Thorn Tree travel forum

1

hi!
i'm going to the Sacred m.t Kailash in 2 days, from lhasa, with a group visa from kathmandu...(my group is compsed by ME, only!) i'll be back to kathmandu after 25 october
so if you are interested i can give you more info after 25, than !
it depends from were do you start with your travel...anyway is better if you get your visa from china than nepal!!
my e-mail address is madda.snow@libero.it ,if you want!

2

Thanks for the offer but I plan to go next September.

Is anyone able to answer my questions?

Many thanks

3

This is the tour we did in September 2004:

Mt Kailash and EBC to Nepali border in 17 days. Cost 14800 Yuan + EBC permit for car and people. All the permits are included in the price, but you have to pay any other admission fees. We had a Tibetan guide and a Tibetan driver. We were 6 people in the car.

Both tours were booked with FIT at Banak Shol. There’re 2 ladies speaking very well English. We had a standard contract with several important points listed and clarified. We added our itinerary on our contract. We had also our visa group extended for 10 days. FIT did it for us and we paid 130 Yuan per people.

Our itinerary: Lhasa – Shigatse (8 hours of driving) – Sakya/lunch (3h) – Lhatse (1h) – Saga (7h30) – camping 1h after Zhongba (4h) – after checkpoint (4h30) – Darchen (4h) – Mt Kailash kora – lake Manasarovar (1h) – Paryang (5h30) - Saga (5h) – Tingri (6h) – EBC/Rhongpu mon. (4h) – Zhangmu, thru Shegar (8h)

Breathtaking scenery almost all along our route (especially on Saga – Tingri – EBC – Shegar – Tingri – Zhangmu route), herds of yaks, nomads, pilgrims, farming villages, …
However, we had a lot of problems with our driver, as he often couldn't agree with our planning, even if this was discussed and agreed with the agency in Lhasa. We had to call the agency in Lhasa several times, but without much success.

In 2004, most of the roads were unpaved, which increased the feel of "lost in nowhere". I went back last year and did only a week tour btw Ktm and Lhasa, I flew back from Lhasa and it costed $327 one way. It was a private tour organised from Ktm with a small agency (nepaltravels.com), which was extremely reliable (we also did a trekking in Mustang with them) and which managed to change my opinion on Tibetan drivers and guides. Our, for this tour, were very frendly, flexible and funny. I had a great time with them.

For your tour, if you organise from Ktm you will pay a little more, but with more reliable and friendly service. Anyway it's quite expensive and to reduce costs you have to find other people to share the car. Try to get some prices and info directly from agents in Ktm. Raju from nepaltravels was very prompt in answering.

Get lost or go nowhere!

4

Thanks for the info laumene