Tuesday 17 May 2011

Researching Tibet Options

There is a lot out there, but unfortunately, much of the travel information on the internet is out-of-date. For any information about Tibet to be reliable, I'm only looking at travel accounts and posts from 2010-11. Even 2009 is on the verge of obsolete information, because the rules change too quickly to keep up.

The big paradigm shift in China happened recently due to the 2008 earthquake, riots, and the run-up to the Olympics and EXPO, etc. Much of China went through severe and sweeping changes during the last three years to begin with, all during 2008 which I would summarize as practically doomsday -- that's how the whole year felt. Things are only beginning to relax now, however slightly. But Tibet has always been more of a sensitive part of the country than others, and so it is still on a very high-alert situation.

Word on the street is that it's next to impossible to travel the Eastern route out of Yunnan so I've effectively ruled that one out. The northern route is the best option, and I've got about 3-5 reliable reports on people who are traveling it right now as I type. The northern route basically involves the train from Golmud to Lhasa, and there are ways to get travel permits and get your ass on the train without paying $100 a day to join a ridiculous tour group.

Once in Lhasa, the key part of the experience would be the bicycle ride to the Nepal border, planning to do in August. Again, I'm gathering as much information as I can. The best plan is to actually get a travel permit for Tibet and a Nepalese visa lined up ahead of time. Both can be obtained in Lhasa, although the permit itself looks to be the most difficult part. At any rate, more information is surely needed.

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