It has never been governed from Lhasa in the modern era, and politically it sits firmly inside India. But the label “Little Tibet” isn’t tourism marketing. It’s the residue of a thousand years of shared blood, language, religion, and trade, and it survived a border that tried to cut it in half.
Cranes and half finished concrete and mud brick frames are going up faster than the town’s water table can handle.
I deleted Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube off my phone. Not the accounts. The apps. That may sound like a not very important thing to have done, but I think it is very important. Here’s why.
If you’re standing on Changspa Road deciding where to spend your week, that you’re choosing between two different things wearing the same clothes.
To understand why a real pashmina shawl costs what it costs, and why the fake version is such an easy sell to someone who’s never touched the genuine article, you have to start with the goat.
Three Houses, Three Courtyards, Three Educations I have spent enough nights inside at least two of these to have opinions that don’t come from a guidebook, and the third I have started to get a feel for even with just learning about them. The riad education started in Morocco, years before Vagobond had much of …