22nd April '07. Seven Years in Tibet

Up to the Maleny house to cut the grass, kill the weeds, admire the view. Things are certainly growing a lot more slowly now the days are getting shorter and it's a little cooler.

From the end of the road there is a view over the Glasshouse Mountains. There was a huge thundercloud over the Gold Coast and great view of the way up Mt. Beerwah.




In the evening I watched the DVD of 'Seven Years in Tibet', with Brad Pitt playing Heinrich Harrer, which I'd picked up in Pilgrims Bookshop in Kathmandu. I'd seen the movie when it first came out but having been to Lhasa it was profoundly moving. I started feeling desperately sad for Tibet and it's people in a way I never had before. They are most certainly still suffering under the Chinese - as China goes from strength to strength. Yet we in the west kow-tow to the Chinese because there is much money to be made. I wonder if the Olympics will allow us to see the true China or if it will remain a propoganda exercise.
Watch 'Seven years in Tibet' and also 'Kundun' if you have a chance, and don't go to the Olympics.
There are 2 books I've read recently that are worth a look at. 'Tibet, Tibet' by Patrick French is a good recent look from the point of view of someone who was a Tibetophile, who then travelled there and has had a change of perspective - more realistic. The other is 'The Story of Tibet' Conversations with the Dalai Lama by Thomas Laird.
In the latest Rolling Stone magazine there is a good article, which is even a little disturbing, about Tibet and it's future. Have a look at;
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/13247913/the_end_of_tibet