The following is a translation of a blog post (published at ifeng on March 18, 2008) written by a Shenzhen girl working in a eyeglass store in Lhasa, translated by Roland Soong on his EastSouthWestNorth blog:
Today is March 18 and our company resumed business. According to the rotation schedule, I am on the late shift today beginning at 1pm. But based upon my awareness of the overall situation outside, I decided to proceed two hours earlier so that I can get off work two hours earlier. I wanted to make sure that I can catch a bus instead of hurting my wallet with taxi fare.
My plan may be perfect, but reality did not oblige. I waited for one hour before the bus came. Since I wanted people to be safe and the criminals be apprehended soon, I had no complaints about the inspections being made by the armed police. I would never say nasty words against the hardworking and responsible armed police for that lost hour. On the contrary, the sight of them patrolling the streets of Lhasa makes us ordinary citizens feel safer.
One-and-a-half hours later, I walked into the store. When my colleagues saw me, they asked about what happened to me. I am somewhat unusual because I did not stay in the group dormitory. Instead, I live in a family hotel near the Sera Monastery. In my district, the mobile telephones were not working. One can call the fixed-line telephones, but one cannot call out. On the afternoon of March 14, I had fled back home. Since my colleagues could not contact me, they were all worried about me. Fortunately, my rotten luck was not that bad and I arrived home safely. So now I told them about my experiences on March 14.