Lhasa Travel Forum

Hi there,
i have been told by few travel agent in China that i must book a tour then only i can get a TTB to get into Lhasa and travel few days in Lhasa for sight seeing. is it true? if not how to obtain a TTB? i'm from Singapore.
is there any cheaper mode of transport to do the sightseeing in Lhasa such as Potala palace, Jokhang temple, Barhkor street, Drepund Monastery, Sera Monastery and Lake Namsto.
please reply
cheers
Nathan

Last year it was easy to get a TTB permit for Lhasa in Chengdu.
But things have changed after the events of the below youtube video.
I don't know what the latest requirements are and I am interested in what others will reply.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qATBnAC11XQ

Last year, June 2006, once I was in Lhasa, I was free to do what I wanted in the Lhasa area. The sites you want to see except Lake Namsto were easy to do on my own. Backpacker hotels/hostels offered somewhat inexpensive transportation to Lake Namsto and Mt Everest base camp (EBC). You officially needed an additional permit for EBC but a VT friend went a few mounts after me. They were stopped at a road check point and told to go back because they did not have the proper permits. One of the girls in the group started to cry and the guards let then go through.

I also understand you can get transportation and TTB permits for the out of Lhasa areas at the TTB office in Lhasa.

As I said, that was last year, I am interested to know what it is like now.

I've just returned from a wonderful trip to Tibet. I organised everything myself. We did not go with a tour. I obtained my Tibet permit + flight into Tibet through a hostel in Chengdu without any problems. Here's their site:
http://www.gogosc.com

In Lhasa we visited the sites you mention with public bus or taxi without any problem. Just make sure you have the sites written in Tibetan/Chinese to show the taxi driver.

If you want to visit other places in Tibet, you will need an extra permit that can be obtained through travel agencies in Lhasa.

>we visited the sites you mention with public bus or taxi

I don't think this includes Lake Namsto?

Indeed Lake Namsto is something you need to go to on an organised trip (through a travel agency in Lhasa). We didn't go there.

We were told that the road was closed (due to ongoing construction work) for going to the lake so we could not go there. On our way to Lhasa from Kathmandu (by bus to the border and then Toyota 4WD Land Cruisers from the Nepal/Tibet border) we went to Tingri which is pretty close to the EBC and the tallest mountain was right in front of us!!! The other small towns on the way like Shigatse, Gyantse, and the Brahmaputra river including some of the tallest mountain passes which we covered in the 8 day trip including three days in Lhasa were just fantastic. Do not miss seeing this wonderful place!!! On our return journey we went by air so we had a lovely view of the Everest and rest of the Himalayan mountain range which was another must see!!! Hope you enjoy your travels there. We got all our travel formalities done by the travel agent in Kathmandu including the visa for which we just submitted the passport to the agent and got the visa (USD45) in a couple of days.

Cheers,
Aadil.