-to-day things I’d been putting off. Mom texted multiple times a day to see how I was feeling. There is nothing like being sick to make me wish I was still a little girl and could have Mom there making me chicken noodle soup and soothing me with her graceful and perfect bedside manners. Being sick made me homesick and miss my family. I thought about seeing if I could go home for a few days, but then decided it would be too much of a hassle.
Thursday I complied a list of some of the facts about Tibet that I found especially interesting. Each fact I wrote down made me wish I could visit the country and meet the people who lived there and had such a unique way of life. One day I would go there on my own, if possible.
Tibet Facts:
* Tibetan traditional houses are painted in three colors: white and brown & blue. Each color symbolizes intelligence, courage, and compassion.* Sherpa people ever sleep with there feet facing the mountain.* Tesmba is the daily food of traditional Tibetan people. It’s made up from barley and water. The barley is ground down in water in a mill and once this process is complete it take a paste form or a dough form (like white bread). It’s not cooked in any way and is eaten like this in the raw form along with hot black tea. If you aren’t brought up on this type of bread, you’re stomach will hurt if you try it.* Most of the population of Tibetan people are vegetarian “don’t eat meat”& those that do never eat meat on a Wednesday.* Tibetans practice a wide range of traditional trades, including flour milling, canvas painting, paper making, rope braiding, wool and fiber processing, weaving and textile production, tanning, metalwork, carpentry, and wood carving. * Tibet has some of the world's tallest mountains, with several of them making the top ten list. Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth. * Tibet is home to a wide range of animal life, including 142 species of mammals, 473 species of birds, 49 species of reptiles, 44 species of amphibians, 64 species of fish and more than 2,300 species of insects.
It made me sad that the people of Tibet didn’t have freedom, but because of the contract I was under with my job I wasn’t able to say anything about it. Instead I decided to pray for them and see if there was any physical way I could help them.
By the time Saturday rolled around I was over my gross sickness and felt my energy return to almost normal. I was thankful for my week of rest and paperwork, but was eager to start off week number six of my exciting travels.
Around the World in Fifty-Two WeeksWeek Five: Tibet
I woke up Monday morning with a rhythmically thumping headache and the sensation of a giant, unseen hand squeezing my stomach. I sat up, then flopped back down on my sweat-drenched pillow. It took me a couple of minutes of lying there panting before I felt enough energy seep into my body and I was able to get up and get ready for the day. I had just finished doing my hair when Sophie Skyped me so she could see where the destination for the week was. “Wow, girl, you don’t look like you’re feeling the best.” Her greeting made me roll my eyes, “You think?” “What happened?” “I’m not sure if I got food poisoning or picked up a bug somewhere; either idea is quite plausible.” I grimaced. “Let’s hope your next country is nearby so you don’t need to travel far.” Sophie’s face showed her sympathy. “Yeah, no kidding.” I took several deep breaths. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road.” I put on my perkiest smile then started filming so we could upload the video of me choosing the country onto the blog. I gave the normal intro, hoping I didn’t look as terrible as I felt, then closed my eyes and spun the globe around a couple of times. When I put my finger down and then opened my eyes, I almost started crying. Tibet. I so did not have the energy to travel around the world again. After barely pulling off what looked like an excited good-bye to the camera I threw my hands up at Sophie. “Um, before you start freaking out on me…” Sophie held up a hand to stop my teary monologue that was about to start, “Let me see what I can do. I’ll hook you up with first class or something.” “Okay.” Our planes didn’t have first class, but I understood what she was trying to do. She would find someway to make the trip more comfortable for me. “Now get something to eat and the rest in bed and research what you want to do when you’re on top of the world, sound good?” “Yeah, yeah, thanks.” I heaved a huge sigh, everything was in Sophie’s capable hands. Life would be fine and keep going even though I felt like I’d been attacked by a derailed train. A few minutes later I got a notification from Jake who helped edit the vlogs I made. He said that the video of me choosing Tibet was live on the website, so I clicked over to watch it and see if I looked as horrible as I felt. The video hadn’t had much editing done on it, but to my surprise I didn’t look too shabby. I should become an actress. I found some the food I had bought the day before for the trip and then climbed back into bed and nibbled on the corn tortillas. My plan had been to study about Tibet, but next thing I knew I was awakened by the sound of Sophie skyping me again. I ran my hand across my face and yawned. The sun was pouring through the sheer curtain at the window, proclaiming that the morning was well on it’s way to becoming afternoon. “Soph?” I answered the Skype call. “Good news. For you. Not such great news for us on this end.” “Okay?” My brain couldn’t keeping up with what my co-worker was saying. “So, to get into Tibet you have to get special permission and all that kind of stuff.” “Oh?” “Which means you’re not going anywhere today. Just hang on tight and try to get better. I’m exploring our different options here and I’ll keep you posted.” Relief washed over me. I did not want to travel in the condition I was in. After signing off the call I was able to summon enough strength to head down to the hotel lobby and then across the street to a little cafe. I ordered hot tea and chicken soup that sounded good to my still hurting stomach. The smell made my insides feel like they were churning, though, so I asked for the food to go and slowly made my way back to my hotel room. After resting for a few minutes I pulled up the internet on my computer and began my research. Tibet was gorgeous. It reminded me of Mongolia. As the day progressed I got lost in the history and culture of the people who lived in what is sometimes called the"Water Tower" of Asia. It’s called that because several very major rivers have their source up in the Tibetan Plateau. The beautiful Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, along the Yarlung Tsangpo River, is among the deepest and longest canyons in the world. After spending a few minutes looking at pictures of the canyon I wished I could visit it; it looked so different from our Grand Canyon. I made a note to see if we could somehow fit a visit into the schedule once I arrived in Tibet.
Tuesday morning found me still in Guatemala and feeling slightly better in body, but a little ruffled in spirit. Much to our chagrin Sophie and I had discovered the day before that some people didn’t even consider Tibet to be it’s own country and our supervisor at Exploration Airlines wasn’t too thrilled with our faux pas. They worked at making sure we didn’t reap any ill effects from China (who we needed to have a good business relationship with) and continued to see if we could somehow work out a visit to tibet. Meanwhile, I rested, researched, and answered several written interviews from various travel blogs and one travel magazine. The news was beginning to get slightly interested in the year of traveling I’d been doing and it felt rewarding to see the page views on the blog and likes on Facebook growing.
When Wednesday morning rolled around I knew I would be spending the rest of the week resting in Guatemala. It would have been pointless to travel to Tibet for only a couple of days. Instead of being disappointed, I enjoyed getting to rest and catch up with comments, emails, and other day-to-day things I’d been putting off. Mom texted multiple times a day to see how I was feeling. There is nothing like being sick to make me wish I was still a little girl and could have Mom there making me chicken noodle soup and soothing me with her graceful and perfect bedside manners. Being sick made me homesick and miss my family. I thought about seeing if I could go home for a few days, but then decided it would be too much of a hassle.
Thursday I complied a list of some of the facts about Tibet that I found especially interesting. Each fact I wrote down made me wish I could visit the country and meet the people who lived there and had such a unique way of life. One day I would go there on my own, if possible.
Tibet Facts:
* Tibetan traditional houses are painted in three colors: white and brown & blue. Each color symbolizes intelligence, courage, and compassion.* Sherpa people ever sleep with there feet facing the mountain.* Tesmba is the daily food of traditional Tibetan people. It’s made up from barley and water. The barley is ground down in water in a mill and once this process is complete it take a paste form or a dough form (like white bread). It’s not cooked in any way and is eaten like this in the raw form along with hot black tea. If you aren’t brought up on this type of bread, you’re stomach will hurt if you try it.* Most of the population of Tibetan people are vegetarian “don’t eat meat”& those that do never eat meat on a Wednesday.* Tibetans practice a wide range of traditional trades, including flour milling, canvas painting, paper making, rope braiding, wool and fiber processing, weaving and textile production, tanning, metalwork, carpentry, and wood carving. * Tibet has some of the world's tallest mountains, with several of them making the top ten list. Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth. * Tibet is home to a wide range of animal life, including 142 species of mammals, 473 species of birds, 49 species of reptiles, 44 species of amphibians, 64 species of fish and more than 2,300 species of insects.
It made me sad that the people of Tibet didn’t have freedom, but because of the contract I was under with my job I wasn’t able to say anything about it. Instead I decided to pray for them and see if there was any physical way I could help them.
By the time Saturday rolled around I was over my gross sickness and felt my energy return to almost normal. I was thankful for my week of rest and paperwork, but was eager to start off week number six of my exciting travels.
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