Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
CHINA - TIBET 01/10/2007 UNTIL 10/12/2007
Our trip has begun in China (Chengdu), where we obtained our travel permits to go to Tibet. So, we flew to Lhasa, 3600 meters from the sea level. There, every individual traveler encounter difficulties because new permits are needed to be able to travel further into Tibet. Bus stations don't sell tickets to foreigners who have to rent a Jeep with driver and a guide in a travel agency. This is expensive and requires time to find other people for sharing the cost. We put some advertisement in the main guesthouses but at the end of october, with the cold weather come the end of the tourist activities and it is particulary difficult to organise and get the needed permits to make a trip in the Western Tibet, to the Mount Kailash. After several days in Lhasa, we decided to get out of Tibet by train and headed to Golmud. But we didn't want want to give up our idea of traveling into Tibet, we REALLY wanted to discover ther part of China ! We took plenty of buses on the silk road, through flat and desertiques Landscapes...
We saw another part of China, so different than the modern cities. Along the way, we'd stop in dusties small towns surounded by cotton fieds. At the end, we had by passed Tibet by the North West side, to the muslim town of Yecheng. From there, we bought bus tickets to Ali, the first big city in Western Tibet. After 25 hours on a old sleeping and dusty bus which took us through wild landscape and high plains up to 5000 meters, we were glad to get back in Tibet, but we had become illegal. So in Ali, we regularised our situation by paying a fine (45 USD each) and buying a new permit which allowed us to travel freely. We got transported in another world, in the heart of a huge, deserted and wild Canyon. In this great scenery, we discovered Guge Kingdom, an old monastery built on the edge of a mountain. In this area, there are very few transport available but we were lucky to meet other backpakers. Together, we rent a Jeep and headed to Mount Kailash, the most sacred mountain in Tibet. We hiked on the paths, along thousand of colorful priers flags. Here, it is nearly 5000 meters high, and we enjoyed the pure air, rivers, isolated monasteries and the white Mount Kailash summit. Then, after traveling through many Tibetan villages preaded on the high plains, we reached Lhasa. From here, it was hard to organise a trip in Eastern Tibet, in the goal of going to China (Yunnan). Patience helped us find two more travelers ready to share this adventure. Together, we prepared our trip. Of course, all the permits and vehicle had to be organised by a travel agency. Some unexpected problems made us beeing unsure until the departure date. And the permits were so long to get ! And we finally left Lhasa as we planed. We had long and bumpy days in the Jeep with a crazy driver, going up and down through the mountains, villages, herd of Yaks, high passes, snow, cold weather and very basic accomodations. But it was a beautiful trip, with a lot of different sceneries. Our driver droped us in Shangri-La from where we reached by bus the touristic cities of Lijiang, Dali and modern Kunming. Then, we took a night bus to Ruili, the border town with Myanmar...
- comments