[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 17 January 2016]

7 August 2015, Thursday

It’s the last full day of our trip and it’s another day of free and easy in Lhasa. It was actually a bonus day because we accelerated our itinerary by one day, by not staying the night at Darchen after the Mt. Kailash trek. By this time, we were very familiar with Lhasa, so we just split up and did our last minute shopping, finally buying the things that we had been eyeing on for the previous days. I bought a North Face Windstopper jacket, some trekking socks, keychain souvenirs and other small items, more than what I expected. I had to keep one eye on my wallet, and the other eye on the weight of my luggage!

In the evening, we watched the Princess Wencheng musical. We paid RMB 280 (about S$62) for the ticket. The show was staged at an open-air theatre on the south bank of Lhasa River and we took a public bus from the city at Beijing East Road to get there. We had problems finding the bus stop because it was not well-signposted. Once we found it, there didn’t seem to be any indication that there was indeed such a bus that went to the theatre. So we waited patiently, in good faith that the bus would eventually turn up. Thankfully, it did.

I cannot remember exactly how long the bus ride took, but I think it was about 45 minutes. It brought us to the outskirts of Lhasa and we even saw some pretty hip cafes along the way. There was a traffic jam as we neared the venue, as other tour buses and cars were all arriving at the same time and trying to make their way to the top of the hill, where the theatre is located. By the time we alighted from the bus, it was 8:55pm, and the show was scheduled to start at 9:30pm. As we haven’t had dinner yet, we quickly chose one of the restaurants there and hastily ordered some easy-to-prepare dishes, and gobbled down our food.

It was quite a pity it was so rushed because the area is actually quite nice. From the hilltop where we were, we could see Potala Palace in the distance, splendidly lit and casting an imposing presence over the rest of Lhasa. We should have come here earlier to chill at one of the nice looking cafes and while the time away.

After dinner, we joined the throng of people and queued up to enter the venue. It was an open-air amphitheatre and our cheap seats were almost right in front of the stage. The stage was humongous, as big as a football field, and it had a real mountain as a stunning backdrop. Our seats were actually very good, but because the stage was so big and there was so much going on at all corners, we could not take in the entire stage in one view so we had to turn our heads left and right to catch all the action. There were also two large screens by each side, which provided commentary and subtitles in English and Mandarin so we could understand what was going on.

The show started promptly at 9:30pm. As soon as the cast entered and the palace prop rolled in, it was immediately clear why the tickets were so expensive. It was an epic production with a cast of around 500 and they used dozens of real horses, sheep and yak. The actors’ costumes were elaborate and most of all, the props were incredibly detailed and lifelike. They also made use of the real mountain backdrop by projecting light images on it and staging action on parts of the mountain slopes as well. Epic is really the only way to describe it.

Besides the visual spectacle, the music and singing were on point as well. The musical tells the real life story of how Princess Wencheng, an envoy of the Han people from the Tang Dynasty, travelled thousands of miles to marry the Tibetan king Songtsän Gampo to promote peace and harmony between China and Tibet. The story was told through a combination of songs and dialogue, and many of the tunes were hauntingly beautiful and the lyrics were meaningful and poetic.

For the grand finale, they pulled out all the stops as the props for Potala Palace and Lhasa town slowly rolled out and assembled magically by themselves to form one giant backdrop in front of the mountain, and the entire cast and animals came out on stage, culminating in one huge musical sendoff. It was impressive beyond any live show I have ever seen.

The only downside to the show was that our cheap seats were not sheltered – only the more expensive seats had a shelter above – and it started to rain shortly after the show started. At first, it was still quite bearable as we brought along our jackets, but as the rain got heavier, it became colder and wetter. To their credit, the staff handed out disposable ponchos to everyone caught in the rain, but we were already wet by then.

Despite the rain, the show still went on and the cast soldiered on bravely and performed without a hitch. It must have been even tougher for them because their costumes do not look very thick and they were all drenched to the skin. Huge respect to all the cast who performed! All in all, I would strongly recommend catching the show if you happen to visit Lhasa, you won’t be disappointed. Thanks also to KL who recommended the show to us and persuaded us to go. I must admit I wasn’t very interested initially but I am glad I went!

The show lasted about 1 hour 30 minutes, ending after 11pm. We followed the 3,000-strong crowd out of the theatre and proceeded to the carpark area to catch the bus back to the city. It was the same scenario on the way back as we encountered a massive traffic jam while trying to leave the venue. By the time we reached the city, it was well past midnight. We brisk-walked back to our hotel, feeling wet and cold, but glad to have ended the trip on a high.