Background: For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.
May 16th 2008Asia » China » Tibet
How to describe Tibet? I have heard it called “Shangri La”, and I have heard it called “The Rooftop of the World”, but there is really no accurate way to describe this ama ... 11 photos[full story]
January 22nd 2007Asia » China » Tibet » Gyantse The second half of our journey through Tibet was as amazing as the first. We drove to Shigatse, Tibet's second largest city. A new highway had recently been completed linking the two cities. Though ... 23 photos[full story]
January 17th 2007Asia » China » Tibet » Lhasa It is really hard for me to come up with adequate adjectives to describe what this experience in Tibet has been like. I really don't think my writing skills or my photos could really do it justice. ... 26 photos[full story]
April 29th 2008Asia » China » Tibet » Gyantse Nov 2004 TIBET
"Give yourself to the journey....Do only what you do not regret and fill yourself with joy." I read these words from the Dhammapa ... [full story]
November 10th 2007Asia » China » Tibet » Everest
After a very cold night we were up by 8am, the earliest I've been up on a Saturday morning for years - well, I had a good reason! We set off not long after rising, as cleaning our teeth wasn't the f ... 23 photos[full story]
November 9th 2007Asia » China » Tibet » Everest
With a bright and early start (sort of...) we set off for the small nondescript town of Shegar where we stopped to purchase our Everest Base Camp (EBC) permits - yet another section of red tape on t ... 19 photos[full story]
March 31st 2008Asia » China » Tibet Since March 10th the news in India has been closely following the protests/riots in Tibet. The Dalai Lama, the religious and political leader of the region is in exile in Dharamsala, India as he has b ... 4 photos[full story]
January 5th 2008Asia » China » Tibet » Lhasa It was absolutely freezing in Lhasa. The rest of Tibet had been cold, but this was outrageous. I made a mental note to myself regarding the visiting of mountainous countries in the winter i.e. that I ... 24 photos[full story]
March 11th 2008Asia » China » Tibet » Friendship Highway With our Chinese Visa's running out our minds had been made up for us, we were going to have to head for Nepal, which was no bad thing as it turned out.
We left at 7.00 am, Pete, Anna, Lucia and ... 63 photos[full story]
January 2nd 2008Asia » China » Tibet Our journey to Tibet started in the early hours of the morning. We went to the Greenline bus station near Thamel in Kathmandu, where there was a mini bus waiting to take us to the Chinese border. Alth ... 33 photos[full story]
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