A Week-In-The-Life of Dave: The Longest Way Home

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Almost five years ago, Dave of The Longest Way Home started traveling the world in search of a place he could call home. His largely overland travels have taken him to a good 17 countries since then. While in Tibet and China, he found himself in the middle of an uprising, with some interesting decisions to make. Please help me welcome Dave, as he shares his week-in-the-life of a moral dilemma in Asia.

How do you get offered thousands of dollars for your travel story? Be in the right place at the wrong time. I was traveling overland through Tibet in March 2008, arriving into Lhasa just in time to get stuck right in the middle of the second uprising on the 14th.

This post was originally published in 2009. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content.

*Day 1 – *

We finally arrived into Lhasa, with a small problem, China’s firewall was blocking my email. I spent the evening trying to bypass it. Only managing to book my flight from Shanghai to Manila.

*Day 2-*

I buy my train ticket on the world’s highest train to Xian, planning ahead is important for me when I travel. I meet some locals that show me how to bypass the firewall. Mission accomplished. But I still can’t blog.

*Day 3 – *

Last full day of a mandatory tour. Lots of things closed due to restorations. I’ve too many photographs of Buddhist Monasteries already and am more concerned with moving on. I never made it back into the internet café to check my plane ticket, the shutters were down by the time I got there. Black smoke was rising across the city’s skyline.

The streets quickly filled with rioters as explosions rocked the capital of Tibet. What’s a long term traveler to do? I am always with my camera, so I head into the thick of it.

*Day 3 – PM*

The Hotel was on fire and the Chinese military are on the streets, gun shots are ringing out. Other travelers had international sim cards, and the news reports overseas were hankering for more information.

*Day -4 *

We are evacuated by the Chinese military and escorted out of the city. I’ve backed up my photographs and hidden my memory cards. I’m getting really concerned about them being confiscated. An Italian took things one step further and inserted them … well, in a not so comfortable place.

*Day – 5 *

In a temporary hotel we are finally able to get internet access. By bypassing the firewall to get to my email and send out a quick note to some friends. Then I began reading the international news sites. That’s when the calls came.

Word spreads quickly these days. Soon we were getting telephone calls not from friends and family, but from the media. They were offering money for exclusive photographs and video of the riots. I thought I was made!

At the same time one of the Tibetan drivers was panicking because he thought he saw his face on some video footage from the riots on the internet.

“If they recognize us, they will throw us in jail, and our families too.”

It was then everything fell from grace. I got a call from an international media organization. The money they were offering seemed disproportionate for a few photographs.

It would have kept me traveling for a year. Video was worth more again.

I actually didn’t hesitate in saying – no. I knew they’d publish the faces of local people on the street. I didn’t know them personally, but I knew what could happen to them if they were spotted. Or as many around me feared, “allegedly spotted.”

*Day 6 -*

On the way to the train I hear about some others who had emailed photographs to the media, and the payments were just as big. The military stop and search us.

*Day 7 – *

On the train to Xi’an I meet an American couple who’d had their cameras taken by the army and never returned. There is no arguing with the Chinese military. I was again without communication for 2 more days on the train. My gold mine of photographs and video remained tucked away; untouched.

That was my week in Lhasa during the riots. I later learned that some of the people in that group had indeed sold and given away video and images. I also learned about locals and families that disappeared soon after we left.

As an independent traveler sometimes you have to make choices based on financial versus moral grounds. Money doesn’t come easily when you travel. But when it does come knocking, sometimes you’ve got to say “no thanks, it’s not for me today”.

Although Dave has found places that come close, the journey in search of home continues. He published his journals on The Longest Way Home Travel Blog, where he also hangs his photographs and writes up free travel information based on his own experiences. Dave also has a Travel Stories section where you can read about the Tibetan riots in more detail. He has also just finished a travel fiction book similar to his own story and is currently looking for an agent or publisher to work with.

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