Tibet Tales

Princess Diana's death: The real scoop from Tibet, 1988

You couldn't write a better story. Apparently, Dodi Al Fayed's dad, (we'll call him daddy Fayed), the owner of Harrod's department store and other things in England, is an extremely well to do and paranoid individual, encasing himself in a fortress in the middle east, surrounded by bodyguards. He doesn't have a real strong love for the British, and especially the British royalty. The British hate him likewise, not only because of who he is, but also because he is a Muslim. We all know that Diana kind of turned the royals on their heads in the press, because of her beauty, her appeal, and her extraordinary knowledge of how to manipulate the press (Karin says she got her hair and face done daily. She is friendly, on a professional level, with Diana's people). The royals were not at all in favor of her, especially after her divorce with Charles. They were appalled that she, the mother of the future king of England, was dating (and screwing) multiple lovers after the divorce. But the one thing that the royals could not tolerate was her dating Dodi Al Fayed. When it became apparent that she was pregnant by him, and that they were engaged, the wheels started turning. The press did all they could to suppress the pregnancy and engagement, by making them "rumors". The press was and still is in bed with the royalty to some degree, as Brian told me that his friend the Duke of Edinborough has had many affairs, a fact which was suppressed "respectfully" by the newspapers over there.

The English would never tolerate the mother of the king of England being married to a Muslim. Especially since most Muslim men, when they marry a non-Muslim woman, demand that the woman become Muslim. The mother of the future king of England being a Muslim; the father in law being daddy Al Fayed. It was far too much, and it had gone far too far. Daddy Al Fayed was getting himself positioned just where he wanted to be.

About three months ago, a man was convicted of murdering his wife, by having her car altered. He had some sort of apparatus put onto the steering mechanism, whereby he could control her car by remote control (remember the last Bond movie??) He took control of her car when she left for work and crashed her into a building or something. They caught him when the authorities had the car analyzed, and the mechanism was readily discovered. That incident reinforced what many British people believe happened with Princess Di's car. Immediately after the accident, Mercedes Benz, who couldn't believe that a small Fiat, if it existed, could cause the biggest Benz made (and it was fortified and strengthened) to lose control, when it was only doing sixty miles an hour, in a tunnel which was largely straight. It didn't make sense to Mercedes Benz, but they were denied access to the car, until last week. It also didn't make sense that the only person that had a seat belt on was the security guard. It is against British security rules for the security guard to wear a seat belt, as it is thought that a seat belt would only slow down the guard's necessary egress from the car in case of emergency. Many British have felt, and still feel, that British Secret Service MI5, was responsible for the whole thing. Apparently, there was no other way out to protect Britain's most highly respected (in their minds) institution. And apparently, more facts are coming out to reinforce these feelings in Britain. Fascinating. I guess time will tell.

These guys asked me if I wanted to continue on with them to the Everest base camp, which is a three day jeep journey from here. They were going to spend a day there, and then travel another day to Katmandu, from where they would then start going home. Land Cruisers are used for these trips. For in impoverished country like Tibet, a large majority of the vehicles are Land Cruisers. New, old, really old, they are incredibly useful for all of the back country trips ( a good deal of the roads are dirt, and are not in the best shape). It is a real testament to the vehicle.

I considered going to Everest with them. I'm doing fine at 12,000 feet, at which Lhasa is, but any sort of exertion triggers migraine. I fortunately have not had any significant episodes of hemiparesis, and at this time, seeing that I've been here for three days, don't expect any kind of complications. But I've been told that the base camp is 15,500 feet (so the Brits say) and the tour guide says it's 6000 meters, but you have to go over a mountain that is 7000 meters. I guess the real answer is, I don't know how high it is, but they do bring a fair number of tourists on these trips. Well, a small number, but I have no idea what kind of complications these guides see. They really don't seem all that bright to me. I decided to stick with the original plans. I'm hesitant about going any higher than I already have.

Tomorrow will therefore be the last day in Tibet. Some more monasteries and local history, and then I'm on my way back. So far it's been a good trip.