So we finally booked our way to Tibet with Sim's Cozy Travel, which is a travel agency within the hostel I'm staying at - Sim's Cosy Garden Hostel, but more on the hostel in a moment.
The service lady was actually Tibetan and asked her about travelling independently to Tibet. This is the only travel agent I found on the internet that would help you get the TTB permits for Tibet via 3 different options, you can read more here - http://www.gogosc.com/enly_lasa_application.asp. Basically, we've chosen option 3 and before we set off to making our way to Nepal, we will need further permits to step outside Lhasa. It's cost us 1,650 RNB for a one-way flight to Lhasa (tried to take a sleeper train but with Spring Festival, all tickets are hard to get), with 350 RNB for the TTB permit that is only applicable to the Lhasa area. If you want to enter the "unopened" areas, this is where you'll need a further "Alien's permit", which can be a headache to organise and very costly. Sim's Travel have a great set-up and can ease the pain of organising this, but it would require the hire of a 4x4 and a guide (the guide is the one who apparently holds onto the permits), which is approximately $200-$250 USD per day. We're going to have to organise this sort of transport when we're ready to head off to Nepal. Spoke to a guy staying at this guesthouse who recently returned from Lhasa and he mentioned that there are numerous notices/posts wanting to share the cost and ride of the 4x4. This so far is the least complicated way, the other would be hitching, but a lot of local Tibetan won't pick you up for the fear of being fined by the government for giving foreigners a ride.
Now that we've paid our 800 RNB deposit for our flight and permit to Lhasa for 11th February, it's a matter of waiting another 2 days to receive confirmation from the agent if she could manage to wrangle her way in getting us a permit from that day. It's basically a 50% chance and sometimes you might have to wait more than a week for confirmation. So be prepared to have some time on your hands when booking your trip to Tibet through an agent. I do highly recommend Sim's Cozy Travel as they really know the intricacies of arranging travel to Tibet and various places around China or organising visa extensions and they speak very fluent English!
As for the guesthouse, it's certainly an institute in the hostel world of Sichaun. It's got such a great set-up, that if you've travelled around so much and end up here, you can basically kick your feet up and just stay in this guesthouse day-in and day-out. It has a great indoor and outdoor dining/chill-out area, one of the biggest gardens in Chengdu, travel agency, dorms, standard rooms (single, double, family etc), rooms with optional heating/air-con, hot shower (runs off gas and it's f*&%ing hot, what you need for such cold weather), bar, restaurant, movie room, book exchanges, internet area, wi-fi. As you can see, the list goes on, but one thing that is very true to its' name, is that it's very "cosy", which is a big bonus when you're in Chengdu during winter. I'm staying in a six bed dorm with its' own bathroom (and that amazing "hot" shower). The beds are equipped with individual silk curtains for that extra privacy, shelves, lockable cupboards and individual reading lights. I really can't ask for anything better for 25 RNB a night!
