A group of 18 Tibetan farmers from the Shannan Prefecture of southwest China's Tibetan Autonomous Region began their tour for Nepal Saturday, the first time Tibetan farmers had joined a touring party going abroad paying their own expenses.

Wearing a hada presented by her children, Yuluo, a 60-year-old woman, was excited.

"I would like to see the local conditions and customs of Nepal and its holy sites, which attract me the most," said the old woman.

"We were quite surprised when the 18 Tibetan farmers came to us one day and asked us to organize a tour for them," said Ngawang Zhoima, director of the Tibetan Shannan China International Travel Agency.

The 14-day tour planned by the travel agency will pass Mount Qomolangma (Mt Everest) and visit Katmandu, capital of Nepal, and other famous cities like Lumbini.

The per capita fee for the tour is 4,500 yuan (US$542),more than twice the annual per-capita income of farmers and herdsmen of the autonomous region.

But Yuluo said the sum was acceptable. "All my life has been tied to the land and working hard for food and clothes. Now as life is better I would like to see the world when my health still permits."

Yuluo's family of six has 17 mu (1.13 hectares) of farmland. With this land, they lived a difficult life. But when they began growing greenhouse vegetables several years ago, things changed.

"The annual income of selling greenhouse vegetables can reach 3,600 yuan (US$434). With the income from raising pigs and cows and selling fresh milk, the annual income of my family has surpassed 10,000 yuan (US$1205)," Yuluo said.

Having toured in China's Qinghai and Gansu provinces, the three sisters of Cering Cangjue, Zhasang, and Cering Bazhoin, the oldest 72 years old and the youngest 62, decide they wanted to see another country and joined party to Nepal.

"All our families are quite well-off, so we would like to spend our remaining years in happiness, that's also the hope of our children," said the older sister Cering Cangjue.

According to Ngawang Zhoima, only last year the travel agency arranged more than 10 tour parties for local peasants to visit domestic regions.

"It shows that the potential of the tourist market for Tibetan farmers is on the rise," said Ngawang Zhoima.

Shannan Prefecture is the main grain producing area of Tibet. Last year the per capita income of the local farmers and herdsmen was 1,800 yuan (US$217 US).

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2004)