Pre-trip: Final Travel Plan

The departure date was approaching and we were still waiting for the Tibet permit so we could book our return flight. We were getting really anxious.

Meanwhile, I was researching for the trip and finally planned our route. Jeff left the mission to me as I told him that I liked planning the trip beforehand. He, on the contrary, usually traveled without planning and just went with his feelings instead. I tried that once and failed horribly, so here what our trip was supposed to look like...

6 Sep: Hangzhou - Xining (plane) >> booked
7 Sep: Xining - Chaka Salt Lake - Heimahe (bus/minivan)
8 Sep: Qinghai Lake - Xining - Kanbula Park (bus)
9 Sep: Kanbula Park - Xining (bus)
10 Sep: Xining - Lhasa (train) >> booked
11 - 23 Sep: Tibet Tour [Lhasa - Mount Kailash - Everest Base Camp - Namtso Lake] (4WD) >> booked
24 Sep: Lhasa - Xining (train/plane)
25 Sep: Xining - Huashixia (bus)
26 Sep: Huashixia - Xia Dawu (minivan)
27 Sep - 1 Oct: Amnye Machen Kora (trekking)
2 Oct: Huashixia - Yushu (sleeper bus)
3 Oct: Yushu - Manigango (bus)
4 Oct: Manigango - Yihun Lhatso - Ganzi (minivan)
5 Oct: Ganzi - Kangding (bus)
6 Oct: Kangding - Chengdu (bus)
           Chengdu - Hangzhou (plane)

Many people suggested to have a rest day after 10 days of traveling or so, but that would never gonna happen to me, not before, and not in a million years. I thought I was tough enough for this 31-day trip. Mostly we would be in the bus anyway. And normally on the bus, I would be sleeping. I had been running (30 mins) and cycling (10-30 km) almost every day. I should be fine, I hoped.

Pre-trip: Hotel Reservation

Our Tibet tour didn't include accommodation, so we had to find the hotel/hostel/guesthouse on our own. Jeff and I didn't have any problem with whatever kind of places we might end up sleeping in. For me, the cheaper, the better (as long as the place is not full of rats and cockroaches.. I could tolerate some spiders though). The Latvia couple was asking a few times about the hotel in Lhasa for our first three nights during 10-13 Sep. They said it would be better if we booked in advance so we didn't have to find one on the first day that we arrive as we might be tired from the train ride already. On that point, I agreed with them.

I managed to compile the information about the hotels in Lhasa that I found in Qunar website. I sent the pdf file to the couple to choose the hotel.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

We agreed to choose Hotel #1. I told them that I was going to book it for all of us.

Unfortunately, I just realized that my credit card was already expired (bah!). I was still using my Thai credit card. In China, I normally used my UnionPay debit card. I only used the credit card when I went back to Thailand anyway (except when I had to book flight/hotel). I thought I'd better get a new credit card right away in case I was short of cash or for emergency situation, so I asked my brother to send a new card to me from Thailand (together with Diamox - AMS pill. Luckily, the card arrived a few days before I left ^___^

I asked Jeff to help book the hotel for us, but it turned out that this hotel didn't accept foreigners. Make sure that the hotel you want to stay in accept foreigners. Some small local guesthouses might not have the license to accept foreigner guests. If you book the hotel in a famous website like hostelworld, booking.com, yha, and etc, then it should be okay. 

Jeff managed to find a new hostel Dalan Youth Hostel on Beijing West Road which I thought it was near the center of Lhasa. We booked a 4-bed room (60 RMB per person). For the accommodation outside Lhasa, we didn't book in advance. The travel agency said that the guide would help us find the hotel. 

I checked the hostel in Xining for our first night on 6 Sep and was planning to stay at Heng Yu International Youth Hostel which is near the train station and bus station. I thought that we could just walk in there and there should be plenty of rooms left as it wasn't the holiday period, so I didn't book the room in advance. For the rest of our trip in Qinghai before and after going to Tibet, we also didn't book any room coz we still didn't make up our mind about the exact places to go yet.

Always print out the photo of the hotel and the direction from Google Map. It helps to find the hotel easier. Also, always print out the hotel information in both Chinese and English in case you cannot find the hotel and need to ask people for the direction. The hotel number is also important in case the taxi driver does not know the way to the hotel.

Qinghai Heng Yu International Youth Hostel

No. 13 Weimin Lane, Chengdong District, Xining, China 

青海省西宁市城东区为民巷13号（马步芳公馆1号院）

Tel: 086-0971-5223399

Dalan Youth Hostel

172 Beijing Middle Road, Lhasa

名称：达兰客栈

地址：西藏拉萨市城关区北京中路172号

电话：0891-6725172

Pre-trip: Qinghai and Date Planning

During the last two weeks before our Tibet tour, Jeff and I started our intensive research on where we could go in Qinghai primarily around Xining. I didn't think I would find so many interesting places in Qinghai. See all the useful links I came across on the internet here (no need to pay for guidebooks, trust me!).

My initial rough plan for Qinghai part was something like this...

Xining -> Kanbula Park -> Tongren -> Machen -> Amnye Machen -> Huaxishia -> Xining -> Qinghai Lake -> Bird's Island -> Xining 

If we decided to travel around Qinghai before going to Tibet, we would have to fly to Xining on 30 Aug (which was quite too soon). But if we decided to go after Tibet, we could fly to Xining on 7 Sep instead (which we would still have enough time to plan our trip). We could also choose to overland to Sichuan and fly out from Chengdu at the end of our trip without returning back to Xining.

At first, I was planning to take vacation leave only for 3 weeks meaning I would come back to Hangzhou on 29 Sep. I had to ask my colleague to take care of my dog while I was away. It would be troublesome for him to take care of my stubborn Giant for the whole month. I didn't want to bother him too much. But later I took a closer look at the calendar and realized that there would be a week long holiday during China's National Day (1-3 Oct for my company, but for other Chinese companies would be 1-7 Oct). It would mean that I only needed to take 2 more vacation days and we could travel for one more week! 

I wholeheartedly knew what I had to face if I chose to travel during the golden week...

1) Incredibly expensive flight ticket
2) Huge crowd of Chinese tourists everywhere
3) Crowded bus/shared-van/train/flight/restaurant/toilet
4) More expensive dorm bed/room cost (if there is any left)
5) More expensive shared-van cost

Avoid traveling during the long holidays at all cost.

I had experienced the REAL nightmare last time when I was traveling in Yunnan in 2010 during  National Day. I didn't wish to relive that nightmare again. But one week more was very tempting. We could go to many other places. We could do the full Amnye Machen kora (which would take at least 6 days to complete). Overland to Sichuan would also be possible for one and a half weeks without any haste. Too tempting that I could not resist. I decided to face the nightmare again.

I asked my friend whether it was okay for him to help look after my dog for 4 weeks. He said no problem. I felt very grateful for his kind help. So, we were good to go!! 

Travel Period: 6 Sep - 6 Oct 2013

6 Sep (evening): arrive in Xining 
7 - 9 Sep: travel around Xining
9 Sep (evening): take train to Lhasa
10 Sep: arrive in Lhasa
11 - 23 Sep: go with the tour in Tibet
24 Sep: fly out of Lhasa to Xining
25 Sep - 5 Oct: travel around Qinghai and overland to Sichuan
6 Oct (evening): fly back to Hangzhou


4 weeks on the road. The longest trip I would ever take in my life so far and it would seem to be the most adventurous and exciting one also. I couldn't wait for things to unfold. I knew it would not roll smoothly as on the rose carpet. Still, I could try my best to pave the path to be a little less bumpy.

Useful Links

Thanks to these amazing people who shared their stories and photos online (which inspired me to start writing this blog.. I know it's not easy). 

Personal Favorites:
Land of Snows: Amnye Machen, Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan 
[Losang @LonelyPlanet. Enough said.]
Adventures of Jonas: Hitchhiking in Qinghai and Gansu
[Everything you need to know about Qinghai (Tibetan and Chinese place names included).]
China Nomads: Amnye Machen, Kanbula, Xining, and many more
[Awesome photos. Detailed trip information (Tibetan and Chinese place names included).]
Spinn Cafe: Tibet permit information and FAQs about Tibet tour
Jaunty Tom: Qinghai, Amnye Machen
[I was inspired to hitchhike in Qinghai after reading his blog.]
The Road Less Travelled By: Chengdu overland to Xining 
[Detailed guesthouse and bus information with photo albums.]

Trekking Thai Forum (in Thai):
Rook
Bandadan
Cybock
Cobain >> I followed him to Yading, Yubeng, Jiuzhaigou, Meili Xueshan, Yihun Lhatso. 

Pix Pros (in Thai): >> Amazing Mount Kailash photos
http://www.pixpros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=69204
http://www.pixpros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=68563

Other Resourceful Blogs:
Drogann1te: Xining, Tongren, Xiahe
Ciku-cikudoeschina: Xining, Qinghai Lake
Bruno and Iohi's Journey Diary: Amnye Machen
Rusty's Travel Blog: Mount Kailash
A Soul Journey to the Qinghai: Chaka Salt Lake, Qinghai Lake
To Go Back: Kanbula
Dan and Ami: Kanbula
Johnjemi: Kanbula
STEPHANIE AND MIKE'S SUMMER ADVENTURE: Kanbula
The Hegira of Jess & Luke: Train experience
GAP YAHHHHH TRAVELS: Chengdu overland to Xining
Around China: Kekexili on motorcycle!
Kekexili (in Chinese)

Mafengwo (in Chinese):
http://www.mafengwo.cn/i/1356060.html
http://www.mafengwo.cn/i/643918.html
http://www.mafengwo.cn/i/819453.html
http://www.mafengwo.cn/group/info.php?iid=825046&page=1
Note: I cannot read Chinese so I use Google Translate.

Lonely Planet Forum:
What is the longest time one can stay around Mt. Kailash?
Kanbula Forest Park - Place to stay
Qinghai province advice
Yushu (Jyekundo) - Qinghai province
Chengdu to Xining

Travel Agency:
Tibet Highland Tours >> We booked Tibet tour with TBT. Our guide and driver were incredibly awesome!
Snow Lion Tours: Tibet Tour (Tibetan-owned agency)
Snow Jewel: Tibet Tour (experienced Swiss guide in Nepal) 

Useful Links:
Wikitravel >> My main source for trip research. I'm not a big fan of paid guidebooks.
Yowangdu: Tibetan Culture and information about traveling in Tibet
Travel China Guide: Train schedule and ticket service
Elong: China flight ticket service in English
Qunar: China flight ticket service in Chinese (cheap)
ForeignerCN: Traveling in Qinghai
Bus Station in Qinghai