Photo

I was at lunch in Tsedang, Tibet, having just arrived from the airport at the start of a tour. We were approached by a French woman whose group had just arrived from Lhasa and was aware of the news from New York.

She said, "You are Americans? I am so sorry. There is the terrible news."

Trying to piece together what had happened from her account in imperfect English on the roof of the world was completely surreal. We were later able to find an Internet cafe and to begin to truly grasp the magnitude of the events.

Wherever we went we were approached by tourists of all nationalities and by Tibetans themselves who were eager to express their sympathy and horror at the events. The latter recounted with great pride that the Dalai Lama had made a donation from his Foundation to the victims.

Joy Robinson
Greer Road
Palo Alto

Return to Sept. 11 remembered

Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.