Tibet sans permis - Août 2004 (Récit en anglais)
From Deqin to Lhasa without Chinese permit: My Story
Saturday 21/08/2004: Zhongdian
I met Jim this day, in Zhongdian. He is from Taiwan but looks and speaks like a Chinese from Guangzhou: I thought I could go with him in Tibet... We bought two bus tickets for Deqin, the last town before Tibet. We could have bought plane tickets from Zhongdian to Lhasa, maybe the travel agency would have bought them, but it was expensive. We slept in the rustic, noisy but nice and cheap Snowland Hotel.
Sunday 22/08/2004: Zhongdian > Deqin
We left Zhongdian by bus at 9h20 am and arrived in Deqin 6 hours later (60 Yuans). We stopped on the road during one hour because of a truck fallen in the ravine. At noon the bus stopped at a restaurant next to the road but completely lost in the valley: simple but nice food. Jim helped me to order. I was the only European there. In Deqin we asked many people for a truck to Tibet, but none were leaving the day after. Anyway it seemed to be possible for me to go to Tibet in a truck, but I don't know the price for an European tourist, and a truck is slower than a bus. Jim bought two tickets for Markam tomorrow, the farthest town in Tibet we could go straight to by bus from here (in fact, we had to change at Yanjing...). He has been told at the station that he'd better go with me to the police, for me to be in order with it before entering Tibet. We didn't, cause I had nothing good to expect from the police, and we wanted to enter Tibet. We slept in the good and cheap Tibet Hotel (bargaining was possible). But I didn't find neither heard of, there, any tourist that would go or had been to Tibet. The lack of information is a real problem, for I would have been relieved to know better what was expecting me. But that's part of the trip!
Monday 23/08/2004: Deqin > Yanjing > Markam
We left at 7h30 am, the bus driver made no problem to take me (40 Yuans). I was trying to be discreet but didn't hide myself yet. The road was more and more beautiful, the mountains were dry and we sometimes could see snow mountains far away, beyond the clouds. We went through several impressive passes surrounded by a forest of prayer flags. The road was made of dry land; I could understand why going through this way could be so difficult when it rained, and impossible in winter because of the snow. The Tibetan people we were travelling with in the bus were very different and interesting, from the old woman chanting her prayers with a monotonous tone next to us to the strong man with black clothes and a red scarf in his hair... The most beautiful might be the old women, with colourful clothes. It was also very lively inside, for some were asleep, but most of the Tibetans in the bus had an occupation: feeding a baby, chanting prayers, smoking at a window, speaking with the driver, even speaking with a mobile phone! We stopped during two hours before going across a bridge, because people from two villages were fighting (real fight!) for the ownership of a mountain... The police came and stopped the conflict: I stayed in the bus and thought I might be careful and hide myself better!
We arrived in Yanjing at 3h30 pm. Yanjing is the first village inside Tibet. We were in! But there we all had to leave the bus, to go to another bus to Markam... When I was outside and took my bag to put it in the other bus, trying to be as discreet as possible, the driver saw me. He told my friend Jim that he didn't want to take me in his bus. I couldn't stay in this small village alone: Jim began to speak with him. The driver became confused, and decided to ask the police. He phoned to the police station in Markam, but nobody answered... He asked us to go and see the director of the children's school next to us, for this director was also a policeman. We did and saw that this man had gone for one day... So lucky we were! When we came back we decided to go straight in the bus. We sat and waited. When the driver saw us just before the departure and learnt about our failure to see the police, he became angry and very troubled. Jim told him we had no choice but to go to Markam, for Yanjing was so isolated a place to stay, and in Markam the police can take me back to China if necessary. He also said the previous driver told there was no problem to pick me up. As they were arguing the Tibetan people in the bus tried to understand the problem and told me (with gestures...) that I might paint my face in black, close my eyes a little bit so that they would appear to be Chinese... They were joking, and told the driver not to worry. The driver eventually abandon the "quarrel" and started the bus at 5 pm, with me inside (40 Yuans)!
The superb landscape made me forget a little bit what happened. At night (8 pm) it started to rain, and the road became really muddy. Jim and I had to go out under the rain to push and make a taxi get out of the mud with other men (and Buddhist monks!). We arrived in Markam at 11 pm; I put a huge black hat on my head to go out of the bus "incognito". There I started to be careful of every uniform I saw, to hide and walk near the walls. We slept in a hotel, four people in a room of two: we had met two friendly Chinese tourists in the bus. They made me taste and drink a wheat alcohol, from Beijing. It was strong but not very tasty! The evening with them all was very great. I was happy again to be there.
Tuesday 24/08/2004: Markam > Bamda
At 6 am, Jim went out in the streets of Markam to find me a "disguisement": he found an old sport vest "Football USA" left in a box. Wearing it would make me look like a young Tibetan... I shaved, put my muddy clothes, the sport vest and the big black hat that hid my neck and forehead. We had a rice soup for breakfast, my back directed towards the street. I walked behind my friends in the streets, got into the bus rapidly after putting my bag in the trunk. I sat at the back of the bus, left side, near the window with Jim on my right, and hide my face as if I was asleep, waiting for the bus to start... When the driver came, Jim paid the fare for both of us. No problem, the driver wasn't suspicious. The drivers may not be used to see foreigners here. We left at 7h40 am for Bamda (80 Yuan).
At noon the bus stopped to change a flat tire: we all had to go out. There were no policemen but I tried to hide as much as possible from the road, and from the people (on never knows!); but hiding from the people was almost illusion... Some Tibetan and Chinese tourists used to come and speak with us. Each stop was an interesting event! Sometimes we only stopped to cool the engine, near a small river where a Tibetan was waiting with a hosepipe at the roadside. He often lived in a small house with his family, a fascinating lost place.
At 2 pm we stopped at Zogang to have the meal. But the driver started to argue and even to fight with a policeman just next to the bus (there seemed to have too many passengers in the bus). I got out fast to eat, and fast into the bus when the policeman was away. We arrived in Bamda at 4h30 pm (the bus carried on to Qamdo). We got out and searched a lorry or a bus for Lhasa. The big problem was that Bamda was really a small village with a big square, where all vehicles have to wait until 9 pm before leaving (there was a check point). This place was surrounded by soldiers, every worker here wore military clothes: amazing!
We found a sleeper bus to Bayi: 200 Yuans (normal price: 250 Yuans), without couchette cause we were too late. The driver didn't seem to be afraid of carrying me... But we had to wait 4 hours on that main square: despite my disguisement I don't think the soldiers could have missed me! In fact they did, when our bus left the place no soldier stopped us. We escaped any control or check up, and today I still don't understand how it has been possible. Lucky we were! From that moment we didn't have any "threat" anymore.
Wednesday 25/08/2004: Bamda > Bayi
We didn't sleep during the night cause we had no choice but to stand or to sit. The night was beautiful, but the day after have been difficult! We couldn't sleep because we had no couchette nor any place on the floor between the couchettes, for the Chinese often spat on it... Jim and I were both extra passengers, so when we stopped at 6h30 am just before a check point, we had to go outside and walk ahead on the road, when everybody was asleep. At 7h05 the bus joined us. I was not the only cheater! On its way the bus blew two of its tyres and had some difficulties going through a narrow muddy road near a furious river.
We arrived in Bayi at 6h30 pm: It took us 22 hours to go straight from Bamda to Bayi. I had to hide again in the streets. This town is not very lively, and there were many "shops" with a pink light and girls inside...
Thursday 26/08/2004: Bayi > Lhasa
We took the 7h30 am bus for Lhasa (80 Yuans), Jim and I behaving as usual to be discreet (see "Tuesday's" paragraph). I thought we would be fast, yet we made a 10 hours journey to Lhasa. I didn't get out at noon for the meal cause a police car was parked near our bus: I stayed inside, in a sleeper position.
At 6 pm we entered Lhasa, seeing from a distance the majestic Potala, the beautiful white and brown Dalai Lama's former palace. I got out in a big street. When I first saw a white foreigner, I immediately left my sport vest and hat, and put my sun glasses. It was sunny. I was free... So good!!
Our way back: Lhasa > Chengdu
We had no problem to buy two bus tickets to go straight to Chengdu in Lhasa: 2 days and 3 nights in a sleeper bus (be careful, the couchettes are very small and very uncomfortable if you are taller that 170 m!), 500 Yuans. It seemed to be far easier to leave Tibet than to enter!
We went north to Amdo, Golmud, Xining, Lanzhou and Chengdu. The road was often large and fast, but the landscape was less beautiful than in the south-east Tibet: dry and monotonous, with nothing nor anybody except some yaks and the building of a rail track.
Conclusion
A journey in Tibet without permit is kind of exciting and interesting, especially if you don't have much time and money, and if you don't want to give much money to the Chinese. But the trip may be too fast because you're always afraid to stop in order to be sooner in Lhasa. If you have time and money, maybe the best way to travel is to be in order, to take time to admire the beauty of Tibet and its inhabitants; they worth it!
Which kind of journey is more respectful with Tibetan people: taking time to see them (only "to see" for you can not take the risk to meet them if you want to respect them!) but at the same time giving much money to Chinese that kill their culture? Or travelling cheap and fast and seeing only few things of their culture, except in "open areas" like Lhasa? The answer is not simple...
I hope you appreciated this story. Please write if you have any comment to make. Thanks for reading!
