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Lhasa
Lhasa, 28th September
We arrive arrive in the evening in Lhasa. the proud capital of the Autonomous Province of Tibet.
In town we stay at Yak Hotel: very centrally located, it seems it’s the place to stay and a narrow, full but secured parking for Prado.
Of course, the ultimate must-have-seen-site in Lhasa is the Potala. The former residence and admin. center of the Dalai Lama nowadays attracts so many visitors, that even a sharp increase in entrance fees could not stop them to come. So the guys introduced a reservation system to get your personal ticket. To reduce the number of visitors they made this system so inefficient that it requires at least half a day queuing up to get the reservation for the entry ticket only. Therefore, we delegate the task of getting the entry tickets to the travel agency of our guide Thubten.
Happy that we don’t have to waist all our time in getting these tickets we enter the compound, have ourselves and whatever we have x-rayed, our passports checked for any visits to terrorist’s countries, climb up the stairs to the palace, digitize the magnificent view from the top …
… and finally arrive at the entrance door to the Potala. There’s another counter. Our guide explains us that now we have to buy the entrance tickets. Quite astonished we learn that all the money we paid up to now has only been for the reservation of the tickets, but not for the entrance fee itself. Great confusion. Somehow our dear guide was not really too clear in this regard and our optimistic angle of view of all tasks confined to him leads to the situation that we even don’t have enough money to cover the additional cost for the real entrance tickets. Well, nothing to do. We remember well that most visitors to the Potala are rather disappointed and consider the whole procedure to get in not worth the effort. So we walk down again all the stairs and decide to limit our visit to the outside of the building.
A chance to make the kora: the walk around the building with 1000s of pilgrims.
In the evening a stroll thru the old town, …
… and to comfort us a visit to the Shambala Restaurant – probably the most atmospheric place in Lhasa to recover from the day’s adventures with a couple of Lhasa Beers.
The next day to the Barkhor – the central square in the old town of Lhasa …
… and the adjacent Jokhang – the most referred religious structure in Tibet. Thus, the whole area full of pilgrims in front of Jokhang, waiting to get in and on the Barkhor to circuit around the Jokhang.
To organise the entrance pilgrims and tourists are strictly separated. The former have to wait a long time to get in; the latter to pay an important amount – but don’t wait.
From the roof the great view on Barkhor Square and the Potala in the background.
Back on the road – the Barkhor Circuit with all the pilgrims.
The next day we dedicate to the monasteries outside Lhasa. 1st to Drepung; once the biggest in Tibet, still undergoing large restorations to eliminate the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution
Thus, the monastery resembles more to a museum than to a place of worship with some restored temples slightly recalling the masterpieces of some Disney Land artists.
Then on to Sera.
The 2nd great monastery in the outskirts of Lhasa. More authentic than the previous 1; lots of pilgrims with their small babies, nevertheless also quite a construction site.
So far our adventures on the 1st in Tibet´s proud capital Lhasa. More of the same and even much more of much different stuff in our next post.
Cheeeers
Monika’n’Martin