Departure is an experience of 'suffering'

XINING - According to Buddhism, one of the eight "sufferings" of the secular world is departure. And I was about to make mine.

As I packed up my things on Tuesday for my departure from Qinghai, where I witnessed the brutality of the catastrophe and the resilience of local Tibetans, I felt bad.

It would be good to spend more days with them, I told myself, when my cell phone rang.