Faces of Tibet

- Tibetan family lunch break on monastery compound in between prayers

- Tibetan child on mother's back queueing into a chapel

- Our drivers

- Pilgrims in front of Jokhang Temple

- Our Tour guide

Agrarian Territories

Highland Barley (青稞) is the main crop and the traditional staple cereal that the locals highly revered. Their traditional breakfasts consist of highland barley (either as grains, dry-fried, or grounded after dry-frying), and Yak milk tea (酥油茶). Main meat comes from yaks. Tibetans generally dont eat fish (probably due to practices of water burial).

Recently, more cash crop varieties have been introduced and grown by migrant farmers from lowland provinces. We visited a watermelon farm on way out of the airport upon arrival. Enjoyed the thin-skin, juicy and sweet fruit. Cut straight from the vines in the greenhouses and into our mouths. Grown in greenhouses because the window to grow anything is short on the highlands. Even though sunlight is abundant, air is thin. Everything grows slow. A Tibetan chicken grows 600gms in 2 years --- almost impossible to find in local markets, probably pricing way above local affordability. We visited a chicken farm in Lhasa too and were treated to home-cooked local potatos, (another excellent variety that grows slowly), local lamb, Tibetan chicken soup (bowls after bowls of tasty Tibetan chicken soup, cooked with just water and salt), and zanba(糌粑)--- highland barley flour fried, grounded and then kneaded with just water.

Photos:

- aerial view of a remote farm by a highland river

- Tibetan farm at ground level (this one at 4000m above sea level)

- at one of many watermelon farms enroute from airport to Lhasa

- Tibetan chicken free ranged, not for sale for meat but for reproduction

- Tibetan chicken soup, stewed lamb (手抓羊肉), potato, "zanba"(highland barley)

Heaven, Cloud, Fire, Earth, Water II

Heaven, Cloud, Fire, Earth, Water

In accordance with their worship for blue sky/heaven, white clouds, red fire, yellow earth and green water, Tibetans plant colourful Buddhist banners (in strings or in sticks/poles) anywhere and everywhere visibly significant: across hilltops, on bridges, along roads, on rooftops etc. A photo attached shows Grace wrapping string of banners around a pole in front of an ancient temple

As one would expect, Tibetans burial practices also resemble these banners. The most prevalent is Heaven Burial, where a priest disects the corpse into small pieces to feed eagles and vultures circling in 'blue sky and white clouds'. Close relatives do not attend the ceremony. They rely on friends to supervise the priest doing a good job --- cutting into smaller pieces and offering the bones to the birds first, meats later. Second is water burial where priest and relatives jointly cut small pieces from the corpse and throw into rivers. Any platform up by a hillside or by a river with multiple Tibetan Buddhist banners maybe a burial platform. Cremation and ground burial are also practised. (A photo of Grace and I on a river burial platform. We didnt know we were standing on one when we took that photo)

Tibetans generally spot very deep suntan, and many appear very dark skinned. In the rural areas, hot shower is non-existent. The rural peasants may wash themselves in the river late summer when water is warmer.(Some locals mistook me as a Tibetan too. In the photo attached standing next to me are 2 Tibetans, 1 of mixed Tibetan/Han Chinese, and 1 Manchu. Try spot the differences)

Sisters marrying one man, or brothers marrying one woman still exists. I was told (by a very high rank govt official) a real case involving 7 brothers ageing from 52 to 9 sharing one bride. The woman takes care of financial matters. She cooks for all husbands each evening, who may plough different trades. At dinner table, what she dishes out for each is all they get to eat that evening. The lady decides. Matriarchal societies still exist in western Tibet to this day.

Roof of the World II

Roof of the World

Greetings from Tibet! Traditionally also known as Tubo. Grace and I spent 9 days in Tibet with Jane/HT and their Beijing friend who is into his 3rd and last year of secondment in Lhasa. Grandma and Grandpa took care of Kristine and Kimberley in Beijing during our travel. At 3500m above sea level, oxigen around Lhasa is just 70% of what we are used to. The altitude caused me severe headache, quickened heartbeats and shortage of breath during the first few days. Grace reacted very well to the altitude, with practically no severe symptoms. My heartbeat was never slower than 100 (normal around 65) during the first 5 days. Even heeding local advice of not taking a shower on day 1 and 2, I copped a bad cold which exacerbate my adverse reactions in headaches and shortness in breath. The highest we went was 5400m to see an ice capped mountain, same level as the base camp of Mt Qomolangma (Mt Everest) but 300km closer to Lhasa. That knocked me out cold, spending the rest of the afternoon sleeping in the car. Saving Mt Qomolangma for next visit.... Too many nice photos to attach to this email. Over 2000 photos taken with three cameras, so I will post more photos to our blog whenever it is allowed this side of the Chinese Great 'Fire' Wall. Currently all blogs of all blogging websites are not accessible from within China.

Melbourne Move

Some photos of the move, showing a few non-resident helpers/supporters, and one of the storage containers.

Tony, my good neighbour who migrated from Ukraine after WW2, helped me with the garden pruning, cleaning, sending the brnaches to mulching centre in a trailer borrowed from another neighbour, Johnson who migrated from HKG. I also left Tony too much rubbish to trash and paper carton to recycle. Tony will be busy for at least 2 more weeks because of my move.

Another photo shows Julian and Kylie dismantling Kristine's Bratz shelves. They also help me with window/wall cleaning. Kyle's presence during the last day was significant. Without her help that day, we could not have been able to hand over the house cleanly on time.

Two of those containers could not accomodate all our junk. About 1/3 of a container went to Julian's basement. That was not in the original plan.

H1N1 Follow Up

Other than being greeted by those 'space-suited' health inspectors who quarantined our flight upon landing, China does appear normal. People go around their own businesses but there is no urgent sense of trepidation, of being imminently attacked by H1N1.

Kimberley's kinder, however, is taking strict precautions. I last reported parents were not allowed into the kinder except to pay fees, or registering a new kid. Now any parent needing to enter the kinder MUST don a face mask.

Parents continue to drop their kids outside the gate, manned by an entourage of nurses, teachers, and a 'bouncer' (gatekeeper).

I am down with scratchy throat and simmering coughs, but I think it is due to the dry air after 2 weeks of moisture in Melbourne. Told Grace if I start to yell 'oink, oink' in my sleep, she should call an ambulance immediately.

Kristine took her elbow cast off last Saturday, a week before it was due.

H1N1

After 2 mad weeks of helping my parents to pack and move, I returned to Beijing on May 30.

This H1N1 flu is being treated rather seriously by Chinese authorities. Fellow passengers on my fligh were greeted by space-suited local health officers armed with infra-red thermometers upon landing at Shanghai Pudong airport, our point of first entry into china from Melbourne.

I was more concerned if the 2 Murray Perch I carried in my suitcase would get pass Customs. They did.

End of 1st week in Melb

I pruned a few tress and shrubs yesterday and left the branches on nature strips. By this morning, they were gone! Tony, my neighbour next door, loaded the branches onto a trailer during the evening, destined for local mulching centre on Sunday. This morning, we went on more gardening work, pruning the vines above the BBQ and then more shrubs outside. Tony helped me mowed the nature strips, and we cleaning the pathways together. Garden is now completely done.

Had yumcha with Kylie, her mother, Julian, akong and amah at HongXing Superstar in Wantirna. We will stay Friday night at kylie's. Her mother is very cheerful and willing to accomodate.
Straight into more packing after lunch, with Kylie sorting kids stuff and Julian cleaning the windows and internal edges. Inside of the house is now completely cleaned except final vacuming and carpet steam clean. Kylie decided some 80% of Kristine and Kimberley's stuff can go to garbage. Upon rechecking, I kept 50% of what she wanted to throw away. Emily, Michelle, Debra and Jason came by in the evening to pick some books and some pot plants.

3 more boxes to go and the kids stuff and kids room will be done. Then just my camping and fishing gear to go. They should not take long. Kids stuff takes the longest. I hope to finish all packing by Tuesday, when 1st container will be loaded. 2nd container to be loaded Thursday late afternoon.

Going to Carole Wilson's for dinner on Thursday. My big hope is a fishing trip with Bob on Wednesday.

Packing

Need a break in between tedious packing chores so a blog entry helps relieve tension.
Packing up the Melbourne home is nearing panic stages, with so much to do and so little time left. Just a bookshelf took me 6 hours to sort and pack today, and I have 5 other major areas to attend to: fishing gear, camping gear, workshop tools, garden, and kids toys/clothes/books.
Garden is staright forward. That wont take a lot of time, but the kids stuff are laborious and time consuming, with so much sentiment attached to each chore. The wish to categorise and group all the items make each item special.

The dilemma of how to wean off our pot plants is resolved happily today. I had planned to deposit the pot plants with Kylie or a few friends nearby but I suspect the pot plants will end up dying of dehydration anyway. As a test, I moved two ugly pot plants out to the nature strips in front of our front door, hoping some kind person will give the two ugly plants (small, unhealthy palm tress) a new home. To my utter surprise, someone bang on our front door within 3o mins asking if he could take the plants away, and if we have more. 'Have more???? Halleluya!' He just moved to the neighbourhood and needed a lot of new plants for his garden. I just put another two plants on the nature strips again. Hope someone else will soon take them. (Those two plants are now gone too!)

Now back to sorting and packing away Kristine's school stuff.

Growing Soft

Saw Dorothy, Yowneng, Faith and 2 month old Issac this afternoon. Yowneng spotted shorter hair while mine is now much longer, Dorothy remains very slim after childbirth, Issac looks strong and alert, and Faith looks happy and less reserved than before.
While explaining my purpose in Melbourne this trip to help pack up to move to a new home, I shared with Yoweneng and Dorothy how emotional I got each time I packed Kristine's and Kimberley's belongings. In a powerful way, the memories of the toys they played, the books they read, the places they slept, the bathtubs they soaked in, the shampoo they used all surged to my eyes in the form of tears. I couldnt hold back. I chocked. Right in front of Dorothy and Yowneng.

Dorothy was most sympathetic. I think I surprised Dorothy and Yowneng with the display.

Broken Elbow

Pre-dinner playtime downstairs turned into a disaster for Kristine Tuesday evening, fracturing her left elbow while playing on her roller board (Ripstick). She obviously felt a lot of pain, unable to move her arm. While she sat at a park bench, Kimberley went in her own way to seek help. She found Uncle Tom (Scarlet's father). Took Tom a while to understand via Kimberley that Kristine was in trouble.

Tom insisted on accompanying us to a local hospital in a taxi instead fof taking his car. Smart thought as we ended up zipping in and out of two hospitals before finding concrete help in a third. Imagine the hassle to park his own car at each hopsital...

Our first stop was the biggest and newest local hospital, Chaoyang Hospital east of Kristine's school. They recommeded we take Krisitine to Beijing Children's Hospital because the Xray machines at Chaoyang are designed for adults, too 'powerful' for kids so the nurse said. After we registered Kristine at Children's Hospital and walked to the paediatric clinic, the nurse told us their Orthopedics dont work at night and suggested we take Kristine to JiShuiTan Hospital. This is a busy hospital. The emergency ward was bustling with all types of orthopedic patients. I could tell the doctor on duty was overworked and under-appreciated.

We were very lucky to have Uncle Tom chasing all the hospital registration for us, even pushing the doctor on duty to attend to Kristine early. Such is the rule in a Chinese hospital, show your face to get attention. Unlike in Melbourne where patients wait in turn outside of consultation room, patients here jammed inside the consultation room (War Room). The doctor on duty gets requests and question in true Stereo sensoround mode. Uncle Tom even became a radiologist's assitant for Kristine's Xray. Forget the radiation here --- door was wide opened and anyone can walk in anytime. Only the radiologist gets to hide behind lead door while Xrays are being taken.

Kristine eventual got her arm casted by 1030pm. Another 4 yr old girl splinterred her fingers while playing on similar roller board. She required a GA to put her finger bones back in place. The operation was not scheduled until past 12am. Kristine was brave to hold back her tears most of the time, but the technicians who fabricated her 'state of the art' arm cast did make her cry. The cast costs Y520. Xray Y100, Orthopedic consultation Y5, Taxis Y100. No medicines prescribed.

The Orthopedic Accident trophy score is running at Kristine 1 : Kimberley 2. Kimberley's 2 scores were before age 3, while Kristine's first is at age 8.

Embassies Tuesday

Today is mostly preoccupied with embassy errants. First up was Malaysian embassy, built in 2004 but not yet captured in the local online maps. Interestingly, it is behind a main road just next to the Israeli embassy, what an odd couple. The Australian Embassy is located adjacent to the Canadian's. The lady Malaysian consular asked for a certified copy of my Australian passport, to be done by her counterpart at the Aust embassy, some 1500m walk away. The walk was interesting, but it was 1130am. The Australian Consular section opens only from 2pm. Even a lunch at a local copy of Japanese Gyu Don fast food could not kill all the time. Walking around the embassy neighbourhood was long, interesting but exhausting in 30degC. Walked past a real estate agent to realise how expensive old apartments near the embassies are selling. Some other notable landmarks were a Xinjiang restaurant, Workers Stadium, a nice Sichuan restaurant we had lunch with Grace's friend a year ago, a LauPaSat - a Singaporean hawker food style restaurant, and several shops similar to the one in the photo....

Even with the extended walk, I was 15 mins early at the Aust embassy entrance. The Military Police guarding the embassy entrace was keen to chat. They stand on duty 2 hrs at time, rotating to different embassies. They get extra pay if they pass an embassy exam. Tour of duty is 2 years and they get moved again. The Canadian embassy engages private security firm, while the Australian, Malaysian use the Military Police. Those private security guards get extra pay if they improve their English, but that option is not opened to the MPs. I was amazed I could enter the Malaysian embassy without my backpack being checked, nor needing to walk past a metal detector, which the Australian embassy requires.

The passport copy certificaion took less than 10mins, but at RMB145 each. Then it was delivered to the Malaysian embassy to conclude my tour of the embassy district.

Kristine's Wave 2

Her birthday party mates from her school: Jessica and Jessie. I think Grace's handwritten invitations scared the parents away as none of them stayed for lunch. Uncle Wayne and Auntie Cindy helped make the party lively, for me, with two adults to talk to. Wayne also helped in cleaning the lasagna tray, leaving just the baking paper with some tomato stains.

Children's party ended around 4pm. Adults' party didnt end until around 8pm.....

Kristine's Wave 1

Her after-school gang, Scarlet plus two schoolmates on same school bus, living in same estate: Frances and Caito, and Kimberley, always.

Kimberley's leap forward

After dropping Kimberley at her kinder entrance gate, I saw her being checked by kinder nurses, and then walk on her own into the building, and up the stairs to her classroom. This is her first. She had always wanted me to walk her upstairs, letting go of my hand only as she could grab her teacher's hand. This morning, she was on her own. May 8 is a good day for Kristine and Kimberley!

Home Delivery

How I get my beer delivered. A crate of 24x750ml local beer (mid-strength) costs Y45 delivered.

Home delivery is very prevalent here. Not just limited to postal or courrier services. Grocery, milk, beer/drinking water, meals (just about everything you would want to eat can be home delivered, not just KFC and Pizzas), plus merchandise shopped online - including tickets (air tickets, e-tickets, concert tickets....). The delivery process also serves as a mean of payment collection for the purchases, because cash payments are still very common.

Kristine's 8th

A happy early riser this morning. She told me she didnt feel like an 8 yr old yet.

Her party/parties will be split into two groups. Those who live in the same estate will congregate at our home after school this afternoon. Another group of off-siters will meet for lunch on Saturday.

Huijia Kindergarten

Rare photos of Grace and Kristine picking Kimberley from her kinder. Note how parents and guardians are waiting 'outside' the kinder gate these days.

Swimming Pool

The good news is I began my gym exercises since Sunday May 3. The club house is just 100m away from our lobby entrance, small but adeqaute. Last night, Grace used my gym pass to take the kids swimming. I went along to watch Kristine and Kimberley play in the wadding pool so Grace could do her laps.

A lifeguard came up to me and told me I was not allowed in in t-shirts and shorts. He said I could enter the pool area to wacth the kids, but I must be in swimming outfit like everyone else. After much debate, I was allowed in, just this time. As I sat down on a lounge chair next to the wadding pool and turn my laptop on, he came up to me again and complained I must not use my laptop while in the pool area.....

I then walked around to check the rules and regulations, too many to reprint here. Basically, no noise, no jumping into the pool, no 'frolic', no cardiac patient, no prior alcoholic drink, no skin desease, no high blood pressure, no sandals, no t-shirts, no shorts, no spitting (didnt stop a guy there doing just that). Even parents of kids attending swim classes are not allowed in. The kids themselves are allowed in 10 minutes before class begins, and must leave shower room 30 mins after class ends.

Everyone entering the pool MUST wear a swim cap, but noone is required to shower before entering the pool.

A signage at the entrance goes like this:

"Entrance Swims Pool Penetrate Sandals Please Wear Swim Cap The Swimmer Enters a Natarorium Thank a Cooperation Please"

No punctuation marks. Go figure that out!

Swine Flu

Kimberley had high fever last Wednesday, skipped kinder on Thursday, recovered in time to enjoy her long weekend, but then high fever returned on Sunday night (41degC). She skipped kinder again on Monday, making it a really long weekend. She didnt want to goto kinder this morning, but eventually agreed after negotiating with me to pick her up at midday. I hink she really enjoys being with me at home during the day.
Upon reaching her kinder gate this morning, nurses checked temperature, hand and mouth visually before kids were allowed in. Parents were not allowed to enter the kinder compound. From foot and mouth to swine flu, this is getting serious.

Rare Walk within 4th Ring Road

After shopping for kids shoes and sushi dinner near Carrefour in Shuangjing sandwiched between 3rd and 4th Ring Roads East，we took a walk past a new housing estate (珠江帝景）, through some rough tracks to reach Parkson next to 4th Ring road East. In time, this real estate will be transformed into modern high rise but they remain a rare and scarce remnants from the past. Hidden in this wild land are a few garbage dumps, recycling stations, and a filming studio. Kristine could not tolerate the stench and nearly threw up as we reached Parkson.

Labour Day Weekend

It was a quiet long weekend for us at home. Kristine and Kimberley spent most time playing with Scarlet, aleternating between their homes, starting from afternoon of Thursday April 30. Photos shows thier spagetthi dinner with crispy-skin pork.

Nose Bleed

Photo shows Kimberley with dried blood stain on her face early morning of Thursday April 30. Her nose bled during sleep overnight.

Odd-shaped Egg

Kristine and Kimberley holding an asymmetrical egg out of a tray from Tesco.