Road Trip: Costs, Permits and Road Construction

  Shigatse, Tibet, China
Saturday, July 22, 2006

I returned to the road to Lhasa in the morning. After watching the clouds for hours, without a ride, I walked to the nearby town of Hor. Soon, I had a ride with a Toyota Landcruiser at a bargain price.

The driver was heading back east as quickly as possible, so he could find some more work. The seats were leather and comfortable, the suspension was tight, and he was able to go 80 to 100 kilometers per hour on the dirt roads, about three to four times as fast as I was used to with trucks and buses. I had the whole back seat to myself--luxury.

In the passenger seat was Bernie, an older American born in Korea. We exchanged stories, including many stories of PSB fines and how ridiculous the Chinese system was.

A couple of examples:

Bernie visited neighboring Kazakhstan from China. When he returned to the Chinese border, he was told that the border was only one-way for foreigners, so he couldn't return. With limited cold weather gear, he had to return to a snowy outpost in Kazakhstan. After a while he found out that he could make return, but needed a permit through a local travel agent. Finally, after a few days, he was able to re-enter China for $500, but never saw the permit.

In Ali, the PSB officer told me that Ali is open to foreigners as is Lake Manasarovar and Mt. Kailash. She also said that the road to Mt. Kailash from the east was open. She then fined me because she said the northern route was closed.



The same PSB officer told Bernie that Ali was closed as was Mt. Kailash and the road east. She then fined Bernie for entering Ali without a permit.

The amount of the fine according to Chinese law, the officer said, was 300 yuan. I told her that I was at the PSB in Ali and the officer there told me the law was between 100 and 500 yuan. She disagreed with that and fined me 300 yuan.

Clearly, they make up rules and fines on the spot, just to make money.

In Tibet, there are layers of permits and "laws" none of which are clear. There are Foreign Independent Traveler's Permits (FIT), Tibet Travel Permits, Alien's Travel Permits, Military Permits. And at the same time, the government is encouraging tourism.

It's all a big corrupt scam developed by corrupt PSB officers and travel agencies.

For the trip out west, I kept a record of costs, if you're interested. Almost one month of traveling in western Tibet costed $440, including PSB fines, transportation, food, and lodging, less than one month cost of rent in most places. Transportation was the most expensive: $275.

At high speeds, we crossed high passes and crossed flat valleys with the Himalayas to the south. Periodically, we'd pass a small village with its earthen brick homes and piles of drying yak dung--fuel for the fire. Occasionally, we'd also stop for repairs and food.

On the second day, we entered a major construction zone between Raga and Lhatse. Rain turned the road construction zone to mud as blue Dong Feng trucks hauled rocks, cement mixers obstructed the road, a precipice to one side, and hydraulic excavators--CAT, Kobelco, Hitachi, Daewoo--moved the earth. Bulldozers and steam rollers put finishing touches on parts of the roads. Scattered througout this heavy machinery were thousands of Tibetan slaves, I mean workers, moving rocks and laying cement by hand.

Along the construction road were tent cities for the workers. Older women and children, unfit for work, begged alongside the road. The scene was reminescent of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers when Saruman was cutting the ancient forest to create an ogre army.

Although there are supposedly labor laws, I'm almost positive after seeing the beggars and tent sites that the workers weren't paid fairly.

Soon, we were in Shigatse, where I found a hotel for the night, exhausted after days of traveling.