More on Xiahe

Video from the Guardian UK shows my hotel, restaurants where I ate, and streets that I walked just a few months ago. It looks a little bit different with riot police and tear gas.

The monks, Tibetans and Han Chinese that I talked all seemed happy to be left alone. This place is so remote, and the culture so distinct (and not just the Tibetans, but others who live there as well), that it would probably be best just to allow it to develop as a heritage site. Cell phones and tourist hotels aside, there's more to be learned from the knowledge that the monks have developed over centuries than there is to be gained from suppressing an independence movement.