Potala Palace, Lhasa June 3

Diane comments:  We really did feel we were on the top of the world! Lhasa sits in a valley and is surrounded by the low Himalayan mountains. I can see why this was the place the Dalai Lamas decided they wanted their temple community. What a beautiful and spiritual place!

We were so glad that we arrived a few days ahead of our Potala Palace climb so that we could acclimate to the altitude. We were drinking water like crazy and walking slow to get used to the high and dry climate. We could see the Palace from our hotel window as well as the lower Himalayan mountains.

The Potala Palace was the highlight of our Tibetan trip and we really wanted to make it to the top. This Palace is where the current Dalai Lahma lived until 1959 when he exiled to India. It is a magnificent Palace up on a hill overlooking the city. It had home to the Dalai Lamas since the 7th century. This palace has over 1,000 rooms and a total of 10,000 side chapels and shrines. Much of it is a museum today (at the top) where some of the previous Dalai Lahmas have been buried.

We found out that there are different kind of “Lamas”. The Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader, and there is another type of Lama that focuses on teaching. The current Dalai Lama is number 14. His emphasis is on “compassion.” When we arrived in Lhasa, we were all presented with white silk ceremonial compassion scarves.

At the time, I was reading The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmund Tutu. It is a beautiful book and really gave me a glimpse into the Dalai Lama's strength of spirit and heart. The book was so timely because it gave insight into his exile from Tibet into India. I highly recommend this book.

We took it slow and made it to the top (over 500 steps)! It was incredible and we were among thousands of other visitors wanting to see the museum and view from the top. I have to say that it was very moving to see such an important spiritual site.

The red part is the palace, while the white part was the administrative part while the government of Tibet was located here

 We saw very few Communist "hammer and sickle" icons in the country

  Steps!  It's going to be a long climb...

The red part is painted branches or twigs (Doji was hard to understand on this!)

 Looking down from the top of the palace onto a square in Lhasa (Roof of the World!)

 Entry to the palace (no photos inside)

 Going back down

As if the Potala Palace wasn't enough excitement for one day, in the afternoon, we visited the Sera Monastery. It houses the religious college for young monks. We watched about 100 monks debate (no way to know what they were debating), complete with animated gestures and verbal challenges! It was really cool to watch the exchanges all happening simultaneously in this large courtyard. These lively debates are how they refine their understanding of Buddhist principles.

 The debate (6 days a week for 2 hrs in the afternoon)

 Jumbo prayer wheel surrounded by more wheels

 A monk sanctuary high on the hill overlooking the monastery

Lhasa, Tibet June 1-2

Diane comments:  After a 5am breakfast in the hotel in Xi'an, we bused to the airport for an 8:20am takeoff and a 3 hour flight to Lhasa (silent "h"), the largest city in Tibet with 1/2 million people. Lhasa is at 12.000 feet elevation, so we have been warned to take it slow and avoid alcohol for at least the first day.  The Lhasa airport is a joint civilian/military airfield, and we were warned not to take any photos of the airfield or soldiers or police or risk some nice jail time.  There is a lot of tension in Tibet, which generally would like to be independent of China but China is not having any of that, so there is a strong military presence and what appears to be an effort to downplay Tibet's culture in favor of making it just another large Chinese communist city.

Our first introduction to Lhasa was visiting a traditional Tibetan family and had some yak butter tea. The yak is an animal like a big cow with horns and a familiar site around the countryside. They make lots of things out of yaks - their wool is used for rugs and blankets, their meat is used in everything from burgers to jerky, their butter is used in candles, tea, for cooking. By sharing tea with a local family, we got a glimpse into their lifestyle and their hospitality. They are very warm and spiritual people. All over you can see Tibetan flags flown on most houses on lots of hillsides. These flags have various colors (yellow, red, green) and are hung to show wishes of prosperity and long life.

White welcome scarves received on the bus (Ray in the background)

 Ray's wife Jean

 Our bus from the airport

 Local home we visited

 Yaks

 Stockpile of yak dung used for heating and cooking

 Ceremonial drum

 Cabinets

 Yak butter

 Incense burner on rooftop

 On the bus ride to Lhasa, surrounded by the lower Himilayas

We walked around a marketplace and visited the Jokhang Temple. The temple was built in 647 and Buddhist pilgrims come from all over the territory to visit and pray. We saw many pilgrims making reverent clockwise circuits around the temple on their hands and knees while incense burns in large urns.This same day we visited the Tibetan Museum that housed the world's most notable collection of cultural artifacts. We saw artifacts of primitive cultures, saw official documents of emperors, along with statues of Buddha and manuscripts written in gold, silver and coral powder. We were able to gain insight into their everyday lives throughout history.

Spirituality is definitely the theme here. Many many worshipers circle the temples chanting and stopping to pray. In the temples, we saw many people doing prayerful worship (they fold their hands over their head, to the heart, and then bend at the waist). This is repeated 1,000 a day. Incense is in the air! There are big oven like structures where people put incense in to add to the spiritual atmosphere.

Our group walking down a Lhasa street

 Incense burners near temple

 Prayers outside temple

Our local guide Doji (actually from India, a little hard to understand) outside temple (no photos inside)

 Seat reserved for the Dali lama

 Temple dog

The Nunnery

and their chanting

 Prayer wheels for sale

 Diane blowing off some Tibetan girls trying to be friendly (they wanted to talk, she didn't)

 Tibetans walking around the temple area

 Entertainment during lunch

 Typical lazy susan meal, way too much food (Ray, John, Paula, Alyson, Todd)

 Prayer wheels (always turn clockwise!)

Our Lhasa hotel (Shangri-La Hotel), very nice room, food not so good

View out our window

The shambala on the rooftop (bad bar service!) overlooking Lhasa, with the Potala Palace in the distance

Panic button in case of breathing problems (several folks in our group had to get IVs due to problems)

Oxygen lounge

 Alyson and Todd from Iowa in the lounge