train from hong kong to tibet through lanzhou or chengdu?

I'm hoping to go to Tibet by train, unfortunately I made the mistake of setting HK as my departure point rather than the apparently more common Beijing. I've heard rumors about a Guangzhou-Lhasa train, but can't find out if that is real, or not. Also, some websites say they cannot reserve tickets for individuals to tibet because everything is booked. Is this true of all trains going into Tibet? A second option I was considering was booking a ticket to lanzhou or chengdu, staying a night there and finding a travel agency there to book a ticket (and?) "tour" to get me into Tibet...would this work, or be an unnecessary complication? If it would, does anyone know a travel agency in one of those cities that will sell cheap tours, just the minimum to get across the border? Also, to anyone who has gotten into Tibet via train and not had their permit checked--what route did you take, and how and where did you buy the ticket? If the permit does get checked, where would this occur--upon boarding the train, crossing the border, or arriving in Lhasa? Finally, does anyone know what happens if you get caught without one?

oh, i leave sept 14...so these questions would be for travel starting on the 16th or so...

thanks!

kristina

Yes, there IS a Guangzhou -- Lhasa train, in both directions. Departs only every other day.
Xining seems to be the best place to get a train ticket to Lhasa, currently. Never mind that it might only be hard seat.
Please try to search or browse the forum for answers to most of your other questions, they're current FAQs.
Cheers!

I'd recomend going from Golmud. The trip is shorter 14 hours during the day. Hard seat tickets (143 RMB) are readly available you can buy the ticket yourself no one askes for a permit. I suspect if you get asked for a permit you can get one in Lhasa at the train station based on anoucements that were made on the train. I'd didn't bother with that either.

If you're travelling this way, I assume you don't want to get a permit and you take some risk. From recent reports it seems to be okay to travel by train to Tibet without any permit, I think it's no problem also, but nobody can guarantee you anything, so take your own risk.

Anyway, it's possible to buy the Guangzhou - Lhasa train ticket in Hong Kong. They don't sell it to a foreigner so you'll have to ask a Chinese friend to buy one for you.

The address:

China Railway
G14 booth, Hung Hom KCR Station

A HK$100 processing fee is needed, but the advantage of booking the ticket at this office in Hong Kong (instead of Guangzhou) is that they let you book the ticket around one month in advance.

Also, if you're in Hong Kong and want to take the train ride from Guangzhou to Lhasa, you'll probably need to stay one night in Guangzhou because the earliest bus/KCR from Hong Kong to Guangzhou starts rather late.

Difficult to get tickets of any sort in Chengdu. Contact Sims if you want to check on availability but they'll tell you they cant guarantee getting tickets.