Operators encourage you to bring your own bike, provided it's up to the job. You can rent decent bikes in Kathmandu for about US$20 ($24) per day, or buy a new one in Lhasa and sell it at the end of your trip for about half of what you paid for it.
Tours run from May through to October, although September is considered a great time to ride. Whoever you choose to go with, be sure to request a full itinerary, details of what you need to bring and what support and cover is provided.
Telco deals for travellers
Several friends of mine received huge bills after roaming around Europe in person and on their phones. I'll be doing a similar trip and wondered what European telco offers the best roaming deal - the best I've found is the 3 network in the UK, which works out about $2.50 per megabyte ... much cheaper than Vodafone New Zealand's obscene $10-per-megabyte deal.
- Tom Smith
If you take your current cellphone overseas and opt for roaming, your calls will be routed via an overseas network instead of your home operator. This is convenient but expensive, because despite EU regulations aimed at capping telco charges, there are very few good-value roaming plans for frequent travellers.
One alternative to mobile roaming is free or cheap WiFi. This is increasingly common, with many hotels providing it as standard. With a WiFi-enabled iPad, or other tablet or netbook, you can Skype for free, as well as check your emails and download attachments.
If you do want to use a cellphone without incurring obscene fees, the first thing to remember is to text instead of call and avoid using the internet if you can.
If you're staying in one country for a reasonable length of time, pre-paid SIM cards bought in that country are a good option.
An advantage of this is that callers are more likely to ring you back - call costs are higher if they have to ring you on a foreign number. The disadvantage is having to change phone numbers each time.
Local SIM cards are readily available and typically cost $30-$40, with credit normally loaded on them. Network prices vary, so shop around. Check out prepaidgsm.net.
An alternative is to buy a global SIM card, which may be a little more expensive but allows you to keep the same number in almost every country.
Bear in mind that some GSM handsets will only operate on a specific network - they won't work if you insert another carrier's SIM card. Buy an unlocked phone; otherwise they can usually be unlocked for a fee, or sometimes free.
If your overall usage will be low, the convenience of a global SIM should outweigh the cost. If you'll be using your phone a lot, you're probably better off buying local SIM cards.
