Join us!! Lhasa-EBC and other places-Lhasa (Sep 5-11)

Have you got guaranteed bookings on the train already or are you hoping to get them to travel on 1st Sept??

I myself would rather spend the night on the way at Sakya than twice at Shigatse.

hey,
i was just wondering the same thing. have you already bought those train tickets from chengdu to lhasa?

we, girl 22 and guy 23, are in yunnan at the moment and basically thinking about doing the same thing you are planning to do. we want to go to tibet around the beginning of september, stay for a couple of days in lhasa and then head south on the friendship highway. the only problem we have so far, is that we dont have either a flight ticket nor a train ticket to lhasa. we are thinking about either buying a flight ticket in zhongdian (shangrila) or chengdu, which is kinda really expensive or get a train ticket in chengdu... but all we have haerd so far is that buying a trainticket in chengdu is really hard! so what about your tickets? what did they cost....

dom and denise

Yes, I'm interested. I am in Kathmandu now, will leave for Lhasa as soon as possible after August 25. I want to go both to EBC and Mt. Kailash. Your EBC time frame might be just right for me.
...Arnold

Damned tough itinerary! We were knacked by the altitude for the five days spent in Lhasa. Went to all the other places. EBC - only reason to go would be to say you have been there. Has all the charm of a disused cnstruction camp. On the other hand, the scenery getting there is superb!! we took the alternative route both ways - the "main" road was closed for reconstruction. Really hard work though. Make sure you have a competent driver - our one was great but we say some cowboys!

We have the train tickets - leaving Chengdu on the 31st August, arriving in Lhasa on September 2nd (not the 1st as we said before - oops). We got them through Sim's Cozy Guesthouse, they just happened to have available hard sleepers when we arrived, they cost 1400 yuan pp, including train, entry permit, and some tour that they're making us do in Chengdu before we leave. Considering we did not have any expectations of getting tickets at all, we were pretty happy.

A night in Sakya on the way sounds like a good idea. As we said before, we're open to any suggestions and really looking for people to share the cost!

Arnold, please let us know if you think our schedules might work out. Dom and Denise, let us know about the tickets! We will be away from internet for the next 3 days, but we'll get in touch as soon as we get back.

Thanks for the replies!

Sophie and Katy

Hi Sophie and Katy,

We are 2 Spanish travellers (girl + boy, 27 yo) and we plan to do almost the same itinerary. We arrive in Lhasa on September 4th and leave on the 14th. Our idea would be to take your suggested trip, but starting on September 6th and then until de 11th or 12th. Do you think you could make it fit into your schedule? We also have some flexibility, but would like to spend a couple of days in Lhasa before heading to EBC, to acclimatise and so on.

See you soon!

hey,

sorry didnt have any internet access for the last couple days... well we still dont have any tickets. we are still trying, but it seems to be quite difficult to get any. today we went to different agencies here in shangrila. they told us that it takes at least 3 days to process the permit for a flightticket and they also said that we have to book a guide for lhasa in advance... that sounds really strange to us... overland would take about 7 days but to get the right permit would take another 9 days. so i guess so far we havent found a good way to get to lhasa. but we are still looking...

well we keep you up to date...

dom & denise

You may have better luck if you go from Zhongdian up to Chengdu and get your plane tickets and permit there. Contact Sims before you left and ask them to get them for you.