Eat, Fly, (Not) Love

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EAT: After our last buffet breakfast at Dwarika’s, we caught our mid morning flights from Tribuvan airport. Between several high level frequent flyers and others with lounge subscriptions, we were able to get the whole group onto the lounge. It was nice to relax and have a nice little snack before heading into the somewhat chaotic airport.

FLY: The flight to Lhasa offered beautiful views of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau. I was a bit shocked when I smelled cigarette smoke mid-flight. Someone either went to the bathroom for a smoke or had a few puffs at their seat. However, that could not interfere with the incredible excitement of finally touching down in Tibet – we really will get to cross this off the bucket list!

Our Tibet guide, Pasang, was waiting outside the gates to greet us with white welcoming scarves known as Khata. After snapping a few victory photos in the parking lot, we drove an hour along a pristine Japanese highway through Western (new/Chinese), central (old) to our hotel in the eastern end (new). (We caught our first glimpse of Potala Palace. Cannot wait for tour tomorrow!)

NOT LOVE: We stayed at the Intercontinental Lhasa. What they make up for in flashiness, they lack in customer service, amenities and infrastructure. The hotel itself is very grand. It has a modern, pyramidal space-age look from the outside. You walk into a massive giant glass atrium/greenhouse to see traditional Tibetan buildings enclosed within it. It is impressive, a bit cheesie in a manner similar to Vegas but somehow executed a little better. The rooms are very ornate – Melania Trump would not feeel out of place here ( although with the lack of gold, she would think that she was slumming it). Now for the not so great parts. The rooms were hermetically sealed and the air conditioning units did not work. One of our co-travellers called it ‘sleeping in a coffin’. Two rooms on the non smoking floor smelled like smoke; one so bad the person had to be moved to another room. Another couple also had to switch rooms as the plumbing was not working. The front desk staff did not speak English well enough to understand several requests from someone who was ill and urgently needed drinking water brought to his room. The service in the dining room was equally awkward. We asked for water, it had to go through 4 levels of managers and we were told to go and talk to the concierge as they may have some. The hotel seems aimed at the domestic Chinese tourist and is definitely not at a level that I would expect for an Intercontinental hotel. We cancelled our reservation for our return to Lhasa and will seek greener pastures.