Description
Tibetan Connections is a tour company catering to adventurous souls looking to experience the Tibetan regions. While in the West we think of Tibet as a single region with Lhasa as its capital (also known as TAR or Tibetan Autonomous Region), there are large Tibetan communities in the Amdo region (parts of Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan provinces), the Kham region (parts of Sichuan province) and the Dechen region (parts of Yunnan province). The Chinese government has put several limitations (and difficult to understand) on trips to the TAR, so if you are interested in their Tibetan life and culture, as well as beautiful landscapes, traveling to these regions is a very good option.
Travel to these far more off the beaten path regions and take on an adventurous spirit and flexibility.
Tibetan Connections is an operation running in Xining, the capital of Qinghai province. The management and staff are all ethnic Tibetans and specialize in small groups and individual travelers from outside of China. We were on a family trip with two young children, so accommodating each other was not difficult. However, they specialize in more adventurous trips such as trekking, nomad camps, and photography tours.
Booking a ride: how it works
If you are thinking of visiting these regions, you can of course follow the bus routes and rely on public (and limited) transportation. You will find little English spoken in many of these places and perhaps a little more Mandarin. If it is within your means, I recommend using a car + driver and a guide. In this way, you will be in control of your itinerary and will have a guide who can communicate with you and answer questions that you will undoubtedly have.
If you know where you want to go, contact Tibetan Connections directly. If you’re unsure, take a look at their various itineraries and see what you think looks good.
Contacting Tibetan connections
There are several ways to contact:
- Online contact form
- Tel +86 (0) 189 9720 0974
- Skype: Tibetan connections
- Email [email protected]
Tibetan Connection Guides
The Tibetan Connections guides are all local Tibetans. They speak Tibetan, Mandarin Chinese and some foreign languages. Guides can lead groups in English, French and Italian.
Guide Notes – My Experience with Tibetan Connections
When I decided to go to Amdo (Qinghai province) I contacted various tour operators to see what kind of 4 day itinerary they would offer me. We wanted to base our stay in Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, and then go on day trips every day to see different things. I was making my decision on two things: the guarantee of a Tibetan guide and a decent price. It really bothers me a lot of tourism agencies that charge extremely high prices just because you are a foreigner.
To give an example, I submitted the same inquiry to Tibetan Connections, as well as a Lhasa-based travel company called Travel West China. Travel West China quoted me about three times the rate for a very similar itinerary. I can’t imagine what the difference in service level would be other than the guide itself. The car could be a little more enjoyable, but we’d be traveling the same roads, seeing the same sights. I can’t imagine a better car and a more experienced guide would be worth three times the price.
I found the staff I contacted about the itinerary well informed and responsive. He guaranteed that we would have a local Tibetan guide and was very happy to be flexible on our itinerary. Flexibility is something I always insist on, since when you travel with children, you just don’t know what each day will be like. In our case, this was important. As it turned out, we all suffered from altitude sickness on our first day in Xining (2,300m), so we decided to change the itinerary to visit Qinghai Lake on day 2 instead of day 1 to give ourselves a chance to acclimatize.
They were very happy to stay.
Our guide was extremely friendly and helpful. The kids really wanted him at the end of our visit. While culturally savvy and very willing to answer questions, his experience as a guide was lacking. He was able to answer some of our questions, but he did not have the richness and depth of knowledge that we expected. Some of this can possibly be attributed to your command of English.
Bottom line: Although I was not totally satisfied with the ability of our guide, I will probably use Tibetan Connections again. Visiting these regions is difficult to do alone and I believe that they have great resources to assist in adventure travel.
