ASIA OVERLAND 2002
Leg 6: arrival in Tibet

Our route and means of transportation

Between Golmud and Lhasa we've caught the legendary sleeper-bus that goes along this route. We've made it in just 25 hours, but the average is of about 30 and we've been told about people who took about 60. The route is 1.115 km long and is absolutely the hardest travel we've ever faced. You drive over two over-5.000 meter altitude passes, reaching the highest altitude of 5.200 meters, and almost the entire route is between 4.500 and 4.800 meters of altitude. Forget to take this way unless you've got good acclimatization; the contrary could be really dangerous. We've previously stopped a few days in Xining (2.200m.) and Golmud (2.800m), and slept one night in Xiahe (3.000m.) before starting this part of our trip (see Leg 5).
In Golmud you can find oxygen bottles sold for just a few Yuan, but frankly they're quite useless; they could be of some use for emergency cases. With good acclimatization you should have no major problem.
Still, remember that at those altitudes, even in the middle of Summer, you need to bring something warm for the night. Bring also some food. Our bus stopped only once for dinner. Also, bring a lot of water to fight altitude effects.

Note: other overland routes for Tibet come from Chengdu and Kashgar. The one from Chengdu is longer and harder than the one from Golmud, and in 2002 it was still off-limits for tourists. We've read about somebody who made it illegally hitch-hiking, but the journey was terrible. The Kashgar-Lhasa route has been opened to tourists in 2002. Theoretically the rules are the same (see below) that apply for the route from Golmud. But the travel lasts at least five days, mostly above 5.000 meter altitude, in a quite deserted area of Himalaya that is crossed only by 4WD or Chinese trucks. It's surely a superb journey, but also a really harsh one too. While in Kashgar (see leg 9) we've known an Italian couple who had gone this way - they called it a really extreme journey.

From Lhasa we've gone to Ganden with a rented 4WD. It's about 80 km (to and fro), along a hair-raising series of hairpin curves, going all the way up to 4.300 meters. As non-Chinese tourists, there's no way to rent a car without a local driver.

Note: if you intend to go further in Tibet, you should stay some days in Lhasa (3.600 meters) to even better acclimatize.

Season

From July 2nd to 10th 2002.

Countries covered

China, Tibet.

Lodging and overnight

The Golmud-Lhasa sleeper-bus is a hell of a tin box with two layers of benches about 1.5 meter long. Stating you can sleep in there is rather optimistic. Try to get a place in front, at least to breath a little better. Consider that if you're not too lucky you might be spending two nights in here.

In Lhasa we've slept one night in Kirey Hotel, and the other nights in Yak Hotel. They belong to the same hotel category (budget hotels in the Tibetan area, quite typical and beautiful), but we really preferred Yak Hotel. Both of them and most budget hotels in the Tibetan area have both common and private rooms. Notice that the "place to be" in Lhasa *is* the Tibetan area. If you choose the Chinese area it's like saying you want to be in Manhattan and you actually sleep in New Jersey. With the difference that the Chinese area is more expensive than the Tibetan one.

Visa

China: see Leg 4.

Tibet: the bureaucratic procedure to obtain your documents and permits to go further through Tibet can be either unnerving and depressive, or fast and clean. It really depends on what your target is. In 2002 the only way to enter Tibet overland passed through Golmud. Theoretically you can't enter the area as an independent tourist, although there's a number of illegal ways you can try - just read Lonely Planet for pros and cons. Here we're describing only the "official" method.
Premise: it's useless to ask for a permit for Tibet anywhere else in China outside Golmud, above all in Beijing. In Beijing you're actually *not* given a permit for Tibet. Another important point to keep in mind is that when you're applying for a Chinese visa you *mustn't* specify that you wish to enter Tibet, otherwise you won't see any visa at all (see the section Visa in Leg 4). It's also useless to go directly to PSB, even in Golmud, and even try your luck and go buy a ticket to Lhasa at the Golmud bus station. Even if you're able to buy one (you'll be paying 10 times the Chinese price although you're a perfect Chinese speaker), at the first check point outside Golmud you'll be stopped by the police.
The only key to get your permit for Tibet passes through the CITS office in Golmud and a pack of dollars (200$ a person in July 2002). The CITS of Golmud sells the permit together with a "package" that includes the bus ticket, three nights in Lhasa and an English-speaking guide. At least three people are required to form a group that can be sold this package.
This last rule is no big deal, actually, sooner or later you'll find some other tourist in Golmud who wishes to leave for Lhasa. About the "package", that's just the way to get to Lhasa. Once you're there nobody will ever bother where you're sleeping, what you're doing and if you're alone or not. In other words, when you're in Lhasa you'll be totally abandoned - if you want. Otherwise you can choose to stay in the common room that have been booked for you for three nights by the CITS of Golmud. We've let it go.
When you'll have paid the CITS of Golmud - only in cash Yuan - they'll think about everything. You'll just have to step on the damned sleeper-bus. You won't be seeing the shade of a permit, nor any other document. Simply, you'll have paid a bribe, and the CITS will pass your name to the bus driver, who will be your only free pass at check points.
We've known somebody who has tried other ways (hitchhiking, bus on his own, etc.), even people who've been working in China for years and a girl with an ONG pass. Almost none of them has been able to enter Tibet in other ways. An American guys who'd been working in China for five years, after been caught by the police on the bus, had been able to hitchhike on a car, paying only 100$, and has passed all check points during the night. Another American guy had been able to buy the bus ticket from Xining paying only 40$ (the Chinese fare is of 4$), and bribed the sleeper-bus driver: he's been hidden in the back of the bus for two days without ever being able to get down. If you like this way…
Finally, don't trust those who offer you a passage for 100$ on their own 4WD outside Golmud train station. You've got no warranty that they'll actually be able to bring you all the way to Lhasa, and if the police catches you, you'll also have to say goodbye to your 100$.

Note: we advice reading our travel log along this route to better understand all the bureaucratic mechanisms and the ways to get to Tibet as an independent tourist.

Not to miss and not to go for

If you're able to enjoy it, the Golmud-Lhasa journey is amazing.
Lhasa is magical. Don't miss a cold lassi before dinner, on the terrace of any bar on the Jokhang square.
Dedicate at least a full day to the short kora in Lhasa. Keep in mind that the Potala palace is open only in the morning.
Another highlight you cannot miss is an afternoon at Sera monastery, assisting the monks' oratory art exercises.
However long your stay in Lhasa is, leave the visits to the Potala palace and the Drepung monastery for the last days. Going up to 4.000 meters along infinite stairways without being acclimatized means real suffering.
From Lhasa you should make a one-day excursion to Ganden, also in order to perfection your acclimatization. Ganden is a real jewel, an architectonic wonder located in a breathtaking environment. Don't miss this monastery or the higher Kora, which offers extraordinary panoramas on the monastery and on the valley, although it's over 4.400 altitude.

*****

Warning (important note): these days (October 2003) we just read a note published on Lonely Planet web site (follow this >>link<<) which denies what we have written on this page about the rules and laws for moving around Tibet (permits, etc.). It looks like the person who posted the note was in Tibet just one month after our trip and what he tells about is totally different from what we (and all of the other guys we met those days in Lhasa) experienced. Also, reading this note, it seems that all of us have beeen bribed by Tour Agencies in Lhasa, by Snowland hotel and by Qomolongma National Park rangers.
While giving credit to this note, also we notice that *all* of the guys we met in Lhasa those days were in our same situation. Moreover, those same days we read other notes on that web site and they stated exactly what we found there. So, not considering who is wrong and who is right, the lesson learned (first, by ourselves, if that note is right!) is this: read, read, read and get as much information as you can before getting on.