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Tibet is famous because of its religious meaning for Buddhism as well as its spectacular high mountain ranges. The mix of those two makes it to a member of each have-to-travel-to list. After we had to cancel our Tibet trip in October last year due to illness, we finally succeeded this year in doing it.

So, we started by flying from Frankfurt to Chengdu on ourselves. We passed the Chinese immigration, checked in at the airport hotel, received our Tibet travel permit at the reception and the next day we took a domestic flight to Lhasa in the early morning.

Enter Tibet from Chengdu, the Major Gateway to Tibet

If you plan to go to Tibet via Chengdu we can recommend the following two hotels. The Chengdu Airport Hotel is a 5 minutes walk from the terminal. The Yeste Hotel is a little bit cheaper but this one is a 20-minute taxi drive from the terminal, because it is on the opposite side of the airport area.

Visiting the Panda Breeding Center in Chengdu

If you are in Chengdu the first time you should definitely consider to spend an additional day to visit the panda breeding center. They are living there in a very natural environment and you can watch pandas in all stages of their live - really cute and funny.

Get the Tibet Travel Permit First

Getting the permit for Tibet is kind of work but without it you can’t do a single step in Tibet. First, you have to get a Chinese Visa. In Germany, you can get this in the Chinese Visa Application Centre in Frankfurt. It costs around 125€. Then you email a copy of it to the Tibet Vista office so they can apply the permit for you. The granted permit is then sent via Chinese post to your hotel. This means you need to spend one night at the city of arrival in china to have an address where the permit can be sent to. You need it the first time when checking in for your flight to Lhasa.

I can say that the email contact with Tibet Vista was really good and so it was at no time a stressing thing. They responded quickly to any questions and kept me up to date about the current status of my permit. In both cases (last year and this year) the permit was at my hotel on time.

Potala Palace

You Can't be too Careful with Altitude Sickness

Arriving at Lhasa we were picked up and after a 45-minute drive we got to our hotel in Lhasa which was our home for the next three nights. The official program starts the next day so we had a day on our own to relax, which we strongly recommend for acclimatization. Although we were tired from the early wakeup call in Chengdu, we decided to take the first walk through Lhasa before going to bed. We had a visit to the Potala Palace and did the first kora to it, as we learned later from our guide. This simply means we walked clockwise around it. On the way home, we made a detour over the old town and 'koraed' the Jokhang Temple as well. Getting home we finally walked several kilometers which resulted in a headache.

The first day we felt the altitude sickness in Lhasa although we took one Diamox (Acetazolamide 250mg) every morning during the whole trip (Chengdu - Kathmandu). Since this is an off-label use it might be difficult to get it. We used it in Tibet as well as in La Paz (Bolivia) some time ago and we only had some sleeping problems as well as light headaches on the first day. We treated the headache with Ibuprofen 400mg which works pretty well. Drinking a lot is also a must to avoid dehydration and headache. I guess I drunk at least 2 liters a day. After the third day, the only recognizable effect of the altitude was the short breath after strenuous activities.  >> Check the experts' tips to avoid altitude sickness in Tibet.

Don't underestimate the sun. In the height with that thin atmosphere, it is aggressive even in October. Don't forget sunglasses and sunscreen.

Downloads Useful Apps and Properly Gather Helpful Travel Information

In China you have two major problems. The first one is letters. There is no way to understand Chinese text but using a translator. Apps are available which do a good job, so download it at home before going to China. The second problem for me as a foreign visitor was, that a lot of web content, which I am usually using, were inaccessible in China. So for example, I was not able to use Google maps which resulted promptly in getting lost in Lhasa. Trip Advisor had also problems, maybe because of using Google maps as well, so it was hard to choose a restaurant. So inform yourself which websites are usable. If you have a Chinese SIM or cheap roaming options by your provider, you have internet connection quite everywhere during the trip. Otherwise, you are delivered to the availability of free Wifi, which was available at all of our accommodations but sometimes only very slow.

Restaurant rating: Search inside the restaurants for a certificate with smileys on it. This is given by the Chinese government for each restaurant, rating the hygienic standards.

WeChat:An Interesting Way of Payment in China

This is something which I never hear about in Germany, but in China, it seems to be very popular. It is a chat app that has a payment function implemented. At many places, like restaurants, for example, you can pay by just scanning a QR code. Very helpful as an alternative if you run out of cash and there is no ATM around.

Sera Monks practise debating

Drepung Monastery

On the first day of our guided tour we visited two monasteries, Deprung and Sera. From Deprung you have an amazing view over the Lhasa valley. At Sera you can watch Monks practise debating. Of course you can see the typical architecture of Tibetan monasteries as well and you get a first insight into the Buddhist religion.

This day ends with a welcome dinner which was tasty and brought our group together for the first time.

Welcome Dinner Helps Unknown Travelers Break the Ice

Since one week is really short for a group growing together, an organized dinner each evening or at least a recommendation for a nearby restaurant by the travel company would make that easier.

Sightseeing Continues in Lhasa

Potala Palace the highlight in Lhasa

For panoramic shots and selfies the current mobile phones are as powerful as professional cameras. But if you want to focus on a single motive or getting detailed pictures, you need an optical zoom to avoid loss of image quality. We made good experiences as well with an DSLR as well as DSLM. In Tibet we used a LUMIX GX-80 with Panasonic 14-140 objective.

Visit to the holiest temple in whole Tibet - Jokhang Temple

The second day starts with a visit to the Jokhang Temple, the holiest temple in whole Tibet. Especially the view from the second floor on the golden roof is great. After that we visited the Potala Palace, of course the highlight in Lhasa. When you think of Lhasa, it is this building which comes to your mind.

Potala Palace

It is forbidden to take water into the Potala Palacae. But directly after the entrance, when putting your own water into trash, you can buy water. The small bottles cost 5 Yuan and they don't give change. Paying with WeChat is possible. There is no choice, you have to buy water because you need it on the way up. Reaching the top you can buy at normal prices with getting change.

Potala Palace is enlighted at night

We recommend to you visiting the Yaowang Mountain Zhaojing Viewing Plattform (North-Western edge of the Palace Area near the golden Stupas), especially at night, when Potala Palace is enlighted.

Free time in Lhasa

We had a free afternoon and decided to visit the Summer Palace. Together with Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple, this is the third UNESCO world heritage site in Lhasa. It is located 2km western of Potala Palace. Taxi cost approximately 12 Yuan. Entry is 60 Yuan and you have access to a huge area, which local people are using for recreation. You see a lot of people making a picnic and taking walks. The highlight is the Living house of the Dalai Lama.

Visit the Summer Palace

Another possibility is shopping souvenirs in Bakhor Street around the Jokhang Temple. There are a lot of shops selling local art. We bought a Mandala from a shop there. Take care, that the Mandalas are handmade and not printed. We asked our guide to find a suitable shop.

We find a Yak inside by Yamdrok lake

Yamdrok lake

On the third day of our tour we left Lhasa in direction Shigatse. On the way we stopped several times, for example at the Yamdrok lake. In Gyantse we visited the monastery while our guide got some stamps at the police station. Whenever changing districts we had to register at a police station. From far we saw the impressive fortress of Gyantse.

Stop in Gyantse

Visit the Kumbum Stupa in Gyantse

Although the giant Stupa of the Monastery in Gyantse was nice to see, it would have been interesting to visit the fortress instead. It would maybe diversify the trip in another direction.

How About the Accommodation in Tibet

The hotels in Lhasa and Shigatse were good. The hotel in Kyirong was a little disappointing. Generally, I would say, that you should subtract one star from the Tibetan rating and you are near the western hotel rating.

From Shigatse we went on to EBC in the early morning. We got over three passes after we had to change our bus. It is only allowed to get to the base camp with special electric buses. We arrived at 17:30 and luckily the Everest shows, first with few clouds, later sunny clear.

My Lifetime Expereince at EBC

In the Eco-bus for the last 18km to the EBC, there are sensors for the seat-belts. If anyone does not fasten the seat-belt you hear a really annoying sound. We had this for the whole 30-minute drive for the camp. This should definitely be fixed.

Tents or Guesthouse

If possible Guesthouse. There are no private rooms, neither in the guesthouse nor in the tents. But in the tents, you will have to sleep in groups of 15 persons per room. So you can be sure to have at least 5 totally strangers in your room addition to your 10 person tour group. The Guesthouse has 5 person dormitories equipped with single beds. Each bed has an electric heating blanket, so it keeps you warm even if it is freezing outside.

Stargazing at Everest

At an altitude of 5200m you got very few atmospheres between you and the stars. Additionally, there is almost no light pollution. This means perfect conditions for stargazing. To get an undisturbed view, you have to get away from the lights of the base camp. The area around the monument is far enough for that. To find your way, take a light with you. So once you are there, all you need is an at least partly clear sky, no moon and the right equipment.

Sunny clear day at EBC

Imposing Mt. Everest

For the first you need a little bit of luck, but as you can read, in October the chances aren't too bad. The information about current moon conditions can be gained in advance, so do that at home before leaving for Tibet. For example, we knew the moon will set at 23:20 so we went out at 23:30. The remaining point is the equipment. You basically need 3 things and the right configurations:

Equipment:
Tripod: The camera needs a stable stand because you will use exposure times from several seconds.
Remote Control or Self-Timer: For the same reason you need Remote Control or Self-Timer to avoid movement when you shoot. The LUMIX has a remote control app, which allows me to control the camera with my smartphone.
Objective: The aperture of your objective should be as large as possible, to get more light onto the sensor. I used a 25mm objective with F1,7.

Configurations:
Aperture: Set the aperture as high as possible.
Focus: Select manual focus. Then choose an object far away from you and focus the camera on it. From now on don’t change the focus any more.
ISO: Choose ISO800 for the beginning. Activate the noise reduction function of your camera if it has one.
Exposure time: Start with 20 seconds

Now you can start shooting. If you are not satisfied with the result you have to play with configurations:
ISO: Higher ISO means higher sensitivity of the sensor. So your pictures become brighter and you might see more details. But higher sensitivity also means more noise in the image.
Exposure time: Longer Exposure time means more light on the sensor. So your pictures become brighter and you might see more details. But longer exposure can result in stars being stripes and not points anymore, because as the world is turning, the stars moving during the exposure.

Mount Everest under the stars

So there is in principle the following relation between ISO value and exposure time: Higher ISO allows lower exposure and vice versa.

Guide and Bus driver

She was always kind, having a smile on her face. As believing in the Buddhist religion, her knowledge about the temples and the religion was very good. She could always respond to our questions and I would call her very qualified for that job. The driver did a good job and we felt safe even on the bumpy streets of Tibet.

Toilets

Toilets in the hotels are in western style with seats. Leaving the hotel you will not find that kind of toilet except you use the accessible toilet when available.

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