“The service of the Tibetan agency, Shambhala Adventure, that provides this tour did not like to me, I hired in the Nepal agency, Buddha Treks, a tour without the EBC but the Tibetan agency mixed people of my tour with those who went to the EBC, with which we had to expected them for more than 4 hours, losing a morning that we would have taken advantage of, as was foreseen in my voucher, to spend more time in Gyantse. In addition, I had the bad luck of catching altitude sickness and had to spend 5 days in a hospital in Lhasa. The Tibetan company, Shambhala Adventure, took advantage of this situation to try to charge me outrageous prices in the assistance of a guide, even though I had already paid in Nepal, for two extra nights in Lhasa and two extra days of assistance from a tour guide. They also told me that they didn' t know about my extra two nights. How could they have processed my Tibetan visa and permit without knowing this? The big problem is that when you hire from Kathmandu, you do not know what Tibetan agency you are hiring. Everything works with a strange halo of mystery and lack of clarity and transparency in the information. All you receive when you pay is a page with the route you will take, but you do not even have the name of the hotels where you will stop. The guide does not put any effort to tell you about Tibetan life and culture, which is what one expects in a trip of this kind.”
