A girl's eight-year travel in Tibet

"For those who haven't been to Tibet, Tibet is a dream; for those who have already been there, Tibet is a remembrance. To local Tibetans, Tibet is a way of life and to me, living there is my life-time goal."
Li Wan, a graduate from south Guangdong's Zhongshan University, was suddenly crazy about Tibet after having spent less than three months working as an office clerk.
Since 1998, Li devoted most of her time in a war that tests her life extreme. Eight years have past and her foot has covered almost every corner of Tibet.
Li's first trip to Tibet was solely prompted by her inspiration for individual freedom. She entered Tibet along the Yunnan-Tibet Highway. Although she couldn't speak a word of Tibetan language, this did not become a barrier when she communicated with local residents and appreciated them.
"To me, they are free, primitive, simple and happy. It appears to me that people should live in this way, singing while working, dancing while living," Li said.

Li keeps her memory of Tibet by documentary, scripts and photos. It is her destined dream that she will become a part of Tibet someday. She spends ten months in a year traveling somewhere in Tibet and for the rest of the two months, she stays in her rented room arranging her diaries and tape recordings. She has learned to make good use of every penny and keep her cost of living within 300 yuan a month.
So far, Li's written notes about Tibet total up to one million words. Besides, she has made 100 rolls of projections, 3,600 photos and 8 well-made documentaries about Tibet.
"My goal in the next decade is to make a good documentary," Li said, who focuses much of her attention on women and children, "starting from next year, my money will allow me to stay in Tibet for ten months every year. I will keep on traveling and comprehend the place bit by bit," said Li.
From: China Tibet Online

If you are interested in Tibet, too, go to Tibettravel.Org and learn more about Tibet.

Our Client Toh Pake Hoon Juuana's Feedback of Their Tibet Tour

Our client Toh Pake Hoon Juuana, the traveller's representive of tourists, Tjioe Karina Chandra, Tho Pake Guek Jovita, Sayno Winnipred Jacaugune  who used the service of CITS Tibettravel.Org in August 2011 gave us his feedback of Tibet tour.

Hi Tony
I have been meaning to write this since our return from Tibet but somehow never got the chance till now.
We all had a fabulous time in Lhasa and appreciated very much your efficiency and professionalism in coordinating our itinerary in Lhasa. Everything went so smoothly.
In particular we want to thank Norbu, our guide who by far in all our travels is the best guide we have had. He was knowledgeable, helpful, very pleasant and attentive when one of us was not too well. He also went out of his way to make sure we got all the information we need.
We would definitely recommend you, your company and Norbu to anyone who is interested in similar trip to Tibet.
Thank you again.
Best Regards,
Juliana
Sent from my iPad

Gifts from Our Clients Taking Tibet Private Tour

Our clients from Canada enjoyed great fun from their Tibet private tour and were satisfied with the services offered by Tibettravel.Org, so they sent some gifts to their trip advisor, Zoe Kong, to show their thankfulness.

See How to Travel to Tibet: Two Young Men Roller-skated from Chengdu to Lhasa

Many outdoor enthusiasts dream to drive or cycle or hike to Lhasa along the Sichuan-Tibet Highway connecting Chengdu and Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region. However, two young men roller-blading enthusiasts roller-skated to Lhasa from Chengdu, covering 2000 kilometers by 26 days. The two men, Luo Yincai and Li Shaopeng, are respectively from Chengdu and Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province. They started ther hard trip from Yaan on September 16 and arrived at Lhasa on October 12.

The Sichuan-Tibet Highway was their main route, along which they had to overcome all kinds of difficulties and live through risks, like climbing up and down high mountains, crossing rapid rivers and skidding on muddy road. Besides, mudslide and landslide happen easily in the rainy season, and the temperature varies greatly in the mountain areas. Whatever, they got over all difficulties with good preparation and great courage.

From: http://www.tibettravel.org/

Why Travel to Tibet in Winter

Avoid the crowd in the peak time of Tibet tourism, travel to Tibet in winter and enjoy the enthusiasm on the snowy plateau. Though most places of Tibet is chilly, Tibet is not as cold as your imagination, especially Lhasa which is even warmer than Beijing. As the main winter seasons from November to March are covered by warm sunlight, the average temperature of many areas of Tibet is around 10 to 18 degrees centigrade that is actually higher than some places of northern China.

Lhasa is the major destination of Tibet winter tour. Low latitude and abundant sunlight makes the winter temperature of Lhasa more than ten degrees centigrade in the day and around zero degrees centigrade at night. Besides, it is very dry in Lhasa, which will keep you from feeling chill. On the contrary, it is very
comfortable in the warm sunlight.

It is also a great opportunity to feel the calmness of this ancient, holy and mysterious land. In winter, there are less tourists offering a less noisy sightseeing chance to pay a good visit to all the attractions without being disturbed. You also do not have to worry about the availability of the entrance tickets for the hot tourist sites in Lhasa, the world famous Potala Palace in particular. You will not be limited to observe the inside of Potala Palace within an hour. Just visit all the rooms, halls and chapels to your heart's content.

Besides, the cost of Tibet tour might be the most concerned element for some travellers. In fact, travelling to Tibet in winter is the most economical Tibet tour. Many hotels, airlines and Tibet travel agencies will implement discount to attract more tourists with no compromise to services. You can save as much as
50% of a trip to Tibet in summer.

Furthermore, some travellers might worry about that it is harder for high altitude acclimatization. Actually, it could not be a problem if you have a good plan. You can spend two or three days at Lhasa for altitude acclimatization before travelling to other destinations of Tibet.

Therefore, just pack up and travel to Tibet in the coming winter to explore the winter beauty on the roof of the world.
From: http://www.tibettravel.org/

Tips/Advice on designing your own itinerary and estimating your tour expense

In order to meet each traveller's own unique interests and requirements, Tibettravel.Org offers personalized Tibet travel services, including Tibet Private Tours and Group Tours, with different themes, such as Tibet Cultural Tour, Tibet Festival Tour, Tibet Trekking Tour, Tibet Bike Tour, Tibet Train Travel, Tibet Overland Tour, Everest Base Camp Tour, etc. We stand ready to help you to design your own itinerary according to your special requirements. Here are some tips for you to work out a perfect itinerary with reasonable price.

(1) Decide how many days you get to visit Tibet and the date of starting your Tibet tour, which is significant for applying Tibet travel permit for you must enter and exit Tibet within the duration of time listed on your Tibet travel permit.
(2) Decide your focus of travelling to Tibet according our Tibet tour packages by focus at http://www.tibettravel.org/tibet-tour/ or just make a list of the tourist sites you want to visit.

(3) Determine your budget on this trip to Tibet, in other words, do you want a luxury tour or budget tour.
(4) Decide the number of your travel buddies. The more travel buddies, the more money is saved.
(5) Decide what kind of hotel do you wish to stay at, luxury 5 star hotel or economic 3 star hotel or cheap hostel, but out of Lhasa, there is no 5 star hotel. In some remote areas in Tibet, there is only very simple accommodations. Besides, single travelers will need to pay the single supplement.
(6) Decide the way you get to and out of Tibet, by train or by air. During the peak tourism time of Tibet, it is usually hard to get train and air tickets. We can help you to acquire the tickets.

(7) Do not forget to tell us your special requirements, such as vegetarian, not certain meats and other dietary requirements, non-smoking, etc.
If you are ready with the above points, please fill the Tailor-made Tour Inquiry Form at http://www.tibettravel.org/tibet-tour/tour-inquiry-form.html to ask a quick quotation.

Travel Advice for Tibet Winter Tour

Generally, summer is the peak tourism season in Tibet, while most people assume that winter is not a good time to visit Tibet for it is dressed by ice and snow throughout the year. However, winter unlashes another charming attractions of Tibet. In fact, the temperature of Lhasa averages about 12 degrees centigrade in winter and the daytime temperatures of winter in Lhasa can be even higher as a result of intensive sunlight.
Besides, a series of price cut including ticket price, hotel price and flight discount will be implemented during winter. The ticket price for most scenic spots in Tibet is only half of that in the peak time for tourism in Tibet. The hotel price drops by about 40% to 60% from November to next March. Moreover, winter a festive season in Tibet. For Tibet winter travelers, festival celebrations are another attraction. Therefore, winter might be the best travel time for some travellers to Tibet. Here we would like to share some tips for travelling to Tibet in winter (or after October).
Firstly, preparing enough winter clothes is the most important. Enough thick clothes can keep you warm and prevent you from catching a cold or getting upper respiratory tract infections. The temperature in winter varies greatly between daytime and night. Down and feather garments or fur coats, fur boots, thermal underwear, gloves, hats and so on are of great help for a Tibet winter tour.
Secondly, skin care products are also necessary for a winter tour to Tibet. The sunlight in winter is rather skin-damaging in Tibet. You'd better take along sunglasses, glacier caps, sunscreen cream, lip protectors and other skin care products with you to prevent over-exposure to intensive sunshine and snow blindness.
Thirdly, a camera with the ultraviolet filter will help you to take perfect pictures. The ultraviolet radiation is strong in winter in Tibet. With the ultraviolet filter, the pictures taken in winter will not be purple. When photographing a person against the light, you'd better use the flash lamp to make up for the shortage of light. The time for photographing is between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm for the color effects produced by low angle sunlight then can be of great visual impact.
From: http://www.tibettravel.org/

Travel to Tibet in Winter Is also a Wise Choice

Compared with travelling in Tibet in summer,  it is also, to some extent, wiser to stride in Tibet in winter. Advantageous aspects stand to reasons on sufficient time, less tourists and adequate choices of accommodation. Of course, more economical tour expense is undoubtedly the largest superiority. Please
see the elaboration below:
1. Sufficient stay in resorts and in-deep contact with local Tibetan Culture. Some travelers who go to visit Tibet in high season complain that the duration for observing the inside of Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple as well as other cultural and natural spots is quite a flash in a pan(30 to 60 minutes for each) due to the large amount of tourists. Whereas in winter even a 3 or 4 hours stay or longer inside Potala Palace is quite feasible. You will get very detailed knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism from the tour guide. Even have a talk with monks in Monastery at their spare time in winter.
2. Top tour guides will be easily got in winter time. Different from the extremely busy working of tour guide in high season, Tour guides has much less tour groups to guide in winter time, that means, their attention paid to you on every details of your tour will be more intensive than that paid in high season to other travelers. More than this you would easily get an excellent tour guide in winter time for the sufficient supply in low season.
3. Top or sub-luxurious accommodation with much lower price. Either luxurious 5-star hotels on the top or budget guesthouses and hostels at the bottom, especially 5-star and 4-star, are 30%-50% of their price in high season. This cost-effective accommodation is apparently attractive to most travelers. Plus the well equipped heating conditions in good hotels, all travelers are surely to have a good sleep at night. All anxiety and any fretfulness could vanish after a warm and quiet sleep.
From: http://www.tibettravel.org/

Tibet Winter Tour Is Coming

Although summer is the peak tourism season in Tibet, winter is also a charming season with another irresistible attraction. During the 7th Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon cultural tourism festival, Tibet promote its winter tour. Some travellers might think that Tibet in autumn and winter was not suitable for tourism, but in fact it is much worthy to visit Tibet in winter both because of its charming winter scenery and a series of price cut including ticket price, hotel price and flight discount.
The 2011 Tibet Winter Tourism Season is set to be opened during this Yarlung Zangbo festival with half ticket price for most scenic spots in Tibet and hotel price dropping by about 40% to 60% from November 1st this year to March, 2012.

Popular Tibet Train Tour

Tibet Train Tour offered by Tibet Travel Org will lead you go to Tibet by a new railway between China mainland and Lhasa. The “Tibet Train”,”Sky Train”, “Lhasa Express”, “Rocket to the rooftop of the world”, “World’s highest railway”; regardless of what it is called, this Qinghai Tibet railway is truly an engineering wonder. The Golmud-to-Lhasa section of Qinghai Tibet Railway offers the most breath-taking scenery. That segment also offers the record-breakers: the world’s highest passenger railroad (at Tanggula Pass – elevation: 16,640 ft.; 5072m) and the world’s highest railroad tunnel (Fenghuoshan – elevation: 16,093 ft.; 4905m). Over 80% of the journey is at altitudes above 13,000 feet; fully half the track on this sector was laid atop permafrost.

You cannot miss the chance to travel to Lhasa by Train from Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Xining, to experience the world’s highest railway. CITS Tibettravel.org  provides more than 10 Tibet train travel packages.

Hot Tibet Tour - Lhasa to Kathmandu Overland Tour

It is a very famous route which starts from Kathmandu and ends in Lhasa through Friendship Highway. From Kathmandu (1300m) the road travels gently up to Kodari (1873m), before leaving Nepal to make a steep switchback ascent to Zhangmu (2300m), the Tibetan border town. The road then climbs to the top of Tong-la (5120m), continuing to Tingri (4390m) for the second night. The highway is very well traveled and is a pleasant journey.

It's an ideal route in that it takes in most of Tibet's main sights, offers superb scenery and features a spectacular roller-coaster ride down from high La Lung-la into the Kathmandu valley. It has stopovers at Gyantse, Shigates and EBC. Finally, we spend a couple of days in Lhasa, the heart and soul of Tibet and an object of devout pilgrimage, it is still a city of wonders. The medieval push and shove of crowds, the street performers, the stalls hawking everything from prayer flags to jewel-encrusted yak skulls, and the devout tapping their foreheads to the ground at every step is an exotic brew that few newcomers can resist.

Mr.Barbara gives his feedback of using CITS Tibettravel.Org

Our clients Mr.Barkara who use the service of CITS Tibettravel.Org in September 2011 gives us his feedback of Tibet tour.

Good morning Derek.
Mr. Wilhide just left the office – he thought the trip was WONDERFUL with a capital W.
The hotels were all excellent.  The locations were very good. The sightseeing was superb and that was because of the quality of the guides.  They were knowledgeable, the itineraries and timing perfect and the guides were wonderful people.  He was so impressed with the people, the sympathy shown and the expediency with which everything was handled.
If you want to use me as a referral you may.
We will definitely use you again.
Barbara

How to Reduce Cost of Tibet Tour

Most of travelers would like to arrange a Tibet tour as cheap as possible, in my opinion, the most effective way is to arrange your trip in low season – in winter, almost 40% discount of that in peak season. You can get the cheapest price in winter if you do not mind the cold weather. Warmer than winter, April, May, December could be the better choice than Winter, though the price raises a bit than it is in low season. More than Tibet, for those travelers ahead to Nepal after Tibet, the best season of traveling Nepal is April, May, October and December. You can not only get the relatively lower price in Tibet but also enjoy the best time in Nepal.

Then, using cheaper domestic transportation can greatly reduce the price. As my experience, if travelers enter and leave Tibet by flight, the air fare will be approximately 50% of the domestic tour fee. The airline companies seldom reduce cost on flights to and leave Tibet. Comparatively, a convenient train from Beijing to Lhasa or Shanghai to Lhasa is more popular than flight in recent years. You can benefit on cost and appreciate the beautiful scenery of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. I guess you heard about this famous train in USA. Take train from Beijing to Lhasa for example, this 45 hours train journey takes you to Lhasa for 2 days and 2 nights, the comfortable sleeping berths (6 persons share a compartment, divided to lower berth, middle berth, upper berth) only cost you about 130-150USD/person, which is just half price of flight tickets from Beijing to Lhasa.
Then, let me introduce how to cut cost after entering Tibet. The tour price is affected by 7 elements.
1. Tour Guide
Though tour guide fee is just a small part of the tour price, it could not be removed, because Chinese Government requires a fully guided tour for foreigners in Tibet. The English Speaking Guides, Chinese Speaking Guides are cheap for this great population, while tour guides for other minority languages are expensive in Tibet.
2. Vehicle and Driver

You can save a lot on Vehicle by renting a tourist bus, because a tourist bus that can load about 10 travelers is cheaper than a Land Cruiser that can only load 4 travelers.

3. Accommodations

The cheapest accommodation is dorm bed in guesthouse, but this kind of accommodation is always privately-owned hostel/inn, dirty and no hot water supply. Though it is cheap and some backpacker love to stay in it, I do not recommend them for tour groups. The best choice for budget tour groups is to live in cheap hotels, like 2 star hotel, or quasi 3 star hotel or Tibetan Style Inn, with 12-24 hot water supply and private bath room. Comfortable, cozy and quite. Some hotels provide free breakfast.
4. Entrance fee of visiting Monasteries, tourist sites.The admission fee of tourist sites in China is very expensive. Tibet is no different from that. Take 8 days Lhasa-Mt.Everest- Katmandu tour for example, the total amount of admission fee is more than 120USD. This can not be removed because your main purpose is to visit them in Tibet.
5. Meals

Meals in Tibet are very expensive, I thought they are double of the price in China mainland. For example, if a normal quality meal is about 30RMB in China mainland, that would be 50-60RMB in Tibet. But some cheap and simple food is about 15-20RMB/person, which can be affordable.
6. Shopping

You may save from Shopping. Do not buy too many things in Tibet.
7. Tips for guide and driver

If you join in a tour group, you can tip about 6-12 USD for driver and 10-15USD for tour guide per day for total.At the end, Try to find more travelers to share the cost, or seek the help of travel agency to hunt more partners. Tibettravel.org offers a lot of Tibet Group Tours in each month.

Welcome to Tibet

Dear Friends from all over the world.

Welcome to Tibet!

Our client Mr. Boris Rozentoul and guide Mr. Basang at the lake shore of Manasarova, April,2011

"Tibet has never been a letdown for tourists who have expectations on it. People who have been to Tibet are all impressed by its cultural heritage of Buddhism, the spectacular snow-covered mountains, the holy lakes, and the independent ethnic culture. These deep impressions are extended from our eyes to our hearts." One of our American clients said so. For many of our guests, Tibet is one of the places they think they must visit in their lives, or even they would visit it twice. Many emails from our guests tell us that Tibet is a great place rich in beauty, and a place famous for its nice people, and that their stay in Tibet is an unforgettable trip.
Tibet is located on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, where the average altitude is over 4000m. It is hailed as "the Third Pole of the Earth" along with the South Pole and the North Pole. The unique geographic features have endowed Tibet with
second-to-none beautiful scenery of ice and snow. Here stands the highest mountain in the world- Mont Everest in the Himalayas, and there is the world’s deepest and the longest canyon- the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon. And the lake with the highest altitude is also located here. Glaciers here are perennially covered with snow here, breeding the longest river in China- the Yangtze.

Our first small tour group to Tibet in November, 2008

One thing that is as attractive as the natural landscapes here is the mysterious Tibetan Buddhist Culture. Once you are here, you will be surrounded by strong religious atmosphere, which ranges from the splendid monasteries to believers toiling in fields, and from religious rituals to daily lives. You can visit the Potala Palace with its rich collections of treasures. And there are thousands of Buddhist temples which attracts many pilgrims who measure their pilgrimage journey with their own bodies.

The beauty of Tibet extends from visual enjoyment to your soul. The spectacular natural landscapes, the rich ethnic flavors, and the mysterious Buddhist culture, all these has made Tibet a tourist paradise sought after by travelers world wide, as well as by Buddhists who expect the promised land in their hearts.
In July of 2006, the highest railway in the world- The Qinghai-Tibet Railway successfully reached the hinterlands of Tibet. This railway has a total length of 1956 km, starting from Xining, Qinghai Province, ending at Lhasa, Tibet. The extended railroad from Lhasa to Shigatse will be completed in a few years; therefore people traveling to Tibet will enjoy safe, comfortable, and fast train trips. Now traveling to Lhasa by train has become the most popular way of going to Tibet for overseas travelers.

We offer both fixed-date small group tours for those who want to share the cost with others and tailor-made private tours for individual travelers who like to travel with family or friends, with the flexibility and convenience of choosing their own travel dates, itineraries, attractions, accommodations, etc.

Come and join us for an exceptional Tibet Tour experience with unparalleled service at a truly competitive price. TIBETTRAVEL.ORG and the mysterious snow land, hospitable people, are looking forward to providing an experience of a lifetime for you!