The Tibetan end of Yunnan is still open to travellers, despite the recent protest and subsequent crackdown in other Tibetan regions of China. Despite the presence of military convoys and scores of soldiers entering the main villages and towns of the region, there was no unrest of protest here.

Why? One wonders how this region passed the conflict in a different way. The unique part of this region is that Tibetans and Chinese have worked economically hand-in-hand here for hundreds of years. The “Tea Horse Trail”（茶马道）, as it is more popularly known, is a historic trail of trade and goods ranging from Burma to Tibet to Nepal and eventually India.

Because of these economic ties, there has been more incentive for the people to work together here on the latest economic boom—and that’s tourism.

I just finished a radio piece on the region. You can listen to it in the below player:

Shangri-la stays silent, despite protests from around Tibet [ 6:21 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’m going to do my best to see if I can get this piece farmed out to other media.. we’ll see how it goes.