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: Train and Flight Ticket Booking

Train Ticket

In China, you could only book the train 20 days prior to your departure date. We wanted to take the train on 9 Sep, so we had to book our train tickets first and foremost before it was sold out.

On 22 Aug, we booked our train tickets for Xining - Lhasa with the help from Jeff's friend from this website (in Chinese).

Train No. T165
Type: Hard-sleeper (middle bed)
Price: 497 RMB
Route: Xining - Lhasa
Departure: 9 Sep @ 8:15 PM
Arrival: 10 Sep @ 8:15 PM

You will get a reservation code in SMS (ex: E123456789). To get the train ticket, you will need to go to the ticket service booth at the post office (or could be any train ticket agency center). Tell them the reservation code and pay the fee (usually 5-10 RMB). Don't forget to bring your passport. You could also go to the ticket booth at the train station. I guess you won't need to pay the fee in that case (not sure).

The couple booked the ticket with the travel agency. Their train T22 would leave Chengdu at 8:55 PM and arrive in Lhasa on 10 Sep at 4:40 PM. They got soft-sleeper for 1,300 RMB per person.

The guide and driver would be picking us up from the train station and take us to the hotel (which we didn't book yet).


Flight Ticket

Jeff and I were planning to arrive in Xining on Friday evening (6 Sep), but I couldn't find any reasonable flight ticket. In fact I found one from Shanghai to Xining, but I didn't book it soon enough. It was around 700 RMB and arrived on Friday evening like we planned. But only a few days later, the flight was all sold out T__T. I was really mad (at myself). In the end I had to book the flight from Hangzhou instead from Qunar website.

Flight No. 3U8821
Airline: Sichuan Airlines
Price: 1,049 RMB
Date: 6-Sep-2013
Route: Hangzhou - Xining (via Chongqing)
Departure: Xiaoshan Airport  8:20 AM
Arrival: Caojiabao Airport 1:35 PM

I decided to leave Hangzhou in the morning and arrive in Xining in the afternoon coz it would probably take me 2 hours getting the luggage, taking the bus to downtown Xining and heading to the hotel. I didn't want to arrive so late in the evening as I wanted to start slowly on the first day and get enough rest on the first night so that we could start early on the following morning (fresh start for the journey oh yeah!).

Jeff's flight would arrive in Xining around 9 PM. By the time he arrived at the hotel, it would be quite late already, but he said he was fine with lack of sleep, no problem.

For flight out from Lhasa on 24 Sep, we would decide again after we arrive in Lhasa. There seemed to be plenty of flights and the prices weren't much different.

We didn't book our return flight yet. Jeff was worried about the permit whether or not we would get it. He wanted to make sure that we got the permit first before booking the return ticket. We wanted to overland to Sichuan and probably fly from Chengdu (would be my third time going there). We would fly back on 6 Oct, so we had to hurry with the booking, otherwise the price would be more and more expensive.