Hello!
I did a trip to Tibet a while ago and thought I‘d post about my impressions. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me anything.
How to enter Tibet:
I’m a german citizen and I visited Tibet during my 30 day Visa-Free stay in China. I took the plane from Chengdu to Lhasa airport. There is a 34 hour train also but I didn’t feel confident enough to spend this long on a train. Tibet is more heavily controlled by the Chinese government, so you cannot go in without a special permit. These are not issued to regular people so you‘re going to need a guided tour. I did mine with an agency called Travel Vista (www.tibettravel.org). I booked the 8-day Tour which included Lhasa, Shigatse multiple monasteries and Mount Everest Base Camp. The physical permit was delivered to the hostel I stayed at and handed to me personally by the delivery man, the agency stayed in contact with me during that time and made sure I receive it. The tour cost me around 1500 USD, it included my flights, hotels, transportation and the tickets to all sights and monasteries.
Itinierary:
Days 1-3:
We got picked up by a driver and got transported to our hotel in Lhasa. The first day was meant to relax and get accustomed to the altitude and general low oxygen in the area. The next day our trip started, the first monastery we visited was Drepung Monastery, after that we visited Sera monastery where we got to witness monastic debates between the monks. After the first full day we had a welcoming buffet and some performances of traditional Tibetan arts. The following day we also visited Potala Palace, Lhasas inner city, where we had lunch and practiced Buddhist rituals like meditation and printing mantras on prayer flags and visited Jokhang Monastery in the heart of Lhasa.
Day 4:
After the first full two days in and around Lhasa we made our way to Shigatse. During our drive to Shigatse we got to see Tibetan landscapes and nature. We looked at the mountains from different viewpoints, visited Yamdrok Yumco lake (one of my favs), Karola Glacier and Shigatse Bally farmlands. We also visited a Tibetan household where we had lunch and arrived to Shigatse in the evening. The next day the journey to Mount Everest began.
Day 5:
It took the whole day to Everest Base Camp and on the way we stopped at many more beautiful viewpoints across the Himalayas. In the late afternoon we arrived to Everest Base Camp, had some hotpot and went to the highest monastery in the world, Rongbuk monastery right next to Everest Base Camp. We spent the night at Base Camp. There are newly constructed container hotel rooms units where you can see Everest outside the window of the room.
Day 6:
In the morning the view to Everest was the clearest, we spent some time admiring the mountain and prepared for our way back to Shigatse. On the way back we stopped at various viewpoints to also see Mount Lhotse
Day 7:
The last full day was our way back from Shigatse to Lhasa, we visited Tashilhunpo monastery and drove along the Yarlung Zangbo river back to our hotel in Lhasa. We also had another farewell dinner with performances of Tibetan dances and music.
Day 8:
Transportation back to Lhasa airport in the morning.
Impressions:
Seeing the landscapes, the monasteries, the general differences of life in Tibet and especially the Mount Everest was an amazing experience. Tibetans are crazy resourceful, it’s amazing what you can get out of a Yak. Lhasa and especially Shigatse have been surprisingly developed, Shigatse is a important economic center tho. These monasteries are remote places, very silent and reclusive, but I wouldn’t say the trip was very spiritually awaking in that sense. Very informative, I learned more about Tibet, monks and Buddhism than ever before in my life.
Difficulty/challenge:
The tour itself wasn’t really challenging, what is a little heavy however is the general altitude and the lack of oxygen. We had oxygen tubes provided for us and hotel rooms are generally provided with additional oxygen outlets. We definitely had older people with us, so it should be possible for anyone that has a regular physical condition. Since I didn’t use any additional oxygen I did feel a little dizzy most of the time and got out of breath quickly. These monasteries are pretty huge and have a lot of steps, which, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t be a problem to me (I‘m a 27 year old male) but in these altitudes I did feel exhausted pretty quickly. That being said, not once did I seriously struggle, it was all just a little bit more exhausting than usual.
Conclusion:
I was glad to do it with the agency I did it with, they managed everything and stayed in contact while doing it. Our guide was a cool Tibetan dude who had a lot of knowledge and told us interesting things. I had a nice group and nice experiences so I‘m really happy with my decision and the overall trip. Seeing Everest from the Chinese side is quite mesmerizing and a experience that I wouldn’t want to miss. Recommend for everyone that wants to see Tibet, the Himalayas, Everest, but doesn’t want a trip thats too rough.
So yea, if u have questions feel free to ask!
If u made it to the end, thanks for reading!
