Tibet planning adventure- Part I

“Half the fun of going to Tibet is getting there”… Now I know what Lonely Planet was talking about. Actually, all the confusion surrounds a single, mysterious document: the TTB (Tibet Travel Bureau) permit. Supposedly all foreigners must buy this, or risk being sent home (or worse depending on the current government situation!?). The easiest way to go is to pay a ridiculous amount of money and have a travel agency figure everything out for you. But, we decided to try to do as much on our own as possible.

Here’s a quick list of Jerilyn’s and my adventure trying to get to Lhasa legally:

• Scouring the Thorn Tree forum on Lonely Planet’s website. Lots of contradictory information about the TTB. Half of the posts say its useless and is never checked, the other half say it’s needed. Great. We’ll be safe and try to buy it.
  Tibet guide book. The newest edition is two years old. Yikes.
• Train tickets. “Must purchase at Shanghai Station 10 days before departure”. We went to our neighborhood ticket office and bought two tickets 11 days before our desired date. 49 hours on a hard-sleeper. 850 RMB.
• “Tibet is closed to foreigners since August, because the Chinese Army is training”, said the biggest travel agency in China. The Tibet Travel Bureau in Shanghai had never heard of such a rule. Why can’t the travel agent just tell us he can’t do the TTB? Let’s try a Taiwanese travel agency instead (Findchina)
• Findchina travel agency. Very responsive, cheaper TTB quote (550 RMB), free hotel room in Lhasa with purchase of flight out of Lhasa for departure. One caveat: must book a guide for 280RMB per day while in Tibet in order to apply for the TTB. The Thorn Tree forum told us that some agencies can get around this “law” of needing a guide, but this apparently this one cannot. But, after some more thought, is really good. It will be infinitely better to have a Tibetan speaker at our side than to try to organize it on our own from Lhasa.
• The agent will fax our TTBs the day before departure (or maybe the day-of!). Payment is remit-to-bank-account. This is a very popular method in China, but makes a westerner slightly uneasy...I’m told from my people that its no problem. So, I guess we won’t worry about it. Now, just need to find a fax number that’s safe.