Lijiang, China - Lhasa Jeep Fiasco
I spend the morning strolling around the beautiful old town section of Lijiang.
In the afternoon I started researching how to take a trip by jeep from Zhongdian (4-hours from Lijiang) to Lhasa, Tibet, about an 8-day journey. I did some investigation on the web and then asked Hieea, the woman manager at my resort, if she knew a travel agent that spoke English that I could discuss this trip with. I found she was interested in visiting Lhasa as well. She embarked on a mission to try to arrange a trip and find others who were going, as it is prohibitively expensive to travel there with just 1-2 people.
We visited several local travel agencies, all Chinese, and she had me post notes looking for others seeking to go to Lhasa by Jeep. She looked online for Chinese people looking to make the trip and found one group that had room for two people. Unfortunately I think this was a self-chartered trip and on investigation it would be illegal for me to join the trip. A foreigner has to have two permits to travel to Lhasa by Jeep and one of them can only be obtained if you are taking the Jeep trip as a "Tour" and can only be obtained by the tour agency. In addition, it can take a week to get the permit. By this time it was 10 pm in the evening.
The following day I talked to a westerner who had made the trip and knew a lot about it. He said it would cost about $100/day, after all was said and done, and he recommended a 8-day trip, if I chose to do it. He also recommended going to a much less visited region of Tibet that didn't require permits.
The following day I got one response. The person was supposed to meet with me and some friends I was meeting, but never showed up or called again. I think the estimated price tag scared him off. I'm thinking about the trip to the less visited region of Tibet.
I spend the morning strolling around the beautiful old town section of Lijiang.
In the afternoon I started researching how to take a trip by jeep from Zhongdian (4-hours from Lijiang) to Lhasa, Tibet, about an 8-day journey. I did some investigation on the web and then asked Hieea, the woman manager at my resort, if she knew a travel agent that spoke English that I could discuss this trip with. I found she was interested in visiting Lhasa as well. She embarked on a mission to try to arrange a trip and find others who were going, as it is prohibitively expensive to travel there with just 1-2 people.
We visited several local travel agencies, all Chinese, and she had me post notes looking for others seeking to go to Lhasa by Jeep. She looked online for Chinese people looking to make the trip and found one group that had room for two people. Unfortunately I think this was a self-chartered trip and on investigation it would be illegal for me to join the trip. A foreigner has to have two permits to travel to Lhasa by Jeep and one of them can only be obtained if you are taking the Jeep trip as a "Tour" and can only be obtained by the tour agency. In addition, it can take a week to get the permit. By this time it was 10 pm in the evening.
The following day I talked to a westerner who had made the trip and knew a lot about it. He said it would cost about $100/day, after all was said and done, and he recommended a 8-day trip, if I chose to do it. He also recommended going to a much less visited region of Tibet that didn't require permits.
The following day I got one response. The person was supposed to meet with me and some friends I was meeting, but never showed up or called again. I think the estimated price tag scared him off. I'm thinking about the trip to the less visited region of Tibet.
posted by Chris at 10:00 AM
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