Two tourists in Lhasa on protest aftermath

Two American friends, Kellbell and Angemon, are traveling and blogging their way across India and China. They had the misfortune to end up in Lhasa this week, where it seems that the effects of last week’s Everest protest is being felt:

All this has irritated the Chinese government in Tibet and they have severely tightened permit regulations…so much so that they have been requiring an approved Chinese guide for all groups and you must be in a group. It also seems that they are not even issuing permits to some places – Everest Base Camp being one of them. It’s hard to say, things are changing everyday. They have been turning travelers back from places along the Friendship Highway and making them return to Lhasa. Also, the approved guides are in short supply – one agency we visited said that they couldn’t arrange a tour for us at all, at any price. So it looks like we cannot ride to Nepal, and it might be that we cannot even get to Nepal from Tibet and we will have to leave Tibet through China (people going direct also have to pass the checkpoint near Everest Base Camp and that requires a permit).

Read from Kellbell’s full post

Then more from Angelo:

I am really sad. Not because we cannot travel so much but more because of what it means to live in a country that does not allow freedom for it’s people. Our trip is minor, our dream to ride across this land is minor, people here have bigger dreams – as simple as a bird flying free in the sky.
..snip..
Maybe the protesters have achieved something, maybe they have just caused problems, either way they have caused a reaction and have drawn attention to this region. I am not sure that the rest of the world understands though or even cares.

Read Angemon’s full (sad) post



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