Must be with a guide in Tibet now.

How come you only posted once and then in bad English?

Actually - most of the time the "armed guards" are nothing to do with foreign tourists at all. It is the unarmed PSB that you need to be more worried about if you are a foreign tourist trying to get around without a permit!

#1, it might be his first post but at least he's not touting for business. As for his poor English, not uncommon in most Chinese.

Nothing kind of new, so what's the point then # 3?

{quote:title=bengbubob wrote:}{quote}
Lhasa has changed a lot for the better.

It has changed a lot indeed over the past 2 years, I wouldn't say that's for the better though...

{quote:title=bengbubob wrote:}{quote}
if you travel outside Lhasa you must have a guide with you.

Nothing new here.

{quote:title=bengbubob wrote:}{quote}
There are check points with armed guards when I was there in November

I guess I must have visited a different country last November then. I didn't see any checkpoints with armed guards anywhere outside Lhasa except for one military checkpoint after Baipa. There were military patrolling the streets of Lhasa but not anywhere else. And no checkpoint just outside Lhasa (the first one is 500km away at Lhatse, just before the turn-off to Mount Kailash, and this one is hardly a real checkpoint as it's only concerned with checking drivers' licences).

Change brings both good and bad, as always. I am kind of looking forward to having a guide to be honest, to get much good information to be better informed. For example, just having someone to ask the monks about special features of gompas...last time at Chiu I did not know about it being the location of the last week in Guru Rinpoche's life, for example.

Good to hear not many checkpoints, I have seen a lot of military in the far west and north five years ago. After say, Israel 30 years ago, those in the TAR seemed very pleasant and self-disciplined to us last time.

Strange maybe, but you get asked for your passport MUCH more in Ladakh/Zanskar, and Leh airport is tough to photograph; admittedly, Pakistan is close by.

There were plenty of military truck convoys in Western Tibet, esp in the Aksai Chin, but none were concerned about us cyclists. It's actually even possible to hitch a ride on one of the trucks. As long as you don't wonder about in restricted areas, they don't care.

Funny to see how the permits work in Ladakh. Even agencies change the dates with typex or add names ! Even without a passport, it's still posible to ride through checkpoints. Last time I cycled up Khardung La from Leh, I got away with a simple insurance card and a two-hour chat ! I wish if was that simple in Tibet !