I had been hoping to connect to another former student from my Shigatse summers, but I only had his email address, and he doesn't seem to use it! However when one of the Teacher College teachers came to visit, she recognized our former interpreter/site director Jumbah and found his phone number. I texted him and he arranged to meet me before we boarded the train back to Lhasa. We reminisced over Tibetan sweet tea, then walked through the town evoking hundreds of fond memories.
Jumbah
You can see the golden roofs of the Tashilampo monastery behind the new public housing. In 202/04 we walked around the monastery many times, looking over Shigatse.
The newly restored Shigatse Dzong (fort) can be seen from most downtown streets.
After an interesting train trip back (sharing our seats with a tour group from inland China), we arrived at the Lhasa train station on a rainy night. We had to wait 3/4 hour as the guard found a superior who would permit me to enter Lhasa even with my residency permit - they see so few foreigners without a tourist's invitation letter that they didn't know what to do with me! Again, I felt blessed to be one of so few ex-pats living in Lhasa.
While waiting in the rain for Tseyang's husband, we took shelter in the corner police station. They kindly offered tea. Hmmm... I've never been offered tea by someone carrying an AK-40 machine gun!
No comments:
Post a Comment