Travel Guide to Tibet

Posted Mon, 01/05/2009 - 14:24 by superuser

Tibet is a very large country: a common misunderstanding for tourists wishing to go to Tibet is the notion that Tibet is only the Tibet Autonomous Region. Tibetans regard Tibet as also including most of Qinghai province and parts of Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces. Tibetans have lived and ruled in these areas for thousands of years. The map below shows all Tibetan inhabited areas.

Should You Travel to Tibet?

Most Tibetans support tourism because it constitutes a means by which the outside world can learn of conditions in Tibet and the aspirations of Tibetans. Tibetans regard the presence of foreigners in Tibet as a source of hope. The Dalai Lama encourages people to travel to Tibet and bear witness to the suffering of the Tibetans under repressive Chinese policies and to act on this information on their return.

However, we recommend that you do not travel to Tibet without appraising yourself of the sensitive political situation or making an effort to ensure, as far as possible, that your visit benefits Tibetans (see below). We also recommend that you continue to support the Tibetan people by joining a campaign organisation on your return.

These two alternative guides for prospective travelers to Tibet are a must read:

1. Alternative Travel Guide to Tibet (International Campaign for Tibet; page 49)
2. Tibet: the Alternative Travel Guide (Free Tibet; page 4)

For up to date information about how to travel to Tibet independently, we recommend purchasing a recently-published guidebook, such as Rough Guide to Tibet.

The International Tibet Network recommends the following "dos" for travelers to Tibet:

1. Do Patronise Tibetan businesses.
To support Tibetans, Tibetan culture and the Tibetan economy, buy from Tibetan-owned shops and stalls and eat in Tibetan restaurants as far as possible. If you hire a guide and driver, ask to hire Tibetans. It is easier to folow this guidance if you are an independent traveler, but if you plan to visit Tibet with an organised group tour, ask travel companies their policy on supporting Tibetan businesses, and select your tour company according to the response. Tibetans are disadvantaged in Tibet's economy, lacking the education, training and language to be able to compete with the influx of Chinese immigrants. Tibetans are now a minority in Tibet's capital city, Lhasa.

2. Do Avoid Buying Antiques
Tibet's cultural artifacts have been destroyed and plundered since China occupied Tibet in 1949/50. You can help preserve what remains of Tibet's cultural artifact by not buying antiques and thereby discouraging further depletion of Tibetan artifacts.

3. Do Help Protect Tibet's Wildlife
Do not buy any products made from endangered species, particularly animal skins. Tibetans stopped wearing animal skins after the Dalai Lama appealed to all Tibetans to cease the practice in 2006. Many Tibetans in Tibet symbolically burned their furs in response to the Dalai Lama's appeal.

4. Do Avoid Putting Tibetans at Risk
Tibet is tightly monitored by both uniformed and plain clothed agents. Giving photos of the Dalai Lama or raising sensitive political issues with ordinary Tibetans could put Tibetans at risk after you have left. If Tibetans share information with you, make sure you do not discuss his/her identity with security personnel while in Tibet, and be wary of keeping written records that could incriminate Tibetans if your luggage was searched.

(Once out of Tibet, if you wish to share information, pass it on to Tibetan Government in Exile, or other legitimate information-gathering organisations such as TCHRD, ICT, SFT, FTC etc.)

5. Do Avoid Putting Yourself at Risk
Whilst in Tibet, you should assume that your communication is being monitored (mobile phone calls, emails and so on). A number of foreigners have been deported for political activity, or on suspicion of attempting to carry sensitive political information out of Tibet. If caught, you are likely to be rigorously interrogated and swiftly deported, but there have been instances of foreigners being detained for up to two weeks (for example, for burning a Chinese flag). Any Tibetans whom you have had contact with will face much harsher treatment and risk arrest, torture and imprisonment. Taking photographs of sensitive places could lead to questioning or seizure of your camera.

Further useful read for Tibet Travelers:

Red tape rigmarole for entry to Tibet Michael Gebicki (The Sydney Morning Herald)

September 19, 2010 | I have already booked my flights (to and from Kathmandu) to Tibet with my travel agent. However, my agent has closed, thus I'll need to obtain the Tibet visa myself. I'm confused by it all and have been receiving conflicting advice as to what is required. Could you please advise how to obtain a Tibetan visa? - D. Fagan, Logan, Qld. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to enter Tibet from Kathmandu, or anywhere else in Nepal. But here goes. You need a Chinese visa but it must be obtained from the embassy of the People's Republic of China in Kathmandu and nowhere else. This embassy is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9.30 to 11.30am for lodging applications. You also need a Tibet Entry Permit (TTB) and if you plan to travel anywhere outside Lhasa, an Alien's Travel Permit. Since the recent civil unrest in Tibet, the Chinese government has made it virtually impossible for solo, independent travellers to obtain permits to visit Tibet. You need to join a tour and the most practical way to organise all of the above is via a Kathmandu-based travel agent with expertise in Tibet. See travelwestchina.com and tibettourstravel.com for more information and help with obtaining permits.

In this section

Facts about Tibet

Tibet lies at the centre of Asia, with an area of 2.5 million square kilometres (approximately 1 million square miles).

Despite over 50 years of Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Tibetan people refuse to be conquered and subjugated by China.

The Tibetan Plateau is the highest and biggest plateau in the world, so Tibet is referred to as “the roof of the world”.

For Tibetans, the term Tibet means the 3 provinces of U'Tsang, Kham and Amdo, the area traditionally known as Tibet before China's invasion.

The English word Tibet is derived from the Arabic word Tubbat. This word is in turn derived via Persian from the Turkic word Tobad, meaning ‘the heights’.

Tibet was occupied by China in 1949, and the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959.

Hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have died as a direct result of Chinese occupation since 1949.

There are six million Tibetans in Tibet and roughly 150,000 Tibetans in exile in India and other countries.

Tibetans consider the Dalai Lama to be the temporal as well as spiritual leader of Tibet.

Thousands of Tibetans cross the mighty Himalaya on foot every year into exile, risking death, injuries and arrest.

Most Tibetans are Buddhist, but there are Muslims, Christians and practitioners of Bon, the indigenous religion of Tibet.

In 1948 Tibetan government representatives traveled to the US, UK and France on Tibetan government issued passports.

The exiled Tibetan people elected their first Prime Minister in 2000

In 2008, Tibetans took part in more than 130 separate peaceful protests against the Chinese government across the Tibetan Plateau.

Displaying a photograph of the Dalai Lama in Tibet can result in arrest.

In 1995 the Chinese government abducted the 6 year old Panchen Lama, one of Tibet's most important spiritual leaders. He is still missing.

The longest epic poem in the world is the story of a legendary Tibetan king, Gesar of Ling.

The Tibetan Plateau is the Earth's "Third Pole," providing life-sustaining waters for and regulating weather across south and east Asia.

March 10 is Tibetan National Uprising day. It marks the massive uprising in Tibet in 1959 that led to the escape of the Dalai Lama into exile.

Yak is a Tibetan term for the male of the species. Its female counterpart is called Dri.

Tibetans are denied many of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the right to self- determination, freedom of speech and religion.

Untll 1949 Tibet had its own government that managed its own domestic and foreign affairs; Tibet had its own national flag and its own currency.

According to Amnesty International more than 1,000 Tibetans were unaccounted for after the protests of 2008.

In the Tibetan Lunar Calendar, the year 2009 corresponds to the year 2136, the Year of the Earth Ox.

Prior to the uprisings of 2008, the last major protests by Tibetans against China's occupation of Tibet took place in 1989, when martial law was declared.

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