Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ing their children to Dharamsala for a Tibetan education), while preparing the coming gen-
eration for the realities of life in a Chinese-language-dominated economy.
And yet for all the new supermarkets, karaoke joints, brothels and mobile phones,
Tibet's traditional and religious values remain at the core of most Tibetans' identities, and
the quintessence of rural Tibet remains remarkably intact. Some 50 years of political in-
doctrination and religious control has failed to dull the devotion of most Tibetans to either
Buddhism or the Dalai Lama and there's little sign of this changing.
It's hard to separate myth from reality in Tibet. The half-truths and propaganda from all
sides can be so enticing, so pervasive and so entrenched that it's hard to see the place
through balanced eyes. The reality is that Tibet is no fragile Shangri-la but a resilient land
underpinned by a unique culture and a deep faith, and it is perhaps this above all that of-
fers Tibet's best hope for its future.
