Published on March 23, 2008

Lhasa, Tibet Travel Journal

Potala Palace in Lhasa

On the two hour ride from the airport to Lhasa, I was expecting to encounter something like in "7 Years in Tibet," forgetting that there are probably very few places in the world where the passing of several decades brought by no change whatsoever.

Bakhor Market.

Though Lhasa is a modern city by most standards, the atmosphere here is considerably different than in any other city in China. A more relaxed and jovial atmosphere became apparent the moment we stepped off the airplane. Same atmosphere carried into the following days as we attempted to discover the good and the bad of Lhasa and not fall victims to altitude sickness.

Buddhist monk in Lhasa.

If the previous weeks added a bit of stress to the expected travel hazards, Lhasa could have not been a better choice for brushing all of it off. There was nobody to drag us by the sleeve into their restaurants even after a polite "no." There was nobody to give us a shove so they can get on the bus before us. There was nobody attempting to use their umbrellas as mob clearing utensils in order to capture that perfect picture, even if it meant injuring a bystander. What we received instead was considerably more smiles from strangers; quiet evenings on the guesthouse roof sipping tea and an overall feeling of really being in a place of prayer and meditation.

Above from the regular site seeing and shopping, Lhasa is a great city to just sit and watch. Lhasa was the first city I visited with a culture so distant from my own, and I found that compared to many of the previous places I have visited, I got to know it by sitting at a corner, or in a café overlooking the busy Barkor Market and the entrance to Jokhar Temple, and "people watching".

Mantra wheels.

The city is a stretch of three story buildings with brightly colored window edges and shops crowded at the lowered levels, selling everything from jewelry to custom made suits and climbing gear. The crowd is a homogenous mix of Chinese and Tibetan descent locals most still wearing traditional costumes or a variation of it, making for a colorful display of outfits. There did not seem to be much of an industry in Lhasa above from the tourism one. As far as we could tell most people are farmers nearby Lhasa and hold down another job during the high tourism season, either working in a hotel or as jeep drivers on the Everest and Mount Kailash tours.

What shocked me in Lhasa though was the begging, or better said the scale it was done on. In the tourist areas around Barkor Market, kids ambush you and reach for your bottled drink, while women with babies strapped to their back and a handful of 0.1 yuan in their hands ask you for more. You really just have to get used to it because it is part of the culture in Lhasa. Moreover, there is also a widespread practice in Lhasa to "disguise" oneself as a monk and collect money for renovations of various monasteries. These "monks" will usually display a letter from the government that identifies which monastery the money are being collected for. The official letter should have a red stamp on it, and that is what distinguishes it from fake letters some will display.

Posing at Potala.

While Potala Palace is definitely Lhasa's landmark, I found Jokhang Temple, right next to Bakhor market to be more impressive and to give more of a glimpse into the role spirituality has in Tibetan culture.

The entrance of Jokhang temple is packed with worshipers amid their prayers. Past the entrance you reach the inner courtyard where the clockwise procession among the prayer wheels starts. The first level of the temple could be even more crowded depending on the time of day, as people make their way from one chapel to another to honor the deities by offering white scarves (called hadas) and yak butter lamps.

Jokhang courtyard.

The second level of the temple opens to the bottom. There is a sort of a "work station" in the middle, overlooking the bottom floor. Monks sitting here were making wicks for candles, murmuring sacred mantras and offering blessings to the passersby dropping donations in the huge bowl next to them. The stairs to the right of the entrance lead to the roof, which is an attraction in itself, as you can see all of Lhasa from up there and get some stunning photos of Potala Palace.

Potala Palace was not as impressive as I expected, mainly because most of it was covered for renovations. After worrying that we won’t make it in because it was 2pm already and we heard that tickets sell out early in the morning, we had the whole place to ourselves. Potala is divided in the White and the Red Palace.

The White Palace, where Dalai Lama’s quarters were, was dedicated to all administrative issues and only a few rooms can be visited today. The Red Palace, the religious center, is undertaking major renovations but can still be walked throughout, including the two story inner temple and the few stories of chapels flanking an inner courtyard.

Walls of Potala Palace.

Though Lhasa was a much appreciated glimpse into Tibetan culture, my one reproach is that I didn’t take the time to learn more about Buddhism before I went. I think having more than a general idea about the religion will make the experience more rewarding because visiting the temples, observing the culture will not feel like opening an art book for the first time, but rather like finding familiarity thousands of miles from home.