Talk:Tibet/Archive 2003-2012

Respect or Stay safe?

An anonymous contributor felt that the warning on discussing political issues should be moved from Respect to Stay safe, given the extreme nature of the possible consequences in this case. There is some commentary on my talk page.

I think that Stay safe should cover things like crime and natural disasters; things that a traveler might become an "innocent victim" of, if he/she is not aware of conditions in the country. Respect deals specifically with interaction with the culture and the people, and the consequences (of whatever seriousness) travelers might face in response to their own deliberate behavior.

Opinions?

--(WT-en) Paul Richter 22:55, 9 Dec 2005 (EST)

This might not help, but there should probably be some mention in "Understand" too. It seems to me it is both a cultural issues (ie it could offend some people) that would go under Respect as well as a legal/safety issue (China isn't exactly brimming with Free Speech) which would argue for Stay safe. Is there a way to address these different aspects in different ways in both sections or would that be repeating? (WT-en) Majnoona 00:19, 10 Dec 2005 (EST)

It might be repeating, but I'd say it would still be worth doing. (WT-en) Pashley 19:37, 19 June 2006 (EDT)

New pass open?

India and China have just agreed [1] to re-open a pass on Lhasa-Calcutta route for trade. I do not know if his will be open for travel, but it seemed worth noting here. (WT-en) Pashley 19:37, 19 June 2006 (EDT)

Romanisation

Could we use a non-pinyin romanisation for Tibetan words? Shigatse instead of Xigatse, Chamdo not Qamdo. Tibetan is a much different language than Mandarin and there is no need to reinforce the Chinese claim on Tibet here.

While I am not personally a strong supporter of the pinyin romanization system as I believe most Westerners unitiated into the system will not pronounce the 'X' and 'Q' correctly, but unfortunately it is the pin-yin system that is used on signs in Tibet and therefore will be the one that vistors will need to familiarize themsleves with. And, as Wikivoyage operates a 'traveler first' policy, it is this reason that will determine the spelling system adopted, not one's political opinions (no matter how valid they may or may not be) - at least that's how I see it, though I welcome other interpretations/opinions. (WT-en) WindHorse 20 June 06

That makes sense. I can't remember the signs now but I'm sure you're right. My Chinese-made map had pinyin spellings but most Western material uses the more traditional romanisation. I did meet some travellers who were confused by this. "I want to go to Nam-tso Lake, not Nam-co" for example but for them at least this caused no big problems. Also, to be consistent 'ts' is 'c' or 'z' in pinyin and on my Chinese map of Tibet making Shigatse Xigaze (which will probably be read zai-gays by the unintiated).

For travelers using Western material with the traditional romanization of Tibetan names (the Yale or Whales-Giles systems), there are actually redirects in place. For example, anyone typing in Shigatse or Chamdo will be automaticaly directed to the relevant articles. Hope that sufficiently answers your questions and allays your concerns. (WT-en) WindHorse 21 June 06

We're currenly using "Xigatse", which is neither fish (Shigatse) nor fowl (Xigaze). I'm tempted to lean Wikipedia's way and adopt the Tournadre spelling of 'Shigatse for this too, but standardize on Tibetan pinyin for the rest. (WT-en) Jpatokal 00:09, 19 August 2007 (EDT)

As the 'Sh' spelling for Tibet's second city has more international recognition, I go along with Jpatokal's proposal (i.e. Xigatse -> Shigatse). (WT-en) WindHorse 21:37, 19 August 2007 (EDT)

Restored reversion

So, I restored the following paragraph, incorrect capitalization and all:

After the invasion of Tibet many ten-thousands of Tibetan monks were killed and thousands or monasteries had been destroyed. They are now rebuilt by the chinese government mostly for tourists and filled up with monks who are not always genuine Tibetan Buddhist monks. Be a bit cautious.

I've fixed the grammar and spelling a bit, and I removed the final admonition since it's non-specific. It's probably worthwhile getting some confirmation on those numbers, or maybe taking them out. --(WT-en) Evan 22:17, 18 September 2006 (EDT)

Wouldn't that information and the rest of the text under "Don't" fit much better in Understand, Respect, or possibly Stay Safe? -- (WT-en) Sapphire

Legalities

The "Hitchhiking from Lhasa to Mount Everest" section seems to me to violate Project:Illegal_activities_policy. We should obviously mention the permits. I'd say we should mention that some travellers go without them and get away with it; my understanding is that this is common. However, advising on how to do that is against policy. (WT-en) Pashley 18:39, 6 December 2007 (EST)

I know this note is old, but it looks like the problem has crept back in: There's a bunch of stuff in here that looks like it violates that policy now, in addition to having a distinctly pro-Tibet/anti-China tone. I suppose that's to be expected to a certain extent, since most of the people interested in visiting Tibet are probably pro-Tibet, but that itself violates http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Be_fair. (Where it is specifically mentioned that wikivoyage should not advocate any religion or political philosophy.) I'm going to try to clean up the article a bit over the next few days--please feel free to debate with me if you think any of my changes go to far. I don't want to introduce a pro-China tone either, since my whole purpose here is to remove the bias and put the article better in line with wikivoyage policy.

Giant Panda Tours?

Swept in from non-article Tibetan Highlands --(WT-en) Nick 15:00, 11 April 2008 (EDT)

Please if someone can tell me are all the Giant Panda Tours closed? ~B

Tibet permits

I got my hostel to speak to a government agency handling Tibet permits, and they advised that there will definitely be no permits issued to foreigners until the end of June. It goes without saying that this is due to the Olympic torch relay passing through Lhasa on the 20th & 21st of June. [2] The phone number for this agency is 08916834312. I've updated the warning box accordingly. (WT-en) Deconstruct 21:36, 20 May 2008 (EDT)

Not sure where to look for reviews

Hey, could anyone tell me where to find information on the tours offered through tibet? I was looking at tibet unplugged via intrepid but I have no idea where to find reviews. The usual sources don't seem to dig up much. Please email me at myspot (at) mail-me.com

Tibetan owned agencies not correct

Some information on this page ( http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Tibet) is not correct. Specifically, in the "do" section, in this passage:

"Since visiting Tibet requires being accompanied by a licensed tour company, the following is a list of some Tibetan owned and operated tour guides:

Tibet Highland Tours, well connected, custom trips. http://www.tibethighlandtours.com/ Tibet Shaman Tours, former Buddhist monk turned tour guide. http://tibetanshamantour.com Tibet Kyunglung Travel, http://www.en.tibetkyunglungtravel.com/ CITS Tibet Travel,Specialized in Tibet Train Travel.http://www.tibettravel.org/ "

The first company, Highland Tours, is Tibetan owned, and I don't know about the next two companies, but for sure the last company, CITS, is not Tibetan owned and operated, as stated. I believe CITS is the central Chinese tourism agency. At any rate, it is clearly not Tibetan owned. 24.7.72.98 19:28, 24 July 2012 (EDT)

Please plunge forward and fix it yourself ;) --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 21:13, 24 July 2012 (EDT)