Abe Peck

Indy Likes Lhasa: Journalism veteran and Santa Barbara resident Abe Peck recently traveled to Tibet, managing to get into the region tightly controlled by China just five days before the borders were temporarily closed to foreigners. Here he is in the capital, Lhasa, with a copy of The Santa Barbara Independent, because Peck, whom we previously featured with a paper and giant hookah in Qatar, “never leaves home without it.” Luckily, Chinese agents didn’t confiscate our freedom-loving rag, but Peck was asked about which books he was carrying. “Lonely Planet’s website has noted that some readers have had issues over its Tibet edition,” he explained, “perhaps because the Dalai Lama wrote the foreword to the current edition.” If you have photos of The Indy abroad, send them to tips@independent.com for publishing.