Photos and videos at the end.
Today’s plan is to visit Potala Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, followed by Jokhang Temple in the afternoon, to get a glimpse into the daily beliefs and lives of the people of Lhasa.
After breakfast, we drove to the Potala Palace. Our entry into the Potala Palace was tense. Apart from the ever present requirement to present passports, we had to step out of the queue because apparently we were too early for our allotted time slot. Lots of shouting from the guard, quite intimidating really.
The steps up to the palace were relentless, but from the top there was a panoramic view of the Lhasa Old Town. So much to take in inside the palace, with numerous temples. The lives and stories of the Dalai Lamas through the ages, and the many relics. The most valuable collections of Potala Palace are the gilded burial stupas of former Dalai Lamas and the meditation cave of the 33rd great king of Tibet who died in 649.
We passed the occasional individual monk in a window alcove or in a temple, seated in lotus position, quietly chanting the from a large book. There are some 70,000 item of knowledge that monks must memorise as part of their decades long training.
After touring the Potala Palace, we visited Longwangtan Park at the foot of the palace. Andrei, Inga and I joined the pilgrims in a folk dance they do to celebrate the end of their kora around Lhasa. Was so much fun.
In the afternoon after lunch, we headed to the heart of Tibetan religion, the Jokhang Temple. Inside there is a statue of the young Buddha Sakyamuni. Outside, we saw pilgrims prostrating in a courtyard at the front.
Around the temple is Barkhor Street, where we wandered among shops of the old market and among pilgrims doing a kora (a religious circle of a building or mountain). I bought some prayer flags that I hope to hang at the Dolma La pass on our 3 day Mount Kailash trek later.
We had tea at one of the liveliest indoor Tibetan tea houses in Lhasa, milk tea and salty butter tea. While some of us returned to the hotel, Daniele, Kyan and I joined Anton to take a taxi drive to the Tibetan Thangka Art Museum.
Anton, an architect, had read about this new museum, but it was uncertain whether it was open. It wasn’t. Even though built in 2022, it won’t open for another year. But a very gracious and articulate manager allowed us the privilege of a private tour with two assistants. The museum holds some very rare and rarely seen examples of thangka, colourful paintings usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala. Some of the ones we saw dated from the 12th century.
The company that has the concession to run the museum has a main business reproducing statues and Buddhist relics for monasteries in Vietnam, Tibet, China and Mongolia. They hold a world record making for the largest prayer wheel, one that is 34m high and 16.5m in diameter.
The company owner had his favourite horse stuffed when it died and displayed in the museum with a warrior rider on its back.
Then a taxi ride back to the hotel and a stay overnight in Lhasa. Tomorrow we will travel west to Shigatse and onto Everest base camp the following day.
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