About Tibet
Safety and Healthcare
Altitude Sickness
People traveling to plateau will inevitable face the risks of being afflicted with altitude sickness. Generally speaking, when you’re 2000-2500 meters above the sea level, chances are high that you will suffer from mild altitude sickness. And more than 3000 meters above the sea level will expose you to a serious one. Whether your state of health enables you to take on the challenges posed by the environment or not is a question that you need to counsel your doctor. Your doctor should make sure that the functions of your organs are complete and make some announcements accordingly. Before embarking on the journey, you are supposed to avoid such common respiratory diseases as catching a cold and running a fever, and save your strength.
A number of people arriving in Lhasa will more or less have the symptoms of altitude sickness as a result of the great change in altitude. People having mild altitude sickness should have a good rest and walk slower; people having a serious one should go to the hospital on time without taking it lightly.
For travelers who have no confidence in their physical condition, it’s necessary for you to take some preventive medicine before your trip to avoid altitude sickness. Preventive medicines include such Chinese patent medicines as Rhodiola and American ginseng. As for western medicine, it’s generally acknowledged that Nuodikang Capsule is a good choice. But a few people have some side effects (have a headache) after taking it. So, you’re supposed to take it under the guidance of your doctor. While in the plateau, you can take the following medicines if necessary: Saridon Headache Painkiller, Vitamin B6 (for vomiting). If you still don’t feel quite alright, go to the hospital on time.
Equipment for Traveling
When it comes to traveling to Tibet, the primary principle is the less baggage the better. The principle should, of course, be based on the precondition that it’s enough for your trip. Carrying a huge knapsack in the plateau will just add up a heavy burden to your back. You ought to make full use of the local facilities and services available if you can in order not to carry the unnecessary items with you. Besides, given that you will move your knapsack around all the time, you should bring no more than two pieces of baggage.
Knapsack
A hard knapsack is not suitable for traveling in the plateau. It’s best for you to have a backpack to contain all your items. The size of your backpack is usually determined by the environment of your destination. If it’s not a long trip, a backpack with the capacity of 45 L is okay for you. If your destination is remote, or you are planning to go outing in the wild like hiking by the lake, then bring both a big and a small backpack is better for you.
Bringing a Small Lock with You
You’re supposed to bring a small lock with you to Tibet. When you entrust your baggage to others, you can lock up the baggage to make yourself assured. In addition, in some small towns, there are no locks installed in the doors of the small hotel rooms. If so, you can just apply your lock to the door. As to some important credentials, you’re suggested to bring a small bag that can contain them with you and carry the bag wherever you go.
Clothes
Travelers in Tibet can be found dressed in various ways. On the streets of Lhasa during the summertime, you can find people dressed in either down coats or shorts. Certainly, you can also find people in both down coats and shorts at the same time. The clothes that you bring and the places you plan to go have a direct bearing on the seasons there. If you’re under preparation, it will be definitely hard for you handle the situation once you bump into a bad weather. In such plateau areas as Qomolangma and Ali districts, it would be a commonplace thing to encounter a snowy weather in July.
Here are the suggestions for your costume:
1. Down Coats: Unless you intend to travel to Lhasa or Shigatse as a part of the group in July and August, you can never imagine your life in Tibet without down coats. Even in summer, the hottest season, the temperature during the nighttime is mostly around zero in such areas as Qomolangma and Ali districts. In the base camp in Mt. Qomolangma where there are a number of tourists, you can always witness the snowing scene in July. Meanwhile, there is a great difference in temperature during day and night and it’s rather cold in the morning and evening. If you don’t go to the plateau area in summer, a warm down vest or a sweater is enough. If you still feel cold, a windproof and waterproof coat is good for you.
2. The clothes should be waterproof. A set of waterproof clothes include waterproof coat, trousers and shoes. In Tibet, it usually rains or snows every day in July and August. You can never imagine the consequences if your clothes are not waterproof. In the rainy seasons, hasty rains during the nighttime are quite common in many areas of Lhasa. And it also rains a lot in Nyingchi.
3. Underwear: If you go hiking or climbing in Tibet, you’d better prepare a set of underwear that is good for perspiration. In wilderness, you will be troubled by the sweat on your skin as it takes away your heat quickly. It can be very dangerous. Generally speaking, while you are having some activities in the wilderness in Tibet, underwear that’s good for perspiration and thermal underwear are quite necessary.
Apart from the foresaid items, you are suggested to make sure that you’ve already prepared the following items before your trip: flight ticket, photos (for attending to credentials), down coats, coats, woolen sweaters, woolen underwear, underwear, athletic suit, trousers, hiking shoes or sneakers, woolen socks, raincoats, sunbonnets, gloves, knapsacks, sabers, maps, folders, cash, bag containing your passport, credentials, flashlight, food and water, articles for washing and brushing, toilet paper, skincare wipes, plastic bags, razors, pens and paper, battery, sunglasses, skincare creams, lipsticks, thread, lighters, medicines and apparatus for photographing.
Gifts
In consideration of the language barrier, it would be a good idea for you to bring some small gifts for the local people because they tend to accept you easier in this way. All too often, candies and pencils are the best gifts for the children. In such areas as the Himalayas and Ali districts and some remote pastures that are on rare contact with the outside world, practical gifts like dried meat, canned food and elaborate handicrafts will make you more accessible to the local people.
Cigarettes, of course, are considered as decent gifts just like anywhere else. When you are faced with difficulties or you just want to make friends with the local people, cigarettes will just help you a lot.
Other Advice
1. Essential medicines: Saridon, aspirins, patulins, Niuhuang Jiedu Pills, antitussives, Vitamin C, white flower embrocation, medicine for enterogastritis and antibiotics.
2. Sunglasses and sunbonnets are essential. The intense sunlight and ultraviolet radiation in the plateau will do harm to your eyes, especially in the Himalaya.
3. Sun creams, skincare creams and lipsticks are also essential. The air is so dry and the sunlight is so intense in the plateau that you can always see some tourists leave Lhasa with their cheeks and noses burnt in the Gongga Airport.
4. Contact Lenses: It’s quite dusty in Tibet and the sanitary condition is harsh, you’re suggested to wear one-off lenses. The contact lenses are available in Lhasa and the price is pretty much the same as that in the inland.
Customs, Rituals and Taboos
1. If you happen to see flocks and herbs in red, yellow or green ribbons, don’t drive them away or hurt them as they are the sacrifices of the local Tibetans. Do not aim your shotgun at the eagles because the local Tibetans abstain from shooting their holy bird (the eagle).
2. No allowing into the temples without permission and no smoking in the temples. You can just take a look at the items in the temples without touching the statues of the Buddha and the scriptures and taking photos unauthorized. You cannot walk in a counter-clockwise direction in some places. And some esoteric places are off-limits to women.
3. No stepping on the thresholds when you enter the tents and houses of the local Tibetans. No spitting in front of other people.
4. When the local Tibetans put out their tongues, they are showing respect instead of mock. Putting the palms together is considered as etiquette.
5. Smoking: 1. All sorts of cigarettes are available in Lhasa. The percentage of false cigarettes is nearly the same as that in the inland. The price is a little bit more expensive than that in the inland.
2. The Tibetan drivers prefer Yunyan or flue-cured tobacco and they are not used to the cigarettes that the inland drivers favor. When it comes to offering cigarettes on the car, such brands of cigarettes as Honghe, Hongmei and Shilin will not abase your status.
3. Disciples of Lamaism are forbidden to smoke. No smoking in the cloisters.
4. In most cases, women or even maidens in the pastures have the habit of smoking. Delivering cigarettes when you inquire the way and offering cigarettes when you drink some tea are etiquettes that demand reciprocity.
5. You should cut down the amount of smoking as the air is thin in the plateau.
6. Celestial Burial: The local government and travel agencies do not encourage the tourists to watch the celestial burial. The Tibetans, especially the relatives of the dead, are reluctant to allow the Han to be on the spot. This is considered as an ethnic custom and it’s natural and normal for the local people to keep it in its original status. If you do have a chance to witness it by yourself, please behave properly.
7. Don’t purchase any fur product of wild animals like the horns of wild Tibetan antelopes and wild yaks. If you do, you are actually supporting the increasingly rampant poaching behaviors of wild animals in Tibet. Indeed, if you’re caught carrying the fur products with you when you are leaving Tibet, you will be in great trouble.
8. Don’t pay the local people whom you take photos of and don’t force to take photos of the things that they are reluctant to show you. You can present them with some food or medicines to increase their trust on you. Don’t try to help foreigners without legal formalities into Tibet.
Preliminary Instruction to Taking Photos in Tibet
1. Bring as many RAM cards and films as possible. The exceptionally beautiful scenery will just make your shuttle hectic.
2. Take good care of your camera and don’t expose it directly to the sun for a long time. Watch out for the wind borne sands in Tibet and don’t use your camera in a harsh environment.
3. Bring more spare batteries because the low temperature in Tibet will reduce the service life of the batteries.
4. You should show due respect to the people whom you take photos of and avoid agitating them. You can give them some small gifts but you’d better not pay them for this. When you take pictures of the animals, do avoid disturbing them.
5. If possible, bring a tripod with you as it will make the photos you take more glamorous.
6. If you’re just an amateur photographer, a light pack should come first. Get rid of all the unnecessary items.
For the photographers with clear purposes, you need to consider what your photographing plan includes and bring the apparatus and items accordingly. You should bring all the items that you need by all means. And you are strongly recommended to employ a hard photographing box to protect your apparatus over the whole process of transportation.
For many travelers, their main purpose of going to Tibet is photographing. They need to check other small items before their trip: lens hood, spare batteries, lens paper, air blast, brush, flashlight, long splice, shuttle release, dustproof and rainproof plastic bag, cleaner, maintenance tool, photographing vest, black pocket, close-up bellows, polariscope, leading device, films, tripod, tripod bag, photographing box, photographing bag, photographing waist pack and so forth.
In many places of Tibet, sandstorms are quite rampant in the morning and evening in the cold and dry seasons. Sands are so pervasive that they might stay in any of the apertures of your camera and lens. Here are some suggestions for you:
(1) Employ a dustproof photographing bag or box;
(2) Have a thorough clean of your apparatus every night. Clear the apertures inside your camera and lens;
(3) Don’t always hang your camera over your neck if unnecessary;
(4) The bellows effects of your zoom lens for internal zooming should be minimized;
In addition, many photographers in Tibet mention that you should be on the watch for the local children who would touch your lens and spit on it. It seems that the local children have a special feeling for the lens. They always touch it quickly and accurately.
Taking Photos in the Temples
There are no restrictions for taking photos in the open-air places inside the temples where there’re many visitors around. But in the hall of the temple, you need to pay extra fees for taking photos. The fees range from several bucks to a few dozens of bucks. You need to ask for permission and make it clear how much they charge for permission in advance.