Getting ready for Lasik...

The pre-Lasik evaluation went fine, but the intra-ocular pressure test was horrible!! Without warning, a shot of high-flow air was shot at my eye, and I nearly jumped out of the seat. Needless to say, the reading was horrendously high. I tried and tried to do the test again TEN times, and I just couldn't control my reflex blinking and my head bobbing. Getting air shot into your eye isn't funny..

Anyway I just found out this horrible horrible Japanese name generator, which mutiliates proper names with slanderous proportions.

My japanese name is 猿渡 Saruwatari (monkey on a crossing bridge) 大輝 Taiki (large radiance).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

TTSH Medicine : HO orientation

Firstly, I found out that I am running the ward as a solo house officer, when the ward was previously run by TWO house officers.

Secondly, I also happened to find out that I am also slotted as the only local graduate house officer on the VERY first day of work 2nd May , with 3 other foreign-graduated house officers (they started work in February I presume, and May is their last month).

JUST GREAT DON'T YOU THINK.

Tashkorgan-China/Pakistan Border Part 2

The next morning, we continued on from Tashkorgan towards the Khunjerab Pass ( elevated at a breath-taking ( literally ) 4500m above sea-level ), which marks the China-Pakistan border.

Kashgar-Tashkorgan-China/Pakistani border Part 1

En-route to Tashkorgan, the last Chinese frontier town before entering the China-Pakistan highway, we came across some amazing landscapes... simply breathtaking..

The background of Muztagh Aga


The sleepy Tashkorgan Fort.

Taken en-route to Tashkorgan along the precipitous mountain roads.

The mysterious Sand Mountains..
A close-up of the mysterious Sand Mountains en-route to Tashkorgan.

Kashgar

Landing at the foggy Kashgar Airport on 9th April 2007 (release of our MBBS results )... and Guanhao releasing the good news that Shengyong did really well for the MBBS and entered TTSH Medicine. I am happy for him.. unfortunately our moment of happiness was marred when I exploded another bout of stool in the toilet at Kashgar Airport ( yes there were doors but they couldn't be closed for f****ing sake and I had to beg for toilet paper from Tianrong )

Cannot 'tahan' liao .. here I was celebrating my MBBS Honours and arrival in Kashgar with a glucose/potassium/bicarbonate + high dose Unasyn and ciprofloxacin and intravenous Traditional Chinese Medication drip. Many thanks to Huakang Hospital.
Downtown Kashgar , at the bazaar near the Mosque.
Self-explanatory.

Food bazaar.. beware, E-coli awaits..
Local Uighur children.
Note the left-over stickers from Paediatrics being used to spread goodwill even in the remotest regions of the world..

Urumqi - Heavenly Lake ( Tian Chi )

Well the scenery around Urumqi was really fantastic (not as fantastic of course as Tashkorgan) but I was really having very severe diarrhea ( passing like 16-17 times a day and almost continously through the night ), and I couldn't really take much water. I don't know how much I mustered the strength to continue walking through the mountains..

Me at the 'baby' Tian Chi - a smaller version of its parent at the midpoint of the mountain.

The semi-frozen, nevertheless spectacular Tian Chi
Lovely Alpine-like views of the surrounding Tian Shan range.



Definitely a picturesque shot.

I must be amazing in order to stay so poised.. I had not had a decent hour of sleep as I was having diarrhea throughout the day and night for the past 2 days.

Dehydrated me nevertheless managed to climb to the top of this miserable temple, with the mocking and jeering of my wonderfully understanding group-mates.

Flying away to Kashgar from Urumqi Airport at the crack of dawn.. yes I did pass a horrible explosive stool on the plane, something that even Al-Qaeda would be proud of.
Jetting away from Urumqi on a Hainan Airlines B737-800 towards Kashgar.