We checked in and were advised to lay low our first night in order to acclimate to the altitude and our surroundings. The altitude had not seemed to faze us other than a slight headache on the train and a bit of short breath. We were instructed that Lhasa sits at around 12,000 feet above sea level and means “place of the gods”. Despite the warnings, we were hungry and also were meeting up with the two women who would be joining us for this leg of our trip, Fran and Mirjam. Fran is from Italy and Mirjam from Slovenia, which added to our international flavor. The five of us decided to try and find some type of dinner around the hotel. We stumbled across a hotel that appeared to be open across the street. One of the workers ran and grabbed an English-speaking gentleman who assisted us in communicating with the local staff. He informed us his name was Namhan and spoke with surprisingly clear English. John was the first to pick up Namhan’s Indian accent, and asked if he had spent time there. Namhan informed us he was a Tibetan native, but had spent time in India as well as time learning the English language. He told us that he had been a tour guide for approximately 10 years in Tibet but due to a lack of tourist’s this year he was operating a teashop, which neighbored the hotel. He was an extremely pleasant gentleman, who remained seated with us throughout our meal and assisted us in ordering our dinner entrees. As for the meal, it was excellent. We chose several items from the menu to share amongst each other and I would bet it was one of the first times any of us had tried Yak meat. It is actually quite tasty, and native to Tibet. In addition to the Yak meat we ordered Yak meat Momo, a steamed dumpling filled with Yak, which came with a very spicy sauce, cucumbers, curry potatoes, pork spare ribs, and a few other items.
All of these items along with white rice left us stuffed to the brim. We all agreed that everything had been delicious and were content with our evening, so we retired to our hotel to get a nice nights rest before our first day of touring in Tibet.
As I said earlier, we awoke to a glorious day, peered out of our hotel window and were greeted by the lush green mountains and intensely bright sunshine. David, John and I took our respective turns in the shower and then met up with Mirjam and Fran for breakfast. Following breakfast we met our tour guide who took us to Barkhor Street, an old Tibetan part of town with street vendors on every square foot. Barkhor is actually a circular street that runs the length of the first temple that we would see for the day. Our senses were on overload, the sites were extremely colorful, the smell of Yak butter and oil, the crisp, cool air, and the slight breeze blowing. Our guide led us through the streets with purpose and we arrived at our first destination, Jokhang Monastary.
In front of us were two large concrete furnaces’, which were used to burn Barley, incense and Yak butter as an offering to the gods. There was a man standing in front of it spinning a prayer wheel in his left hand and offering up barley in order to have his prayers answered.
While standing there we were instructed that the local people would walk the circle several times a morning, and spin prayer wheels and leave offerings. They would also pause in front of the temple and prostrate on the ground, ceremoniously. Again, it was sensory overload for all of us, there was so much activity, taking place at one time. To our right stood a large pole with brightly colored prayer flags and a woman was covered by the flags and praying.
We stopped to take in the entire scene, glanced and one another and knew that we were in another world. Far removed from the bright lights and tall buildings of Beijing and Xian, this was a place that not many would get a chance to see; a place that is causing strife and conflict globally. We also knew this to be a place, like much of China, that is constantly changing, and likely will never be the same as it is today. I have to admit, none of us thought we would make it here and are absolutely honored to have this opportunity.
We entered the temple ahead of the drones of people who were there to pray and give up offerings to the Buddha’s. We were instructed that many of the Tibetans would stand and pray and prostrate from early morning until 3 pm or so. The offerings varied from Yak butter and oil, to grain from Tibetan farmers, to money. The smell was a mixture of incense, yak oil and burning candles. The sounds of Buddhist chants and prayers filled our ears and the sights of beautiful Buddhist paintings, Buddha’s for different prayers, and colorful, cheerful people surrounded us. We learned that a traditional Tibetan greeting is “Tashidelek”, or hello, and the visitors were often delighted to hear us greet them in their native tongue. We circled the monastery with Tsedan and made our way to the rooftop of the monastery. From there we were able to see the surrounding streets, the mountains overlooking the city and the monastery we would visit later that day, Potala Palace. The sun was beating down upon us and although all welcomed it, it was intense.
Following the Jokhang Monastery we were given an hour to wander the streets of Barkhor, to bargain with the local vendors for any items of interest. We saw everything from prayer wheels to jewelry to shoes to blenders. You name it; they had it available for sale. Traditional to Chinese style we were able to bargain several of the vendors down to a reasonable price and all walked away with a bounty of gifts. I purchased two bracelets, one of which contained the Tibetan characters of a chant; David purchased a bracelet as well. Content with out purchases Fran informed us of her impending hunger and we met up with Tsedan, who led us to our lunch place, The Lhasa Kitchen. The restaurant sat on the second level of a building on Barkhor Street and overlooked the square in front of the Jokhang Monastery. It was very picturesque with the mountains looming large over the city. Fran and Mirjam took the initiative in ordering lunch and we again shared several items. We ordered a Nepalese set, Shabalob Bread- fried bread filled with Yak meat, steamed yak momo’s. fried vegetable momo’s, and mutton masala, along with white rice. If you cannot tell we are all adventurous eaters, which has been essential on this trip. Tsedan and our driver whose name I have not figured out sat and ate with us and we talked of our afternoon plans. We were scheduled to visit the Potala Palace, an ancient monastery that has housed several of the Dalai Lama. We were informed that we were very lucky to be able to visit this palace, and that in order to get in we had to show our passport. Tsedan had arranged for our visit and would accompany us the entire time. We finished lunch, with John and I finishing every last bit of the large bounty we had ordered.
The drive to Potala took approximately ten minutes and upon our arrival we exited the van and walked to the main entrance. We presented our passports and were ushered inside. Once inside we walked across the ancient stone floor and through a doorway and there essentially on top of us was the Potala Palace. The palace housed a white and red section, which were clearly displayed by their respective colors. We were informed that the white section played host to the political meetings and gatherings while the red section was the religious side. It was an absolutely stunning scene, and I believe we were all a bit awestruck by the combination of beauty and age of the palace. I looked up and knew we had quite the workout ahead of us. Tsedan told us it was 263 steps to the top of the palace, a daunting task for anyone at this altitude.
The steps were steep and narrow with ramps in between them. They were made completely of stone and wound back and forth until we reached the first entrance. Out of breath, and muscles aching we were foolish to think that our ascent might actually be finished.
We paused momentarily to examine the beautiful paintings and continued on our way up the steps. We paused at a courtyard momentarily and then ascended the steps into the temple.
At the time of this posting I was exhausted from the day. It was so beautiful....and it is tough to put it into words. I will continue this post as I am able to process it all.
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