What Do I Need to Know about Going to Tibet?

What Do I Need to Go To Tibet from the Mainland?

Any foreign person trying to enter Tibet or Tibet’s capital Lhasa will face restrictions.  The Chinese government requires foreigners to obtain a special “visa” that allows them to go into Tibet.  Usually foreigners obtain these visas from whichever hostel or hotel they are staying at in the mainland. In most hostels, the front desk can provide information and/or visa for getting into Tibet.

Over the years it has become increasingly hard for Westerners to gain access to Tibet.  Three years ago it wasn’t as hard as last year, and now it is even more difficult.

How Do I Get Into Tibet?

From mainland China, most people fly to Lhasa (the capital city of Tibet) from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan.  There is also the option of taking a 48-hour train-ride from either Chongqing (another huge city near Sichuan) or Chengdu. It is also possible to fly to Lhasa from Kunming, as well as a few other big cities.  Once again, ask your hostel for this information.  They can book your train or flight for you. 

Taking the train to Lhasa is highly recommended.  Why? I will explain later.

Outside of China, it is possible to get into Lhasa from Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu. 

What is this Visa? 

It is not very possible for foreigners to stay in Tibet without their “Visa.”  Getting to Tibet is possible, but once you are there, a foreigner cannot book a hotel by himself or herself.  Everything will be arranged by your Tibetan Guide.

Your Visa grants you a Tibetan guide, and this guide will stay with you throughout a lot of your stay in Tibet.  Once you get off the train or airplane, he or she will be there to meet you.  Then, you and your guide will go to a hotel together so he can book you a room.  It is not possible for you to book a room by yourself without your Tibetan guide.

What Kind of Visa Should I Get?

Before you leave for Tibet, you will be given the option of purchasing different sorts of Visas.  Some are for 4 days in Tibet, while others are for 10 days or 2 weeks, and so on.  The prices go up with the more time you spend in Tibet.  But this should be known, it is possible for you to only book the cheapest one, and then sort a deal out with your Tibetan tour-guide once you are in Lhasa.  You can tell your Tibetan guide that you want to stay longer, and he will arrange the visa for you.

What Can’t I Do While In Lhasa or Tibet?

Foreigners can pretty much behave as they would in mainland China.  Be aware that Tibet is:

• more traditional (please, ladies, cover up.  It is not polite to wear sleeveless shirts that show your cleavage.  Be mindful of what people around you are wearing).
• full of the Chinese army.  You are not allowed to take pictures of them.  Do not take pictures of them.  Your guide will tell you this.
• modest but proud.  Please don’t start bashing the Chinese government to your Tibetan tour guide or to any Tibetans around you.  They are pro-Tibetan, but they do not want to talk about it.

In addition, try not to speak 普通话 (mandarin) when you are in Tibet.  Speak English or try to pick some basic Tibetan. Use your Lonely Planet Guide. 

Traveling in Tibet

Notes from my diary:

Sichuan Route to Tibet

1) Pass the Chola Mountain

2) Somehow make it into Batang - this is the closest city open to foreigners

note: In Chengdu, for 720 yuan, you can get a sleeper. The permit for a foreigner entering Tibet is 400 yuan. The permit must be obtained through an agent

3) The Southern Route to Tibet - Litang

Chongqing to Lasa is a 2nd option.

Now, Ann and I have made it to the Youth Hostel in Chengdu, Sichuan. It's our 2nd night here. Everything is fine; nothing marvelous, but I am realizing the beauty of this countryside, and everywhere really, and especially where one would least expect it. You need not to go Golmud or far-off to find it. By the way, Ann Swanson is my friend from VCU whom I met when studying abroad in China at Fudan University in Shanghai my senior year. We were roommates, and we instantly got along (we discovered she is only 1 day older than I am, and that our birthdays were coming up the following week - July 3 & 4 - and the rest is history! She had already taken Chinese at VCU, and I felt constantly challenged by her and how well she could communicate with the locals). In 2007, after Ann and I had done one semester of Chinese thru VCU in Beijing, she took off for Tibet on her own; I on the other hand, spent my summer in Thailand. I'm lucky I was able to convince her to come to Suining, Sichuan with me to teach English at my school, Sichuan Vocational and Technical College.

Ann and I are now trying to figure out what to do when arrive in Tibet's capital, Lasa. We will be leaving from dirty Chongqing, Sichuan on Monday, August 17, and we will be taking a dirty, crowded train for 47.5 hours! Can you imagine being on a train for 2 days? Mired in uncertainty, I still feel a rush of excitement knowing we will undertake such an adventure.

Chengdu did not have tickets available for our trip to Tibet, and so we will have to take a train ride to Chongqing and depart from there. (Chongqing, China, the biggest city you have never heard of).

Actually, Ann and I have had to go through hoops just to determine our point of departure for Tibet. In Suining, we could have bought the Chongqing ---> Lasa ticket, a sleeper at that, but we feared we may need the permit. What we actually should have done is booked everything through here - our Youth Hostel, but we - being the experienced China-travelers that we are - decided we could cut the middle man, whom we assumed to be ripping us off left and right.

Well, we were wrong, and when it comes down to it, we are just westerners, stuck abiding the rules and regulations towards foreigners by the Government. Unfortunately, right now it is nearly impossible for us to get into Tibet without completely selling out - money for a guide and permit are needed. Some say neither of these things really exists. Some say that the money merely pays off the feds. Whatever it is - we abide. I'm no activist, although I feel more and more inclined to support the Tibetan government openly. FREE TIBET. Or at least, China, please go easy on the nationalization.

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Right now, I feel very cool and relaxed, which is near-impossible in one of the 4 furnaces of China. I am drinking vodka-sprite on the roof of our hostel, and it's night-time, not noisy, and everything is 平安。 Being here is great, but I do not feel like it is making me a "better person," the way my friend Amy had said that it would. I feel like my Chinese is good, and I like that I have prospects. I don't like that I am still alone in this world with no boyfriend. I don't need that right now, but I do not think it is possible to go through life without this. I invited him to China; does that not show that I care??

In 2 days, Ann and I depart for Chongqing, and from there, we leave for Tibet.

more on that later