China occupied Tibet in 1951, and the Chinese have been oppressing the Tibetan people ever since. Their spiritual leader and former ruler, the Dalai Lama, lives in exile in India.

I’d always wanted to visit. The first time I tried I was in Chengdu, in central China.  I wanted to buy a plane ticket to Lhasa, but as a foreigner was told I had to go through a Communist travel agency, to apply for a special permit. I never made it then, but I promised myself I would try again.

A few years later, I applied for the permit in Nepal, and got it.

Reaching Tibet involved a seven-day journey over the Himalayas, on a bumpy, dangerous, mountainous road. It was very tiring, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here are some of the people I met.

Despite what they’ve gone through, their spirits seemed high. People I spoke to often expressed a strong belief that they would one day be free.

[Editors' note: China imposed unofficial martial law in Tibet in March 2009, after a year of angry uprisings by nomads in the highlands.]

In their faces you can see how much they have suffered. I have tried to capture that emotion through my images.