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Published: January 6th 2010
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A Tibetan woman pauses outside the palaceAfter Gyantse, it was time to drive to our final destination - Tibet's largest city and capital, Lhasa. Perhaps the most easily recognised icon of Tibet, and one of the world's most impressive buildings, is the Potala Palace - the ancient summer palace of the Dalai Lama and home to countless treasures of the people of Tibet. So entering Lhasa, we expected the palace to be a dominant sight, surrounded maybe by old, narrow lanes and bustling street markets. What we actually saw on the drive into Lhasa was the complete opposite... wide, straight tree-lined boulevards, high-rise buildings and shiny new buses. Glitzy shopping malls, a brand new train station and shiny new apartment blocks. We were driving through Lhasa for at least 15 minutes before even catching sight of the Potala Palace - largely hidden from view on our drive by new development.
Our first day in Lhasa was only short, as we arrived in the late afternoon. After checking into our hotel, slap bang in the centre of what constitutes old Lhasa, next to the ancient Jukhong Temple, I wandered over to Potala Square for a better view of the palace. Despite the thoroughly modern surroundings, the palace
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The imposing Potala Palace remains a truly awesome sight. Massive, bright white and perched on a hill dominating the town, it's like nothing I've ever seen before, but just as impressive as I'd imagined. Viewing the palace from Potala Square, a huge, characterless expanse of granite guarded by numerous army sentries, somewhat dulls the experience, and makes one feel removed from the hundreds of Tibetans prostrating in front of the palace walls. Formerly a royal residence and the seat of Tibetan government, it is now a tourist attraction and home to Chinese government officials, but the building's symbolic draw for Tibetans hasn't lessened, and so they still flock here en masse to pay pilgrimage.
Our first full day in Lhasa started with a visit to the Palace. Entering through the front gate leads into a small compound filled with well-restored buildings, which used to house all the associated government workers and other people associated with the governance of Tibet. A long but gradual climb up zig-zagging steps leads to the palace itself, with cliff-like white-washed walls looming overhead - painful to look at in the bright sunshine. The interior of the palace was a surprise... an initial intimate courtyard, previously occupied by monks,
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Modern day Lhasa leads into a series of small but highly decorative chambers, containing the throne rooms, reception rooms and living quarters of the Dalai Lamas. The rooms are surprisingly unassuming for such a huge building, but each is lavishly decorated and the walls are covered with finely-detailed paintings... in fact not a single surface has escaped some level of attention and artistry. The most impressive sights are undoubtedly the tomb stupas... some made from several hundred kilograms of solid gold, and studded with precious stones the size of my fist. No wonder the Chinese want to keep Lhasa! Exiting the palace to the rear yields a view over the expanse of new development, none of which was there just a decade ago. New high-rises dot the horizon, and buildings are already reaching the base of the mountains which previously protected Lhasa from some distance.
After lunch at a rooftop restaurant where we try to take sneaky photos of the Chinese snipers facing us across the street, we visit Jorkhang Temple, the most important temple in Tibet and the focus of what is known as the Barkhor Circuit... a circular route walked or prostrated by Tibetans in a clockwise direction around the
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Prostrating pilgrims at Jokhang Temple temple. Built in 647, the temple is an unassuming building, built in the traditional Tibetan style and topped by a series of golden roofs. But it has an electricity about it that I haven't seen anywhere else. Outside the main entrance, hundreds of pilgrims prostrate on specially-provided mats, many with cloths or sponges on their hands and knees to protect them against the repeated contact with the hard stone floor. Around these pilgrims walks the constant throng of the Barkhor Circuit... a human river always going in the same direction, and barely stopping even during the night. It's a friendly and humbling event to be caught up in, and avoiding getting caught in it is pretty difficult, as the tide of people sweeps you around! Late in the afternoon, we noticed that a large number of police and army were gathering in the square, and we soon learned that the next day was the anniversary of the death of the 5th Panchen Lama, meaning that many more Tibetans would flock to the temple to pay tribute. After dinner (and after a bit of army taunting by Phil and Julien, who asked where we might fine a ping-pong establishment...), we returned
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Tibetans throwing ceremonial twigs into a kiln outside Jokhang Temple to the square to find two huge furnaces lit either side of the temple entrance. The circuit was teeming, and people were throwing twigs into the fire as a symbolic offering. We joined the Tibetans for a circuit... me being something of an oddity as I towered about 3 feet above the rest of the throng!
Our final day in Lhasa, and in Tibet, saw visits to two monasteries set on the edge of Lhasa - Sera and Drepung (meaning 'rice pile'). Both were similar to the monastery we'd visited at Shigatse, but our visit to Drepung gave us one further experience of Tibetan Buddhism - a monks' debate. We gathered outside the monastery to watch an assembled crowd of about a hundred seated monks listen as three monks stood and debated philosophy, with a yellow-hatted adjudicator presiding over the discussion. It was a fascinating thing to watch, as the monks reared back onto one foot and brought their hands together in a forward clap at the end of each point. Some claps drew laughter from the seated crowd... others intakes of breath, as the monks continually challenged eachother with notions of soul, body and emotion. As an observer
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Monks follow the debate at Drepung Monastery it was a unique experience, if a little difficult to understand exactly what the outcome was! I think the monk in the red robe won...
With our organised visits finished, we returned to town for a final supper, then once more joined the crowds around Jorkhang Temple. The next morning we went our separate ways... half of us flying back to Kathmandu, and the other half boarding Lhasa's brand new rail link into mainland China. I'll mention here two amazing trips being made by other members of the tour. Phil from the US was riding across Mongolia on horseback after teaching English in the country for a few months, while Kylie was continuing her bike ride from London all the way home to NZ. I hope Travel Blog don't mind me doing this, but Kylie's blog can be read at www.bugbitten.com/kyles... an amazing journey which promises to become a book once Kylie reaches her destination (here's hoping for my complimentary copy!!). I boarded the plane back to Kathmandu, and after flying directly over Mt. Everest, my Tibetan adventure was at an end. My experiences of the real Tibet had been amazing, and unlike any other country I'd visited, but
I was sad to see how deep the Chinese influence has become... especially in Lhasa, where it seems to be getting increasingly difficult to see the real Tibet at all.
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non-member comment
nice travel blog!
Hey John, I loved reading about your adventures. It's sounds like you had an incredible trip to Tibet that left a deep impression on you. In case you're interested, I've been documenting my adventures in Tibet as well. Check out my travel blog at http://tibettravelblog.com and my photoblog at http://tibetanportraits.com and let me know what you think. Looks like you got some really great pics on your trip! Best, P