Tibet Travel Information
Tibet Travel is as an Adventure.
Go to Tibet for an adventure and not for a luxury: Tibet is the land of overwhelmingly beautiful landscape, rich culture, ancient religion, amazing myths and gorgeous mountains. Renowned as the last Shangri La in the world, Tibet is isolated by the high Himalayas and is one of the least developed parts of the world. Facilities are being upgraded and professionalism is still underway. So travelers are warned that they should not expect a luxury and a full fledge professionalism in Tibet. Its extreme remoteness, harsh weather, and difficult geography makes the journey challenging.
Tibet is the land of overwhelmingly beautiful landscape, rich culture, ancient religion, amazing myths and gorgeous mountains. Renowned as the last Shangri La in the world, Tibet is isolated by the high Himalayas and is one of the least developed parts of the world. Facilities are being upgraded and professionalism is still underway. So travelers are warned that they should not expect a luxury and a full fledge professionalism in Tibet. Its extreme remoteness, harsh weather, and difficult geography makes the journey challenging.
Accommodation: Only Cities like Lhasa, Gyantse and Shigatse have hotels with private toilet, hot shower and some modern amenities. Lhasa Hotel (Formerly Holiday Inn) is the only 4 star properties in Lhasa. Other hotels that we use are Yak Hotel (3 star) . We use Gyantse Hotel (3 star) in Gyantse and Manasarover Hotel (2 star) in Shigatse . Electricity and hot water supply may be disrupted although the hotels of cities promise them. Hot water availability in some hotels may be for a few hours of the day only. You will have to check out that at the reception.
Guesthouse accommodation and dormitories with very basic facility are available in the rest of the part of Tibet. In such places, you will not expect private toilet, hot shower, TV or any other amenities. In Mount Kailash and Trekking region, we have to set the tented camps. You will adjust in a two-person tent, furnished with mattresses and pillows. Besides, there will be a dinning tent, a kitchen tent and a few toilet tents installed.
Transportation: Depending on the group size, route and the road condition, we use good conditioned 4WD land cruiser jeeps of 4500 or 80 models, Toyota Hiace Microbus and Toyota Coasters for transportation. Mountain Biking trip, Western Tibet and trekking trips have to be supported by trucks for the supplies and gears. Because of remoteness and difficult road conditions, mechanical problem with the vehicles can come up time to time. In such case, we request you for your patience and co-operation. You can keep yourselves busy in photography or playing cards or engage in some other kind of fun while the drivers fix the vehicles. In the event of landslides or road blockade by any reason and service of porters are required to carry your luggage or hire another means of transport between the two landslides or for onward journey, your co-operation is very important.
Guides: Tibetan guides are reported to have limited English and you may not expect a fluent explanation about culture and religion or any other academic topics from them. They find their job well done in dealing with the bureaucracies and clearing with the checkpoints. However, we try out best to assign trained and knowledgeable guides, certified by Tourism Authority of Tibet. We distinguish ourselves from other companies in that because we choose the best guides: knowledgeable, flexible and the ones who are proud passionate about the job. On a big size group tour, Nepalese Tour Leader will accompany the group from Kathmandu.
Food: In Central Tibet, the trip includes daily breakfast in the hotels. While trekking and Mount Kailash trip, there will be a team of Nepalese and Tibetan crews to prepare 3 meals a day for you. Most of the supplies come from Nepal and some vegetables are purchased locally. The cook changes the menu every day, from Nepali to Tibetan to Continental! With whatever possible from the limited supplies that they bring from Nepal. The major cities like Lhasa, Gyantse, Shigatse, Tsetang and Zhangmu have choices of restaurants serving Continental, Chinese and Tibetan dishes. Besides, you may want to bring with you energy bars, dry foods like chocolates, cookies, dried fruits etc to eat on the way.
Photography: Photography at the airport, bridge and government establishment is not allowed. On violation of this rule, it's not only the penalty that you will pay but you will loose the film also. Inside the monastery, you can take pictures with permission only from the Lamas or monks and you may have to pay 10 to 20 RMB in each chapels/chambers.
Communication: Many areas of Tibet are without communication facilities, including telephone and postal services. In Western Tibet, there is no telephone facility after Saga, the small city near the famous Brahamaputra River. In case of emergency, please ask your family and friends to contact the staff at our Kathmandu office that will provide information and respond to their needs accordingly.
