Tibet Overland Tour

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Just got back to Kathmandu from a tour that was supposed to be a 7 night 8 day tour with a flight back from Lhasa, Tibet to Kathmandu, Nepal over the Himalayas.

What can I say - the Tibetian people are lovely and if you can switch of from the rules and regulations that the Chinese place on tourists and the Tibetians thenselves then you may have a great time.

We started the tour from Kathmandu by bus to the border. The drive reminded me of travelling up to Skippers Crossing over Shot Over river in the South Island of New Zealand on a bigger scale.

At the border we changed into old Land Cruisers, 6 in each car, asian driver, guide and 4 of us. We got 10 minutes over the border and the driver stops, gets out and buys a clutch from a shop and proceeds to open to bonnet and put the clutch in without saying a word. Three hours later we were on our way.

We stayed in Nyalam, which was typically budget standard, which was fully excpected. The drive the following day was a full 12 hour day through the Tibetain dessert. At times hard with altitude reaching 5,200m. We had a flat tyre about 3 hours into it - fun and games continued. This also allowed us to play with outback Tibetians which was one of the special moments on of the trip.

Nyalam to Lhatse ( there we saw Mount Everest, this is a totaly awesome sight) , then Shigatse, then Shigatse to Lhasa on the 5th day.
When we arrived we attempted to stay at a hottle in the centre of town. This was booked up. Upon reversing from the carpark, it was inevitable that our driver was going to have an accident at some stage, this was the right time, especially as we weren't going to be staying there. It was quite funny at the time. We found some accomodation and were quite happy.

The following couple of days we visited Monestries, Potalla Palace being one of then which was very interesting. Overall at this stage the trip was quite good. By the 8th day we had had enough time on the tour and in Tibet. Up early on the 8th day and travelled to the airport, 1 and 1/2 hour drive.

We got our boarding passes and sent our luggage through. Now time to go through immigration. Our guide had left us there without our group visa. when travelling in Tibet, you need to be on a group visa. Two people from our tour had applied for and recieved extended visas for China and still had our visa, which we were unaware at the time. They were in the domestic terminal waiting to fly to Chengdu. There was no way were going to be allowed on that plane without the visa. The plane was held up, extra Chinese security were summonsed due to my Russian friends unhappy. In the end the tour guide came back, got the visa as the plan flew away. Next plane three days, 1 seat left, visa runs out in 3 days. Only option was to drive back to way we came to the border. We did this in two days. Got to the border and still had problem with the visa due to a change in the itinery. All we wanted to do was leave the country not stay. We waited first in line at the border at 7.30am and crossed the border and 1pm. I kiss the Nepalese ground.

The tibetian culture is still strong and they are still very heavily into their religion, which is good to see. This may seem like a negative blog -Tibet is still a great place to visit. It may be more enjoyable on your own if you can get a visa as a group hiring a driver as a guide. Some people were doing this. It may also we easier and more flexible coming in from Chengdu, which is also an option.

Have caught up with Deb tonight and we are off to do the Annapurna circuit tomorro. Better later than never. Chat at the end of the circuit - take care.

Thanks for all the emails
Sorry no photos - having problems attaching

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