Lhasa - The Forbidden City

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Lhasa - The Forbidden City

Day 19 - Lhasa Rest Day and a well deserved watering

We woke up after a much needed rest, and pigged out in the buffet style breakfast in the hotel...eggs made to order and crispy bacon...what better way to start the day! Exhausted, and with a lovely bathroom at my disposal, I stayed behind to ablute while Guy went off exploring. He returned beeming a few hours later having completed a kora of the Potala palace, and bringing fresh yak yoghuort and goodies from a lovely bakery. We dozed and caught up with world events on the news channel before heading out to dinner and drinks with our Everest friend Roy and his guide. After several beers, and lots of great conversation, and very full tummies we ran home through bucketing rain back to our cozy hotel, where slightly squiffy we passed out!



Day 20 - Drepung Monastery & Jokhang Monastery

Another tour day, and after breakfast (more bacon) we set off with our new guide to Drepung Monastery (founded 1416). Only a short ride in a comfy people carrier (no off road needed) and we arrived at one of the world's largest Monasteries. We took a long steep climb around the walls to reach the first of several impressive chapels. Just outside the walls was a massive structure on which huge Thankgpas (holy paintings) are hung during festival times. There are about 600 monks resident here and much construcion is afoot to provide for them, so dodging concrete and mounds of rubble we stepped inside to be greeted with a riot of colourful banners and more murals. There were also a large number of pilgrims here with buckets of yak butter to offer into the vats already burning. Statues of gold and silver and mini indoor chortens were everywhere and with burning juniper it was very heady inside. As well as several of these chapels there was also a working kitchen, which we peeked inside (very similar to the one at tholing, except here all the fires were burning and cauldrons bubbling). The whole hillside was like a medieval village, and when explored almost every nook and cranny, delighting in seeing so many monks and pilgrims using all the different rooms and chapels.

Soon it was time for lunch, and we headed back to the centre of town for a munch in what was to become one of our favourite eateries during our time in Lhasa- The snowlands resturant. (after so long on noodles we enjoyed every mouthful of delicious food)
That afternoon after reserving our tickets to visit the Potala the next day we walked to the Jokhang temple right in the middle of town. Set in the middle of Barkhor square there is a very popular kora around the outside of the temple, past thousand of souvenir stalls, selling yak butter, beads, turquoise, and amber, as well as prayer flags and old tibetan goodies.
One can also see a large number of people performing exhausting prostrations around the temple, 108 being a special number in buddhism, you could conclude this might be a minimum number of circuits for most pilgrims (phew!).
We entered the Jokhang (founded 639ad, Tibet's holiest temple) and were almost crushed by the huge sea of pilgrims coming to pray. It was smokey and cramped inside, lit almost entirely by yak butter candles, which offered an amber glow with which to see the many statues and mini chapels . Buried into one particular large beam were the teeth of some pilgrims who, many years ago whilst trying to reach holy Lhasa perished en route. So that their efforts weren't in vain their teeth were removed and brought to Jokhang where they still are today. The atmosphere was breathtaking (quite literally) and I for one felt quite humbled to be in the prescence of not only such obvious devotion from the people, but also seeing the stone floor worn away to a groove on the floor after thousands of years and thousands of feet.

Unfortunately only half the temple was open for visitors, so blinking in the sunlight we headed outside to do the kora, and eye up the bargains on the stalls. Our guide decided we were big enough and ugly enough to fend for ourselves, so we spent the afternoon ( in fact well into the evening) exploring and rummaging, through all the treasures of barkhor.



Day 21 - Potala Palace & Sera Monastery

We had a lazy start to the day, having only managed to get tickets for midday at the Potala. Our guide arrived with a friend and the four of us set off to visit Tibet's most famous Palace ( rightful home of the Dalai Lamas)
Set on the Marpo Ri hill, 130m high, the 1645 palace has stunning uninterrupted views over Lhasa. You can see the Lhasa river, Jokhang, and to all the hills around.
With very strict entrance procedures, allocated visiting times, xrays, bag and body searches (they nicked my water and lighter) we made our way up the steep winding stairs to the designated visiting areas, amongst a hoard of chinese tourists.
We saw some of the most opulent, ornate and regal rooms and chapels of our trip. There were many familiar statues and murals that we felt proud to be able to recognise and name, BUT these were in a whole 'nother league. Only the finest quality materials had been used for their construction, and riches poured from every wall hanging, piece of furniture, and robe on display.
We wandered through some of the Dalai Lamas private rooms all interlinked (bit like hampton court palace), becoming more and more 'private' the deeper inside we got, private lounges, studies...we even saw his bedroom. For a religion where you're supposed to have no attatchment to worldly goods, these guys did pretty well!
One of the most interesting rooms was packed with monks neatly arranged at desks reciting from scriptures (or by heart), and responding to prayer requests brought in by members of the public. For a small fee (donation) a poorly relative, or failing business could be prayed for by some of the highest monks in the land.The whole effect was stunning, deep throated rumblings from old men, and chanting in the background produced a rich earthly sound almost like distant thunder....amazing

We were then ushered through the rest of the chapels at quite a pace..wary of our time limiting ticket, and that we had another monastery to see...... although stunning, and deserving of its reputation, atmosphere was sadly lacking in some of the chapels, as it was filled not with devotees to the faith, but gawping tourists.

Before long we found ourselves descending the steep hill to the outer walls and back to the waiting car for our trip to Sera Monastery.

Founded in 1419 it was once home to over 5000 monks, nowadays it only has a few hundred, but is certainly alive and kicking!!
First up we saw three beautiful, intricate sand mandalas..pictures made entirely from carefully poured sands of different colours and 'grades'. Housed in carefully constructed glass cases they were truly stunning!
Next we were shown the printing rooms where old rectangular printing blocks were blackened by hand then the paper rubbed over the top to produce the traditional scriptures used in monasteries throughout the buddhist world... it was done at lightening speed and accuracy, a technique perfected through generations. (There were also modern books printed for use across the teaching monasteries!)

A short walk through a shaded path brought us to a pretty, shaded, walled garden. Entering through a low archway, we were greeted by the sight of about a hundred maroon-clad monks of all ages. Some were sittting calmly while others were shouting and yelling and arguing fiercely in their faces! These were the 'Debating Monks'. Hand gestures like slapping, clapping and punching were used to either agree or disagree with the subjects being discussed. It was the most thrilling, noisy, and active exchange we'd encountered. I sat back to enjoy the show(laughing with our guide about what they might be saying...i gave a running commentary whilst the guide sat giggling at my far fetched ideas) Guy ran around trying to capture as many of the crazy expressions as he could. What a great afternoon.
After a token wander around the other, quieter chapels it was time to relax with another beer at the end of a long, yet exciting day.
This was the last official day of our tour, and we spent the evening plotting how we would use our new found freedom to make the most of our remaining time in beautiful Lhasa.



Day 22 - 34 - Lhasa Free to Explore this Amazing City

Freedom lovely freedom..... We had one final task to complete before we could truly relax.. finding new digs! This proved easy (afterall we have just made it through India and Nepal on our own!!!!) Guy with his bartering hat on persauded one friendly hotel owner to halve his rate for our en suite room(!) as we would be staying almost two weeks (most peeps would only be in Lhasa for 3 days max before heading off on their tour) Hurrah, success.
So what to do? We spent the first few days simply finding our bearings. Long walks proved most effective, we disovered tiny nunneries, massive walls of mani stones, more smaller temples....and the antique markets...truly a place of joy.
One lady antique dealer in particular became a regular on our frequent outings, though we had few common words, she was always ready with hot sweet tea, and happy to let us 'play ' with all her stunning treasures....her tactics worked... and after several visits we had accidently bought rosaries, beads,silver trinkets, yak bone rings, the list goes on.....ooops!!
Potala at night also figured highly on our wanderings... for two hours every night the whole palace is floodlit, and you are able to amble around the square with tibetan and classical music playing, watching the palace in all its splendour...i think we went there every night!!
Food was our next mission, and we worked our way through all the recommended eateries in the lonely planet, as well as tasty looking places we just happened upon...our best discovery was the 'yak yoghourt shop'...serving the obvious, it also had a DIY pizza facility..they bring you a plate filled with all sorts of goodies ( yak cheese of course!) and you don a chef's hat, and,well, build your own pizza, cooking it at your table in a tiny oven. What we liked most was the owner, Gary, who patiently helped us by drawing pictures of what we wanted...he also had world maps covering the walls and we drew on where we were from and signed it... only one other saffer was spotted!!
I discovered a wonderful massage centre. It was run by blind people, so not only did you have a fantastic hour long, private(they can't see you!) massage by very expert hands, you were also supporting a minorty group that would otherwise struggle for employment.....
We discovered backstreets, mosques as well as temples, cubes of dried yak cheese (more than a little pungent), shops selling traditional clothes, loads of religious shops making banners and thankpas, all brightly coloured, and worth taking time to sit and watch.
There were also plenty of chinese medicine shops selling some crazy creatures .... seahorse, worms, lizards, bear claws and some unrecognisable, and unmentionable animal bits!! We both decided we were in fine health and had no need for these things.
Early morning walks around the jokhang also became regular habits for us, as most pilgrims enjoy the cool of the morning, and you can see loads more people prostrating and chanting and spinning their prayer wheels. Luckily for us westerners are still a novelty and we were always greeted with beaming smiles. Locals also seemed to have a fascination with Guy's long arm hair, they themselves are a pretty hairless bunch, and delighted in playing with his hirsuite limbs!(much to my amusement).

We spent evenings feeding the carp in the lakes surround the Potala with bread we had left over. Early morning sunrise walks with the pilgrims around the varous pilgrim circuts in the city were definately a highlight. Lhasa is a great place to spend some time. You can quickly get off the highstreet and find a small unknown alley or little visited temple. We walked several of the lesser followed pilgrim routes around the city. It was a pleasure to find the small less visited Monasteries and Nunneries where there were no tourists and no entrance fees were asked for.

Soon enough it was time to catch the train to mainland china, we packed carefully, and mentally prepared ourselves for the 48hr journey....then promptly missed the train!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ha ha ha
Not a bad thing as it was actually the tour agencies fault and as a result they have housed us in a tidy old Tibeatn establishment. It was the Nepalie Embassy in the 1950's and has a real old world charm about it. Thick walls and down a small cobbled alley its the perfect place to wait out the floods and typhoons battering the south china coast. If you planning a trip here it is called the Gorkha Tibet Hotel and comes well recomended. Chilling for a few days more we await the next train to Chengdu (26th) - Next update from there........

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