An Indian pilgrim has his passport checked at Nathu La Pass, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]

Fifty Indian pilgrims began a 12-day bus trip along a recently-opened mountain pass linking India's Sikkim State to the sacred Mount Gang Rinpoche and Mapam Yumco Lake in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet, on Wednesday morning.

China has allowed Indian pilgrims to use the Nathu La Pass since June 22. A first group of 43 pilgrims returned to India on July 3 after their journey.

The Chinese government first allowed Indians to make pilgrimages to Tibet in 1981. China has welcomed almost 80,000 Indian pilgrims in the past decade alone.

 
Indian pilgrims queue to pass the Customs at Nathu La Pass, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]

Indian pilgrims queue to pass the Customs at Nathu La Pass, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]

An Indian pilgrim has her passport checked at Nathu La Pass, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]

An Indian pilgrim has his luggage checked at Nathu La Pass, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]

An Indian pilgrim has his passport checked at Nathu La Pass, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]

Indian pilgrims have their luggage checked at Nathu La Pass, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]

A Chinese frontier soldier answers questions of Indian pilgrims at Nathu La Pass, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [Photo/ China Tibet Online]