[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 1 November 2015]
26 July 2015, Sunday
It’s Day 3 of the trip, and we have two places for sightseeing today – Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple. Potala Palace is the most visited tourist attraction in Tibet, and rightly so. We departed the hotel at 9:30am, and alighted from our bus just 5 minutes later. As there is a daily visitor quota for Potala Palace, you’ll need to pre-book a time slot for your visit. You’ll also need to register for the ticket, and each ticket is personalised with your passport number, so this has to be done by your tour agency at least one day before your visit. Tenzin got us a 10:20am slot, so we were still quite early when we arrived.
Along the way, we saw many locals spinning their prayer wheels and chanting mantras. Tenzin explained that there are four circuits within Lhasa where pilgrims perform the kora every day – the Inner Kora (inside Jokhang Temple), Middle Kora (around the exterior of Jokhang Temple), Outer Kora (8km long, aka Lingkhor Circuit) and Potala Palace Kora (around Potala Palace). The pilgrims walk in an anti-clockwise direction, and spin their prayer wheels in an anti-clockwise direction too. The most devoted pilgrims will prostrate along the way. The purpose is to increase their suffering so as to have a peaceful afterlife. Here, at Potala Palace, we didn’t see any pilgrims prostrating, just walking and chanting.
Security is tight at Potala Palace, and all visitors have to go through security checks. Liquids and lighters are not allowed, so be sure to leave those in the bus before you enter. To get to Potala Palace proper, you’ll need to climb a few long flights of stairs. Even though it wasn’t very steep, it was still very tiring. The high altitude really does play a part. All of us were gasping for air by the time we reached the top.
As usual, before going in, Tenzin gave us “brief information”. Potala Palace was built in 1645 by the 33rd king of Tibet, and the 5th Dalai Lama later added more storeys to it. It has 13 storeys and 1,000 rooms, representing the 1,000 eyes and 1,000 hands of the God of Compassion. The White Palace (the parts painted white) contains the living quarters of the Dalai Lama, offices, the seminary and the printing house. The Red Palace is used for religious purposes. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and photo taking in most of the rooms is not allowed, not even for a fee. I guess this is to protect the sanctity of the place.
Perched on top of the hill and overlooking Lhasa, the façade of Potala Palace is indeed very imposing and impressive. Inside, it was similar to the other monasteries we had visited the day before. We saw stupas for many of the Dalai Lamas, with lavish gold accompaniments and jewellery. We also visited the room where the Dalai Lama would sit on his throne to face an audience of politicians. It is always awe-inspiring to visit buildings that are centuries old.
We spent about two hours visiting Potala Palace. For lunch, Tenzin brought us to Tibetan Family Kitchen, a small eatery hidden in a back lane at Dan Jie Lin Road. It was really a family kitchen, where the lady boss prepared all the dishes that we ordered. We were the only guests that day, and we ordered quite a few different dishes. As it was a one-woman show, it took about one hour before the food arrived on our table. We were starving by then.
While waiting for the food, we were entertained by the lady boss’ daughter. At first, she was quite cute and shy, but as she got more familiar with us, she started becoming more talkative and playful, throwing things and even “scolding” us and calling us names like “Zhu Ba Jie”. After a while, we got tired of her. But she provided good entertainment for a while.
After lunch, we visited Jokhang Temple, the most sacred temple in Tibet, arriving at 2:05pm. It is located in the Barkhor circuit, very near our hotel. True to its sacred status, we saw many devotees prostrating around the temple. They would get down on their knees, stretch their arms forward on the floor and slide their legs back at the same time before getting up, repeating this process every two steps. Up close, we saw that they wore cushion paddings on their knees and held wooden clog-like pieces in their hands, to aid in the forward sliding motion. It takes a lot of effort to do so, and they did it under the blazing sun. Really admirable.
Jokhang Temple is similar to the other monasteries we had visited, so by this time, we didn’t feel as awed by it as we should have. It’s like churches and mosques – they contain similar features, but what makes them stand out is the architecture (exterior) and the statues or holy treasures they contain within. For the Tibetan monasteries, I wouldn’t exactly say that they are stunning architecturally wise, like the Taj Mahal in Agra, Notre Dame in Paris, Il Duomo in Milan or the Forbidden City in Beijing, which really took my breath away the moment I saw them. Probably only Potala Palace can lay claim to that.
From the rooftop of Jokhang Temple, we had a great view of the courtyard below. We could also see Potala Palace sitting grandly on top of the hill not too far away. By 3:00pm, we finished visiting Jokhang Temple, and Tenzin left us on our own for free-and-easy time. As it was a very hot day, we went to a café for refuge, and I ordered an iced mocha to cool down. It was a nice café, with free wi-fi, books and even a piano. XY displayed her musical chops and entertained us with a rendition of Sun Yanzi’s “Tee Or Or”, even though the sky was as blue as it could be.
After chilling out at the café, we split up and did our own shopping. We walked along Beijing East Road, which is like the Orchard Road of Lhasa. There are many shops on both sides of the road, and it is where you can find the trendiest clothes and international brands. However, the prices weren’t very cheap so we didn’t buy anything.
At 6:00pm, we regrouped and went to New Mandala Restaurant for dinner. It is one of the recommended restaurants in Lhasa. We chose a table at the rooftop on the 3rd floor, which had a great view overlooking Jokhang Temple. We were very hungry (as usual), so we ordered many dishes. We had a good time cracking jokes and chatting with each other, getting to know my travel buddies better. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable dinner, and perhaps one of my favourite moments from the trip.
At about 8:15pm, we took a taxi to the “guang chang” (plaza), to see the musical fountain, as recommended by Tenzin. FYI, if you take a taxi within the main city area in Lhasa, the fare is a flat RMB 10. KL asked the taxi driver just to confirm the price (in case he overcharges us), and he seemed offended by the question. But later, we found out that his grouchiness stemmed from the heavy traffic at that hour. Actually, the plaza isn’t too far away and is reachable by foot. It could have been faster if we had walked instead, but as we weren’t sure where it was exactly, we took a taxi there.
As it was summertime, the days are long – the sun rises at about 7am and sunset is about 9pm. So it was still bright when we arrived at the plaza. We tried looking for a fountain but we didn’t see any, so we just followed the crowd and walked in the general direction towards Potala Palace. We then reached an open area where most people were gathered, and upon closer inspection of one of the signs on the grounds, we confirmed that we were at the right place.
At 8:30pm, an announcement rang across the grounds and the fountain sprang into life. The water shot out from the ground, accompanied by loud and lively music. It was quite impressive as the water reached a height of about 15m. We entertained ourselves by taking numerous “Dragonball” poser shots, much to the consternation/amusement of the other tourists and locals.
At about 9pm, the sun was finally about to set and the sky gradually darkened. ST had a slight fever and wasn’t feeling too well, so she wanted to go back to the hotel. As I wanted to take some night shots of Potala Palace, ZJ and I stayed behind while the others went back first.
As we sat on the floor and waited for the sky to darken, I noticed that Potala Palace was not entirely symmetrical. Being the OCD that I am, I like things symmetrical. I think symmetry is perfection, and the most beautiful buildings in the world are all symmetrical – Taj Mahal, Notre Dame, Il Duomo, Forbidden City (all mentioned above). However, that is not to say that being asymmetrical is wrong or ugly. It is just a personal preference and symmetry provides a sense of balance that is soothing.
As the sky turned darker blue, the lights came on and Potala Palace was bathed in a beautiful white glow. It was a majestic sight. I wondered how they lit up the entire façade so evenly. I couldn’t even see any spotlights or any light source from below. It was as if the light was projected onto the face of the Potala Palace itself. I was glad that they kept it classy and there was no multimedia light show projection onto the face of the building. That would have been an easy way to attract tourists, but it would have cheapened and diminished the grandeur of Potala Palace.
At 9:30pm, we finally made a move, and we decided to ride a trishaw back to the hotel. The trishaw man quoted us RMB 20 (twice the price of a taxi), but we didn’t mind. It was only a short 5-minute ride but it was very enjoyable. For his effort, we paid him RMB 30.
End of Day 3, and we would be leaving Lhasa tomorrow for the highlands…or so we thought!