Tibet: Introduction

I'll start by saying that I've posted about 100 (98?) pictures on my Yahoo! Pictures page, which is located at: Brian's Photos (the link to the Tibet section is in the middle of the page with the picture of the mountains). I'll be posting some photos on this site as well, as far as they relate to my tales, but the majority of my photos are on the Yahoo! page, so feel free to place comments or...order your favorite ones by posting on this site. Also, this is the first part to a topic that I can hopefully restrict to about three installments, so as not to bore everyone and myself. Here we go...

The debate has raged on for years about whether or not Tibet should be a sovereign nation. Yet, while this debate rages, China continues bringing Tibet into the Chinese fold through Han emigration, modernization, and most recently, the development of the Tibet-Qinghai railway. Knowing this before I left for Tibet, I was more then a little apprehensive about what I would find, so much so that I considered other destinations at the last minute. My paramount concern being that I would simply be traveling through a Living Tibetan Museum as depicted, curated, rebuilt, and preserved by the hand of the Chinese. The majority of my fears revolved around two questions I feared greatly... Does 'Tibet' still exist? And more importantly, would I ever have the chance of seeing or experiencing it?

This was the question I set out to answer with a great deal of anxiety three weeks ago, and I hope I can fulfill it for you here in the next couple of entries.