A week after our Tibet experience, the people and the culture still fondly in our memory, we have an opportunity to reflect on the country and it's future. Please note, the following observations are based on what we have seen, heard and read during our visit to Tibet and may not provide a fully balanced portrayal, having not had the opportunity to hear accounts from both sides.....

Every 100 yards we walked in Lhasa we stumbled upon 6 heavily armed Chinese soldiers in full uniform stood behind a barricade surveilling the streets with an unflinching stare! In tourist areas rooftop snipers and cameras providing additional eyes on the crowds below. The soldiers supposedly located in order to expel any thoughts of protest or uprising from disgruntled Tibetans rightfully fearing the loss of their identity. Army checkpoints are also located at regular intervals on all major roads with Chinese cars seemingly given free passage but Tibetan driver's itineraries heavily scrutinised. Everywhere you go, including Everest Base Camp, this unnerving intimidatory army force is unescapable in what can only therefore appear as an occupied land!

The obvious question is what would have motivated China to invade the barren, dry plateaus of Tibet? As ever energy sources and resulting money provide the answer. The Tibetan plateau is rich in deposits of gold, zinc, silver and other metals. It is home to most of Chinas copper reserves and a single mine is said to hold over 1/2 of the worlds Lithium deposits. Not to mention gas and oil discoveries under the surface of the plateaus. Of course with the land being sacred to Tibetan culture this adds further insult to the devastating injury!

The vast majority of Tibetans appear content with their nomadic lifestyle although this is ever changing under Chinese occupation. Where they previously followed their yak, sheep, goats or cattle to new pastures they have now been 'encouraged' to own a basic but permanent home in a settlement on the plateau. The cost of this lifestyle change appearing to be the prominent display of a Chinese flag flying high above their new dwelling.

Tourism provides an important source of income with over 3 million tourists visiting each year, (93% of which are Chinese) but as our guide informed us, the Chinese government and not the Tibetan people will gain the benefit of this injection of money.

Our Tibetan guides have their own opinions on the changing nature of their homeland, but they are reluctant to express these, for fear of being overheard by one of the many 'undercover' policeman. Apparently these undercover police also roam all of the tourist locations and even the monasteries, listening in on guides and monks.

Since it's occupation Chinese citizens have been supported to take up a new life in Lhasa and the surrounding area- the supposed 'tourist' train offering the transportation and a promise of free schooling an incentive. These incentives however, are not passed on to Tibetans in their own homeland. The promise of employment is also offered, with many given the opportunity to be part of an influx of Chinese guides, who conveniently lack the real knowledge and therefore ability to pass on the ethics of Tibetan Buddhism, history and culture.

You may have read in the news in the last few weeks, that Tibetan people have been protesting for the right for children to retain the ability to learn the Tibetan language in schools. Another argument I fear they will lose! Clearly these issues are doing little to help smooth the noticeable undercurrent of friction between people of Tibetan or Chinese descendancy, that exists across the land.

Shops, restaurants and business's display their name in both Chinese and Tibetan and we later learned it is law for the Chinese name to be in a larger font size. There is a certain sense of inevitability that it will not be long until the Tibetan name will be removed completely!

China and Tibet are both fascinating in their own right but it appears the unique characteristics of Tibet and Tibetan culture are slowly disappearing. This is no more evident than in the case of the Dalai Lama who has not seen any evidence of the changes he was promised and has therefore remained in excile in India since 1959. Being in his late 70's the future Dalai Lama will require selection in the coming years. Traditionally this selection takes place in a ceremony at the sacred Lake Yamdrok-Tso where the head Panchen Lamas will find the identity of the new Dalai Lama displayed before them. We are informed this fundamental Buddhist ritual will no longer take place, instead the government in Beijing will decide the future selections of this holy and spiritual figure.

This most sacred of holy lakes is also a subject of much anger to Tibetan people with the Chinese government having installed 6km of tunnel an 846m drop below the surface to drive power generating turbines. This is slowly draining it's magnificent turquoise blue waters to provide energy with the water level evidently dropping. There was a promise to replenish the lakes reserves but there are not yet any plans of fulfilling this. Even when or if this does happen it will radically change the nature of the water of this most sacred and beautiful lake.

No Tibetan flags are anywhere to be seen, instead Chinese flags remain prominent on many buildings including the iconic Potala Palace that proudly stands in the centre of Lhasa. In the square directly opposite the Palace, seemingly intentionally placed, stands a sizeable memorial, erected to honour the Chinese soldiers lost during the occupation..No memorial is evident for the thousands of Tibetan's who lost their lives in their countries defence!

Tibetan people who are not happy with this change in their homeland, cannot simply leave and start again in a new country. If they didn't escape Tibet before it's occupation by China then it is too late now. Tibetan people, not being allowed the luxury of a passport are confined to the boundaries of their own country!

Currently Tibet is unique, sitting on an elevated plateau above the rest of the world. The dry air and altitude hardened people, content in their nomadic farming lifestyle, complete with an impressive following of their most sacred and complex religion. I would urge anyone with a wish to visit this fascinating country to make the trip sooner rather than later as although the landscape will remain, the Tibetan people, their unique way of life and the culture they hold so dear, is seemingly destined to be recounted only from the history book.....