Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
If you are without a mobile phone or laptop, look around for public use telephones in
small shops (your guide will know where these are). Be sure to purchase a local internet
phone (IP) card.
Most hotels in Lhasa have International Direct Dial (IDD) telephones, but levy a hefty sur-
charge on calls.
It is still impossible to make reverse-charge (collect) calls or to use foreign telephone
debit cards. The best you can do is give someone your number and get them to call you
back.
The China country code is 86.
Time
Time throughout China - including Tibet - is set to Běijīng time, which is eight hours ahead
of GMT/UTC. When it is noon in Běijīng it is also noon in far-off Lhasa, even if the sun only
indicates around 9am or 10am.
Toilets
Chinese toilets might be fairly dismal, but Tibetan toilets make them look like little bowers of
heaven. The standard model is a deep hole in the ground, often without partitions, that
bubbles and gives off noxious vapours. Many Tibetans (including women with long skirts)
prefer to urinate in the street.
On the plus side there are some fabulous 'toilets with a view'. Honours go to the Samye
Monastery Guesthouse, the Sakya Guesthouse, the public toilets in the Potala and the
small village of Pasum on the way to Everest Base Camp.
With the exception of midrange and top-end hotels, hotel toilets in Tibet are of the squat
variety - as the clichés go, good for the digestion and character building, too.
Always
carry
an emergency stash of toilet paper or tissues with you.
Tourist Information
Tibet is officially a province of China and does not have tourist offices as such. Similarly, the
Tibetan government-in-exile does not provide information specifically relating to travel in
Tibet. Several of the pro-Tibetan organisations abroad offer travel advice. (see the box,
