Me at Ranwu Lake
It’s nice when you leave a message when you have visited my website.
I love to hear if you have visited Tibet or if you’re planning to visit Tibet.
And I hope my website will inspire you to travel to Tibet. Because I can ensure you it will be a life time experience.
If you want information on travelling in Tibet, you also can leave a message here. I will answer / contact you as soon as possible.
Hallo Ellen, ik heb je gids vandaag gemaild met verzoek om info en kosten voor de tour. Dank voor je antwoord op wereldwijzerforum.
groet Conny
Graag gedaan Conny. Succes met het plannen van jullie reis!
Groet, Ellen
Dear Ellen,
I’ve found your website with those fantastic photos while I was planning my second trip to Tibet which will be probably next May. I hope that I can use your guide, as the tour guide from my first visit is not available anymore. Could you please let me know if he himself will normally be the guide, or if he is booked already does he have colleagues to accompany me?
Learning from your blog, you have been in Yunnan last October, a province where I have been travelling many times in the past 5 years. I am curious to know if you liked that place and where in Yunnan you travelled. If you are interested to see my photos from the Chinese Southwest, you can do so on my website.
Congratulations on your travels and wishing you good New Year
Jürgen
Hello Jürgen,
Thank you for your compliment on my photos of Tibet. And yes, I have visited Yunnan last October. I had a great trip and I will place photos of that trip on my website I hope somewhere around February / March 2016. You also have beautiful pictures of Southern China and Tibet on your website! I will answer your questions in a private e-mail. And I also wish you a happy New Year with another great travel (in Tibet).
Ellen
Hi Ellen,
really impressed with the pics,
hope one day will have the skills to take at least half as good as yours.
But honestly – it is not because of photos that I ended up on your website.
I am considerin to go to Tobet in May 2016. I have altogether 14 days in China. Flying into and out of Shanghai.
-Do you think it makes sense at all to get to Tibet foem Shanghai?
-Or should I maybe postpone the trip to a different occasion and this time visit less remote occasions?
– if you recommend to go, can you share any contact details – i.e trusted agencies who would help with teh permit etc etc
– a train or a plane?
Thanks a mil!!!!
Magda
Hello Magda,
Thank you for the praise of my photos. I’m pleased to hear that you liked them. I will answer your questions in a private e-mail.
Best wishes, Ellen
Thanks for your beautiful pictures!
I’ll travel in Sichuan soon, and will go to Ganzi.
From there i hesitate between Larung Gar and Yarchen Gar.
Wich one do you recommend?
For pictures (I’m photographer), for interest and people, beauty, authenticity…
For length of travel (I’m with a 7 years old boy).
For number of tourist (I have read that in Larung Gar, there is more and more Chinese tourist…)
Thanks
Hello Cyril,
Thank you for the compliment on my pictures. Great to hear you are going to travel in Sichuan soon. Larung and Yarchen are both very authentic and with beautiful people. It’s hard to say which of the two is more interesting. You point out you are a photographer. So maybe if you have to choose, Larung is the most interesting for you. This is because of the beauty of all the little monk houses who are located on the hillside. It’s a fantastic view! Yes, Larung receives a little more (Chinese and other) tourists then Yarchen I think. But it’s not yet a tourist site. If you don’t go there in a Chinese holiday, then you won’t really notice them. Ganzi is a good starting point for both travelling to Larung as to Yarchen. Doesn’t make a lot of difference in length of travelling.
Good luck with your trip and have a good time over there!
Ellen
Dear Ellen,
first of all: what amazing pictures! Wonderful, one can feel the freedom you felt and the love you have for these areas!
So thank you very much for posting them! They are all very impressive!
I plan to go to Chengdu end of may and was wondering if you could please help me in a matter.
I’d like to visit Larung Gar and Yarchen Gar.
It’s hard to find information about Yarchhen Gar in the internet and especially how I can get there. Is there a possibility to go from Larung Gar to Yarchen Gar directly? Do you know of that?
Are there possibilities to stay over night in Yarchen Gar? What is the name of the Bus destination? And I would love to go from Chengdu to Larung Gar directely by bus. Is it very problematic with the altitude? But I don’t have that much time….
I would be very grateful if you could chare your experiences in these matters with me and wherever you plan to go next time I’m wishing you a wonderful trip!
All best,
Victoria
Hello Victoria,
Thank you for your praising words on my photos! I will try to answer your questions in a private message in one of the coming days, when I have time to do so.
Best wishes, Ellen
Hey Ellen
Am curious – why Tibet 8 times?
Martin
Hello Martin
In the first place, I have already seen a lot of beautiful countries and places in the past 25 years. That really is a privilige. But I think Tibet is very special. The landscapes, the (Buddhist) culture and especially the people there have stolen my hart. So I enjoy my travels in Tibet very much. And I have just returned from my 9th travel to Tibet.
Ellen
I referred to you writing “this time I did not go to Tibet, but to Amdo and Kham”, or something like that. Should have been “did not go to TAR, but eastern Tibet …”
Keep up the good work!
Do not hang everything on to a name. If I talk about Tibet it’s TAR I mean. Eastern Tibet is the Nyingchy region (of TAR). And Kham is Kham and Amdo is Amdo.
Nice pictures!
I need to say I do not agree with your definition of “Tibet”. Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) is NOT “Tibet” but only a part of Tibet, as Amdo and Kham where you recently visited are just as much part of the real, original Tibet as the western part, or Ü-Tsang, is. Thus if you visit Amdo or Kham you certainly are traveling in Tibet just as much as if you were visiting Lhasa. Actually about 55% of Tibetans living in China live in Amdo and Kham, not TAR. For some (political?) reason not the whole Tibet was designated autonomous status, only Ü-Tsang and the western corner of Kham, which reside inside TAR.
I didn’t give a (specific) definition of Tibet. And I listed in my portfolio “Kham” under “Tibet”. I will not go into political issues. Yes, Kham is very Tibetan as is Amdo. By the way, the Tibetans in Tibet speak themselfes nowadays of Tibet (Xizang), Kham and Amdo.
Prachtige foto’s! Wanneer ga weer naar Tibet?
Bedankt Ron! Het is de bedoeling in het nieuwe jaar snel weer die kant op te gaan.
Hi there! I got your website from a post on Trip Advisor. Thanks for sharing! Firstly, you photos: WOW. Nice work! Secondly, I am looking to visit Tibet in December and am wading through the myriad of agencies. I’m reading nightmare after nightmare. I’ve also had bad experiences (in Xinjiang). Obviously, the cost is steep. I don’t want to make another mistake. Can you recommend a travel agency?? Thanks!
Hello Susan,
Thanks for the compliment on my photos! I can recommend visiting Tibet. And yes, travelling in Tibet is expensive. But I think it’s worth it. I travel to Tibet a lot, but I’m not really familiar with the Tibetan travel agency’s. Because I arrange my travels to Tibet with my Tibetan contacts and and I travel with them in Tibet. And they arrange the travel with an agency in Lhasa. But I don’t know which ones. I don’t deal with this agency’s myself. But I advice you to choose an agency in Lhasa, that is run by (real) Tibetans (not Chinese). A agency that I think I would trust is “Tibetan Guide”. The website of this agency is http://www.tibetanguide.com/. This agency has also a page on Facebook. I have not dealt with this agency myself, but I heard good things about them. And they are Tibetan. They have group tours but you can also have a private trip with them. Of course the private trips are a lot more expensive. I wish you success with arranging your travel to Tibet. And I hope you will have a great trip to Tibet in December!