Tibet Tour: A Journey to Experience Lhasa’s Well-preserved Monasteries and Culture

Our second marriage anniversary was approaching, I was tasked to look for a travel destination where it snows, tickets are reasonably priced, and one which my husband has never been before. While I was not sure which destination to choose, I was positive my husband loves train journeys. I then remembered how he once mentioned a famous and scenic train journey from Beijing to Lhasa. A 3-day, 2-night picturesque train journey.

I quickly began my search for Tibet and Lhasa. Very soon, I realized that travelling to Tibet requires a permit and that in fact you cannot go sightseeing in Tibet without a guide. It's simply prohibited. I was a bit anxious. To me, having a guide, transport, and a permit, all spelled money! To my surprise, I was wrong. I came across Tibet Vista, a company that offered a variety of tours in Tibet, at a very reasonable price.

Customized Lhasa Shigatse Tour Package with Tibet Vista

I looked up for the dates I wanted and saw my options. I chose the itinerary I desired, a 5-day Lhasa to Yamdrok tour. I immediately got in touch with them via an email. I enquired about the tour, whether it is flexible - can I add or remove some of the places from the tour. Not only was their response super quick, Jim Pel, the senior trip advisor became my go-to-guy for any travel related queries I had, even if it didn’t concern them! I had my itinerary modified as per my liking. An experience so smooth and so quick. It was an absolute pleasure working through the itinerary with Jim Pel, and a pity that I couldn’t meet him personally in my trip.

In the following days, I made several changes to my tour plans, the dates, the activities, to all of which Jim Pel was highly accommodating. I was also parallely looking for other guided tours which can offer me this tour package for less and realized, there were none. Jim Pel had given me the best possible package at a rate no other travel company offered. I was pleased with my findings and finally paid my first advance deposit, which was around 40% of the total sum. Hats off to Jim Pel for being so patient as I would raise an enquiry of some sorts almost daily before I finalized the tour and paid the money, including precautionary measures to take for altitude sickness, vegetarian meals, soft sleeper berths in train, and what not!

Here’s my final Tibet itinerary that cost me 700USD per person:

Day	Place	Activities	Meals	Hotel
Dec. 25	Arrive Lhasa	Free airport/train station pick up to hotel in downtown.	/	Cang-gyan Lhasa Hotel or similar
Dec. 26	Lhasa	* Visit the arc of Tibet, the world culture heritage - the Potala Palace. * See pilgrims making prostratingin front of Jokhang Temple. * Enter inside Jokhang Temple, to see the holist statue of Buddha. * Walk around Barkhor Street with pilgrims, explore the old market. * Taste Tibetan tea with locals in tea house. * Welcome Dinner * (Optional) After finishing the sightseeing, if time allows, you may go with tour guide to visit Tibetan handicraft art or TibetanTraditional Medicine center * (Optional) Tibetan Culture Show in the evening (fr. 60USD)	B	Cang-gyan Lhasa Hotel or similar
Dec. 27	Lhasa	* Visit Drepung Monastery - the largest monastery in Tibet * Visit biggest monastery kitchen in Drepung * Visit the Buddhist Sculpture Carvingnear Drepung * Visit the monks debating in the courtyard of Sera Monastery * See the colorful Rock Painting of Buddha * See the three sand Mandalas in Sera Monastery * Visit the Tibetan religious text printing house	B	Cang-gyan Lhasa Hotel or similar
Dec. 28	Lhasa - Shigatse via Gyantse 360 KM	* Gangbala Pass to view Yamdrok Lake and Mt. Naiqinkangsang * View Korola Glacier on the roadside * Manak Dam Lake, hanging pray flag at Simila Mountain Pass * Heritage town Gyantse old street and Perklor Monastery, Kumbum stupa. * Far view of Gyangtse Fortress. * Visit traditional Barley Mill and view the landscape of Barley Field(in summer)	B	Hotel Manasarovar or similar
Dec. 29	Shigatse to Lhasa	* Take early morning train back to Lhasa, then take the train leave Lhasa.	B	/

Tibet Permit, Train Bookings, and Guided Tour - All Taken Care Of

Jim applied and attained my Tibet travel permit in less than a month. Tibet Vista also offers to book train tickets for you but Jim told me it was only optional and that I could book it on my own too. While getting them to book the tickets meant confirmed tickets, I decided to take the risk and book it on my own and save whatever little I could. I booked from ctrip.com, again advised by Jim. The booking process is again very simple. However, you have to live in suspense as to whether you will receive confirmed tickets. I got an email that my train tickets for soft sleeper berths confirmed after a month or so.

The train journey was scenic and super comfortable. I loved the pantry cart, where we literally spent one whole day looking outside the window at the scenery instead of going back to our seats. We enjoyed the scenery, played games, and read a novel. We were so happy to know there was a vegetarian meal comprising rice and organic veggies. It was really tasty. - Check the top Tibet train routes and fares to Tibet.

Scenes from the train:

When we reached Lhasa train station, we were welcomed like celebrities! They had this ritual of draping a satin band across your body with drums playing in the background. In that moment, I knew my decision to book this tour had been a good one.

Indians are Revered Here!

We were ushered to a van by a guide, who introduced himself as Tashi. Oh what a fun loving, funny guy he was! He recognized us as Indians and showcased his hindi knowledge by speaking a few words here and there. We were pleasantly surprised and I actually wondered if he happens to be from the North East of India, judging from his looks and ability to speak Hindi.

Our ride to the hotel was a short one, but we were well informed of our plans for the next day and Tashi gave us information on the eating options and shopping streets, as he drove the van, Bollywood music playing in the background. I couldn’t be more pleased! Tashi was chit-chatty and loved to laugh and make everyone around him, have a good time. - Find our your favorite Tibetan guide from our team.

A Culture Well Preserved

What I liked most about Tibet is its people. So kind, so polite and they all had a huge amount of respect for us, Indians. The reason behind it, I was to find later that day during our tour to monasteries. Turned out each of the monasteries we visited had some links leading back to India. As Tashi explained, Buddha was in India for a long time and many monks stay in Bodh Gaya (A place in India). Tibetans had nothing less than reverence for us Indians, wanted to pose with us, get clicked with us, just be around us, talk to us, even if they didn’t know the language to speak to us. It was a humbling experience. Visiting these monasteries and the streets in Lhasa transported me to a look and feel of a place that does not belong to this era. Tibetans are so simple, so hardworking, and so respectful.

Headache aka Altitude Sickness

Just when I thought oh I am immune to all this altitude sickness and I was worrying for no reason, I realized, I had a headache. This headache lasted for the entire day and I was nauseated, wanting to puke by nightfall. The same thing happened to me the next day. I had a coke and it surprisingly helped me. I decided it was nothing but a sunstroke that caused me to have these episodes of throbbing headaches. How wrong I was!

After missing out on one of the attractions due to a horrible headache, I realized numbing down the effects with a coke is not going to help me. I could not afford to miss on the attractions because of these headaches. Fellow-tourists in my tour suggested it could be altitude sickness. I decided to put an end to this and went to the local pharmacy to get medicines for altitude sickness. Boy, it was expensive. I was asked to pop 3 pills at a time-morning, afternoon, and at night. I did just that, and faced no further issues. - Follow the expert’s tips to avoid altitude sickness for Tibet tour.

My advice is to get these pills from your hometown, wherever you stay, as they might be cheaper, and to pop them before altitude sickness ruins your day. On the other hand, I would advise to reserve your shopping for clothes, shoes, and jewelry to Tibetan streets. Very good quality stuff at a cheap price. Lhasa is good for both branded and street shopping. But, it’s always street shopping that’s more fun! We got high-quality and super warm jackets from the streets that kept us warm even when we travelled to Harbin with -25°C.

Sumptuous Indian Vegetarian Food

What makes a trip enjoyable for me is good spots to see, great pictures, and amazing food. Tibet offered all three. It is scenic, cultural, and offers so many options for us vegetarians. We found a Nepali restaurant called Dunya that served amazing Indian cuisine. All in all, our trip was delightful. We got to see snow, which we desired to and we got bright, sunny, and beautiful weather in December. - Learn more of the best restaurants and food to eat in Tibet.

Picture Time

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