Journey to the Top of the World

Dec. 1, 2006 — -- Formerly closed to foreigners, Tibet is now accessible by car, plane and, most recently, by train.

Tickets for the Qinghai-Tibet railway are a fraction of the price to fly and making the long trek more affordable is expected to double tourism in Tibet in the coming years.

In fact, a luxury hotel in Lhasa has already opened, complete with a spa, which means Starbucks -- at the rate they are expanding through China -- will probably soon follow.

And that is why if Lhasa as we now know it is on your travel list, you need to go sooner rather than later.

I hopped on a plane from Chengdu and arrived there in two hours.

A local Tibetan man, who I'll refer to as Tashi, accompanied me from the airport into town.

He was tall and wiry with understanding eyes and a friendly smile -- the kind of guy that immediately put you at ease.

This was a welcome feeling as travel through Asia can sometimes be a challenge. And Tibet was no different with multiple languages, cultural differences, and all the necessary paperwork requirements.

You need a passport, a China visa and a Tibet permit to get into Lhasa. Additional permits are sometimes needed to enter less traveled parts of the region.

It's advisable to make all of these arrangements through a travel agency as the rules and regulations seem to change often. And if you book your own air ticket online, particularly through a U.S. Web site, give yourself enough time to get a printed ticket.

During the hour-long ride from the Lhasa Gonggar Airport to the city center, Tashi and I conversed. Though his English was mostly flawless, he had a tendency to punctuate his sentences with the phrase "How do you say?"

"And now I will tell you about, how do you say, my history," he said and continued on about his local family and siblings -- painting a colorful picture of a tight-knit group who drove each other crazy, while at the same time loved each other very much.

It struck me that our conversation could have just as easily been one I had with my friends back at home.