For those that have been to Tibet, can you tell me, was it worth it for you? I am thinking of going on the friendship highway from Nepal to Llasa, but it will cost a lot, plus airfare to Nepal. Just wondering if going to Tibet was worth it.
More specifically, did it feel at all like you were just going along a "tourist treadmill", so to speak, or did your experiences feel meaningful and authentic? Did you feel like you could really connect with the people and get an authentic window into their culture? Were the monasteries and sites authentic and timeless, or hyper-rehabbed with spotless coats of paint, all pretty much looking the same and overloaded with Han Chinese and foreigners? Did you feel like you got any sense of how the Tibetans suffer in their persecution and lack of autonomy? Did you feel like you got a window into the daily life of the common person on the Tibetan plateau?
I have wanted to go to Tibet ever since I was quite young. I have been to some areas in India, such as the Spiti valley, which I found to be very lovely, remote, and authentic. I really got to see realy people doing the daily things. Although there were tourists about, and guest houses to serve them, it did not feel like everything was an act to please them. The monasteries looked their age: beautiful, crumbling, chipping paint, and ancient. It was wonderful.
Comparitively, I thought that the eastern part of China (although i'm glad I saw it) all of the tourist sites looked about the same, had hoardes of tourists milling about, and they all looked like they were built yesterday. The monasteries felt to be more like tourist attractions than places of religious worship. Some of the tourist towns and sites seemed to have more souvenier sellers than ordinary people living life. Much of it felt quite contrived to me, especially after a week or two.
So, what was your experience in Tibet like? How does it compare to what I've listed above? I certainly don't mind other tourists or souvenir sellers; these things almost invariably come with traveling. But there is a point when it feels like an act rather than real people living their daily lives and expressing their cultures as they would even if there were no tourists watching them.
Thanks for you time.
Hal Fischer
We only did Lhasa to EBC but somehow, it mostly didnt feel like the usual tourist routes you get in other Asian countries. Maybe it was the time of the year, it was early April. Our main aim was to get to Mt Everest so we probably committed great sacrilege by not visiting monasteries along the way. We did get the opportunity to interact with locals at several places.
Good day Hal,
Since you have wanted to visit the place for a long while and crave authenticity, now is the time, or at least sometime in the next 5-7 years.
Why is that the Chinese are sinosising Tibet so fast it is hard to believe! Major roads are being entirely re-constructed, a hundred kilometres at a time; the railway [unfortunately and inexplicably, so beloved of western tourists that it is perpetually book solid!] you probably know about, there is talk of an airport just north of Mt Kailash [look out the window, mum, a neat snow peak], roadworks all the way from Montser to the already paved 60kms south of Ali, and so on. It's a strategy that worked well for them in other far west minority areas, affecting the Uyghurs and Mongolians. Tibet's size, remoteness and altitude has held back this kind of infrastructure development for quite some time, but not for much longer...
Now to answer you question, based on travels to India, Pakistan, Sth East Asia for over 25 years: Tibet outside of the increasingly Chinese cities like Lhasa, Shigatse and Tsedang [which come across as a cross between bustling growing metropolises, the wild west and an army barracks], is refreshingly real, sparsely populated and relatively untouched.
So really it is there for you to see right now - and any road off the main drags will take you to amazing places. A large section of the EBC road is due for paving before the 08 Olympics, so that will change everything on that route, as hordes of 4wds will go fizzing by the small settlements at high speed, and no doubt that itself will attract the same types that love the new train - so clean, fast and 'western' - so what is currently a pretty tough road across a couple of high passes and passing wonderful little towns will become a freeway with all-too-predictable results: hordes of short stay visitors, more garbage, etc. The we will see new fancy hotels for the folks who cannot handle cheap accommodation, who 'demand' something better...
My advice to all who feel like you is to stay awhile and go farther afield; yes, you will get dirty and be bounced around on dirt roads, etc, but you will have an opportunity to mingle with the locals and the Nepalis who run businesses in many areas, sleep in mudbrick dwellings, deal direct with nomads if you wish to. And to see some ancient, timeless sights and places...much like Ladakh, really, but more grand, and higher.
And BTW, most of the 6000+ monasteries destroyed in the cultural revolution have been very well-restored in terms of their original appearance. I do not know the facts of the issue, but I am guessing the religious orders arranged and carried out the work, which of course continues to this day. From the 50-60 I have seen, they have done a fine job - they certainly do not look squeaky clean and new, like so many edifices in mainland China do, that plastic look..
When all is said and done, most visitors are on a tight timetable - 5 to 10 days seems to be it for many, if not most. But this is a giant land, and getting a good grip on it takes much longer - and there are still very few large population centres, and a very small population in overall terms. It will be long time before rapid modernisation will affect many areas, most of which are closed in any case. And the spectres of peak oil, economic townturn, climate change and their effects will slow the pathological developments in Tibet, sooner or later. Good luck, good travels...
It worths.We had an excellent trip to Tibet through windhorsetour.com Bright sunshine, clean and fresh air, crystal clear sky, vast grassland, snow-capped peaks are not the only theme for traveling Tibet. The Tibetan Buddhism and the rich Khamba folk customs, such as the residential housing, the costumes, weddings, funerals, bite and sups, and the folk arts. There are also old folk songs and dance traditions. Tourists have chances to enjoy when there are gatherings for celebrating various traditional festivals. The most characteristic and the most vigorous part in the Tibetan culture can be found in Lhasa, Chamdo, Zetung and Shigatse. What’s more, there are never lack of handicrafts and carvings for souvenirs and your eye shopping.So far,We used windhorsetour to arrange an excellent visit with many stops throughout China, up to Wolong to the panda reserve base and on to Lhasa.
I found Tibet to be very worthwhile. There is a strong Chinese influence in the cities but places like Lhasa still retain a unique flavour. Outside of the cities it seems to be pretty much life as usuall though horses are being gradually replaced by motorcycles. I doid travel independently for much of my visit so I can't really say what the tour group experience would be like but I didn't get a feeling that anything was being staged for my benefit and apart from a few vendors hawkers and beggars plying their trades no one is really in your face like they are in other parts.
WeiLong in Tibet
#2 Thanks greatly for your long reply. This certainly helps in my decision. I have two options at this point: to go via Nepal in a tour group along the friendship highway, or to fly to Hong Kong and arrange a permit and a train from Gangzhou to Llasa to travel a bit independantly. Any advice on what will be most rewarding, based on the information I have told you above?
#3 is an obvious attempt at advertising. This thorntree member has joined the thorn tree the day of this post and has at least one other post in addition to this one "recommending" their company. Hence, I think it is best that we choose to boycott this company.
Hal Fischer
From what I understand entering Tibet from Nepal prevents you from further travel in China. Entering Tibet from China means you are free to return to China after visting Tibet.
You can travel further but only with the group you enter Nepal with and for only as long as the visa allows. It is possible to change the group visa but its very difficult and cant be done everywhere.
I think Tibet is definitely worth going to, even though the Lhasa area has a large Chinese population. Though the trip from Nepal to Lhasa via Everest is a standard tour that many people take, it is a good one to do. Not many people finish that trip being disappointed. Having lived in Tibet for going on 6 years and traveled nearly 130,000kms across the greater Tibet area, I really don't think you would be disappointed coming to Tibet.
Hi Philip_pj (#2), but why is that "when major roads are being entirely re-constructed, a hundred kilometres at a time" being classifieid as a way to sinosisized Tibet?
Railway may be different, in both political and environmental perspective, but building highways along some smaller villages, in my opinion, should be a way to bring modernization, rather than the so-called "sino-sization".
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