On Thursday, August 26, 1999 my phone rang. It was pretty early in the morning, 9 AM or so. I was completely asleep. I had just quit a contract I was working on and almost didn’t answer the phone because I thought it might be an unpleasant situation with my former employer. I did answer (mostly because I was in a sleep daze). It was Phuntsok Dolma Kim Meston. Phuntsok is an active member of the Tibetan community in Boston and nationally. She is also a good friend. She was quite upset. She told me that her husband Daja Wangchuk Mizu Meston was detained in Xining, Qinghi Province, China.

Wangchuk is an American who was a Tibetan Buddhist monk at Kopan Monastery in Katmandu, Nepal. His first language was Tibetan (Nepali, Hindi, English, and Italian were his 2^nd through 5^th languages). He is generally considered to be the most skilled Tibetan linguist of any non-Tibetan in the world. All of this makes Wangchuk uniquely qualified to research the proposed World Bank Project in Dulan County in Qinghi. Wangchuk went to Qinghi this summer with Gabriel Laffitte (a China/Tibet expert) to find out what impact this project would have on the local environment, the people and the culture. Dulan county is located outside the so-called Tibetan Autonomous Region but inside what some refer to as "Greater Tibet." It is an area that was inhabited traditionally by Tibetans before the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Anyway, that is Wangchuk and that is the project. But I should get back to Phuntsok’s phone call. She was very worried about her husband’s safety. I asked her if she was OK and had she eaten or slept since she had found out several days before. She gave me the idea that she hadn’t. I decided to go with mutual friend Carla Bernardes to her home and bring some food. We got there and it was a media circus. At least 10 calls came in from newspapers, TV and radio stations. Carla and I were doing our level best to try to shield Phuntsok from this onslaught. I did two or three interviews. We left later that night and promised to return the next day. Later Phuntsok was horrified to find out that somehow Wangchuk had been injured. He fell 30 feet from a window in the hotel where he was being detained. His spine was broken his heels shattered, his liver lacerated and his spleen was so damaged that it had to be removed.

I came back the next day, Friday, and Phuntsok was working on actually going to China to facilitate Wangchuk’s release and medical care. She thought it best not to go alone, for security reasons and for simple peace of mind. I think the idea of going to China under such circumstances scared the willies out of her. I know for certain that it scared the willies out of me. For some reason I am still unsure of Phuntsok asked me if I would go with her, me who speaks all of 5 words of Chinese and has the diplomatic skills of a battering ram. I think she felt that since I had been to Qinghi before and since I knew something of the political situation I would be of some use.

I remember saying, "Yes" right away. I just don’t remember why I said, "Yes". I think it was because I thought it wouldn’t pan out: somebody more qualified would be found, I wouldn’t be allowed entry, someone would stop this madness. Well, none of those things happened. When it later became more apparent that I was actually going, I remember my first worry:

What if I get arrested!

What would happen? What would people back in the States do? What would I want them to do? I knew what I wanted them to do. Raise a M-----F---ing ruckus! Protest, demonstrate, vigil, write letters, work the phones, and scream! No, actually scratch all that. I would want something before all that:

I would want someone to come and get me!

Then I stopped and realized that is what my friend Wangchuk must be thinking now, and that is want he must have been thinking for the past week. I realized that I really had no choice. How could I possibly say "No?" I felt pleased that I could be one of those able to help in such a way. I was also scared out of my wits!

The next day everything was arranged. Phuntsok and I flew to NYC where we went to the Chinese Consulate a building I have protested at many times. She was granted an emergency visa by the Chinese Government for humanitarian reasons. I was not given a visa. The People’s Republic of China felt that Phuntsok did not need any accompaniment. Phuntsok and I felt differently. We quickly hatched a plan to resolve this problem. Phuntsok would fly to Beijing as planned. I would fly to Hong Kong (for which US Citizens need no visa) and then get a visa there for Mainland China. In Hong Kong this is a few hour process. In the US it is a process of a few days (sometimes few weeks). Then I would fly out on the next available plane to Beijing and meet Phuntsok.

I left Phuntsok in NYC and flew to Hong Kong. When I landed in Hong Kong over 20 hours later, there was a monsoon going on. An Air China plane flipped over on a runway a few hours before I landed. There were a couple of deaths and over a hundred injured. I planned to stay at a friend of a friend’s apartment in Hong Kong. I arrived there at about 6 AM. She welcomed me and made me a great breakfast. She let me know where to get a visa the most quickly and where to get an onward ticket to Beijing. After breakfast and calling around to set all this up it was about 9. By 4 that afternoon I had my passport stamped with a three month visa for China and held a one-way ticket to Beijing in my hand. I was exhausted! I said that I would just like to rest for a bit. At 7PM I was informed that there was going to be a party tonight at the house where I was staying! I was not exactly up to it, but really couldn’t question it. About a dozen or so people showed up. All of them were older (in their 40’s and 50’s). The only person my age was someone’s daughter who was invited. I talked to her most of the night. Before the party I was told that a lot of the attendees were reporters or were otherwise ‘connected’, and that these people would not be the best group to talk to about the exact nature of my trip. So aside from being exhausted, I had to lie all night. I am an awful liar. My story basically came out as this:

I am going to Beijing, Xi’an, and Xining for 4 days. I had been to all of these places before, but I wanted to see them again for some reason.

It was a pretty feeble story. And I felt bad about telling it. Near the end of the night the young woman asked me why I had a "Mickey Mouse" watch on. I replied "It is my special protection ‘Mickey Mouse’ watch." My roommate Pia gave me the watch for protection/good luck. She was worried about me going on the trip. "Protection, protection from what?" my newly made party friend asked. "Umm... everything I have told you about my trip has basically been a lie" I said, and proceeded to tell her the true situation. I told you I was a bad liar.

The next day I woke to another great breakfast - Cranberry pancakes, yum! I set off for the airport by taxi and train. I got to the airport about an hour before the flight, but the place was havoc. There were hundreds and hundreds of people who had been stranded because of the plane accident. They had shut down the airport and canceled a bunch of flights. All of the people seemed to be in front of the China Air desk. I was battling for the attention of the clerk with about 150 other people and I was not on the winning end of the battle. If I speak 5 words of Chinese they are all words in Mandarin and in Hong Kong people usually speak Cantonese. The clerk wanted nothing to do with any of the people there that day much less some American, who was getting progressively later and later for his plane. After about a half hour I finally got her attention and showed her my ticket to attempt to get a boarding pass. She took a one second glance at the ticket and said "China Air. This is Air China, you need to go to China Air ... G5." We, of course were at something like B2. All I knew at that point was that the distance between B2 and G5 was greater than the amount of time between that time and the time when my flight would take off. When I arrived at the China Air desk I was informed, "You missed this flight." Yes, I was aware of that. Was there another flight to Beijing leaving soon? She informed me that there was one leaving in 2 hours.

I FINALLY arrived at the Beijing airport. I quickly changed some dollars for Renimbi and got a cab to the American Embassy where I was to meet Phuntsok. When I got there I called Jim Heller, the Vice Consul General. He brought me inside and told me that Phuntsok had returned to the hotel. He mentioned that he and his boss, the Consul General wanted to speak to me. He proceeded to tell me that it was a bad idea for me to go to Xining with Phuntsok, that Chinese officials would feel uncomfortable/offended by my presence. Although, he added (several dozen times), "You are a free American citizen and you can do anything you want." After the tenth or so time he told me that I suggested he get it printed on a card and just show it to people instead of always saying it. I told him that he would have to talk to Phuntsok because I was leaving the decision up to her whether I was going or not. Then the Consul General gave me the same speech and he actually used the "You are a free American citizen..." comment. I think they teach them that at Foreign Service school. At one point the Vice Consul asked me: "We don’t have a file on you or anything, but ... could you be connected to any anti-China or anti-Tibet groups?" Being confused by his misstatement I paused. "Umm.... noooo."

Strange.

Then he asked if I was sure that I wanted to go to the hotel to see Phuntsok. I had traveled, literally, to the other side of the planet to meet her here and now he is asking me if I am sure I want to go to see her? "Yes", I told him I was sure. He said that there was no turning back, because once I went to the hotel I would be under the same level of surveillance that she was. She had been followed, videotaped, and photographed, since shortly after her arrival in Beijing. I was still sure. We jumped in a cab and went to the hotel. We met later that night with Jim Levy, a consular official who has just returned from seeing Wangchuk in Xining. He told use of all his involvement in the case. He handed all of his documentation to Jim Heller because Vice-Consul Heller was going to deal with the case from this point. Jim Levy told us that Wangchuk was fine and in stable condition and was being treated well. He knew that we were coming and was pleased. Then in an Alice-in-Wonderland-esque scenario Jim Levy popped out with the "You are a free American citizen..." speech. He actually said this. I was dizzy. If their primary purpose was to make me think that every Embassy official in the world was a parrot they succeeded.

Anyway, we made a couple of phone calls to the States and asked advice on whether I should go. Answer: Go. We had concerns about the phones being bugged, because of the number of people following us whenever we left the hotel and the echoes on the phone which I had never heard before on Chinese phones. And about the hotel room itself being bugged.

We left the next morning with Jim Heller to Beijing Airport to catch a flight to Xining. Jim checked his bag. It is a lifetime rule of mine NEVER to check baggage, simply for the time and high rate of loss. Jim said that he was checking his bags and that we should also. Strange we thought, but we checked our bags too. Later, I realized that this was a terrible idea. The guys following us would, of course, go through, and probably videotape, all of our bag’s contents. Well, I hope they liked the "Rage against the Machine" CD that I had in there. I particularly recommend the final cut: "Freedom!" All the time we were in the airport Phuntsok kept whispering things like: "Don’t turn around but they are videotaping you right now!" Phuntsok knew the face and attire of each of the people following us. I would say she was paranoid about it but there were actually people following us, so I suppose she was just being realistic. She even noticed when one of the agents dipped into the bathroom and emerged in a new outfit in an attempt, we supposed, to remain unnoticed.

Weird.

While walking to our gate I was shocked to see a Tibetan Buddhist Lama. The idea that a Lama would be walking around Beijing and that we would happen to bump into one at the airport seems VERY fishy to me. So I was quite shocked to see him board our plane several minutes later. During the flight Phuntsok wanted to make eye contact with him on a trip to the bathroom. I said that this wouldn’t be a great idea. If he really wasn’t a monk it would be a dangerous gesture, and if he was a monk it was probably a more dangerous gesture. Weird, anyway.

Around midday we landed at the tiny Xining airport. We made our way to the baggage claim. Then out of the airport. We were expecting someone from the regional branch of the Chinese Foreign Ministry to meet us there. There were also about 15 others there who didn’t introduce themselves, as they were busy videotaping and photographing us. Phuntsok and Jim Heller were ushered into a waiting Volkswagen sedan. I was directed (by Jim Heller) into a forest green Jeep Cherokee with tinted windows. "Hey this is just like the ones the death squads use in Central America" I thought. Then I stopped thinking along those lines because it was simply too worrisome. Up until this point we had felt reasonably safe well as safe as one can feel with a half dozen people following you. But we knew that nothing could happen to us because we were with the American Vice Consul, who a few steps below the American Ambassador in rank. If anything happened in his presence in would be a MAJOR international incident. Now I was in a truck with a driver and a person who said he was with the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Fear factor was about an 8 at this point.

Scary, very scary.

My Jeep takes off after the VW. I am sitting in back with the Foreign Ministry guy. In front is the driver and the guy who was videotaping us! He even had the audacity to get in the truck WITH the video camera. At least he could have put in the trunk. Maybe there is some cultural thing in China that allows for you to videotape a person for security reasons then sit in the same car with them for a ride, but I never read anything about it!

Bizarre.

The guy from the Foreign Ministry introduces himself in passable English. I reply. We go directly to the hospital because Phuntsok had insisted that we go directly from the airport. When we arrive at the airport I am told by Jim Heller that I must wait in the car. Who does he work for again? And what happened to me being a free American citizen?). Phuntsok comes up to me from her car and looks very worried. She talks a little and she is obviously very scared. I try to console her, which is a tall order because it is quite possible that I am more scared than she is. I tell her to play it cool when she sees Wangchuk. I tell her that he probably looks bad, and that he is probably not in the best of moods. Then Phuntsok, Jim Heller and the ‘minders’ all enter the hospital. I wait for nearly 2 hours in the jeep with ‘my’ driver. I begin to wonder who the driver is and what he thinks of me. All of a sudden he starts asking me questions not in any interrogation type of way, but in a I-am-a-bored-guy-who-drives-a-Jeep-for-the-government kind of way. He asked me (through the use of my trusty Lonely Planet Phrasebook) my name, and what country I was from, how old I was, and what I did for a living (Carl, USA, 30, computer programmer, in case you didn’t already know). I asked him what he did and how old he was. He seemed genuinely unaware of what was going on inside the hospital.

Strange.

Phuntsok and her entourage emerge from the hospital. She hurries over to the Jeep I am in. When I look at her she looks exactly like I think a person would look when they had no more tears left to cry. Her eyes were swollen, puffy and red, but almost totally dry. It seemed that she walked into a mini-self-contained hell, hung out for a half-hour and then left. From her descriptions later and from Wangchuk’s that is not really far from the reality. She and Jim Heller jump back into the VW sedan, and I don’t have to jump in to anything. I was in the same damn Jeep for about 3 hours. We drive to the Xining Hotel. I am just with the driver and the Foreign Ministry official. He seems to like to tag-along, someone who was invited out of formality but has no real say over anything that is going on. It seems clear that Chinese State Security is running the show (are literally running the hospital, and have quite a bit of pull on what the American Embassy does). About half way to the hotel the sedan caring Phuntsok went straight and my jeep abruptly turned left. I thought, "Hmmm, I wonder if they are taking me away to kill me, or if they are taking her away?" I realized she was with our insurance plan (the Vice-Counsel), so I was the one in danger. Fear factor is 10 now. A raw bone chilling 10. For some reason that I don’t really understand now, I figured it was a good play not to LOOK like I was as scared as I was. So I put on my I-have-seen-people-stabbed and I-have-been-very-close-to-people-who-have-been-shot, so this stuff isn’t worrying me. It didn’t work. I still must have looked like Bambi caught in the forest fire because the Foreign Ministry guy looks at me chuckles and says "No, we are just going to my office, then you go to your hotel." Yeah, I knew that. I was just testing my fear reflexes in case I needed them later. They seem to be working quite OK.

Smooth. Very smooth.

Back at the hotel Phuntsok tells me she is quite worried about Wangchuk. They have him surrounded with a crazy amount of security and he is routinely videotaped, photographed, and tape-recorded. Also, according to Phuntsok, some of the so-called medical staff at the hospital are actually not medical staff. She said that one night longer was too long for him to remain there. We decided to tell Jim Heller that he must negotiate an immediate (like, today) release of Wangchuk. We figured if we demanded a release "today", we could reasonably expect to get him out in the next few of days. Over the next 38 hours the three of us (Jim Heller, Phuntsok, and myself) made the arrangements needed to get Wangchuk medivac-ed out of Mainland China to Hong Kong. A company called AEA (Asian Emergency Agency) was chosen to handle all the scheduling, logistics and permits for the evacuation. Jim Heller stayed up late into the night to help coordinate with Chinese State Security, the Foreign Ministry and AEA. One time he rushed into our hotel room to tell us that everything was "Go, go, go!" at about 3AM. He was wearing gray sweatpants and a Foreign Service T-shirt emblazoned with the seal of the United States on it. He actually sleeps in uniform.

Shaky. Pretty shaky.

Everything was set for the evacuation of Wangchuk. In a chartered Learjet, with a hired doctor and nurse, was to fly from Beijing to Xining at 8AM. We were to get Wangchuk at about 10AM and bring him to the airport around midday. The plane was then to fly from Xining to Xi’an, then to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong an ambulance was to take Wangchuk and Phuntsok to the Hong Kong Baptist Hospital. Wangchuk would stay at the hospital long enough to prepare for the long journey to the U.S. All of that worked quite nicely except for the fact that Learjets are small, really small. So, with Wangchuk on a stretcher and the medical team stuffed in, there would be no room for me. That was OK, because AEA gave me the times of two commercial flights that would get me to Hong Kong at about the same time as Wangchuk and Phuntsok. So, on the day of the evacuation I had to leave the hotel a bit earlier than Phuntsok. I went to the Xining airport to catch the 9AM flight that AEA told me would be going to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. The only problem was that there was no flight at 9 or 10 or 11 or even at 12. The flight leaving to Guangzhou was leaving at 12:30pm. I found this out after about a half hour of struggling with my horrible Chinese and a phrasebook, that every one insists on reading from cover to cover even though you are only pointing to the Chinese characters from "What time is the flight?" The awkward thing about waiting in an airport for 4 hours under these circumstances is the guys who are following you look quite apparent. Picture the smallest airport you have ever been in, now imagine being there 2 minutes after it opened, then visualize two guys with no luggage sitting there watching you and trying pretty hard to look like they are not watching you. Also there is NO ONE else in the airport except for ticket agents, people washing the windows and sweeping the floor, and all of them are in the same baby blue and navy blue uniforms. I actually felt bad for the guys following me. So I figured I would take them for a walk. After reading the only English language newspaper I could find (by the way according to the paper it seems that production is up in EVERY part of China in almost every conceivable way). I got up quickly and walked outside to Arrivals (a separate building that is next to Departures. The followers tried not to run after me immediately. They waited until I was out of the building to run after me. I dipped behind an indent between the two buildings and waited for the show. One of the followers came out to scan the parking lot at the same time making quite sure he did not look like he was doing this. He did a pretty good job, except that he was looking at an almost totally empty parking lot, the only car there was his VW Sapporo with tinted windows, for about 5 minutes. I then stepped out casually from the side of the building (well as casually as someone could that is caring a 35 pound bag and is hiding from a State Security agent). I contained my laughter because somehow I felt that there was a fine line between running and hiding from secret agents and actually laughing openly at them. Later I took a few of pictures of the agents by acting like I was taking pictures of a gazebo on a hill.

Anyway.

I finally got on my plane. And left the agents at the airport. I flew to Guongzhou, then to Hong Kong and then took a taxi to the Baptist Hospital. When I walked up the stairs and entered the hospital there was a gurney being wheeled by. It was Wangchuk. This was the first time I had seen him since we shot pool months ago with friends in Boston. Coincidentally, he was arriving at precisely the same moment that I was. For me it was a trip over 8 hours, and I walked in at the exact second he arrives.

Coincidence? Or something more?

I caught up to Phuntsok who was registering at a desk. She had a gaggle of consular officials around her (Jim Heller had flown back to Beijing). The people from the Consulate seemed to want to be helpful, but Phuntsok had had just about enough help from the US government. She was treating them slightly under the level most people would refer to as politely. They were asking the doctor what Wangchuk’s condition was and what test or procedures the hospital would be planning. The doctor was answering. I mentioned to Phuntsok that she might want to tell the doctor that this information was private and the Consulate had no business knowing or even asking about it. She did and then we made our escape to the room that Wangchuk was assigned. This was the first time that Wangchuk could speak with some degree of freedom. You could easily see the delight in his face to be away from Mainland China. He spoke little of the detention or of his medical treatment. He seemed tickled pink with simple pleasures. He kept playing with the remote control that adjusted his bed. I remember him saying "I was in Hell for two weeks ... this is heaven!" Later, he spoke of his one real concern. He was worried about the fate of Tsering Dorje. Tsering is the Tibetan that was detained along with Wangchuk. He was simply translating (Chinese), but, solely because of his ethnicity, would likely be treated much more severely. No person or organization has received any information about Tsering since he was detained. Moreover the Government of the People’s Republic of China has not even publicly acknowledged his detention. He is, for all purposes, "disappeared."

Worrisome. Very worrisome.

The doctors took some x-rays to make sure that Wangchuk would be OK for the trip to the US. He was fitted with a short body cast. I left 2 days before Wangchuk and Phuntsok. They needed to wait to get all the details sorted out for the commercial flight that would take Wangchuk from Hong Kong to California and the private plane the would take him the rest of the way home. So, I made my escape to the Hong Kong airport one day after I had landed in Hong Kong. I jumped on the first plane headed to the US and then caught a connection in L.A. to bring me to Boston.

Home. Finally home.

Wangchuk arrived, with a lot of media attention, several days later. He was OK and pleased to see all of the well-wishers. There were a number of squabbles going on among supporters as to the most effective plan of action. But none of that really matters. Wangchuk was home (almost home, he was admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital). He was safe, in medically stable condition, and on the road to a good recovery.

Great. Everything is great.

Almost.

Tsering Dorje is still in incommunicado detention. The Meston family is looking at a $100,000+ bill for evacuation and medical costs. The World Bank is debating the Dulan resettlement project. Tibet is still the site of numerous gross human rights violations.

Help. You can help.

1. Demand Tsering Dorje’s release. (Please do not write, Tsering was released in 1999)

Write to:

His Excellency Jiang Zemin, President of the People’s Republic of China
Guojia Zhuxi
Beijingshi
The People’s Republic of China

Premier Zhu Rongji
c/o The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008

The United States of America

2. Donate to the Daja Wangchuk Meston Fund
at the Bank Information Center, a Washington DC based non-profit).
Make checks payable to:

"BIC/Daja Meston Fund"

3. Work tirelessly for the defense of basic human rights in Tibet, China and worldwide. Learn and take action at:

I would like to thank Phuntsok Meston for her admirable bravery in the face of such adversity, and Wangchuk Meston for his stunning heroism and courage.

Lastly, all of those who were supportive of us during our stay in China, I wouldn’t have been able to make it without knowing there were people at home ready to raise a little hell if anything went wrong. I think Phuntsok, with the help of many people, may have saved her husband’s life. And that makes her...hopeful... very hopeful.