'I see different Tibet': French hotel tycoon tours region by bike
April 19, 2008
An eight-month bicycle ride from France to Cambodia has given 74-year-
old Paul Dubrule a chance to see a different Tibet from what he had
learnt in France.
"I spent three months riding through Tibet during that trip. This
experience completely changed my perspective about the region,"
Dubrule, chairman and founder of the leading multinational hotel group
Accor Group, told Xinhua here on Friday.
"Compared with those talking about Tibet in the French media but never
setting foot in the region, I think I have more things to tell," he
said.
In 2002, Dubrule, then 68, made a 15,000-kilometer journey by bicycle
from his home at Fontainebleau to Siem Reap, Cambodia, during which he
rode from Ngari in west Tibet to Qamdo in its east.
"Before arriving in Tibet, I thought local people were under
repression of the central government as many other Westerners
(thought)," he said.
But, during the tour, he saw schools, hospitals, power plants,
air****ts, and especially highways.
"I saw many roads under construction," he said. "Along my way, I met
many local people. Their life was not as good as in France but I found
they were benefiting from the economic development."
Dubrule had read books about Tibet since the 1990s and many of them
****trayed the Dalai Lama as a "saint" and "victim". But he later
learnt in Tibet that under the Dalai Lama's rule there was no medical
service in an area between Ngari and Lhasa. The former is about 1,000
km away from the latter.
"In Tibet, I found that people would like to have the region
modernized rather than maintaining old lifestyles simply for
tourists," he said.
He did not agree with the Dalai Lama who said economic development in
Tibet was causing a disappearance of traditional culture. "If a
culture can not move forwards with economic and social development, it
will end up in the museum instead of blessing its people."
"Should anyone refuse development, schools and hospitals in the name
of protecting culture and religion?"
In his 50,000-word travel book, "Le Test du Cocotier", he wrote about
what he saw in Tibet and was criticized by some back home for his
stance to sup****t present policies in the autonomous region.
"I am not surprised. Because many French had not been to Tibet, most
of the information they got about the region was biased or confused.
The real Tibetan history is unknown to many," he said. "I believe that
they will change once they have the access to more positive
information and exchanges with Tibet."
His travel book was published in Chinese in 2005. On the book's cover,
Dubrule, on his bike, passed several Tibetans wor****pping local
mountain spirits.
"Although I have never met the Dalai Lama, I would like to tell him
that a country should protect the religious belief of its people but
religions should not be a tool for people to turn against their
country," he said.
Source: Xinhua
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