General Information

INTRODUCTION

Up on the world’s roof-top there lies a wide stretched land (Shangri-La as some people call it) filled with fascinating and mystifying works of nature and human that has captured the imagination of many great people ever since the world came to know her existence. This is no other than Tibet (presently known as Tibet Autonomous Region). Although apparently she was forbidden for several centuries, great many authentic travelers, scholars and missionaries had attempted to reach this tantalizing land amidst perils and long, long endeavoring journey. Ultimately a lucky few of them were succeeded and interpreted the world by their own style of perceptions, which in turn give them fame, and pleasure plus insights to the readers. You may have gone through a couple of these narrations! Tibet used to be the mysterious, legendary and unknown Roof of the World, hidden and almost unreachable behind the highest mountains in the world can be easily reached today from Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal to Lhasa. Now as the iron-gate has recently flung opened to the out side world to unveil the secrecy of this mesmerizing question to the limited extend, the enthusiast travelers can’t resist their temptation of rushing there to catch the glimpse of this wonderful lonely planet just to heap up their own way of understandings and extract the pleasure that store in adventurous spirit. With Basalt Adventure, you have a chance to explore the hidden treasure land in its depth with unique way. We are, specialists in Tibet make so adventurous journey to the World of Shangri-La "Tibet", so easy and so affordable through its various fascinating tours throughout the Tibetan Plateau. Therefore, come with us and make your dream come true traveling to highest places on Earth.

PEOPLE
The majority of Tibet's populations of 1,890,000 are Tibetans. Tibet is so thinly populated that it averages out 1.6 8 persons per square kilometers. About 90% of the people live on farming and husbandry. Farmers live in the valleys of Tsangpo River (Brahmaputra) and its major tributaries Kyichu and Nuuang-chu. This area produces barely, wheat, peas and rape-seed, the great northern grassland which occupies a good half of Tibet is the home of nomads, yaks and sheep. Nomads have no fixed abodes, and keep roaming along fine pasture together with all their belongings-tents and Livestock. The remaining populations, approximately 10%, live in towns earning their living mainly on business and handicraft, and many are factory workers and government officials.

RELIGION
The oldest religion is Bon, after that the Buddhism has been spread. This religion is a blend of the Bon and the Buddhism. Bon is the ancient religion of Tibet.  Songtsen Gampo is traditionally credited with being the first to bring Buddhism to the Tibetan people. Legend credits him as having invited to Tibet outstanding Buddhist teachers, such as Shantarakshita and Padmasambhava, even though both lived in the 8th century, i.e. more than a century after Songtsen Gampo lived. He is also said to have built many Buddhist temples, including the Jokhang in Lhasa and Changzhug in Nedong.  Songtsen Gampo is considered to be the first of the three Dharma Kings (chosgyal) - Songtsen Gampo, Trisong Detsen, and Ralpacan -who established Buddhism in Tibet.

GEOGRAPHY OF TIBET

Tibet, a rich and beautiful land, is located at the main part of Qinghai-Tibet plateau, south-West frontier of China. Tibet borders with Sichuan, Yuannan, Qinghai and Xinjiang; to the south contiguous to India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Burma, and bounded by Kashmir on the west. When the word Tibet is mentioned something icy chills the readers' nerves. In fact it snows only once or twice in a year and owing to the perpetuity of bright sunshine, it is not at all cold during the daytime even in the coldest of the winter. Tibet is so sunny that it produces a year-round sunshine of over 3,000 hours in a year. Its old name-"land of snow" - the name by which Tibet is almost popularly known as, is always thickly covered with snow with hardly any signs of inhabitation. In fact, it is correct only when it is referred to the world greatest ranges located in Ima, the Tisi, and like. These ranges, run by leaps and bounds across the country showing their beautiful snow covered peaks against the bluest of skies. Geographically, Tibet can be divided into three major parts, the east, north and south. The eastern part is forest region, occupying approximately one-fourth of the land. Virgin forests run the entire breadth and length of this part of Tibet. The northern part is open grassland, where nomads and yak and sheep dwell here. This part occupies approximately half of Tibet. The southern and central part is agricultural region, occupying about one-fourth of Tibet's land area. With all major Tibetan cities and towns such as Lhasa, Shigatse, Gyantse ad Tsetang located in this area, it is considered the cultural center of Tibet. The total area of the Tibet Autonomous Region is 1,200,000 square kilometers and its population is 1,890,000. The region is administratively divided into one municipality and six prefectures. The municipality is Lhasa, while the six prefectures are Shigatse, Ngari, Lhaoka, Chamdo, Nakchu and Nyingtri (kongpo). The People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region exercises the highest administrative authority in Tibet.

Entering Tibet:
There are 2 gateway cities to enter Tibet via flight:

1.  Chengdu
2.  Kathmandu 

Chengdu:  

Chengdu is connected by land with major cities.  Chengdu is directly connected by air with some cities of south Asian cities such as Bangkok, Hong Kong beside Nepal.  

Note: You must bring Chinese visa from your home country and our representative will handover Tibet permit in one of the cities in China. 

Kathmandu: 

This is probably the best way to enter Tibet in terms of acclimatization. There are 2 ways to enter Tibet (1) via overland and (2) via flight which allows you to also enjoy breathtaking views of Everest. 

Ktm - Lhasa Flight: 

Air China (CA) - is the only airline currently operating flights between Kathmandu & Lhasa sector.  M/S Air China operates regular flights between Kathmandu & Lhasa sector - 2 flights from April – June and sometime adds more depending upon the demand of flight seats.  However, we recommend our valued guests to plan their trip based on Saturday and Tuesday flights which is guaranteed.  This is probably the only flight in the world that flies over Everest and other highest mountains on Earth.  You must take left hand seat while flying Kathmandu – Lhasa and vice versa. Flight takes approx. 50 minutes.  

Flight schedule: 

April – June: Tuesday & Saturday
July – October: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday
November - March: Saturdays

Kathmandu To Lhasa By Road: 

The journey from Kathmandu should be viewed as an adventure, not just a sightseeing tour. The road is much better and most portion of the friendship highway between borders to Lhasa is tarmac except between Zhangmu to Tingri area (this will change).   You will drive through the altitudes of over 5000m on many occasions .The choice of hotels en route is limited. Hotels except in Lhasa , Gyantse, Shigatse, Tsedang, Shigatse are basic, most  have showers, flush toilets and some now have attached facilities, they are likely to have a small shop, a restaurant and laundry facilities. Food is not readily available en- route until the stopover hotels are reached.  Depending upon individual nature and test of food, local Tibetan and Chinese restaurant in small town do serve some good local foods; you can speak to your guide for suggestions. You should bring additional snack to supplement during the traveling time.  Some canned food, biscuits, chocolates, cheese, drinking chocolate/coffee, soup cubes, instant noodles, vegetables, nuts and raisins, chewing gum are all worth considering.

Accommodations: 

Tibet does not have many international standard deluxe hotels except for the Lhasa Hotel (formerly Holiday Inn Hotel) and recently opened Sheraton hotel in Lhasa.  However, in the last 3-5 years many big local 5 star and other deluxe hotels have sprung up in bigger cities such as Lhasa, Yangtze, Shigatse and Tsedang that offer quality accommodations. In the smaller towns, accommodation facilities are still quite basic. And during the peak holiday seasons in July & August there is often difficulty in getting rooms. We offer our tour price based on 3 different category deluxe, standard & budget hotels. We normally use Kyicho Hotel in Lhasa which is a medium category hotel and located near to main Barkhor area, hotel has beautiful garden.

TIME
China time is 2 hours and 15 minutes ahead of Nepal time in winter and 3 hours and 15 minutes in the summer.

INSURANCE
All travelers' visiting Tibet are strongly recommended to provide for their own trip insurance at home that adequately covers for medical, emergency rescue expenses, trip cancellations or any other eventual mishaps.

VISA
All tourists visiting Tibet requires valid China visa & a special Alien Travel Permit which they can obtain only by joining tours organized by recognized travel agencies. Basanta Adventure further more operates all tour and trek directly working closely with partner company in Tibet for better services. Those who arrive in Kathmandu with a Chinese visa issued by Chinese Consulates outside of Kathmandu will find it useless for entry into Tibet.

There is no minimum group size requirement for traveling into Tibet. As long as one is traveling in an organized tour visa will be issued for even individuals. Please note Tibet visa regulations often change & hence given information may not be true at the time when you travel.

Diplomatic passport holders must get clearance from Beijing for travel into Tibet which often takes long time. It is advisable to travel on non-diplomatic passports, if you have one.

We require at least 7 days notice to process your Tibet visa via Lhasa & at least 4 days in Kathmandu for the Chinese Embassy to handle your passport. Consular section of the Chinese Embassy is open for business between 10-12 am on Monday, Wednesday & Friday only. Visa can also be issued in less than 3 days upon payment of visa rush fees. Normal group visa fee is USD 28 & visa rush fee is another USD 17. For USA nationals the group visa fee is USD 112.

FESTIVALS
Tibetan New Year (February or March), Saga Dawa Festival (May or June), Gyantse Horse Race & Archery (May or June), Changtang Chachen Horse Race Festival (August), Shoton Festival (August), Harvest Festival (September), The Main Folk Festivals Bathing Week (September), Kungbu Traditional Festibal (November of December) are the main festival of Tibet, celebrated by every person in Tibet as well as other countries also.Please contact us for current dates of different festival.