Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
for some time. The date for a marriage is decided by an astrologer, and when the date ar-
rives the family of the son rides to the camp of the prospective daughter-in-law to collect
her. On arrival there is a custom of feigned mutual abuse that appears to verge on giving
way to violence at any moment. This may continue for several days before the son's fam-
ily finally carry off the daughter to their camp and she enters a new life.
As in most societies, there is some generational divide among Tibetans. The younger
generation (in Lhasa and the main towns at least) is as enamoured with pop music,
karaoke, mobile phones and the internet as most young people are around the world and
most know little about 'old' Tibet, having often grown up in a Chinese-language environ-
ment. That said, young Tibetans still have a remarkably strong sense of Tibetan identity
and you'll still see many young Tibetans visiting monasteries, wearing traditional dress
and making pilgrimages to holy sites.
GOOD GENES
In case you're wondering why your Tibetan guide can run up the side of a 4500m hill with
ease, while you collapse gasping in the thin air after less than one minute, recent DNA re-
search has shown that the Tibetan people are genetically adapted to living at high alti-
tudes. In fact, the 3000 years it took Tibetans to change their genes is considered the
fastest genetic change ever observed in humans. You never stood a chance.
Older country folk may stick out their tongue when they meet you, a very traditional form
of respect that greeted the very first travellers to Tibet centuries ago. Some sources say
that this is done to prove that the person is not a devil, since devils have green tongues,
even when they take human form.
