Sunday May 31, 2009 - Lhasa - Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple

Everything in T. is built on a hillside, which means....stairs, uphill climbs, and breathlessness! This was the case with our visit to the world famous Potala Palace. When you hear of the Dalai Lama, you think Lhasa...the Potala Palace. It looms high on a rock overlooking the city. It was started in the 7th C by the 33rd King of T. It was the home of the Dalai Lamas until the current Dalai Lama fled to India. The Palace has 13 stories, contains over a 1000 rooms, 10,000 shrines, and about 200,000 statues. It consists of two parts, the Red Palace and the White Palace. The White Palace is where the living quarters of the Dalai Lama are. The Red Palace is devoted to religious study and Buddhist prayer. It consists of many different halls, chapels, libraries with winding passages connecting a complex array of small galleries. We were stunned when we were told we were only allowed in the building for an hour. The reason given is that so many people come to Lhasa to go ghrough the Palace, the only way to preserve it is to restrict entrance. So, you have to go with a T. guide, you have to "book" your visiting time, and you cannot spend more than an hour inside. The Palace is truly beautiful. Every inch of it is carved ornately and painted. Beautiful drawings cover the walls, and T. carpets adorn the floors. It is built out of solid stone with steep wooden staircases inside. There are masses of small statues lining the walls in many of the rooms. As well, the large statues of the Gods and Goddesses are always engaging structures. We literally followed a set route through the buildings together with masses of tourists, mainly Chinese and some Westerners. The Palace was so spectacular, that all the commotion didn't reduce the impact but more time would have been decidedly preferable. After the Palace we did a big sweep on foot through the new town. We passed through a huge square which was built to commorate the Chinese victory over T. in 1958. Because of this it is the subject of much controversy and is consequently heavily guarded due to the potential for destruction and protest. We walked through a park with a man-made waterway and waterfountatins, but no water! Then we walked into The Barkhor. This is in the old city and is an area of narrow streets and a public square located around Jokhang Temple. Military presence in the Square was huge, but nonetheless, the pilgrims were immersed in their kora, turning the prayer wheels, and lying prostrate on the ground on their way to the Temple. The Jokhang Temple was the first Buddhist temple to be built in T. For Ts, it is the most sacred and important temple in Tibet - because of its age and because of the God it symbolizes -. It too was very crowded but mainly with Ts paying their respect. The unique part about our visit was the ability to circle the Buddha in one of the chapels together with the people who had donated money to have the Buddha painted with gold paint. It was a very frenetic experience, as Ts seem quite frenetic about their prayer. So the energy level was high, and the monks tried hard to keep the crowd moving in the very tight space around the huge statue. It was all a very special visit. Late afternoon we wandered through the old town, looked in a bookshop, picked up laundry, had dinner, then spent some time at a group party organized by Ian and Tamar who appear to have lucked out and been given the "honeymoon" suite on the top floor complete with lounge, bedroom, sauna, chicouzy, private balcony and sun room.