UPDATED MAY 17, 2012 This year has been a difficult year so far for those wanting to travel to Tibet, including the regions of Amdo and Kham. All areas were closed during March and some areas in Kham [...]
Here are the differences between a standard Chinese visa and a Group Chinese Visa. In addition to a Chinese visa, all foreigners are still required to have travel permits as they have for the past 30 years. [...]
Kangding, known as Dartsendo དར་རྩེ་མདོ་ or Dardo དར་མདོ་ in Tibetan, is the capital town of Garnze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture དཀར་མཛེས་ཁུལ་ [...]
It has now been 2 years since a devastating 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the Qinghai part of Kham in April 2010. My family and I (wife and 2 children) were living [...]
Many people ask if it is possible to cycle in Tibet. Not only is it possible to cycle in Tibet, it has become very popular over the past 10 years. The same travel regulations apply however, if you want [...]
Nangchen county ནང་ཆེན་རྫོང་ is one of 6 counties located in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the Qinghai Part of Kham. Though Nangchen is remote and underdeveloped, it [...]
A common question that travelers to Tibet have is “Do I need a sleeping bag?”. Most travelers to Tibet will not need to bring a sleeping bag. Unless you plan to go trekking, there is probably [...]
Lhasa and most areas of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) will be reopening later this week. Travel permits for this region have already started being processed for some groups. It normally takes travel [...]
The Yading Nature Reserve is found in western Sichuan’s Ganzi Tibet Autonomous Prefecture དཀར་མཛེས་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ in the traditional [...]
The 830 kilometer route linking Lhasa with the Nepal border at the Sino-Nepal Friendship Bridge remains the most popular overland route in Tibet. The Friendship Highway follows the western portion of [...]
UPDATED MAY 17, 2012 This year has been a difficult year so far for those wanting to travel to Tibet, including the regions of Amdo and Kham. All areas were closed during March and some areas in Kham didn’t reopen until late April/early May. Here is the latest update on travel regulations and closures across the Tibetan Plateau (NB: This information is current at the time of writing. It is important to [...]
Here are the differences between a standard Chinese visa and a Group Chinese Visa. In addition to a Chinese visa, all foreigners are still required to have travel permits as they have for the past 30 years. This post is to explain the differences between a Standard Chinese Tourist Visa and a Group Chinese Tourist Visa. If you plan to go to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) from Mainland China, all you need is [...]
Kangding, known as Dartsendo དར་རྩེ་མདོ་ or Dardo དར་མདོ་ in Tibetan, is the capital town of Garnze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture དཀར་མཛེས་ཁུལ་ located in the Sichuan part of Kham. Kangding sits at 2600m and has a population of around 100,000. Part of the traditional Tibetan region of Kham ཁམས་, Kangding has always been the gateway to [...]
It has now been 2 years since a devastating 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the Qinghai part of Kham in April 2010. My family and I (wife and 2 children) were living in Jyekundo when the earthquake occurred. Though the official Beijing death toll stands at 2698, local government and police officials in Yushu prefecture all agree that the real death toll is around 20,000. [...]
Many people ask if it is possible to cycle in Tibet. Not only is it possible to cycle in Tibet, it has become very popular over the past 10 years. The same travel regulations apply however, if you want to cycle. There is no independent travel and you still need to be part of an organized tour that includes travel permits, a tour guide and a private vehicle with a driver. There are NO exceptions to these regulations. [...]
Nangchen county ནང་ཆེན་རྫོང་ is one of 6 counties located in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the Qinghai Part of Kham. Though Nangchen is remote and underdeveloped, it is one of the most beautiful parts of Tibet and has some of the best preserved Tibetan culture remaining. Nangchen county covers 11,539 square kilometers/4455 square miles and has around 70,000 people with Tibetans [...]
A common question that travelers to Tibet have is “Do I need a sleeping bag?”. Most travelers to Tibet will not need to bring a sleeping bag. Unless you plan to go trekking, there is probably no reason to bring a sleeping bag with you from across the globe. Most regions of the Tibet Autonomous Region that travelers go to, including Lhasa, are quite modern and have several modern style hotels and [...]
Lhasa and most areas of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) will be reopening later this week. Travel permits for this region have already started being processed for some groups. It normally takes travel permits about 3 days to be processed so the first foreign travelers should be able to arrive in Lhasa as early as April 1st. This reopening is for Lhasa and most of the TAR except for Chamdo prefecture in far [...]
The Yading Nature Reserve is found in western Sichuan’s Ganzi Tibet Autonomous Prefecture དཀར་མཛེས་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ in the traditional Tibetan region of Kham ཁམས་. Ganzi, known in Tibetan as Garnze དཀར་མཛེས་, is divided into 18 counties covering an area of 151,000 square kilometers (58,300 square miles). Yading [...]
The 830 kilometer route linking Lhasa with the Nepal border at the Sino-Nepal Friendship Bridge remains the most popular overland route in Tibet. The Friendship Highway follows the western portion of Chinese National Highway 318. At the Nepal border, the Friendship Highway continues on the Araniko Highway for a further 115 kilometers to the capital of Kathmandu. Starting in Lhasa, this route goes through many [...]