Travelling to the Tibetan Autonomous Region (T.A.R) in China

Every year many private groups from India organize the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra for Indian yatris. This year however apart from the Min of Ext Affairs (MEA) , the only other private operator who was able to arrange the Kailash Manasarovar yatra was the Isha Sacred Walks team from Coimbatore. 

Permits to travel to this area is very rigidly controlled by Chinese authorities. See excerpt below for the reasoning for the same. 

This year a new route via sikkim (the Nathu la pass route ) has been opened up solely for MEA , which organises trips by an annual lottery system. This new route will take people directly to Shigatse in T.A R from where the well built roads can connect the yatris easily by bus to Manasarovar and Kailash. The alternate arduous trekking routes via Uttarakhand & Nepal make travel to Kailash Manasarovar very difficult. 

The Chinese Govt has to issue Tibet Travel permit and an Alien travel Permit ,  apart from a China Visa . 

The Tibet Travel Permit is issued by Tibet Tourism Bureau (TTB). It is also called Tibet visa, for the purpose of entering Tibet.Travelers need to have Tibet Travel Permit to enter into Lhasa or any other parts of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. It is obtained through tour operators for most tourists. When you take a flight or train to Lhasa, you will be asked to show this permit during check-in. Furthermore, the permit is also needed by groups traveling by road. But this will be arranged by the travel agency organizing the trip. Even if you have the Tibet Travel Permit, you are not allowed to travel anywhere outside of Lhasa city. If you want to get out of Lhasa, you have to apply for another permit, Aliens' Travel Permit.While traveling in TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region), only a Tibet Travel Permit (TTP) is not enough for a foreign tourist. If you're going to visit the 'unopened areas' outside of Lhasa (surroundings), you must further apply for anAlien Travel Permit (PSB), which is issued by the local Public Security Bureau (PSB) of Tibet’s different prefectures. 

Thankfully, the Alien Travel Permit is very easy to be applied, and you can pretty much rest assured that as long as you’ve got a Tibet Travel Permit from your travel agency, you would definitely get an Alien Travel Permit. It normally takes several hours and costs CNY50 per person to get one.

The List of 'Unopened' Areas of Tibet that an Alien Travel Permit Required:

At present, you have to apply for a Alien’s Travel permit if you are planning to visit the following places:

Tsedang: Samye Monastery, Tomb of Tibetan King, Trundruk Monastery, Yumbulakhang

Shigatse: Sakya Monastery, Mt. Everest, Rongbuk Monastery

Gyangtse: Pelkor Chode Monastery & Kubum Stupa

Ngari Region: Mt. Kailash, Lake Manasarovar, Tsaparang, Years, etc.

Nyingchi Region: Basum-tso, Pomi, Rawo-tso, etc.

Chamdo Region: Chamdo, Riwoche, Tengchen, etc.

For those who want more information on Tibet and China , I found this four part  series of articles quite informative .  

http://bobzermop.hubpages.com/hub/The-Tibet-China-Conflict-Part-1 

The first part has links to the subsequent three parts in the series. 

Starting with the 1914 Simla Convention which China refused to ratify, the 1950 invasion and occupation of Tibet by China, the 17 point agreement of 1951, the Tibetan national Uprising in 1959 with the 14th Dalai Lama (then only 24 yrs of age) fleeing to Dharamsala in India, this geography of Tibet has been extremely controversial. It is of strategic importance on account of (1)  its military position being located on a high plateau region overlooking India, Bhutan, Myanmar, and China, (2) vast mineral resources and (3) source of water not just for China but also for India , Myanmar and Bangladesh

China is visibly pumping in a lot of infrastructural investments : electric power , roads, railroads etc into Tibet from 1959 onwards. This will continue to change the T A R area dramatically in years to come. 

Whilst in the T.A.R, one would not have access to Facebook, Gmail, Google etc as these are all part of the more than 2701 websites that are blocked in Mainland China under the country's policy of Internet Censorship.