I am back home. The flight from Shanghai to SFO was good once we managed to get the boarding passes. Our flight was on China Eastern, operated by Delta. After standing in the line for 45 minutes, we were told that we needed to go the terminal 2 and after running to terminal 2 we were told to go back to terminal 1 at the Delta counter. Long story short, thanks to my paranoia of getting to the airport early, we were able to get to the gate in time and got plenty of morning exercise done. Moral of the story: Get to the airport early and do some shopping if you have extra time to kill.
After landing in SFO, first thing we noticed is that there are no people:) Everything looks empty and is very quiet. The sky is blue, air is cool and dry. At home Shalini was waiting with warm smile. So, all is good , all of us are back and are healthy.
Google stuff works miraculously : Gmail, facebook, youtube, my blog, all works. In China Google is blocked and my Yahoo account was hacked twice. I was afraid to say or post anything negative because I knew my account was being monitored.
Everything I wrote from China is what I saw and how I felt but it was not the whole truth. I could not say anything negative or post any sensitive pictures. We all know there is a heavy censorship on what you can say and post but in general, we were able to roam around freely and without any guide. It has come a long ways in last 20 years. People of my generation talk bitterly about the cultural revolution and lost years of their youth, but young people have no idea of how it was.
Tibet is whole another story. I felt it was a prison for the Tibetans in their own land. It is almost like Palestine/ Israel situation except no one cares about Tibetans, so they can not fight back. There were Chinese military, police , plain clothed police and checkpoints everywhere. Every street and corner had cameras and most roof tops had security forces sitting with guns and binoculars. To enter the downtown area, everyone had to go thought a x- ray screening of bags and there was very heavy police presence in the area. We were followed more than once by the security person. Whenever we travelled on the road outside Lhasa, there were security checkpoints every 20 to 30 kilometers. Our passports and "permit" were checked at least 50 times if not more.
There were convoys of 50 to 70 military vehicles travelling all over Tibet and the soldiers , in groups of 10 to 20 ( in their uniforms and guns) marched in downtown Lhasa at all different times of the day.
Another interesting part is that , there are numerous multi story buildings all around the big cities in Tibet. Most of these are empty or under construction ( and are out of place) . I am not sure what is the plan for these but Tibetans do not like to live in high rises. They live in the small one story house with a courtyard where they keep their animals. May be the government is planning to bring in people from other provinces to "dilute" the ethnicity of Tibet.
Another interesting fact is that the "Panchen Dalai Lama ( one below the Dalai Lama) is being "educated" in Beijing and will return after his "full education".
It is very sad to see the people imprisoned in their own land. They have been living in harmony with the local animals and nature for over 20,000 years and to see the systemic cleansing is heartbreaking.
I think, if more of us go there, support the local people by giving them the tourist business and just making others aware of the situation, may be chinese government may see the value in letting them be what they are : humble, polite, simple and very spiritual people who have been living in this wonderful and harsh land for generations.
China is blessed with amazing natural beauty and the government has done a great job in providing the infrastructure to make the nature accessible. It has come a long way in last 30 years but it has long way to go to accept the diversity.and freedom ( But, just look at ourselves, we are just as bad )
This is the official end of this adventure. Please feel free to comment or ask any question. Good night from Los Altos ,CA
Security in Lhasa ( on the roof and on the ground )
We were followed by the security forces here ( may be because we came every day)
Convoy of military vehicles
Security check points
After landing in SFO, first thing we noticed is that there are no people:) Everything looks empty and is very quiet. The sky is blue, air is cool and dry. At home Shalini was waiting with warm smile. So, all is good , all of us are back and are healthy.
Google stuff works miraculously : Gmail, facebook, youtube, my blog, all works. In China Google is blocked and my Yahoo account was hacked twice. I was afraid to say or post anything negative because I knew my account was being monitored.
Everything I wrote from China is what I saw and how I felt but it was not the whole truth. I could not say anything negative or post any sensitive pictures. We all know there is a heavy censorship on what you can say and post but in general, we were able to roam around freely and without any guide. It has come a long ways in last 20 years. People of my generation talk bitterly about the cultural revolution and lost years of their youth, but young people have no idea of how it was.
Tibet is whole another story. I felt it was a prison for the Tibetans in their own land. It is almost like Palestine/ Israel situation except no one cares about Tibetans, so they can not fight back. There were Chinese military, police , plain clothed police and checkpoints everywhere. Every street and corner had cameras and most roof tops had security forces sitting with guns and binoculars. To enter the downtown area, everyone had to go thought a x- ray screening of bags and there was very heavy police presence in the area. We were followed more than once by the security person. Whenever we travelled on the road outside Lhasa, there were security checkpoints every 20 to 30 kilometers. Our passports and "permit" were checked at least 50 times if not more.
There were convoys of 50 to 70 military vehicles travelling all over Tibet and the soldiers , in groups of 10 to 20 ( in their uniforms and guns) marched in downtown Lhasa at all different times of the day.
Another interesting part is that , there are numerous multi story buildings all around the big cities in Tibet. Most of these are empty or under construction ( and are out of place) . I am not sure what is the plan for these but Tibetans do not like to live in high rises. They live in the small one story house with a courtyard where they keep their animals. May be the government is planning to bring in people from other provinces to "dilute" the ethnicity of Tibet.
Another interesting fact is that the "Panchen Dalai Lama ( one below the Dalai Lama) is being "educated" in Beijing and will return after his "full education".
It is very sad to see the people imprisoned in their own land. They have been living in harmony with the local animals and nature for over 20,000 years and to see the systemic cleansing is heartbreaking.
I think, if more of us go there, support the local people by giving them the tourist business and just making others aware of the situation, may be chinese government may see the value in letting them be what they are : humble, polite, simple and very spiritual people who have been living in this wonderful and harsh land for generations.
China is blessed with amazing natural beauty and the government has done a great job in providing the infrastructure to make the nature accessible. It has come a long way in last 30 years but it has long way to go to accept the diversity.and freedom ( But, just look at ourselves, we are just as bad )
This is the official end of this adventure. Please feel free to comment or ask any question. Good night from Los Altos ,CA
