d_shorb - The weather is warmer and some trees are now showing the first shade of green. The winds are stronger in the mountains and more clouds are moving in. The clear, cold winter skies are gone.

Sam Roberts wrote:You say the situation is basically back to normal now. Are journalists and tourists being allowed into Tibet? Also, are Tibetans not be subjected to unwarrented searches of their houses and persons? Just trying to separate fact from roumors!

The ban for western media was lifted yesterday and from what I've heard at least one crew is due to arrive today.
Tibetan Travel Permits should also be issued from yesterday, but the official source I talked to admitted that's the theory. He continued saying travel agencies and permit organizers rather say no, than taking any chances for some time.

Body searches - I haven't seen any. We are all (regardless of origin) stopped at some check points where passports or IDs are checked. Cameras were sensitive. If you had one, even in a camera bag, you were not allowed into certain areas. It's more relaxed now and you can shoot on almost everything and if there's any uncertainty you can ask the soldiers. They don't like photos of themselves, but if you for example want to take a photo of the aftermath of the rioting it's ok.

I was out with two friends the other day. One of them filmed a bunch of PLAs walking down the road. They saw him. We were arrested and they checked all we had in our bags, but no body search. Transport to the PSB (Public Security Bureau). The two of us which hadn't filmed were only asked about nationality and we had to show our passports. The person who had filmed had to explain what he was doing in Lhasa. His camera was checked and some "sensitive" photos were deleted. He got a warning. "Don't do this again or we'll confiscate your camera and cancel your visa".
The check points are almost gone now.

House searches - can only report rumors. "Both sides" talk about them, so there are some for certain. How they are carried out I can only guess. It all depends on who you're listening to. The truth is probably, as usual, somewhere in between the two extremes.

From: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... 197530.htm

China vows strict security for torch relay

The torch to light the flame of the 2008 Games will be lit in Greece later today and arrive in the host city Beijing on March 31 to start a relay that passes through a number of countries.

A separate flame will go to mountainous Tibet in an attempt to take it to the top of Everest at 8,848 metres above sea level on a day in May when the weather looks best.


This article was accompanied by quite a good aerial shot of Shishapangma from the SE

Glad to hear from you throughout the riot over there, Corax. I believe I'm much more in tune with the scene because of it. Sounds like winter is nearly done over there. The weather here in Salt Lake City has also changed, with grass beginning to grow and the south facing slopes melting out fairly high up. Over in Tibet, does it now become more rainy?

I read web article about the link between Beijing Olympics and Tibet riots. I found your outrage ridiculous.
Any person without a deep bias against China would see China government stopped the riots only after rioters exerted horrible violence and vandalism. Innocent Han, Hui, and Tibetan people got killed. Five young girls were burnt to death in a shop. Bank branches, restaurants, shops, vehicles, and buildings were set on fire and looted. The situation got so severe that even the infamous LA riot is nothing compared to the scale of riots in Lhasa. Remind me what the U.S. government did facing the LA riot? Yeah, you are right. It's crackdown. And if that's too distant a memory for you, I think you must remember how the French government crushed riots in France several years ago. No government would allow riots to disturb the social stability and threaten the safety of lives and properties. Please don't impose your double standard. Open your eyes and see what really happened in Tibet.
I can tell you, how the western media responded to the Tibet riot has disillusioned a lot of young people. Some young people, like myself 10 years ago, thought the west must be filled with idealism,democracy,prosperity, and fairness. Well, if I have to put one adjective on how western media has reported the riot ,the only word I can think of is "prejudice". China riot police used the maximum restraint in dealing with the disgusting riots and you guys still call it bloody crackdown of PROTESTERS. In your dictionary, "rioter" and "protester" are obviously 100% interchangeable. Some young men have summarized many reports from western media persons like you. Let me tell you what. CNN covered portions of a picture and made it look like military vehicles were moving in and people were scared away. The covered part is actually a vivid display of many rioters throwing stones at military vehicles. Remind me if there's anything ever happening like that in the U.S. I mean, military vehicles were under the siege of rioters without firing back. It's unimaginable. But it happened in China. What kind of restraint do you guys expect? Let China messed up and the social stability undermined? I do believe lots of you secretly root for that with all your biased reports and comments. Some newspapers pushed bias and smearing to a new level by publishing pictures of Naples police beating demonstrators and indicating they were "Chinese police". Are you kidding me?
On the flip side, this is not necessarily a bad thing for China. It's actually a reminder that some western powers still hold the animosity and bias against China and they won't give China a fair shake, especially when China is stronger and stronger and some of the western world is very anxious about that development from a strategic competitor's perspective. I guess our people need to discover that. This world is not an ideal one yet. It's still to some degree a jungle. And the performance of the western media educated many Chinese people about that cold and hard fact over the past several days.
As to your linking Beijing Olympics to politics, I guess it's a good thing too. As an enthusiastic supporter of Beijing Olympics, I have always hoped that the Olympics game would be a good stage bridging the west and China and making each other better understood. Animosity won't help. Only cultural exchange and open mind will help. But you know what? If the west doesn't want to give up animosity, so be it. It's no big deal. Olympics is just a party. It's an option, but not a necessity. The bottom line is that our sovereignty can't be compromised in any form. These two matters should not even be mentioned in the same sentence. We Chinese people have this consensus: Olympics is nothing compared to our sovereignty and our land. China is big and strong enough to guarantee that.
Seriously, boycott of Olympics, if that ever happens, will only help China. Chinese people will remember how their party is spoiled and hijacked. It's free education how other people try to corner you and make you feel bad when you have nothing other than good will. Strangely, I like that scenario more and more now. Some boycotts from western royalties? So what?! We don't like them any way. They remind me of Opium War. Without them as VIP guests, I'd feel much better. Please stay away. Pleeeeeease.
Your know, I write this letter to you not really trying to persuade you. I'm a mountainner and exoloration media worker and often read webnews articles. From reading some of your articles, I already learned that you are a anti-China type. It would be naive for me to try to change your deep-rooted bias. But I want to voice my strong opposition to you just so you know that Chinese people are not insensitive to the ridiculous bias against us. We know we need to improve our economic and political systems. But we'll make sure we won't let those foreign interests with a secret agenda influence us and we won't allow any reforms in price of China sovereignty or national interests. WE'LL PROTECT OUR OWN INTERESTS IN ANY CASE.

http://anti-cnn.com/
This website is established to expose the lies and distortions in the western media. The site is maintained by volunteers, who are not associated with any government officials.
We are not against the western media, but against the lies and fabricated stories in the media.We are not against the western people, but against the prejudice from the western society.

MDMI wrote:

"I read web article about the link between Beijing Olympics and Tibet riots. I found your outrage ridiculous.
Any person without a deep bias against China would see China government stopped the riots only after rioters exerted horrible violence and vandalism. Innocent Han, Hui, and Tibetan people got killed. Five young girls were burnt to death in a shop. Bank branches, restaurants, shops, vehicles, and buildings were set on fire and looted. The situation got so severe that even the infamous LA riot is nothing compared to the scale of riots in Lhasa. Remind me what the U.S. government did facing the LA riot? Yeah, you are right. It's crackdown. And if that's too distant a memory for you, I think you must remember how the French government crushed riots in France several years ago. No government would allow riots to disturb the social stability and threaten the safety of lives and properties. Please don't impose your double standard. Open your eyes and see what really happened in Tibet.
I can tell you, how the western media responded to the Tibet riot has disillusioned a lot of young people. Some young people, like myself 10 years ago, thought the west must be filled with idealism,democracy,prosperity, and fairness. Well, if I have to put one adjective on how western media has reported the riot ,the only word I can think of is "prejudice". China riot police used the maximum restraint in dealing with the disgusting riots and you guys still call it bloody crackdown of PROTESTERS. In your dictionary, "rioter" and "protester" are obviously 100% interchangeable. Some young men have summarized many reports from western media persons like you. Let me tell you what. CNN covered portions of a picture and made it look like military vehicles were moving in and people were scared away. The covered part is actually a vivid display of many rioters throwing stones at military vehicles. Remind me if there's anything ever happening like that in the U.S. I mean, military vehicles were under the siege of rioters without firing back. It's unimaginable. But it happened in China. What kind of restraint do you guys expect? Let China messed up and the social stability undermined? I do believe lots of you secretly root for that with all your biased reports and comments. Some newspapers pushed bias and smearing to a new level by publishing pictures of Naples police beating demonstrators and indicating they were "Chinese police". Are you kidding me?
On the flip side, this is not necessarily a bad thing for China. It's actually a reminder that some western powers still hold the animosity and bias against China and they won't give China a fair shake, especially when China is stronger and stronger and some of the western world is very anxious about that development from a strategic competitor's perspective. I guess our people need to discover that. This world is not an ideal one yet. It's still to some degree a jungle. And the performance of the western media educated many Chinese people about that cold and hard fact over the past several days.
As to your linking Beijing Olympics to politics, I guess it's a good thing too. As an enthusiastic supporter of Beijing Olympics, I have always hoped that the Olympics game would be a good stage bridging the west and China and making each other better understood. Animosity won't help. Only cultural exchange and open mind will help. But you know what? If the west doesn't want to give up animosity, so be it. It's no big deal. Olympics is just a party. It's an option, but not a necessity. The bottom line is that our sovereignty can't be compromised in any form. These two matters should not even be mentioned in the same sentence. We Chinese people have this consensus: Olympics is nothing compared to our sovereignty and our land. China is big and strong enough to guarantee that.
Seriously, boycott of Olympics, if that ever happens, will only help China. Chinese people will remember how their party is spoiled and hijacked. It's free education how other people try to corner you and make you feel bad when you have nothing other than good will. Strangely, I like that scenario more and more now. Some boycotts from western royalties? So what?! We don't like them any way. They remind me of Opium War. Without them as VIP guests, I'd feel much better. Please stay away. Pleeeeeease.
Your know, I write this letter to you not really trying to persuade you. I'm a mountainner and exoloration media worker and often read webnews articles. From reading some of your articles, I already learned that you are a anti-China type. It would be naive for me to try to change your deep-rooted bias. But I want to voice my strong opposition to you just so you know that Chinese people are not insensitive to the ridiculous bias against us. We know we need to improve our economic and political systems. But we'll make sure we won't let those foreign interests with a secret agenda influence us and we won't allow any reforms in price of China sovereignty or national interests. WE'LL PROTECT OUR OWN INTERESTS IN ANY CASE."



You bring up some very valid points here. Everybody knows that the press doesn't report fairly, nor accurately. That's a fact. Most westerners do not advocate violence to resolve the problems between China and Tibet. The Dalai Lama threatened to quit as the leader of Tibet if the violence did not end. He has always endorsed a peaceful solution. But this is a perfect example of (2) wrongs don't make a right. What China did by invading Tibet was wrong. China's treatment of Tibetans and the explotation of Tibet's resources is wrong. You end your statement by saying "WE'LL PROTECT OUR OWN INTERESTS IN ANY CASE". I think that you are entitled to this, but just let me add that Tibetans deserve the same right, and since the invasion of Tibet, they lost their right. So, why are you any different than the Tibetans?

mdm53 - in response to your statement I offer the following:


You bring up some very valid points here. Everybody knows that the press doesn't report fairly, nor accurately. That's a fact. Most westerners do not advocate violence to resolve the problems between China and Tibet. The Dalai Lama threatened to quit as the leader of Tibet if the violence did not end. He has always endorsed a peaceful solution. But this is a perfect example of (2) wrongs don't make a right. What China did by invading Tibet was wrong. China's treatment of Tibetans and the explotation of Tibet's resources is wrong. You end your statement by saying "WE'LL PROTECT OUR OWN INTERESTS IN ANY CASE". I think that you are entitled to this, but just let me add that Tibetans deserve the same right, and since the invasion of Tibet, they lost their right. So, why are you any different than the Tibetans?

Janne was kicked out but is OK and travelling, out of Tibet.

D

Yes, I was arrested in Shigatse of all places. An open city in central Tibet, where I felt I could lower the guard. Bad mistake.
At least I finished the Tibet season with some nice climbs.
Now in Golmud thinking about new plans.
May try to get back in again

B.t.w here's the best book I've read about the Tibet Question.
http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft2199n7f4/