Our first full day in Lhasa was a dreary, wet day which is somewhat uncommon given Tibet's arid climate. Our tour guide, Wan Du, commented that "it's good for the farmers" and when I think of the moon-like environment we went through on the train, I wholeheartedly agree.
Once again, when we stepped outside our hotel, the military presence in the Tibetan quarter of Lhasa was quite palpable. During breakfast I realized that there was a small military station right across the street from our hotel. During our stay we would see soldiers coming and going and every time the soldiers went out on patrol they would line up right in front of the hotel, single-file, before marching off. As we explored the quarter it became apparent that all the major entrances to the Tibetan Quarter had military checkpoints staffed by at least 4 soldiers (each looking off in a different direction). Some soldiers would be armed with fire arms (including assault rifles). Towards the end of our stay in Lhasa I learned to look up more often and it was then I realized there were soldiers stationed on the rooftops as well. I was astounded when I saw soldiers occupying the roof of the main mosque in the neighbouring Muslim quarter -- is nothing sacred? But then I remembered that China was a de facto atheistic state and the notion of places of worship being sanctuaries is probably a foreign one.
First on the itinerary is the holiest place in Tibet: The Jokhang Temple.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
A Super St. Anthony Summer
Last weekend I went on a quick trip to southern Ontario. It was primarily for an Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) course to update and maintain skills and knowledge. However, I also swung by Brockville for a day to secure a place to stay.
I know I'm cutting it quite close -- I start work in less than a month! But the proximity of a particular condo/apartment to the hospital proved to be quite irresistible. As I mentioned in previous posts, a lifetime of commuting and the last 3 years of living across the street from work has turned me into a person who wants to walk to work. In addition, I had heard that the building is almost half empty and so I was fairly confident I would get the apartment. The rent is somewhat steep for my tastes ($1,200/month) but my real estate agent assures me that this is the going rate for apartments of this level of quality in Brockville. The apartment is quite nice and was recently renovated with hardwood flooring and 5 new appliances. Lastly, should I decide to pull the trigger and buy the place a few months from now, the relatively high rent will no longer be an issue.
The ACLS course was spread over 3 days and made for a busy weekend but it was mostly a refresher with lots of hands-on practice. Taking the course also provided a convenient excuse to travel to Toronto and to catch up with family. My niece, in particular, has grown a fair bit since I last saw her -- she's still quite anxious around strangers but will warm up to you given enough time.
Back here in St. Anthony my time is winding down although, strangely, we're experiencing a very good summer season. In July we had about 3 weeks of temperatures close to 20C and a large amount of sunshine. It cooled off a little bit and I thought autumn had started. But, here we are in August with another week of 20C temperatures.
In addition, the region is going through a banner iceberg season which is great considering last year's season was a big flop. The local tour boat operator has commented that this year was an exceptional year. Apparently, he has increased his trips up to 5 per day and he still has to turn away people at the pier! Tourists are indeed flooding the area - so much so that the local hotels are frequently full. We even made the national news on the CBC along with that massive shelf of ice that's just off the coast of Labrador. The locals were talking about how a tourist from Vancouver came all the way over just to see the icebergs when he saw them on the news!
A big iceberg just off Fishing Point in St. Anthony.
St. Carol's. I like how the reflected sky in the water contrasts with the almost silhouetted houses. The ice in the water makes the picture even more interesting.
I know I'm cutting it quite close -- I start work in less than a month! But the proximity of a particular condo/apartment to the hospital proved to be quite irresistible. As I mentioned in previous posts, a lifetime of commuting and the last 3 years of living across the street from work has turned me into a person who wants to walk to work. In addition, I had heard that the building is almost half empty and so I was fairly confident I would get the apartment. The rent is somewhat steep for my tastes ($1,200/month) but my real estate agent assures me that this is the going rate for apartments of this level of quality in Brockville. The apartment is quite nice and was recently renovated with hardwood flooring and 5 new appliances. Lastly, should I decide to pull the trigger and buy the place a few months from now, the relatively high rent will no longer be an issue.
The ACLS course was spread over 3 days and made for a busy weekend but it was mostly a refresher with lots of hands-on practice. Taking the course also provided a convenient excuse to travel to Toronto and to catch up with family. My niece, in particular, has grown a fair bit since I last saw her -- she's still quite anxious around strangers but will warm up to you given enough time.
Back here in St. Anthony my time is winding down although, strangely, we're experiencing a very good summer season. In July we had about 3 weeks of temperatures close to 20C and a large amount of sunshine. It cooled off a little bit and I thought autumn had started. But, here we are in August with another week of 20C temperatures.
In addition, the region is going through a banner iceberg season which is great considering last year's season was a big flop. The local tour boat operator has commented that this year was an exceptional year. Apparently, he has increased his trips up to 5 per day and he still has to turn away people at the pier! Tourists are indeed flooding the area - so much so that the local hotels are frequently full. We even made the national news on the CBC along with that massive shelf of ice that's just off the coast of Labrador. The locals were talking about how a tourist from Vancouver came all the way over just to see the icebergs when he saw them on the news!
A big iceberg just off Fishing Point in St. Anthony.
One day, I received a tip that St. Carol's was the place to go iceberg watching. So, I hopped into my car around sunset hoping to get some nice pictures. St. Carol's is a small village about 20 minutes north of St. Anthony.
St. Carol's Harbour - Packed with Icebergs
The lighting conditions made for some interesting pictures. St. Carol's, like most villages in Newfoundland, is nestled in a small cove. The sun was setting behind the harbour and the ridge around the harbour cast long shadows onto the 'bergs. The sun was able to illuminate the horizon and some of the bigger 'bergs. Lastly, the sky was an interesting mix of blue and clouds. I'm quite tempted to print out and frame some of the pictures I took.
St. Carol's Harbour - Packed with Icebergs
The lighting conditions made for some interesting pictures. St. Carol's, like most villages in Newfoundland, is nestled in a small cove. The sun was setting behind the harbour and the ridge around the harbour cast long shadows onto the 'bergs. The sun was able to illuminate the horizon and some of the bigger 'bergs. Lastly, the sky was an interesting mix of blue and clouds. I'm quite tempted to print out and frame some of the pictures I took.
St. Carol's. I like how the reflected sky in the water contrasts with the almost silhouetted houses. The ice in the water makes the picture even more interesting.
I'll be packing this weekend in preparation for the movers who are arriving in 4 days. My last day at work is now less than 2 weeks away. Not looking forward to leaving and yet I'm getting excited planning my drive back to Ontario. Driving through Atlantic Canada in late summer will be nice (assuming no hurricanes are in the area!).
Monday, July 11, 2011
Plans in Motion
Just put up another Tibet post. I know I'm working at a slow pace and I haven't even started posting any Tibet pictures yet! Don't worry, after this post on Xining I'll finally start writing up my trip into Tibet. As an aside, I finally figured out how to tweak the size of those flight maps to fit the width of the blog.
My plans to move back to Ontario are starting to take shape. I've settled on a moving company and they'll be confirming my move out date soon. Unfortunately, it will be over a week before I'm able to physically leave town myself! Ah well, this is what happens with a long-distance move. I only gave myself 10 days off between jobs. I'll just live out of a suitcase (literally) for those 10 days.
My search for a place to live in Brockville has yielded some progress as well. Although I'm fairly certain I will want to buy a place for myself I know I should rent first to make sure the job goes well and to give myself a chance to see the town. I was referred to a real estate agent and I mentioned my #1 priority -- I wanted to live near the hospital.
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION
During my training I've always been "in house" whenever I was on call. Most hospitals were quite busy and I was working into the wee hours of the morning. In addition, I had to be available to cover any emergencies and so I got used to staying at the hospital for on call. Once I finished and became staff I had to switch over to "home call" where I stayed at home until called in. I still haven't become used to it -- I'm paranoid that when an emergency comes in I'll waste precious minutes trying to get to the hospital. Even though I literally live across the street from the hospital in St. Anthony, the few times where I had to run out the door it felt like the hospital was further away than it actually was.
Brockville has the same arrangement although it is a bigger and somewhat busier hospital. For my peace of mind (let it never be said that Dr. Lee was stuck in traffic while the patient was bleeding to death!) I've decided that I want to live as close to BGH as possible - walking distance ideally.
The real estate agent found a condo in an older 3-story building less than 5 minutes walking distance from the hospital. Perfect! Although my Dad feels that I should be buying a house, I insisted I was not ready for home ownership. Living close to the hospital meant living in older houses and older houses will need constant maintenance. In addition, the cost of utilities will be higher, too. Perhaps in the future once I have a family but for now, an apartment condo is ideal.
The owner of the condo is prepared to rent the unit out to me first and, if I like it, will carry through with the sale. I'm going to check the place out and hopefully sign the lease in late August.
There's a bunch of other little things I'll need to do in a few weeks to get ready for the move including changing my address and incorporation of my medical practice (more on that later).
I'm counting down the days!
My plans to move back to Ontario are starting to take shape. I've settled on a moving company and they'll be confirming my move out date soon. Unfortunately, it will be over a week before I'm able to physically leave town myself! Ah well, this is what happens with a long-distance move. I only gave myself 10 days off between jobs. I'll just live out of a suitcase (literally) for those 10 days.
My search for a place to live in Brockville has yielded some progress as well. Although I'm fairly certain I will want to buy a place for myself I know I should rent first to make sure the job goes well and to give myself a chance to see the town. I was referred to a real estate agent and I mentioned my #1 priority -- I wanted to live near the hospital.
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION
During my training I've always been "in house" whenever I was on call. Most hospitals were quite busy and I was working into the wee hours of the morning. In addition, I had to be available to cover any emergencies and so I got used to staying at the hospital for on call. Once I finished and became staff I had to switch over to "home call" where I stayed at home until called in. I still haven't become used to it -- I'm paranoid that when an emergency comes in I'll waste precious minutes trying to get to the hospital. Even though I literally live across the street from the hospital in St. Anthony, the few times where I had to run out the door it felt like the hospital was further away than it actually was.
Brockville has the same arrangement although it is a bigger and somewhat busier hospital. For my peace of mind (let it never be said that Dr. Lee was stuck in traffic while the patient was bleeding to death!) I've decided that I want to live as close to BGH as possible - walking distance ideally.
The real estate agent found a condo in an older 3-story building less than 5 minutes walking distance from the hospital. Perfect! Although my Dad feels that I should be buying a house, I insisted I was not ready for home ownership. Living close to the hospital meant living in older houses and older houses will need constant maintenance. In addition, the cost of utilities will be higher, too. Perhaps in the future once I have a family but for now, an apartment condo is ideal.
The owner of the condo is prepared to rent the unit out to me first and, if I like it, will carry through with the sale. I'm going to check the place out and hopefully sign the lease in late August.
There's a bunch of other little things I'll need to do in a few weeks to get ready for the move including changing my address and incorporation of my medical practice (more on that later).
I'm counting down the days!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Sayonara St. Anthony, Bienvenue à Brockville
I'm going to need a new title for this blog or maybe even consider shutting it down. I'm back from my trip to Brockville and Toronto and I'm still amazed at what has transpired: I've got a job at Brockville General Hospital starting September 19th!
I'll admit I tend to be pessimistic in order to avoid disappointment but I'm still pinching myself over recent events. First, I was expecting it to take at least 5 if not 10 years for me to get a license from Ontario -- I managed that in 2.5 yrs. thanks to the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT). But, thanks to restrictions placed on my license and the horrible job market at the moment I thought it would take me at least one year, if not more, before I could find a job in Ontario. I scored the job after 6 months of searching. Lastly, given all my circumstances, I thought for sure I was going to be working in Northern Ontario. Now, I find myself heading for the St. Lawrence river within 1 hr.'s drive of Ottawa. As the old saying goes: it's better to be lucky than good! (Although it's best to be BOTH).
So, I did a 4 day locum in Brockville and it was what I expected -- a small community hospital with most, but not all, surgical services represented. Although I thought I was ready for the quicker pace, I was caught off guard by the lack of lunch relief. For 2 days I skipped lunch and plowed through the list. The weekend was relatively quiet except for Sunday when I came in to work for 6 hours. The rest of the time I checked out Brockville and tried to get a head start on finding a new place to stay.
Brockville is a city of 24,000 and its hospital serves a catchment area of just under 100,000 people. It is within one hour's drive of 2 academic centres (Kingston and Ottawa) so most high risk and specialized cases get transferred out. Compared to my Newfoundland experience, it is probably most comparable to Corner Brook (pop ~20,000) which is the second largest city in Newfoundland. It has pretty much all the mod-cons of a S. Ontario city -- even a Future Shop and a movie theater! It's also within easy driving distance of Toronto and my parents were ecstatic with the news. The only thing it doesn't have is high quality Chinese food -- although I should withhold judgment until I've tried out the other restaurants. (I ate at one downtown restaurant and it wasn't bad...just a little salty).
Brockville is also in the scenic 1000 islands area of Ontario and if boating is your thing then this is a great place for it -- there's a new condo development on the shore where you can have you own dock! It's also on a cross-Ontario trail and I can see my self going on some long bike rides on the weekend when it's warm. Hopefully there's cross country skiing as well so I can continue using my skis.
I'm fairly certain that I won't be able to do much better than Brockville -- I may be able to find a similar community a little closer to Toronto but I doubt it will be very soon. In addition, I am starting to get tired of moving around every few years. Assuming I like the job, I'm quite motivated to set down roots. In fact, I've got my eye on a condo unit that's a 5 minute walk from the hospital...
So, although I'm excited that my long-range plans have suddenly come to pass and I'm looking forward to returning home to Ontario, I've got mixed feelings about leaving St. Anthony. I've got some good friends here and, were it not for the remoteness and isolation, I can easily see myself spending the twilight years of my career here. As I've said to numerous people, St. Anthony is a great place to work but not for a young grad like me. Early September is coming up quickly and I'm not looking forward to the goodbyes and farewells.
I'll be back to visit Brockville for a day in August to hopefully secure a place to stay and run errands. Afterwards, I'll be back in Toronto to do an ACLS course at Sunnybrook hospital.
I'll admit I tend to be pessimistic in order to avoid disappointment but I'm still pinching myself over recent events. First, I was expecting it to take at least 5 if not 10 years for me to get a license from Ontario -- I managed that in 2.5 yrs. thanks to the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT). But, thanks to restrictions placed on my license and the horrible job market at the moment I thought it would take me at least one year, if not more, before I could find a job in Ontario. I scored the job after 6 months of searching. Lastly, given all my circumstances, I thought for sure I was going to be working in Northern Ontario. Now, I find myself heading for the St. Lawrence river within 1 hr.'s drive of Ottawa. As the old saying goes: it's better to be lucky than good! (Although it's best to be BOTH).
So, I did a 4 day locum in Brockville and it was what I expected -- a small community hospital with most, but not all, surgical services represented. Although I thought I was ready for the quicker pace, I was caught off guard by the lack of lunch relief. For 2 days I skipped lunch and plowed through the list. The weekend was relatively quiet except for Sunday when I came in to work for 6 hours. The rest of the time I checked out Brockville and tried to get a head start on finding a new place to stay.
Brockville is a city of 24,000 and its hospital serves a catchment area of just under 100,000 people. It is within one hour's drive of 2 academic centres (Kingston and Ottawa) so most high risk and specialized cases get transferred out. Compared to my Newfoundland experience, it is probably most comparable to Corner Brook (pop ~20,000) which is the second largest city in Newfoundland. It has pretty much all the mod-cons of a S. Ontario city -- even a Future Shop and a movie theater! It's also within easy driving distance of Toronto and my parents were ecstatic with the news. The only thing it doesn't have is high quality Chinese food -- although I should withhold judgment until I've tried out the other restaurants. (I ate at one downtown restaurant and it wasn't bad...just a little salty).
Brockville is also in the scenic 1000 islands area of Ontario and if boating is your thing then this is a great place for it -- there's a new condo development on the shore where you can have you own dock! It's also on a cross-Ontario trail and I can see my self going on some long bike rides on the weekend when it's warm. Hopefully there's cross country skiing as well so I can continue using my skis.
I'm fairly certain that I won't be able to do much better than Brockville -- I may be able to find a similar community a little closer to Toronto but I doubt it will be very soon. In addition, I am starting to get tired of moving around every few years. Assuming I like the job, I'm quite motivated to set down roots. In fact, I've got my eye on a condo unit that's a 5 minute walk from the hospital...
So, although I'm excited that my long-range plans have suddenly come to pass and I'm looking forward to returning home to Ontario, I've got mixed feelings about leaving St. Anthony. I've got some good friends here and, were it not for the remoteness and isolation, I can easily see myself spending the twilight years of my career here. As I've said to numerous people, St. Anthony is a great place to work but not for a young grad like me. Early September is coming up quickly and I'm not looking forward to the goodbyes and farewells.
I'll be back to visit Brockville for a day in August to hopefully secure a place to stay and run errands. Afterwards, I'll be back in Toronto to do an ACLS course at Sunnybrook hospital.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
More Travel and Air Canada Anxiety
I was out of town yet again for the weekend -- this time to St. John's to fulfill my duties as the local rep. Due to the timing of flights I was committed to a full 3 nights in St. John's. In addition to dining out at a few restaurants I managed to watch 3 movies to make up for my recent trip to Tibet: X-Men 1st Class, Super 8, and Thor. X-men was actually pretty good with good plot, character development, and just-enough action to satisfy. I don't think I'm enough of an '80s movie buff to truly enjoy Super 8. It's sort of like a non-Trekkie watching JJ Abrams' remake of Star Trek -- you'll miss all the references which the true fans will get. Thor was the least impressive of the bunch but it wasn't a waste of time either. I think Thor's exile on Earth was a bit slow and poorly developed. Fortunately, hammer-time came back and Mjolnir stole the show.
I'm once again, getting ready to leave time with my locum in Brockville being my first stop. I'm pretty pumped since this is the first job prospect I've had so far and hopefully I'll impress. Unfortunately, the Air Canada strike is throwing a wrench into my travel plans. My Plan A involves taking the train into Brockville but I only have 1.5 hrs. to make the connection and the flights I needed to take were delayed today by 2-3 hrs. Hopefully Air Canada can pick up the slack and the unions won't try to escalate. Otherwise, Plan B is renting a car in Ottawa and driving to Brockville.
I'll try to get back on track with the Tibet postings!
I'm once again, getting ready to leave time with my locum in Brockville being my first stop. I'm pretty pumped since this is the first job prospect I've had so far and hopefully I'll impress. Unfortunately, the Air Canada strike is throwing a wrench into my travel plans. My Plan A involves taking the train into Brockville but I only have 1.5 hrs. to make the connection and the flights I needed to take were delayed today by 2-3 hrs. Hopefully Air Canada can pick up the slack and the unions won't try to escalate. Otherwise, Plan B is renting a car in Ottawa and driving to Brockville.
I'll try to get back on track with the Tibet postings!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Post-Tibet, Pre-Brockville
Hey everybody, I arrived home from Tibet about a week ago. In addition to the usual procrastination I've been running around making arrangements and catching up on 2.5 weeks worth of chores. As the old saying goes: the people most in need of a vacation are the ones who have just come back from one.
Tibet was certainly no picnic and I would caution anyone who goes there expecting a relaxing time. My trip was made all the more grueling by a serious upper/lower respiratory tract infection and quite possibly a pneumonia (more details to come). I'm much better now but I have this residual cough that just refuses to go away.
Fortunately, I was able to hit the ground running when I got back. What they say about jet lag being easier to manage when traveling west is quite true. I arrived in Deer Lake around 8:30 pm and promptly crashed at the local B&B. I slept well for the next 9 hrs. and was ready for the 5 hr. drive back to St. Anthony to following morning. The day after that I was back at work and I was feeling good until 8-9 pm when the jet lag finally caught up.
The reason for all the activity on my side is thanks to a potential job offer from Brockville, ON. They informed me that they'd like me to come out to do a short 4-day locum so we can check each other out. So, I was busy filling out paperwork, booking flights, train tickets, etc., getting ready for this trip. I'm cautiously optimistic about my chances (they say there's only one other candidate they're looking at) but it's clear that I'm not their ideal candidate -- they were hoping to recruit a specialist (RCPSC) Anesthetist but so far there have been no takers. Nonetheless, it is exciting to contemplate the possibilities and I'm quite surprised I have a shot at a position in Southern Ontario.
The Canadian Anesthesia Society meeting is in Toronto later this month. I'll be heading into Toronto a few days early after Brockville. After that, we're into the lazy days of summer when our hospital slows down for 2.5 months.
I've finished reviewing the photos I took of Tibet and I hope to start posting my experience by the end of day.
Update: I've decided to "retro-post" my Tibet trip. Here's the link to the first posting.
Tibet was certainly no picnic and I would caution anyone who goes there expecting a relaxing time. My trip was made all the more grueling by a serious upper/lower respiratory tract infection and quite possibly a pneumonia (more details to come). I'm much better now but I have this residual cough that just refuses to go away.
Fortunately, I was able to hit the ground running when I got back. What they say about jet lag being easier to manage when traveling west is quite true. I arrived in Deer Lake around 8:30 pm and promptly crashed at the local B&B. I slept well for the next 9 hrs. and was ready for the 5 hr. drive back to St. Anthony to following morning. The day after that I was back at work and I was feeling good until 8-9 pm when the jet lag finally caught up.
The reason for all the activity on my side is thanks to a potential job offer from Brockville, ON. They informed me that they'd like me to come out to do a short 4-day locum so we can check each other out. So, I was busy filling out paperwork, booking flights, train tickets, etc., getting ready for this trip. I'm cautiously optimistic about my chances (they say there's only one other candidate they're looking at) but it's clear that I'm not their ideal candidate -- they were hoping to recruit a specialist (RCPSC) Anesthetist but so far there have been no takers. Nonetheless, it is exciting to contemplate the possibilities and I'm quite surprised I have a shot at a position in Southern Ontario.
The Canadian Anesthesia Society meeting is in Toronto later this month. I'll be heading into Toronto a few days early after Brockville. After that, we're into the lazy days of summer when our hospital slows down for 2.5 months.
I've finished reviewing the photos I took of Tibet and I hope to start posting my experience by the end of day.
Update: I've decided to "retro-post" my Tibet trip. Here's the link to the first posting.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tibet Day 6: Lhasa - Settling in and Change of Plans
We all piled into a minibus which was arranged by our guide and headed into town. Our first decision was to choose a hotel and we all wanted to stay in the old Tibetan quarter. David had visited Tibet about 5 years before and suggested the Rama Kharpo which we all accepted.
I find it quite ironic that Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, has a Tibetan quarter. The Chinese have embarked on a massive economic and migration plan over the past few years which was facilitated by the railway we just arrived on. As we drove through the town we could see that it looked no different than any modern Chinese town. This pattern would repeat itself as we continued our tour into Tibet: any town with significant Chinese migration would have a new section settled by the Chinese with the original Tibetan inhabitants relegated to the old part of town.
We drove through the gates of the Muslim quarter which also served as the entrance to the Tibetan quarter as well. There were two guard boxes on either side, each with 4 soldiers staring in 4 different directions. While I can understand heavy security or even a military presence at vital infrastructure points this was my first experience in seeing military surveillance in a civilian area. Although they were professional and unobtrusive, I never could get used to their presence and you were never very far from them either. I suppose this is what a military occupation feels like.
Our hotel in the Tibetan Quarter (left side of the street): The Rama Kharpo
We checked into our rooms at the Rama Kharpo and Lumbum, our tour guide, told us of the plans for the evening: we would be attending a dinner-show with traditional Tibetan dress and dance. He also told us some bad news (which explained why he was so hard to reach for the past few days): his father-in-law passed away recently and he has been busy helping his wife with the funeral. Tibetan Bhuddist funerary rites last for 49 days which is the length of time one's spirit wanders the Earth after death. During this time, family members carry out various rites to help the spirit find its way. It's quite labour-intensive -- one duty involves family members taking shifts to ensure the candles are always lit.
We were quite disappointed -- David was highly recommending Lumbum not only for his English skills and background as an ex-Bhuddist monk but also for his congenial personality. However, we understood and accepted a substitute who we would meet the next morning.
After settling in a little we met downstairs and headed over to a hotel where the dinner-show would take place. During the dinner we were introduced to some Tibetan dishes: yak meat which I found surprisingly similar to beef (I was expecting it to be more "gamey"), momos which are a type of dumpling, and yak-butter tea. Yak-butter tea is definitely an acquired taste! I think the Lonely Planet described it best: "tastes like smelly socks". It's a salty type of tea and, from a North American perspective, I think it would be more palatable if it were sweetened instead. However, the salt is apparently useful for rehydration.
After the meal the show started and I was fumbling around with my camera trying to get an external flash to work. Unfortunately, the main pin at the base of the flash had lost its springiness and refused to make contact with the hotshoe. In the end, I gave up and used the built-in flash instead.
Tibetan designs are quite colourful from their Buddhist temples to their clothes. Over the next hour we were shown many historical and contemporary dresses from the various regions of Tibet. We were treated to dances and even a brief opera.
Colourful traditional dresses.
Impressive looking historical dresses with some religious significance (as indicated by the skulls) that I can't remember.
Group dance at the end. I was a party-pooper and took pictures instead.
All-in-all it was a good evening with good food and our only opportunity to see Tibetans dress up in traditional clothing. We headed back to the hotel and turned in for the night.
I find it quite ironic that Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, has a Tibetan quarter. The Chinese have embarked on a massive economic and migration plan over the past few years which was facilitated by the railway we just arrived on. As we drove through the town we could see that it looked no different than any modern Chinese town. This pattern would repeat itself as we continued our tour into Tibet: any town with significant Chinese migration would have a new section settled by the Chinese with the original Tibetan inhabitants relegated to the old part of town.
We drove through the gates of the Muslim quarter which also served as the entrance to the Tibetan quarter as well. There were two guard boxes on either side, each with 4 soldiers staring in 4 different directions. While I can understand heavy security or even a military presence at vital infrastructure points this was my first experience in seeing military surveillance in a civilian area. Although they were professional and unobtrusive, I never could get used to their presence and you were never very far from them either. I suppose this is what a military occupation feels like.
Our hotel in the Tibetan Quarter (left side of the street): The Rama KharpoWe checked into our rooms at the Rama Kharpo and Lumbum, our tour guide, told us of the plans for the evening: we would be attending a dinner-show with traditional Tibetan dress and dance. He also told us some bad news (which explained why he was so hard to reach for the past few days): his father-in-law passed away recently and he has been busy helping his wife with the funeral. Tibetan Bhuddist funerary rites last for 49 days which is the length of time one's spirit wanders the Earth after death. During this time, family members carry out various rites to help the spirit find its way. It's quite labour-intensive -- one duty involves family members taking shifts to ensure the candles are always lit.
We were quite disappointed -- David was highly recommending Lumbum not only for his English skills and background as an ex-Bhuddist monk but also for his congenial personality. However, we understood and accepted a substitute who we would meet the next morning.
After settling in a little we met downstairs and headed over to a hotel where the dinner-show would take place. During the dinner we were introduced to some Tibetan dishes: yak meat which I found surprisingly similar to beef (I was expecting it to be more "gamey"), momos which are a type of dumpling, and yak-butter tea. Yak-butter tea is definitely an acquired taste! I think the Lonely Planet described it best: "tastes like smelly socks". It's a salty type of tea and, from a North American perspective, I think it would be more palatable if it were sweetened instead. However, the salt is apparently useful for rehydration.
After the meal the show started and I was fumbling around with my camera trying to get an external flash to work. Unfortunately, the main pin at the base of the flash had lost its springiness and refused to make contact with the hotshoe. In the end, I gave up and used the built-in flash instead.
Tibetan designs are quite colourful from their Buddhist temples to their clothes. Over the next hour we were shown many historical and contemporary dresses from the various regions of Tibet. We were treated to dances and even a brief opera.
Colourful traditional dresses.
Impressive looking historical dresses with some religious significance (as indicated by the skulls) that I can't remember.
Group dance at the end. I was a party-pooper and took pictures instead.All-in-all it was a good evening with good food and our only opportunity to see Tibetans dress up in traditional clothing. We headed back to the hotel and turned in for the night.
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