Internet Travel Guide
Peter M. Geiser
1000 Travel Tips
Koen De Boeck
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TIBET
The Internet Travel Guide
Peter M. Geiser
BORDER CROSSING
A 'standard' way to enter Tibet is by plane from Chengdu. The Chinese
government still wants people to go in groups. Lees Travel Agency will
book several tourists on a flight as a group, you can split up in Lhasa.
For this service they will ask you CNY 2100, which is CNY 600 above the
price CAAC chages!
There are busses or trucks from Golmud. They should cost about USD 100
and takes about 30 hours. It is not quite clear whether this is still
illegal or not. Apart from the regular busses, sleeper busses are
available.
Hitch-hiking may be possible, but is illegal outside Lhasa province.
Even if you as a tourist may be let off easily, the driver caught with
a foreigner will have to pay a heavy fine.
I heard of several travllers that were walking or tried to walk from
Sichuan or Yunnan.
There are busses from Kathmandu to Tibet. The bus from Kathmandu to
Kodari (the Nepalese border) takes about 8 hours and costs NRP 85.
Cross the border bridge by foot (there are porters). The shuttle
service to the Chinese border station Zhangmu seven steep kilometers
away costs NRP 200. From there, you should take a 2 day (USD 100) or a
4 day (USD 200) tour to Lhasa with CITS.
The bus from Lhasa to the border takes three days. The bus leaves
three times per month (on the 1, 10, and 20), that you have to book
far in advance. There is a flight between Kathmandu and Lhasa 2 - 3
times a week for a bit less than USD 200.
Officially, you will have to be on a tour to get in. However, several
foreigners have successfully tried to hitch hike their way into Tibet.
It is also possible to arrange a 'tour' with fellow travellers. Do not
check with agencies in Kathmandu.
If you want to enter from Nepal, the officials at the border are asking
CNY 200 for a special permit to travel in Tibet. However, the police
station is not open until 8 am, so you will not get a permit before
(but you can enter anyway, beeing early saves you CNY 200). I have
also reports of some tourists only paying CNY 35 when accompanied by a
Chinese army officer. Probably, that's the official rate.
CITS also wants a share of it. They are issuing an ATP (Alien Travel
Permit) for USD 100. If you don't have one, you'll be stopped by very
well equipped police (Gore-Tex jackets, etc.) further up the road.
Another hazard when crossing the border is of a more natural kind.
There are quite often rock and land slides, especially after rain. One
such slide killed a foreigner and his Chinese guide in the morning of
2 Sep 1995, and in July 1996 a whole hamlet with a couple of hotels
and 64 people disappeared forever. Due to these land slides you have
to change trucks or taxis frequently (they bring you up to the slide,
you climb over and on the other side you'll be ripped off one more
time to get a hike to the next slide or finally the border).
For the latest information talk to fellow travellers just coming from
Tibet you'll meet in Nepal (e.g. in the Pumpernickle Bakery in
Kathmandu) or in Chengdu.
Generally, it is best to maintain a low profile. Draw as little
attention as possible towards you. It's not the tourist that the
Chinese fear, but the politically involved and caring person. This
does not mean that you should not care about Tibetan politics, just
that you should be careful in when and where you show your views.
Volker Urban, who was in Tibet for the whole of August 1995, has put
together some excellent information about how to get into Tibet.
1. The main routes
1.1 Chinese mainland (Golmud) to Lhasa. by bus
Status: Personal experience
Get Your registration and ticket receipt from CITS in the Golmud hotel.
Without this stuff, it is impossible to get the ticket at the Tibet
busstation.
Costs: Golmud - Lhasa 980 + 30 Y for holders of Chinese studentcards
1080 + 30 Y for usual foreigners, both includes a 3
days guided tour in Lhasa (minibus,
guide for Potala, Sera, Drebung,
Norbulinga and Jogang, entry fees extra)
1300 Y for the sleeper bus, guided tour too, no
discounts
250 Y for the guys with the right race and id
(citizens of the PRoC)
There are 2 checkpoints on the way, one in the outskirts of Golmud, the
other in Amdo and a lot of army all the way. Permits for Toutou Hevan
(halfway to Lhasa) are not longer issued.
Hitchhiking seems very difficult or impossible, one Canadian succeeded in
cycling all his way. Permit for Tibet were not necessary, but everyone has
to take part at this guided tour. The ride takes at least 30 hours, in a
crowded bus of different quality(boneshaker to modern Chinese built bus).
Lhasa - Golmud : 500 Y foreign devils
250 Y Chinese and holder of Chinese studentcards
1.2 Chengdu - Lhasa by plane
Status: story
Costs: 1500 Y
1.3 From/to Nepal
Status: story, personal experiences
Lhasa-border by bus every 2nd, 12th and 22nd, a ticket costs between 200
and 400 Y, takes 3 days by jeep: plenty, check at the various traveller
hotels in Lhasa and Shigatse hitchhiking: start from Lhasa (not to
difficult to Shigatse) or go by public bus to Sakya bridge, poor traffic
(1 vehicle a hour),only minibuses will stop. Price around 0.5Y for 1 km.
Border- Lhasa: spend the night in the Chinese border town and leave it in
the early to avoid the payment of 200 Y. for a permit of travelling as
individual at the checkpoint at the northern end of the town (Nobody in
Tibet cares about this paper). There are trucks running to the landslide
before Nylam (5Y). Its relatively easy to get a lift on one of the
minibuses running back empty. Sakya monastery is the first busstation to
Lhasa.
2. The adventurous tours
2.1 Sichuan (Chengdu) - Lhasa
Status: story
According to a German couple, it was easier then expected, taking them 13
days, its illegal, You have to bluff Your way through. Another German's
bike were confiscated in Cham. Check at the hang outs in Lhasa.
2.2 Kashgar- Yecheng - West Tibet
Status: Story, rumour
very difficult, seems to be impossible in 95
From Lhasa it shall take 2 weeks, an English, I meet different times,
wasted a few days by waiting for a lift in Yecheng, its strictly forbidden
for drivers to take foreigners. It could be a way to get out, but
definitely not to get into Tibet. There was a permanent story about a
woman, who did it to Kashgar.
3. The hot stuff
3.1 India- Lipu Lekh Pass - Purang - Kailash (WTibet)
Status: rumours
Opened a few years ago for the Indian pilgrims. A Swiss Couple was willing
to pay thousands of dollars to be allowed that way in.
3.2 Tingri - Lapchi - Nepal
Status: personal experiences
This Monastery, centre of the Lapchi Rongshar pilgrimage, was given to
Nepal in 62. No borderguards at the Chinese Side, except for a checkpoint
near the Poze La. Usually You will be send back to Tibet by the Nepalese
border police. Expect hassle at Tashigang, the turnoff to the friendship
highway. Not a real way to Tibet.
3.3.Keriya (Yutian, Xinjiang province) - Kunlun mountains - Keriya dawan -
Yeshikul - Chantang -Kailash
Status: personal expirences till 36:00 N
1000 km to trek in a partly uninhabited country. Refer to the great
explores (Aurel Stein, Sven Hedin). The jeeptrack from Keriya-Pulu to the
main Yecheng-Tibet road does not exist as far as 36:00 N, no information
about the area further south, except that a few locals know the name of
places as far as Ulugh kul.
3.4 Other places near Kailash
Status: from a magazine
According to the Nepalese magazine "Himachal" , the Chinese were planning
following crossings points were slated to open in 95 to increase the sale
out of the Mt. Kailash:
Nita La in Garwahl(India)
Shipki La in Himachal Pradesh(India)
Demchoke Ladakh(India)
Simikot(Nepal) -Korjanath-Purang
4. Others
There are some trading routes between Tibet and Bhutan, Sikkim
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Copyright © 1995 - 1999, Peter M. Geiser
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