June 18, 2012

Few travellers have been here before

Location: Yungbulakang Palace, Tibet, China (29° 8′ 38.76″ N, 91° 48′ 0.72″ E)
Date: 26 May 2005; 10.45am
Camera: Canon 300D with kit kens

China has been locking down Tibet, in an effort to prevent foreigners witnessing or accessing first-hand her iron-fisted policies on the Tibetan population. In 2011, Tibet was closed to foreign travellers for 3 months. This is happening again this year as more Tibetans are self-immolating as a protest against her repressive policies. It has been reported again that no independent foreign travellers are allowed into Tibet for the month of June. Only foreign travellers in a group of at least 5 from the same country are allowed to travel inside Tibet, and with a travel agent.

Personally I felt that this is counter-productive. Travellers generally, do not want to get involved in the country’s domestic affairs, apart from lending a sympathetic ear to complaints by Tibetans. Closing off the province simply give the impression that China has something to hide about its activities in Tibet from the world.

2 comments:

matt said...

the world is full of these type of places and are some real hidden gems, rather interesting place in the image

hotelvillapadierna said...

Delicious! Love all the photos I've come across so far.
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