China Travel Forum

[Smedley]

Hello
A couple of questions:

1. I'm going to be in India, and plan to visit Nepal before going on to China. How should I incorporate Tibet into this? Do you think I should join a group tour (for permit reasons) heading to Lhasa (from Kathmandu), and if so, is it then possible to leave the group and head eastwards into China when I'm done? Or would you advise getting a flight into China (Chengdu?) instead? If I do that, would I still need to book a tour with a group when I arrive; or do I understand correctly that a permit can be obtained with the flight? If it makes a difference, I can go to Nepal before India, if flying from Delhi is cheaper.

2. I'm going to book my visa while in England. Is there any truth in the rumour that I would have to get a 'new' Chinese visa if I go to Tibet, on the grounds that you can't obtain a permit seperately?

As always, any pointers, other thoughts, or links are really appreciated

[Alice Yu]

There is no way of going from Ktm to Lhasa without a group permit .
All individual visas to China will be void, scrapped , carbon dioxide laser erased , thoroughly annihilated etc when entering from Nepal.

Converting a group permit to a regular tourist visa is often done , never easy and can´t be done in Tibet. When you split off from the group they also will face some hassling when returning to Nepal with a incomplete group.Try to get a group permit with someone else with the same plan. In our case we had some problems getting out of Tibet because two members had returned to Nepal two days early , thru the same checkpoint.

If you want to avoid above problems , go via Chengdu. No group permit required for the Chengdu flight , which ironically enough I believe make a stop in .. Lhasa.