Eating Soup in Tibet
Tibet
17,000 feet
July 1999
We sit in a dirty restaurant after a long day of strenuous
sightseeing. We are tired. The high altitude has taken away our appetite
but we force ourselves to eat this dreadful food. Our soup is oily and
tasteless but it is the only thing offered to us and we won’t have any access
to food until sometime tomorrow morning.
So every spoonful is painful and obligatory.
Finally, no one wants anymore of this salty slop. We push
the urn away from us. Then there is a
tap on the window. Two small boys are
peering through the window and have been watching us. They gesture that they are hungry and point
to our soup. We can’t believe it. Then one of us produces a plastic bag and we fill
the bag with this ghastly soup. We take
it out to the small boys who grab the bag with glee and gratitude and wander
home. They hold the bag with a delicate hand so that they don't spill a
drop. They walk and talk to each other
with the small familiar tones of small boys who just own the goldfish at the
county fair.
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