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Due to the situation of Tibet, all foreign travelers as well as tourists from Taiwan are required to apply the Tibet Travel Permits which is usually called Travel Permit and is granted by the PSB for the tour. Travelers should arrange the permissions through an agency and should better give your agency an absolute minimum of four working days to get the permits and better apply it 10 days prior to the tour. Besides, if you confirm your travel to Tibet, then Tibet permits is the basic document for air tickets issuing, hotel booking and everything on the trip.
This is the essential permits only for Lhasa one destination. If you plan to go further remote areas outside Lhasa, special permissions are still required before your arrival. There would be the extra application for Particular District Permission.
All visitors to China require a valid passport and visa. Visas must be arranged beforehand through your nearest Chinese embassy.
There are a few exceptions. Most tourists will be granted a tourist visa on entry to Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR. Some nationals visiting Shanghai and Guangdong for short visits do not require visas. Foreign travelers who want to travel in Tibet could apply for Tibet Permits. Foreign tourists requesting to visit Shen Zhen, Zhuhai, and Xiamen special economic zones (SEZ) may apply directly with visa authorities, approved by the Ministry of Public Security.
For tourist Visa, You shall come to the visa office of the Embassy or Consulate -General in the consular jurisdiction where you reside to submit the application; or if you cannot come personally, you may send someone else or a travel / visa agent to come to the visa office to apply. But please note mail applications are NOT acceptable and will be refused. The regular processing time is 4 working days, and the quick processing is within 1-3 working days. The Embassy will charge extra fees for the express service.
When you plan to apply the Visa, you should prepare essential documents as follows:
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Valid Passport --- The passport must have at least six (6) months validity left before expiration and with sufficient pages left in it. If your passport does not meet the requirements, you must renew your passport or obtain a new one. |
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One completed Visa Application Form |
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One passport sized photo (black & white or color is acceptable). |
If you need more information, please visit The PRC embassy English website: http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/.
The physical geography and climate of Western China are varied. There are high plateau areas as well as semi-tropical areas. According to the different travel purpose and destinations, western China can be travelled all year around. For the travel seasons, April to October is considered the best season for the most of traveling (no matter whether it is high plateau or semi-tropical region). Whilst, it is truly decided by types of trip you choose. If you take the bird watching tour or the flower watching tour, from April to May is the best time. If you want to appreciate the national folk, then from May to August is the best season, since most of the national festivals will be held during every July to August although there are daily festival ceremonies throughout the year in western China. The famous Shoton Festival, Horse Racing Festival and Firebrand Festival all will be held during this time. But if you would like to do trekking or mountaineering on Mt. Everest, the best season is from March to May. Furthermore, from March to June is the best time for Sichuan / Tibet overland tour. Due to the frozen earth, landslide will not happen during this period. Plateau Tour Adventure also will pay more attention for your trip plan schedule and will advise you an appropriate time to come. We know the importance of right season choice for leaving you a memorable trip!
China has a vast territory, and the western part of China occupied 1/3 of it. Here is full of the most amazing landscapes and sceneries. For this reason, it is impossible for you to travel overland western China in a short time unless you have quite enough vacation, which is the same to Tibet and Kham area. Plateau Tour Adventure would like to advise you should better have some rough ideas for the trip, even the pieces of thinking, we can design an appropriate itinerary based on your preferences. If you like trekking, then we will suggest you a trekking route; if you prefer to find more culture differences, we will arrange a cultural program with extensive connotations. It is definitely we will listen more from you and try our best to fulfill all your wishes and let you feel it is a worthy trip.
| What types of trips are provided? |
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Plateau Tour Adventure provides various tour programs with colorful connotations and participant activities. From our products you can notice that we provide trips mainly in Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Qinghai, Kham areas. You can easily extend or combine them to other parts of China or even to Nepal. From the types of trips, we provide a series programs of exploration, scientific research, bird watching, flower watching, trekking and hiking, mountaineering, bus and four wheel drive, music tour, womens culture tour, seniors, alpine golfing, helicopter and microflight, cycling and biking, horse racing and riding, folk custom, healing and leisure tours. They are not only built on our years practical experience, but with forefront innovations. Some of them have become our unparallel and unique brands.
| Is a custom itinerary available? |
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Sure, yes, it is our favorite and specialty! Plateau Tour Adventure is quite happy to customize a tailor-made itinerary for you. Everyone has personalized or special interest and preferences. So is the tourism. Especially in the nowadays modern society, individual demands are becoming more and more distinct. So why dont we use our deep understanding and professional knowledge for western China to make your travel dream reality?
| What is the size of group? |
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We have organized size of groups from 1 person to more than 600 persons, and even the big groups with 52 vehicles. But normally most of group size is around 2 persons to 23 persons. For the general circumstances, Plateau Tour Adventure does not advise the group size to be too big, which does not mean that we could not operate such groups, we have got high appreciations from our clients. What concerns us always is that our clients should get more care from us on the trip. Plateau Tour Adventure also does not suggest the size of group to be too small, as lesser the case of people in the group, more will be the trip cost. Especially in the case of some Tibet tours and some adventure tours.
| Are the itineraries fixed? |
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The itineraries are not fixed. Our feature is offering personalized and customized services. Due to the tailor-made and free-combination itineraries, we have not fixed departure groups, we love to offer you a schedule you think good for you. Advices will be provided by us as there be the need.
If you travel alone or have only a few people going with you, at the same time we have a group with your favorite itinerary and time schedule, while all the group members agree you to join in, so why dont you follow us? But Plateau Tour Adventure does not advise you to go with a local domestic group. Yes, it is comparatively cheaper than overseas independent group (such as Everest Mountain Tour), but the quality is not quite good, since the guide usually could not speak in English and lodges and meals are not good enough. But if you do not mind all above problems, you can join it.
The whole Tibetan Cultural Area is a safe area for tourists. Most of Tibetans are Buddhists, they are very faithful, honest, warmhearted and hospitable. They love to smile and wave hands to welcome tourists on the way. The worst problems are likely to be coping with the effects of altitude.
Before you confirm the trip to western China, we usually advice you to inquire your doctor and make sure if you are fit for doing such trip, especially the trip to the plateau regions. Virtually, not every one must be affected by the plateau sickness, and not all area in western China has the high altitude, which will be deepened on the individuals.
In addition, strong sunlight and dry air should be taken care of when you travel in Tibet and some places in Western China. Plateau Tour Adventure advice you to be ready with the sun glass, sun hat, suntan lotions and lipstick. Loose clothes are recommended. It has the big temperature difference in the day time and at night. You should take some warm clothes in any case it turns cold suddenly. Enough water is essential. You should better bring a canteen; we also will prepare sufficient purified water on the way. Other more detailed suggestion will be given according to the different trips and groups. For more information on travel health issues a global travel clinic directory is available at www.istm.org.
Most of people will feel sick when they go to Tibet plateau from the plain areas. Actually, If you have not the kind of disease of heart, vascular, brain, lungs, kidney and hypertension, you should avoid to catch cold before entering in Tibet, you can not be sick from the plateau altitude or even have any other kind of discomfort. ?Generally, you better stay in hotel at the first arrival day. On the day, we recommend you dont do too much moving and walk slowly. If so, 1 day is enough to acclimatize to the altitude. If you really worry about the sickness, you can take some Hongjingtian in advance before you go to plateau, which is the Tibetan medicine and made up by plants that can prevent the altitude sick.
In Tibetan Cultural Area it is usually cool in the mornings and evenings. During the day while walking it can get quite hot. It is necessary to add or strip clothes to avoid becoming ill. The personal items listed below are recommended to keep with you:
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'Layered' clothing for flexibility |
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A combination of loose fitting pants (or skirts for women) |
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T-shirts |
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Long and short sleeved shirts |
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Polypropylene long underwear (which can be worn with shorts) |
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A "fleece" jacket and a good waterproof windbreaker, preferably made with "breathable" Gore-Tex fabric. |
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Others: sun hat, sunglasses, suntan lotion, lipsticks, Scarf etc. Or any other personal stuffs. |
Since we are a registered travel agency who can legally operated travel groups in Tibet and China, you are also guaranteed our promised services. However, we are not permitted to offer travel or accident insurance to foreign clients. We urge you to make sure that you are appropriately covered for international travel from an insurer in your home country.
The following foreign credit cards are accepted in China: Master, Visa, American Express, JCB and Diners. These card holders can draw cash at the Bank of China or use cards for places designated by the Bank of China.
For this case, Cash is always the most popular way to make payment and it is the easiest way. You could pay by credit card normally in 4-5 star hotels. For dining outside the hotels, renting a car, airline ticket purchasing and shopping, cash payments are requisite. If you wish to draw cash from your credit card in a bank office or get exchanges, a copy of your passport is a must. ATM can be used in most of provincial capital cities or middle cities in western China. You could draw cash from your debit card or credit card. The amount you could draw per day is limited.
People use Chinese currency in Tibet. US dollars can not be used directly in Tibet. You can exchange it to Chinese currency in the Bank of China in Lhasa.
Internet access or connection is not a problem in the main cities of western China. In which broadband is available in the hotels and internet cafe. Most of them will charge fees, but it is not expensive. Some hotels even provide computer in the room or wireless internet access in the lobby. For remote areas, it is still hard to connect with the internet.
| Things to keep in mind when you have contact with the Tibetans |
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Tibetan people are very kind and hospitable, you can feel free to talk with them. But there are some rules you should go by!
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Do not photo them without getting permission - please show respect!
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Dont talk about sensitive topics like the political and religious matters! |
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Don't eat the dog, donkey and horse in Tibet! |
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Tibetans will also appreciate tourists respecting a few of their customs. These include walking clockwise around Buddhist temples, monasteries and religious sites. At these places Tibetans consider smoking and failing to remove hats disrespectful. Those wishing to leave a donation at a religious site (as most Tibetans will) should leave it on the altar or give it directly to a monk or nun. This will ensure it stays in the temple. |
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