Travelling in Tibet can be an awesome, inspiring, and educational experience. Many of SFT’s leaders over the years developed their interest and support for Tibet after travelling there and seeing the situation first-hand. At the same time, people are often concerned about supporting the Chinese occupation through their tourist dollars. Below is an article reprinted from the Canada Tibet Committee on being an ethical traveler in Tibet.

Many people choose instead (or in addition) to visit Tibetan areas outside of Chinese-occupied Tibet, in Nepal, Bhutan, and India. Our friends at the Passage Project for International Education coordinate educational travel and study trips in Tibet, Nepal, Ladakh, and India. Potala Tours & Travel is a Tibetan-owned professional travel agency based in Delhi, India - specializing in cultural travel throughout the Himalayas.

A GUIDE TO ETHICAL TRAVEL IN TIBET

RELIGION & CULTURE

Observe Customs. Tibetans are an extremely religious people and appreciate foreigners respecting a few simple customs. Always walk clockwise around Buddhist temples, religious sites and within monasteries. Take your hat off and do not smoke when visiting a monastery. Do not touch figures or use flash photography inside monasteries unless it has been cleared with the monks. Do not jump queues of pilgrims within monasteries or interrupt ceremonies. Try to be an unobtrusive visitor but feel free to ask questions. It is also important not to touch the heads of or point your feet towards monks. Be careful about physical contact with monks and nuns. Dress appropriately when going to a monastery or any religious site. Remember it is a holy place.

Please do not encroach on Tibetan burial rituals (known as sky or celestial burials). This unique system of disposing of the remains of the dead is a sacred and private affair. It is not proper for visitors to Tibet to intrude on a family’s last rites (Chinese officials would encourage you to go and see such happenings in the hopes of attracting tourists, hence more dollars for the Chinese coffers).

Some Tibetans believe that photos can steal their soul. At any rate, taking pictures of people can be rude and intrusive. Therefore, put yourself in their place before you take each and every photograph.

Support Religious Freedom. Donations left on altars or in donation boxes in the large monasteries will go to a committee controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and will not necessarily be used for religious purposes. Donations can be made directly to individual monks or given in-kind. Clothing, food, film or books are much appreciated. But don’t give your dirty cast-offs!

Donations at smaller, out-of-the-way monasteries will be used in accordance with traditional Tibetan customs since they are not as tightly regulated by Chinese authorities. Items such as candles, prayer flags, a bag of “tsampa” or some tea are always appreciated at remote monasteries.

A wonderful way to spend some time with monastic people is to share your food. Walk the Barkhor at sunrise with the Tibetans! It’s a peaceful experience and allows you to be with the Tibetan people in a way that shows you support their religious freedom.

SHOPPING

Buy From Tibetans. If you want to support Tibetans, Tibetan culture and the Tibetan economy, buy from Tibetan shops and stalls. A large influx of Chinese immigrants into Lhasa and other Tibetan cities are now taking over the economy and putting Tibetans out of work. The Dalai Lama has called this influx possibly the greatest threat to the survival of Tibetan culture. This general rule also applies to Tibetan restaurants and tea stalls. Eat Tibetan food, not Chinese or imported foodstuffs.

Inflation is also a very real problem in Tibet. You contribute to this by paying exorbitant prices to vendors which can increase the prices Tibetans must pay for goods. Don’t be cheap, on the other hand. If you find a piece of finely woven cloth or a carving you like, pay a fair price for the amount of work it entailed. Bargaining is a part of Tibetan life. Unfortunately, being ripped off by tourists is also becoming a part of their life.

Do not buy antiques. Most of Tibet’s artistic treasures have already been destroyed or plundered by Chinese forces. Please leave antiques in Tibet. This goes for all family heirlooms as well as religious items. Since it is difficult to tell what is antique and what is not, a good rule of thumb to follow is that if someone tries to sell you something secretly, do not buy it. Stick to public stores and stalls. Families are often forced to sell their treasured items to put food on the table. Be creative and find other ways of helping Tibetans without taking away their culture.

ECO-TOURISM

Help Protect Tibet’s Wildlife. Do not buy products made from wild animals, especially from endangered species. (That is, pelts of the snow leopard and tiger, horns of Tibetan antelopes, paws of the Himalayan brown bear, or any medicinal products made from these animals.) If you see these items, please take a photograph and notify the World Wildlife Fund or the Canada Tibet Committee. (This also holds true for cities in Nepal and China, in Hong Kong or anywhere else you come across these products.)

Leave only footprints. The Himalayan eco-system is a fragile one. Be careful where you hike as erosion and damage to fragile plants are increasingly becoming a threat to the health of the Plateau and mountains.

If you go trekking use kerosene even where wood is available. Wet trash should be buried (100 feet from any water source), paper burned, and cans and bottles packed up with you to a hotel or large town. (Do not leave this up to your guide as environmental awareness is often low, especially among the Chinese.) Tibet is becoming littered with human waste and toilet paper — bury your excrement and toilet paper!

Plan ahead and bring food that has little packaging. Travel light and don’t demand five-course meals. Bring your own food as villagers rarely have a surplus.

If you want to bring “presents” for locals along the way, think carefully. Don’t bring plastic “baubles” or contribute to begging by handing out a lot of freebies. It’s much more appropriate to share time and a cup of tea with people, or play a game of jacks with the children.

GROUP TRAVEL

Use Knowledgeable Tibetan Guides. Travel to Tibet is usually only possible as part of a tour group. All travel companies must work through a travel operator in Lhasa. It is important to select a company that works with a Lhasa-based operator, run and staffed by Tibetans as opposed to Chinese. To quote one experienced tour guide, “When you go to France, you don’t want a German tour guide. When you go to Tibet you don’t want a Chinese one.” Moreover, using Tibetan-staffed companies promotes Tibetan culture and employs Tibetans. Check and see if one of the Tibetan run agencies is operating at the time of your visit to Tibet. The good companies are Lhasa Travel and the Chinese Workers Travel Service (CWTS). The ones to stay away from are China International Travel Service (CITS), China Youth Travel Service (CYTS) and the Tibet International Travel Service (TITS). Ask your travel agent which one they use.

Break Away From the Group. Almost everyone who visits Tibet says that the best part was their interaction with Tibetans. In small groups wander the streets, follow hillside paths or get outside of town and visit a village. Revisit a monastery without the group or spend time in a tea stall in the market. Photos of your family and neighbourhood or Tibetan communities and celebrations abroad are great “conversation pieces”. Don’t worry about the language barrier. Be mindful of approaching Tibetans in front of Chinese, particularly soldiers. Remember that, depending on current Chinese restrictions, Tibetans can be openly criticized or interrogated for associating with foreigners. Always be careful around dogs; they are numerous in most parts of Tibet and trained to protect their territory.

WHAT TO BRING

Be Prepared for Border Crossings. The gifts most appreciated by Tibetans are photos and postcards of the Dalai Lama and books by or about him. However, use discretion. If a Chinese guide, the police or a soldier see you giving them to a Tibetan, the Tibetan could get in trouble. If you have met the Dalai Lama, tell the Tibetans about it and ensure them of his good health and international support (such as it is). In many books published in Dharamsala, there is a foreword in Tibetan; copy it and bring it along. Any depiction of the Tibetan national flag will be confiscated at the border.

Be Informed. The best guidebook to Tibet is The Tibet Guide by Stephen Batchelor. Also good is Power Places of Central Tibet by Keith Dowman and Tibet: A Complete Guide by Elizabeth Booz. Since you are likely to be on a tour with an official government guide, do not expect accurate answers to historical, religious or political questions.

Educate yourself before you leave! Read books about the history of Tibet and its people. Reading some Chinese propaganda before you leave may help you recognize false statements when encountered in Tibet. Find (and copy) Tibetan maps; mark the locations of monasteries, trade routes, villages and traditional borders (use the Tibetan names, not the Chinese). Make a small dictionary with Tibetan words and phrases. Don’t speak Chinese to Tibetans. They would much rather have you attempt their own language.

Do not be frightened by dire warnings that the Chinese will lock you in jail and throw away the key for your support of the Tibetans. You should be careful and never endanger the Tibetans. But let the Chinese know when you disapprove of the use of monasteries for grain storage, the malevolence shown by police in and around religious sites, and unfair hiring and school enrollment practices. You can do a lot for the Tibetans and their cause, and will most probably want to after you come to know these wonderful people.