8 days in Tibet - travelling overland on Tibetan Plateau
Tibet. The far away land that has frozen in time. The land of history and religion. The land where people still live in small villages in harsh conditions and rely on cattle. The land of snow.
Or at least that is how I pictured Tibet in my head when booking a tour to visit it. Have you seen the movie “Seven years in Tibet”? Maybe that is how I imagined it being to this day. Even though it is not the same in every aspect, then it is still not the easiest to visit the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The region which has been part of the People’s Republic of China for the last half-century. Tibet has been locked/unlocked to visitors from time to time. Luckily for me, in November 2018, it was possible as a foreigner to go to TAR. Some conditions applied though:
- Visa. It is only possible to visit Tibet with a group visa. It is only possible to apply for a group visa via an authorized travel agency. The same visa is also valid for other parts of China.
- Besides the visa, you need Tibet Travel Permit. This is been taken care of by the travel agency as well.
- It is necessary to be with the group throughout your whole visit. There are many checkpoints along the way.
I do not want to go in-depth with the rules, because they are changing constantly and it takes too long to write them in detail here. All of that meant that it was not possible to travel solo to Tibet as I used to travel.
TIbet Tour
After some research online I managed to score the following deal:
- 8 Days Overland Tour from Kathmandu to Lhasa with a visit to Everest North Base Camp.
- 900 USD. All included besides lunch and dinner. I needed to bargain a bit to get that price. It is usually more expensive.
- I booked the tour with Shakti Travel and Tours. There are plenty of other operators out there, but they managed to give me the lowest price. Interesting though is that all of them offer the same tour. All seven of us, who were on the tour booked the trip through a different agency.
- The agency took care of my Visa and the Tibet Travel Permit. There is an extra fee for the 30 days visa which for me (Estonian passport) was 85 USD.
Let's get going
The agenda which was previously sent changed a bit throughout our time in Tibet but this is how our trip looked like in the end:
Day 1 - Kathmandu -> Nepal-China border -> Kerung (Gyirong)
The main highway to Tibet from Nepal is closed because there was a huge earthquake in Nepal in 2015. That is why the road conditions on the Nepalese side were really poor these days as well. The possibility to make this trip overland has opened up just really recently. It was a long long day on rocky “roads” to the border.
There was a situation on the border and I was almost not allowed to enter Tibet. As it turned out, my tour provider had marked the wrong nationality behind my name on the Tibet Travel Permit. After about half an hour though and some negotiations, I was luckily allowed across though. The important thing to know when travelling to Tibet – you are not allowed to carry anything with you which relates to Buddhism or the Dalai Lama. I had bought two books on the topic just before that trip and had to throw them away just before the border. The border officers thoroughly check all of the bags and even check the maps not to have old information on them like when Tibet was a separate country from China.
A surprise waited for us after crossing the border. The roads in Tibet/China are paved and flat as a pancake. What a pleasant change after a month on a rollercoaster in Nepal.
Day 2 - Kerung -> EBC -> Baiba
Within the first few hours of driving in the morning, we gained 2,5 km in elevation and reached one of the highest passes in the region – an altitude of 5200 m from the sea level. The scenery around us really made us feel like driving on the moon. No vegetation, but long rolling mountains with high peaks in the background.
After stopping for a lunch in a local place in Tingri we finally reached the Mt. Everest North Base Camp. It is pretty crazy how it is possible to drive just drive there by bus. To get to the Everest South Base Camp in Nepal, it is needed to trek for at least a week. By the time of writing this post (March 2019) it has reached me in the news that the North Base Camp has been closed down due to cleaning works taking place. Tourism had taken its toll in the previous years and now they are trying to clean the place up.
Day 3 - Baiba -> Shigatse (Xigatse)
Another scenic day of driving through the amazing Tibetan landscapes. Elevations range between 4000 – 5200 meters. We had half of the day free for sightseeing and walking around in Shigatse. For dinner, we stumbled upon a local place from where we managed to order some Momos (Tibetan dumplings) for all of us. It was a fun night of drinking with locals. We did not understand them and they did not speak any English but pour out a cup of beer and you do not need words to have fun together.
Day 4 - Shigatse -> Gyangze
After a morning of sightseeing at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, we drove to Gyangze where we visited Palcho Monastery.
Day 5 - Gyangze -> Lhasa
Another beautiful drive crosses places like Karola (5010m), Kambala (4749m) and the blue Yamdrok-Tso lake.
Day 6, 7 - Lhasa
Sightseeing in Lhasa. Visiting places like the famous Potala Palace (former winter residence for Dalai Lamas), Jokhang Monastery, Norbulingka (summer palace for Dalai Lama) and Sera Monastery.
Day 8 - Lhasa -> Xi'An
Departure day. I took the train which runs on the highest railway in the world to Xi’an. About that already in the following post.
What is Tibet like?
Surprisingly to me, Tibet is quite developed these days. China has been investing quite a lot and is planning to relocate more people from east China to these areas. Massive buildings are being built and about half a million people are expected to move to Lhasa in the upcoming years. Since it was not possible to move around by yourself in Tibet Autonomous Region, then it is hard to go off the paths and really “get lost”. With this tour, I still believe I managed to capture the essence of the Tibetan spirit a bit. I had a chat with a friend who managed to visit only Lhasa and was a bit disappointed in his trip. I am happy that I took on the tour and visited the “countryside” as well. When I think about Tibet, then three factors really stand out for me:
The people
I tend to say that about every country I visit, but it really is the people that make the country special. Tibetan are living in harsh conditions but they really know how to make use of the little that they have and enjoy themselves. We did not meet locals a lot (besides our guides of course) and we never even managed to have conversations with them (because they did not speak English) but the few encounters we had were pure joy. They really like to drink a lot and they have their local strange wine/booze which is been drunk out of random bottles on the street. Watch the video and you can see what I mean.
The landscapes
Wow, wow and just wow! It really feels like being on the moon. I have never seen anything like that before in my life. I can only imagine that Mongolia and Central Asia might have something similar.
Religion
You can’t get over religion and more specifically Buddhism while in Tibet. It surrounds you in each step and it is a huge part of locals’ everyday lives. It has had a huge influence on history as well. As you might have heard, the religious leader (and formal leader) 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso has fled from Tibet and is currently living in India where he is leading the government in exile.
How to visit Tibet?
Tibet is actually not only Tibet Autonomous Region. If you wish to experience Tibet but do not have the chance to go to TAR, then it is possible with a regular Chinese visa to go to Amdo and Kham which are also the regions of original Tibet. It is good to know that TAR closes down to foreign visitors each year during February and March and check for the latest updates for the most recent rules on possibilities to visit TAR.
An interesting fact – I did not receive any stamp or mark in my passport from China/Tibet. Chinese group visa was just on a piece of paper which was taken away from me when I left China for Hong Kong and I only managed to hold on to the copy of my Tibet Travel Permit which was also on a piece of A4 paper.
