BEIJING DIARY: A taste of Tibet with Chinese characteristics

The main entrance of the Tibet Hotel is seen behind a police vehicle parked outside the hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. People attending the Beijing Winter Olympics can't visit Tibet because they're in China's "closed loop" system for foreign visitors. But some visitors, including part of the Associated Press' Olympics team, are getting a taste of the region because they've been assigned to the Tibet Hotel. The hotel has been built and outfitted to evoke the remote region on China's western edge. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The main entrance of the Tibet Hotel is lit at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, in Beijing. People attending the Beijing Winter Olympics can't visit Tibet because they're in China's "closed loop" system for foreign visitors. But some visitors, including part of the Associated Press' Olympics team, are getting a taste of the region because they've been assigned to the Tibet Hotel. The hotel has been built and outfitted to evoke the remote region on China's western edge. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Two hotel employees work in a restaurant decorated with prayer wheels inside the Tibet Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. People attending the Beijing Winter Olympics can't visit Tibet because they're in China's "closed loop" system for foreign visitors. But some visitors, including part of the Associated Press' Olympics team, are getting a taste of the region because they've been assigned to the Tibet Hotel. The hotel has been built and outfitted to evoke the remote region on China's western edge. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The Museum of Tibetan Culture is seen in the background as two guards open a gate to let in an Olympic shuttle bus at the Tibet Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The Museum of Tibetan Culture is pictured from the Tibet Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. People attending the Beijing Winter Olympics can't visit Tibet because they're in China's "closed loop" system for foreign visitors. But some visitors, including part of the Associated Press' Olympics team, are getting a taste of the region because they've been assigned to the Tibet Hotel. The hotel has been built and outfitted to evoke the remote region on China's western edge. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Pedestrians are seen through a small window on a gate outside the Tibet Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Tibetan costumes are on display as a robot sprays disinfectant in the exhibition area of the Tibet Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. People attending the Beijing Winter Olympics can't visit Tibet because they're in China's "closed loop" system for foreign visitors. But some visitors, including part of the Associated Press' Olympics team, are getting a taste of the region because they've been assigned to the Tibet Hotel. The hotel has been built and outfitted to evoke the remote region on China's western edge. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A security guard looks at his phone in the lobby area of the Tibet Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A hotel guest walks up the steps in the lobby area of the Tibet Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

An altar sits in a restaurant inside the Tibet Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. People attending the Beijing Winter Olympics can't visit Tibet because they're in China's "closed loop" system for foreign visitors. But some visitors, including part of the Associated Press' Olympics team, are getting a taste of the region because they've been assigned to the Tibet Hotel. The hotel has been built and outfitted to evoke the remote region on China's western edge. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A hotel employee works in a small convenient store inside the Tibet Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Hotel employees' face shields hang on the wall in a break room inside the Tibet Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)