Aline's travel blog: April 14, Saturday

April 14, Saturday

Our second full day in Lhasa. We leave the hotel early to go visit the Potala Palace, the winter palace to Emperor of Tibet Songtsan Gampo, which dated back to the 7th century (reigned c. 609-649), who played a very important role in the political, economic, and cultural development of Tibet. We were told that the original palace burned down. “The complex, comprising the White and Red Palaces with their ancillary buildings, is built on Red Mountain in the centre of Lhasa Valley, at an altitude of 3,700m. It was rebuilt in the mid-17th century by the 5th Dalai Lama in a campaign that lasted 30 years, reaching its present size in the years that followed, as a result of repeated renovation and expansion. It covers an area of over 130,000 m² and stands more than 110 m high.” It is now a UNESCO cultural site and therefore protected.

Potala Palace as seen from the street

Ladies waiting in the entrance courtyard. If you take their picture, they expect you to give them some money

We pass through the gates into the first inner courtyard

A view of the palace buildings from within the inner courtyard. That's a long way up.

As we climb, we get a better view of the plaza below

And we climb

and climb

And climb

Are we nearly there ?

We take a break and rest on the steps

We must be nearly there.

Finally we go through the main gates

and into the upper courtyard. From here on, no photos as we enter the red portion of the palace.
The lower white buildings are used for administration, and the red portion comprises the living quarters, Buddhist shrines, and stupas which hold the remains of past Dalai Lamas. We saw the throne that was used by the Dalai Lama for the formal ceremonies.
There are 476 steps from the street level, up to the 13^thfloor of the palace on top of the hill (or is that 476 steps inside the palace?). We take it slow and easy and stop many times along the way, due to the high elevation. It is so impressive. So many Dalai lamas have lived here throughout the years, each one adding more and more buildings. Only two people from our group opt not to climb to the top for health reasons; completely understandable since it is their first time at high altitudes. My thanks to Pauline for sharing her Diamox (high altitude medication) with me, since I used all of mine up with the extra stay in the heights of Bolivia.

Tibetans pronounce Dalai differently than we do: Da-lie (as in “I lie down to sleep”) rather than Da-lay, so we are not pronouncing it correctly. The Palace is a Buddhist pilgrimage site of the Bodhisattva Chenresi (yellow hat sect) and there are so many people visiting the palace that we are rushed through the complex and don’t really have time to check things out as much as we would like. There are security guards / soldiers everywhere, as well as some monks in their robes who still live in the complex. “There were over 1,000 rooms in the original Potala Palace. The present Potala Palace is 119 meters in height with 13 floors. Seems like we climbed a lot more than that ! "The building measures 400 meters east-west and 350 meters north-south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 m. to 5 m. (more than 16 ft) thick at the base. The external structure was built in 3 years, while the interior, together with its furnishings took 45 years to complete. The number of visitors per day is now limited for control purposes.”

The Stupas within the red palace are huge and I asked the guide if the buildings had been added after the Stupas were built. I was told that no, the buildings were put up first and the Stupas were “assembled” inside after.

We are allowed to take pictures as we climb, and until we reach the inner courtyard that marks the entrance to the Palaces (red portion). From then on however we are not allowed to take any pictures, not even when we reach the open areas of the 13^th floor where the Dalai Lamas rooms were located.

and before we know it, we have concluded our indoor visit and start are climb back down

I’ve mentioned the “yellow hat” which is part of the Tibetan religion (the one worn by the Dalai Lama) but I find out that there are three other colours of hats: red, black and white. Will have to do some research to find out what the differences are.

A view from the top, but the back side of the Palace, looking onto a different section of Lhasa

And we go down

and down

Beautiful vistas of the surrounding mountains

And we continue our descent

Still a long way to go, but it is definitely easier than going up

We are definitely getting closer

Almost there when we can spot the gardens

Finally at the bottom, turning the prayer wheels

And we spot some mountain goats up on the hill.

With the zoom, I'm able to snag this picture

After lunch, we drive out to the countryside (not really, it appears to be within Lhasa) and visit with a Tibetan family, where I sample “yak butter tea”. I was very reluctant to try this since I’ve read about some really bad experiences where the butter was rancid, but the one we were served was quite nice. But I would not want to drink a mug-ful, the small cup was just right. The couple who own the house have two children, one little girl about 2 or 3 years old and a new born baby. The “one child per family” does not apply in Tibet since they are considered a “minority” population within China. The house appeared to be very new and had many modern conveniences. Most of the homes here, and in other areas of China we have visited, have solar panels on the roofs as well as satellite dishes for their TV.

The streets of the small community, and their houses

Storing wood for burning on the top of the roofs

I drank the Yak Butter Tea !

The house is colourfully decorated

Grandmother, who lives with the couple and helps with the children, also has her hand loom. Check out the wood and the pedals.

In their courtyard, which they obviously use quite a bit, is the remains of a game they played.

While we are talking in the courtyard, the outer doors open and in walks this tiny little girl. She is the elder of their two children, the baby is only a few weeks old. She was wandering around, on her own, in the streets of the town. Doesn't appear to be a problem here.

As we leave the community, many other people are heading for home.

We make a further stop at a carpet factory. Now this was an eye opener since the looms are obviously not "manufacturer's" quality.

Lady worker at one of the looms

Some of the rugs they have made, or are still working on

Check out the loom; those are two iron I-Beams at the top. I guess whatever works will do.

Another lady working on a second loom

Beautifully coloured wool

Some of the carpets that are for sale

On the way back to the hotel we stop to visit another site, the Sera Monastery, founded in 1419 and covers an area of 114,964 square meters. It is the second biggest monastery in Tibet. This is actually a college (or training centre) and though we do not get to enter any of the buildings/halls, we are taken into a courtyard where the monks are going through a question and answer practice, each taking turns, and there are very lively debates on the teachings and philosophy of Buddha. Info found on the internet and not given to us by the guide: “During the 1959 revolt in Lhasa, Sera monastery suffered severe damage, with its colleges destroyed and hundreds of monks killed. After the Dalai Lama took asylum in India, many of the monks of the Sera Monastery who survived the attack also moved to India.”