Tibetan horseman, Lithang Horse Festival (Photo: M. Griffiths)
Read Trial by Fire (Part 1) - Fire here
Trial by Fire
Part 2 - Air
The door closed
behind the policemen.
Greg leaped out of bed and started to pull on his
clothes. He looked at the tablet.
“The file transfer is almost done.”
Liz’s face was pale.
Greg turned and
looked at her. “It’ll be ok. We can
explain it all to him once we get clear of the police.”
He picked up her
clothes and put them on the bed. “Come on, we can’t stay here.”
He bent down and
detached the memory stick and pushed some buttons on the camera to reformat the
memory card. His heart pounded. Someone had told him it didn’t always completely delete everything. Hope it removes enough, or
that they don’t have any IT experts on hand.
Liz sat with her
back to him and slowly pulled on her clothes. “I can’t believe Toby saw this. He’s not very keen
on me having male friends at the best of times and this looked way worse.”
“I’m sorry.” said Greg, “If you want to tell him the truth and if
he tells the cops, it’s ok. You say I made you do it.”
Nabbed by the Chinese police or beaten up by the captain of the university
rowing team. Not fun either way.
He held up the memory
stick and looked around. “I’ve got no idea
where to hide this thing anyway.”
He shivered.
Liz looked at
him and the memory stick, closed her eyes for several seconds and then said. “I’ve got an idea.”
She grabbed it
out of his hand. She picked up her bag and went into the bathroom.
Greg turned off
the camera, pulled out the battery and put it in the charger again. He noticed
that the internet connection was down on the tablet. He checked his phone. No
signal there either. Bloody hell they move fast. He turned off the
tablet.
Footsteps
sounded in the corridor and the door opened again.
Greg grabbed his
phone, wallet and passport and Liz came out of the bathroom.
A policeman came
in. “Please give phones.” he said.
They reluctantly
complied.
The policemen placed
stickers on the phones, camera and tablet, writing the room number on each.
All the hotel
guests were herded into the restaurant area on the ground floor and sat around
in groups nervously looking at one another, whispering among themselves. A
policeman ordered one of the hotel staff to turn on the TV mounted on a shelf
in the corner of the room. It was showing CCTV 9, the English language channel.
An English newsreader was talking about some trade negotiations with the US and
the impending visit to Europe of the Chinese President.
Liz tried to
catch Toby’s eye and somehow signal to him to keep
calm and let her explain.
He avoided her
gaze and stared at Greg instead, a scowl on his face.
A few minutes
later another policeman arrived and others in the room nodded in deference to
him. A young woman in dark slacks and jacket stood beside him. A policeman
turned off the TV. The officer began to talk and the woman interpreted.
“Ladies and gentleman. Please accept my
apologies for disturbing your morning. As you may have already heard some
foreign inspired splittists have conspired to disturb the public peace and
attack innocent public security personnel carrying out their duties here in Litang.” They both used the Chinese
pronunciation. “We cannot permit unsubstantiated rumours of these events
circulating and the upsetting the harmony of China’s nationalities.” The officer leaned over and spoke quietly to the interpreter. She
corrected herself. “China’s ethnic groups.” He continued and the interpreter followed. “Therefore all
mobile phones, cameras and computers will be checked for illegal material. Once
this is complete you will be free to continue your travels.”
Protest sprang
up around the room.” You can’t do this.” “Yeah, we didn’t even see what
happened.”
The officer
raised his hand “I understand your concerns.” he said through the interpreter. “I assure you we
will do the utmost to avoid inconvenience to you. You must understand, China is
a large country. It is difficult govern such a nation. Stability is very
important. We cannot allow these people to cause trouble.”
Several police
officers began moving around the room as more phones slowly came out of pockets
and were placed on the tables. The officers placed stickers on phone and wrote
down the room numbers of the guests. Other policemen and women began patting
down the guests looking for concealed items.
The senior
officer continued. “We may need your assistance to check the
contents of your computers. We will notify you if this occurs.” He spoke to another policeman who gave orders to the hotel staff.
Bottles of water and snacks appeared.
Half an hour later
a policeman appeared with a piece of paper. “Please be standing up these
people. Room 203, 204, 206, 304, 306.” Greg stood up
slowly along with more than a dozen others. Room 304 was a large dorm room
facing the street.
He heard Toby snort.
“Ha. He can’t have seen anything, He was too busy
getting into someone else’s pants.”
“Toby.” murmured Liz. “It’s not what you think.”
He looked at her
silently and then turned away.
Greg walked out
with the others feeling weak at the knees. He tried to breathe deeply. Soon it
was his turn to enter a small office with a small wooden desk with shelves full
of files and a money counting machine, filled to overflowing by three policemen
and the interpreter.
“You have deleted all the photos on your
camera.” said the interpreter. “Why?”
“Ahh. I copied them onto the computer
last night. The camera was running out of memory. I took lots of photos
yesterday at the monastery and hadn’t downloaded them
for several days. You can see the photos on the computer.”
A policeman
spoke to the interpreter. She nodded and spoke again. “Where were you
this morning?”
“I was in bed. I had a lot to drink last
night.” he said trying to smile, “I had a sore head.” The policeman remained expressionless.
“You have disks?”
“Only the one with
photos on it. It’s a backup. I don’t have any others.”
That was kind of
true. He swallowed and wondered if his nervousness was showing.
The policeman
spoke to the interpreter. She nodded.
“Who was the woman in your room this
morning?
“She’s um...a friend.
We met a few days ago in Chengdu. A group of us have been traveling together.
“What is her name?”
Greg’s throat suddenly felt dry. He coughed.
“Liz Jennings.” he said slowly.
The interpreter
wrote it down and showed it to him, “Correct?” He nodded. She gave it to one of the policeman. He left the room and
closed the door. After a few more questions they let Greg return to the
restaurant. Liz passed him in the corridor as she was ushered into the
interview room.
“Good luck.” he said.
She bit her lip.
God I hope she’s
ok.
Liz returned to
the restaurant ten minutes later. She gave Greg a small nod as she sat down. He
breathed out heavily and rubbed his temples.
She sat down at
Toby’s table but he ignored her.
An hour later
the interviews had finished. Everyone returned to the dining room. Justin had been
ushered in from the festival grounds outside of town. The police gradually returned
guests’ phones, cameras and computers. People complained about photos being
deleted. Greg noticed that there was still no mobile phone signal.
Later the
interpreter returned to the room. “All travelers
are to return to their rooms and bring their belongings to the hotel lobby
immediately. You will be picked up by bus and transported to Kangding or
Chengdu. You may continue your travels from there.”
Another storm of
protest erupted around the room and several people tried to argue but there
seemed no room for negotiation.
They headed for their
rooms. Liz passed him on the way out of the restaurant. “Buddha’s toenails, 2 days from now, 11am.
Failing that, same time the next day at the temple at the top of the Emei Shan
cable car” she whispered.
Greg nodded.
******** August 1st, pm ********
The first buses
departed half an hour later. Back in his room Greg could see that it had been
thoroughly searched. As he packed he realised that the video was only part of
the story. He needed more information about the woman. Where was she from?
Why did she do it? Did she have a family? Who can tell me all that? He
wrote a note on small piece of paper: I
have a video of the woman. Can you get some information about her? He added
his name, mobile phone number and email address on a small piece of paper.
When he went
down to the lobby he was almost the last to join the checkout queue. Two
policemen stood near the front door watching them silently. He looked at the
woman behind the counter as he waited.
Her name was Dolma. She was the niece of the
owners, home from university for the summer holidays. She spoke reasonable English and they had chatted a few times as he had
passed in and out of the hotel. She had taught some words of the local Tibetan
dialect and laughed at his pronunciation. Would she help him, or was she a
police informer like those he had read about, helping the government keep tabs
on everyone. Who else could he ask? It wasn’t likely that he would be able come back here for a
while. And then it would be too late.
He watched her closely. Instead of her normal sneakers, jeans and
shirt, with a peaked cap perched high on her head in the local fashion, she was
dressed up in festival finery, a long brown and gold patterned dress. Her mood
didn’t match the clothes. She was subdued and barely spoke to the customers as
they paid their bills and left.
Greg smiled slightly
at Dolma as he reached the counter. “Tashi
deli.” Hello.
She handed him the
bill and told him the amount.
He examined it
carefully. He pointed to a line on the paper and leaned over the wooden counter
towards her. He slid the note out from under the bill.
She looked down
and read the paper.
“Yes.” she said.
She looked at
him quickly and then down at the paper again. “Yes.” she whispered.
He nodded and
reached into his wallet. He passed over the money with the slip of paper in
between. Dolma counted the money twice, she deposited the money into the drawer
of the desk, then slipped the paper into her pocket.
“I will wait in Chengdu at a hotel near
the bus station.” said Greg. Too jay chay.” Thank you.
“Too jay chay.” said Dolma softly, keeping her eyes
cast down.
Greg walked out
into the street carrying his backpack and climbed aboard a bus. He plopped down
in an aisle. A young Chinese man sat in the window seat beside him. He
introduced himself as Jimmy, a student from Taiwan. He had long hair and a
wispy beard. He was doing a masters degree in fine arts he said and was looking
at Tibetan and other minority art for ideas and inspiration. As the bus slowly
traveled the road to Kangding Greg and Jimmy exchanged notes on their travels
and plans.
“What are you going to do now?” Jimmy asked.
“I’m not sure. I
think I will stay in Chengdu for a few days.”
“I’d like to do
that too,” said Jimmy. “I didn’t stop long on the way to Litang.
Maybe we can do sight-seeing together.”
“Maybe. I’ve already seen most
of them. There are just a few places I want to see. And I’m tired. I think I will rest for a day or two.”
Greg was itching
to check his guide book for details on how to get to Leshan, site of the
largest stone Buddha statue, which must be the meeting place Liz intended. Of
all the Buddhas in China, it had the biggest toenails. He also had to work out
to get the video out of China without getting himself kicked out of the
country, locked up, or worse, and perhaps endangering Liz as well.
After seven
hours and just an hour out of Kangding his phone beeped. He had normal service
again. When the bus reached Kangding it was already late in the evening. All
the hotels and hostels were full with travelers, not helped by the exodus from
Lithang.
Greg and the other passengers were transferred to another bus and
continued on to Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan province.
******** August 2nd , am ********
The bus arrived
in Chengdu early in the morning. Outside the bus station Greg fended off taxi
drivers and early bird tour touts and consulted his guidebook. He decided on a cheap hotel just around th
corner from bus station. Jimmy came with him and checked in to the same place.
They swapped phone numbers and agreed to meet up in a day or two if they were
both still in town. Greg had shower. When he finished drying himself he held up
his hand. The fingers trembled. Tiredness,
hangover, or terror? he wondered.
He came to a decision.
Sleep first, then a plan. How on earth am I going to do this?
When he shut his
eyes images of flames and Liz filled his mind.
Eventually sleep
won.
********
Read Trial by Fire - (Part 1) Fire here
Read Trial by fire - (Part 3) Earth here
PHOTOS
If you want to see some great photos of the Lithang horse festival see Charlie McRae's photo blog here. We met up at the horse festival in 2013 and he took some fantastic shots while he was there, plus other areas of Eastern Tibet. Ganzi! Ganzi!
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