There are four buses leaving in the morning from Zhongdian. The journey takes about 5 hours and is through spectacular and scary mountain scenery. The awful music videos, the freezing cold, windy roads and the chain-smoking fellow-passengers can make the journey a bit unpleasant. The town of Benzilan, which lies about midway from Zhongdian is worth stopping off at in its own right, and breaks the journey up nicely. The bus drops people throughout the town, ending at the bus station next to a T junction. Buses to Zhongdian Shangri-la depart at 7:30AM, 8:30AM, 9:30AM, 10:20AM and cost ¥53 June 2011. The schedule after 10:20AM is not fixed, but if there are passengers, there might be a bus at 12:00PM or a little bit earlier. The earlier buses make a lunch stop at a restaurant but be sure to check prices before taking your food about ¥10-15 for a vegetable dish and ¥20 for a meat dish.
Note: At the moment June 2012 the buses between Zhongdian and Deqin take around 8 hours because the road is under major reconstruction. The road is apocalyptic and you have to not be affraid of collision with other buses or trucks.
Buses to/from Lhasa use the main bus terminal in Deqin. There should be no problems buying tickets which are ¥500. The ride takes 3-4 days and the bus may or may not stop at hotels during the night. There is one military check point where a soldier may come on board, but they seem not to care if there are foreigners on the bus. However, the drivers will not let you roam far during restaurant stops in towns. This trip is risky if you are not in good health because the bus drives over 5,000m at least three times.
Note: The land route from Shangri-la to Lhasa is closed for foreigners. They will not sell you a ticket even if you have the Tibet travel permit.
