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Tibet, the very name evokes feelings of awe and mystery. A land of ancient Buddhist culture, awesome landscapes, artistic monasteries and centuries-old caravan trails, Tibet is a destination out of the ordinary.

Famed as the Roof of the World, the Tibet Autonomous Region of China lies on a plateau at an average elevation of 4,000 m. It is bounded by the Kunlun mountains to the north and the Himalaya to the south. Tibet covers an area of 1.2 million sq km, and has a population of 2.3 million.

Locked away in its Himalayan fortress, Tibet has long exercised a unique hold on the imagination of the West: 'Shangri-La', 'the Land of Snows', 'the Rooftop of the World', Tibet is mysterious in a way that few other places are. Tibet's strategic importance, straddling the Himalaya between China and the Indian subcontinent, made it irresistible to China who invaded in 1950. But Tibetans have never had it easy. The harsh environment and human habitation has always been a precarious proposition. Even so, the deliberate cultural strangling inflicted by the Chinese occupiers since 1950 rates as the worst misfortune the inhabitants of the 'Land of Snows' have been forced to endure.

Following virtual closure after the Chinese annexation of the Buddhist kingdom, Tibet was opened to foreign tourism in 1984. Closed to all but tour groups in 1987 after an uprising by Tibetans in Lhasa, and reopened in 1992, travel in Tibet is in vogue especially so after the movie Kundun.

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