Yeti Enlightenment and Freeing Tibet
Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 22nd, 2008
Three images:
A documentary film crew finds Yeti tracks in Nepal, December 2007.
A monk is beaten in Kathmandu amid protests by Tibetan refugees in Nepal, March 2008.
Chinese troops kill Tibetans in the most violent protests in Tibet in 20 years, March 2008.
In a region of the world where the Chinese killing of Tibetans has been in the news all week, it seems strange to read the travel article in today’s New York Times.
Entitled “As Turmoil Subsides, Tourism in Nepal Surges,” it allegedly heralds the return of visitors to a nation raked by its own bloodshed in the last decade. Perhaps it also signals something to all of us about the importance of a Free Tibet.
The entry point for reporter Seth Sherwood of the New York Times is our old friend, the Yeti:
As morning crowds of sari-clad women and mustached men packed the busy streets of Katmandu on the first day of December, The Himalayan Times, an English-language daily newspaper, trumpeted a staggering discovery.
“Yeti Footprints Found at Khumbu,” declared the headline in bold type. An article explained that an expedition had come across a mammoth five-toed footprint buried in the ice near the base camp for Mount Everest. After a long period without a credible sighting, the elusive creature seemed to have suddenly reappeared.
In fact, it was hardly the only reappearance to celebrate. All over Katmandu that week, from trekking agencies to curry houses, some almost equally prized specimens were leaving tracks after years of scarcity: foreign travelers. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, December capped a banner year, with air arrivals up 27 percent over the 2006 total. Overall, 2007 welcomed some 360,000 foreign air travelers to the country, making it the most successful year for tourism since 2000.
Later, while talking to an American tourist, Sherwood writes:
“We had planned to come a couple of years ago, but the political unrest made it impossible,” said Christa Hoyal, from Utah, as she lunched at the Katmandu Guest House with her traveling companion, Liz Tanner, also from Utah. A copy of The Himalayan Times with the yeti article on the front lay next to them. “But when things settled down,” she said, “we rebooked our tickets and came over.”
So far, Ms. Hoyal said, they had ridden elephants on safari in Royal Chitwan National Park and explored Katmandu’s centuries-old Hindu shrines and former royal palaces.
“There have been no concerns at all in terms of personal safety,” she said.
For others who have canceled or deferred journeys to Katmandu, the good news is that the troubled decade did nothing to harm the city’s age-old appeals.
Josh Gates is shown above with the Yeti footprint cast, dated December 1, 2007, from his Nepal expedition.
It turns out the “Destination Truth” film crew’s innocent trek into Nepal and discovery of Yeti prints may have had a greater impact and deeper meaning than even they realized.
A banner unfurled on Mt. Everest.
The world is not all about elephant safari rides, however. Some freedoms must be won first.
Could the return of the Yeti serve as a prophetic sign of another change returning to the region?
Indeed, could the freeing of Tibet be far behind?
I, for one, certainly hope, and with the Tibetans, pray so.
First, let me echo the sentiments: Free Tibet!
Next…a few words on Destination Truth. Having seen the lot of them so far, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand in the Yeti episode it was very interesting to witness the apparent discovery and casting of a couple of footprints. Since that much has been shown in still photos, I don’t feel I’m spoiling anything to mention it. However, in the Mokele Mbembe episode…well, I won’t spoil things too much in case you haven’t seen it. I’ll just say I was disappointed in their conclusion and their basis for it. More disappointing still is the host’s jocular and often disrespectful (to my perceptions) treatment of locals. It’s as if he’s being told to play the role of the ultimate annoying American tourist. Oh well.
Interesting…
I VERY much doubt that the Chinese will let go of Tibet without a HARD fight, despite my echoing of your sentiments.
Once they are freed though, they cannot go back to the feudalistic society they had before the Communists arrived. In some ways it was just as bad as the Chinese. Even the Dalai Lama has said in print something to the effect that spiritual enlightenment is great but it will not feed children’s bellies.
That’s MY opinion, of course.
With that out the way—
I DO agree with you, Loren, that the Yeti resurgence might be sign of things to come. Symbolically speaking, of course.
Ultimately, what Tibet needs is some form of DEMOCRATIC government.
Right on, Loren, Ceroill and cryptidrus.
The sad thing is that even as far back as the early 1950s, China had become one of the three nations in the world who can apparently act with impunity (the other two being the US and Russia). I’ll try to be brief on the following, as these pages are not necessarily the place to discuss geopolitics, but the situation concerning sovereignty with regards to Tibet is complex. Tibet had, prior to the Chinese invasion, been a self governing nation with her own head of state since (with a few short periods of total Chinese control) the middle ages. However, an independent Tibet had always existed essentially as a vassal state to the Chinese empire. Tibet would always pay homage to the Emperor of China, and to a great extent accepted (or was “encouraged” to accept) the various levels of dominance exerted over her by various Chinese dynasties. The sad thing (at least as I see it) is that, by a strange twist of fate combined with an intertwining history, the end of Imperial, fuedal China was, with hindsight, the first nail in the coffin for a free Tibet. A non Imperial China would (and did) do away with the old order, and thus the subservient sovreignity of Tibet was no longer recognised. The Maoists continued the tradition of Chinese dominance over Tibet, but, in typically Maoist fashion, paid no regard to a sovereignty which they would have looked upon as a relic of Imperialistic bullying.
Yes, Tibet should be free to govern herself. Yes, the Chinese occupation is very much illegal. However, it is partly because China has been making claims that Tibet is part of China (or, in the past, the Chinese Empire) for several hundred years while no other nation (apart from Tibet) has been making a similar claim over the whole region that the occupation has been allowed to continue, even though it breaks numerous international laws. Such is the might of a powerful nation. Did anyone speak out when the USSR invaded Afghanistan? Yes. Did anyone do anything? Not really. Apart from the CIA arming and funding the Taliban.
Anyway, I digress. History is there to be learned from. FREE TIBET!
Those footprints look interesting, by the way. A free Tibet would be, on a slightly selfish note, far more open to non-Tibetan or authorised Chinese Yeti hunters! I really do ramble on sometimes. Sorry.
As a Beastie Boys fan I have been aware of Tibet’s plight for a while now, lol (its late)
Love that episode where they plastered the tracks…
I am once again annoyed how are politicians, politic and just simply wait for this killing event to be over … Mindnumbing
Who’s idea was it to have the Olympics in china this year anyhow? They are soo mean to the farmers (paying them very little) they have EXTREMELY dirty rivers and they have a reputation for not paying workers who build the new buildings in the major cities for them…
7 second delay sucks because all the athletes and anybody else who gets up the nerve to talk ‘live’ this summer will (i fear) be censored, if they criticize China’s policies including this latest tragedy
And I don’t necessarily mean censored by China, I mean the major networks covering the event.
Can’t wait to see Ronald McDonald race the guy in the Bigfoot Costume on the alternative Channel.
What if they gave an Olympic Games and nobody watched it?
FREE TIBET!