Tibet: Frequently Asked Questions

Article by: Bradley Mayhew, July 2007

The million dollar question - what's going on with the permit situation in Tibet at the moment?

As my Indian guru would say, things are same, same...

But different.

In early May of this year American students hoisted a pro-Tibet Olympic banner at Everest Base Camp. Travel restrictions were immediately tightened and the fallout is still being felt in Tibet.

The thing to remember is that there are two main kinds of travel permits in Tibet: one to get into Tibet (the Tibet Tourism Bureau, or TTB, permit) and then the ones you need for travelling around Tibet (a bunch of permits including a Public Security Bureau, or PSB, permit). It's now a little bit more difficult to get a TTB permit and several travel agencies have stopped issuing these permits to individual travellers. But some agencies are still issuing these permits (around Y500) or issuing them in conjunction with some kind of tour. With a TTB permit you can buy a train or air ticket into Lhasa.

Once you're in Lhasa, the old regulations remain largely unchanged, though they're now enforced a little more strictly. Travellers can still travel anywhere in Lhasa prefecture without a permit (this includes Nam-tso Lake and monasteries at Ganden, Tsurphu, Drigung Til, Lhundrub, Reting and many others).

For anywhere else you need a travel permit, for which you'll need to book a Land Cruiser and a guide. One recent change is that you must now take an official guide, as opposed to the unofficial guides (or no guide) that the cheaper agencies often used. This has slightly raised the price of trips. Travel permits are now checked particularly rigorously at Everest Base Camp.

In reality, permitless travellers still face no travel restrictions when exploring the Yarlung Tsangpo Valley (with sights like Mindroling, Dorje Drak, Gongkar Chöde Monastery and Tsetang town), though bear in mind that officially you do need permits for anywhere in this valley, with the exception of Tsetang. Most permitless travellers visit Samye Monastery in the valley without problems, though some travellers have recently been fined anywhere from Y200 to Y600.

Lhasa and Tsetang bus stations (and possibly others) generally now refuse to sell bus tickets to foreigners, which leaves you limited to private buses or cars and pilgrim buses. For a while after the demonstration, travel agencies could only arrange a tour for you around Tibet if your TTB permit was issued by them, but the main FIT (Foreign Individual Travel) agencies have since found a way to circumvent that problem. The various branches of FIT are arranging trips around Tibet as always and travellers are still finding ways around inconsistently enforced travel regulations.

So in that sense, not much has changed.

Am I right in saying that using the new railway line into Tibet is ethically dubious?

This one will probably depend on your politics.

The train is definitely the most comfortable overland way to get to Lhasa. The modern, non-smoking carriages are better than your average Chinese train and all services travel across the plateau during the day so you're guaranteed fine views.

As the Dalai Lama says, the train itself is not bad, it's what it's used for that matters.

Tibetan support groups fear that the train is speeding up the ethnic dilution of Tibet and certainly there's no doubt that subsidised fares are bringing thousands of Han Chinese migrants to Tibet every day. The trains to Lhasa always arrive full; trains leaving Tibet are often half empty - you do the maths. Most of the Chinese taxi drivers, restaurant workers and shop owners you talk to in Lhasa arrived on the train.

Conservationists are equally worried that the train will harm migration routes and speed up resource exploitation. The Free Tibet Campaign is currently running a campaign encouraging tourists not to take the train.

That said, the train certainly leaves a considerably smaller carbon footprint than the plane. Given the choices, it's hard to see how flying Air China into Lhasa is a more ethical option.

I'm scared shitless when it comes to horror stories of angry dogs in Tibet. Help!

I'm no fan of Tibet's psychotic canines but don't worry, your chances of getting attacked by a dog are slim, at least in the cities. The nocturnal packs of semi-feral dogs that used to haunt Tibet's cities were eradicated in the 1990s. You really only need be concerned if you intend to hike in rural areas, especially those populated by nomads. Even then, the dogs are almost always tied up. Still, I always hike with a trekking pole and a couple of hefty stones in my pocket. Just in case.

It's an old question but I would love to hear what the author thinks - train or plane to Lhasa?

I'd say that if you're returning to China from Lhasa then fly in and take the train out. It's much easier to get a train ticket out of Lhasa and you are more likely to get the type of berth you want in this direction.

If you're continuing overland to Nepal then take the train - it's one of the world's great overland trips. If you don't have much time to arrange your permit and ticket and want an easier way to get into Tibet, then fly from Chengdu.

You've been to most corners of Tibet now; what are your favourite places?

I always love an overnight stop at Dorje Drak Monastery, on the banks of the Yarlung Tsangpo river. Reting Monastery is also a really peaceful place to visit. I still find Lhasa's backstreets fascinating, even more so these days because there are so many more handicraft workshops. In Lhasa I also love the hike up to Bumpo Ri for fantastic views over the ever-expanding city. Thöling and Tsaparang in far western Tibet are truly otherworldly. The most amazing place I visited on this trip was Tsedru Gompa, Tibet's largest Bön monastery, perched on a mountain ridge deep in the wilds of eastern Tibet.

For more information see:

• Paradox Lost: How Not to be a Tourist in Tibet (pdf)
• Sim's Cozy Travel, Chengdu China
• Free Tibet Campaign
• Thorn Tree: Tibet branch