India to China overland

As far as I know the Karakoram Highway is still up and running as a tourist route. That part of Pakistan is still safe and backpackers were still using it to get to India. But check Lonely Planet's Thorntree forum for the latest updates.

Nepal to Tibet is no problem, except of course about losing whatever China visa you might have got prior to it. You can get a 1 person or 2 person group visa. It works like this, until Lhasa you will be stuck with a group of however big, everybody will be on their own group visa's. After Lhasa, once the tour is over you can opt to continue on into China or return to Nepal by flight. the only problem with even the individual group visa's is that you can get only a certain amount of time on it. I can't remember how much, I think I managed to get it up to 4 weeks or so. Anyway once you get into China you can extend it and get at least another month. Price remains the same by the way, since you are in a group for the Tibet part, even if you are on your own group visa. Reply to this

I just read the thorntree forum on getting a Pakistani visa in India and it seems to be a no go at the moment,but rules change constantly so who knows? If you are in Thailand you could try the Pakistani embassy there. Mostly they will give you three months to get to Pakistan, but not sure what the policies are these days.

I have got a China visa in Tashkent, no problems, you could get 4 month double entry as maximum. This was as of last year July, so not up to date I guess. I think in Mongolia it is no problem whatsoever, it is normal for many backpackers to go to Mongolia on their China trip and then come back again.

As I said, you can extend the 'group' visa once outside Tibet, but you would still have little time I suspect. So good options would be Mongolia or HK, to just get a new visa.

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Sorry for the late reply, I am on the road myself and very busy arranging my trip to Myanmar at the moment (crispy new dollars are needed for there, and then the places I might want to go need permits, so I am looking into what is possible and what not). Anyway to answer you question, I have heard the same, but haven't been to India since this new rule was implemented. I would suggest to visit an Indian embassy and see what they say. Maybe you can still get a 6 months multiple entry at some embassies, who knows? In and with India anything and everything is possible. But as you said I have heard the same about the 6 month multiple entry. Again I suggest asking at the embassy or perhaps see what they say at the Lonely Planet Thorntree forum. Sorry that I can't help much on this department. Reply to this

Hey, some info on the India visa. I just talked to an Australian who was going to India tomorrow and he had got himself a 6 month multiple entry visa at the Indian embassy in Bangkok. So clearly it is still possible. Maybe it is just a question of insisting or maybe some embassies do it and others don't. Either way, now you know that at least some embassies are still issuing them. Reply to this