Shigatse

Remember the following street name:

If you don’t have a permit to be in Tibet, and you decide to go Shigatse, this is the only street where you’ll find accommodation where you don’t have to fill out the PSB registration form. Don’t take my advice and the following could happen to you.

I come into Shigatse and find a hotel where I’m offered a shared room for 40 Yuan. Too pricey for me, I leave and go looking for another hotel. For the next hour I walk the streets of Shigatse looking for a hotel. One place I arrive at wants 25 Yuan and as I go to pay, they give me a PSB form to fill out. One of the men is wearing a police jacket, though I doubt he is police and next door is a police station which does worry me. I fill out fake information and hand over 20 Yuan, telling them that’s all I pay. They refuse the price and I quickly grab my bag and leave the hotel.

Several more hotels are either too expensive or ask for the PSB form. One place that I visit, happens to be in a certain guidebook. I tell the other girl in the room I’ll be sharing of my situation so she can translate for the owner. The owner says I cannot stay and must go to the police and turn myself in, or he will call them himself. She tells him I’ll go and tells me to get out of there this minute. I walk outside and he follows me, I ask him which way it is and he points. I start walking hoping he won’t follow, he turns back to the hotel and after he’s out of sight, I turn and go in the opposite direction at a brisk pace.

I return to the hotel that wanted 40 Yuan only to be told they want the form also, otherwise I can’t stay.

Several more hotels turn me away, one of the guys tells me to camp outside the city. Thanks.

My prayer’s are answered three hours into the hunt for a hotel. As I’m walking down one of the many streets of Shigatse a woman having somehow sensed my need peeks her head out of the door and says the magic word Binguan (hotel). This saviour must operate some sort of underground hotel aimed at foreigners without permits. I tell her yes and go inside, thinking the prices shouldn’t be too bad.

Inside the hotel is a kitchen and a couch and single bed in a small room, seems like more of an apartment than a hotel. She invites me to check out the bed which is good since many places have terrible mattresses. She sits on the bed and gestures for me to do likewise. I’d had my suspicions and she’s just confirmed them. She pulls out a condom and makes a move for my dick. I avert her cobra strike with cat like agility which confuses her. She pulls out a piece of paper and writes 300. I make the gesture for sleep (head resting on pillow). She writes 200. I get up to leave, she writes 100. I say no, she writes 50. I get my bag, she writes 20.

Having walked around for three hours trying to find a bed, I’m happy to sleep in the bed of a prostitute for 20 Yuan as long as she doesn’t try any funny business. I tell her ok, take my bag and put it in the room. She follows me into the room. I wish I spoke enough Chinese to tell her I just wanted to pay for the bed and not her services. I grab her by the hand and drag her out of the room. She thinks I’m dragging her to the couch so she goes and sits on it. I step back inside the room and barricade the door. For a couple of minutes there is silence, then there’s a banging on the door.

The prostitute is saying something in Chinese, I’m saying 20 Yuan. She doesn’t make the connection and keeps banging on the door. I decide the situation is hopeless, grab my bag and open the door to walk out. She says no money and once again makes a grab for my man power. I push her onto the bed, close the door and run out of there.

As I continue my search for hotels up the street, I realise every house on my side of the street is a bordello and decide against trying to negotiate a deal for a bed for the night. I eventually find an abandoned building that’s being torn down, find a way in by climbing into the window and decide that this is my fallback option. There is broken glass on the floor and it’s a concrete base which will make for an incredibly uncomfortable sleep.

Given that there is still an hour’s daylight left, I keep walking. I come across a truck stop motel and ask for a bed. The guy asks me to accompany him to the police ( at least I think that’s what he says). I decide against it and keep walking.

The next truck stop motel has no problems taking me, mentions the permit, smiles and shows me the room. Cheap, filthy and no questions. Perfect.