Well Tibet is definitely a country of at least two parts. We have come through the remote West where houses are few and far between and living is incredibly basic and tough. We have seen towns bypassed by new Chinese development at the cost of local businesses and we have seen how the new Chinese infrastructure has brought modern communication to the majority of other communities.
The toilet situation remains "al fresco" in the smaller towns and against many of the blank walls in the cities although plumbing is now common place.
The people, both Chinese and Tibetan are very friendly and we feel really bad for having picked up so little of the local languages. Mandarin still seems the most widely understood, probably because we have passed through several different dialects of Tibetan on our travels.
We have continued to watch CCTV - Chinese Central Television where the build up to the Olympics is definitely top priority. The television promotes a very harmonious view of the country, with  lot of focus on China's ethnic diversity and economic growth. I can see that the state has realised the importance of tourism, both from outside the country and from the newly affluent domestic population. I can also see that this along with the governments use of internet polls to determine public policy and the new promotion of the arts favours the developed areas a lot more than the areas we have cycled through so far. Modern communism is certainly very different that of Mr Mao's day.
 

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