Kailash 2017 Day 6 : Acclimatization at Lhasa, Saturday Aug 19 2017

The hotel in Lhasa has a courtyard like ancient Indian houses, with hotel rooms in three floors around the courtyard. Luckily, we are on the ground floor. The huge change with this visit to Tibet is that we are in Tibet and there is a hotel. The first view of Tibet used to be Nyalam with a mudhouse with 4-8 people to a room and gender-neutral bathrooms down the passage. The long wait for a shower or a body wash would start from now. Instead we are in Lhasa, 2 people to a room, with an attached bathroom fitted with a hair dryer, and supplies of toothpaste and brushes and shampoos and soaps. I may as well be on the strip in Vegas. Anytime now, I can walk out and see some exotic sights, and they will not be manmade copies of NY and Paris and Italy and ancient Rome in Vegas, these exotic places will be originals of Tibet in Tibet




the sights outside the Jokhang temple, 10 minutes from the hotel

Around the 14th century, the Jokhang temple was associated with the Vajrasana in India. After the Tibetan-Gorkha war of 1792, the emperor of the Qing dynasty made this an exclusive place of worship for Tibetans. During the Chinese revolution of 1966, the Red Guards attacked the Jokhang temple, and worship was stopped for about 10 years. After the renovation from 1972 to 1980, the Jokhang temple was open to the public again. In 2000, the Jokhang temple was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as an extension of the Potala Palace.


After passing through security, we stand as a group in the courtyard of the Jokhang temple or monastery, waiting for passes that the travel agent has gone to get. We are a group of 70 people, and we stand for a good 45 minutes, huddled in a group, looking around and taking pictures. Suddenly, I see binoculars on the roof of the temple - apparently, the security folks are looking at us very, very carefully. As I look around at the roof, there are more of them. Our group is asked to move and stand at another spot, a little while later, we are told to huddle closer - this is not a friendly welcome.


The Chinese guide gives us the verbiage on the temple - the temple was founded during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo - his two brides, the Princess Wencheng of the Tang dynasty of China, and Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal both brought in their dowry, a statue of the Buddha each. These were built during the lifetime of the Buddha himself and were established here as the deities of the temple when it was built in 652 AD. The next 900 years saw renovations that enlarged the temple complex, with the last renovation by the fifth Dalai Lama in 1610.

the temple courtyard

Sure enough, the Chinese guide come back and says they will only give a limited number of passes for the afternoon, and then some more later. So basically, we can go in smaller groups inside the temple, four hours later. Swamiji made an executive decision to skip the temple, perform a parikrama of the temple on the streets like other devotees, and go back for lunch. 

parikrama around the Jokhang temple

walking on the street, performing a parikrama around the Jokhang temple

amazing color spectrum

After 30 minutes of lunch, one half of the American passport holders leave for Potala Palace. The Dokalam stand-off between Indian and Chinese forces has this trivial consequence for Indian passport holders, they can stand outside Potala Palace - the summer palace of the Dalai Lama, but not come in. So Karnali decides to take the Indian passport holders in another hour to Norbulingka palace - the winter palace of the Dalai Lama. Both palaces are World Heritage sites.

The 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, lived from 1617 to 1682, and unified Tibet during the many years of civil war and foreign attacks. He was elevated as the political head of Tibet by the many Tibetan kingdoms he unified, and as an independent head of state, he established diplomatic relations with China and other countries in the region. He is believed to have met Eurpean explorers as well. Also, he has written 24 volumes of scholarly and religious works on a wide range of subjects. The Potala Palace became the official residence of the Dalai Lama till the 14th Dalai Lama escaped through the Himalayas, and made Dharamsala in India his new home, as the official guest of the Government of India. The 5th Dalai Lama was the first Dalai Lama to become the political ruler of Tibet along with his role as spiritual head, and is known as the Great Fifth.


The Potala Palace built in 1645, derives its name from Mount Potalaka, home of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. The building measures 400 metres east-west and 350 metres north-south, with inward-sloping stone walls that average 3 meters in thickness at the top and 5 meters or more at the base, with copper poured into the foundation to make them earthquake-proof. The palace has thirteen storeys with 1000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues. The palace rises majestically about 117 meters (384 ft) on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill", rising more than 300 m (1000 ft) in total above the floor of Lhasa valley. The three main hills of Lhasa - Chokpori to the south of the palace being the soul mountain of Vajrapani, Pongwari the soul-mountain of Manjusri and Marpori on which the palace stands, is the soul-mountain of Avalokitesvara. The inner crimson building is called the Red Palace while the outer building is called the White Palace.

Potala Palace

the composite structure inside the building

The central part of the group of buildings rises in a vast quadrangular mass above its satellites to a great height, terminating in gilt canopies. This central member of Potala is called the "red palace" from its distinguishing crimson color. It contains the main halls, prayer rooms and shrines of past Dalai Lamas, with considerable decorative painting, jeweled work, carving and other ornamentation.



the Lhasa streets

Next stop, Norbulingka Palace - the winter home of the Dalai Lama from the 5th Dalai Lama onwards - the visit is allowed to Indian passport holders, and the non-Indian passport holders group that just returned from Potala Palace.

Norbulingka means "Treasure Garden" in Tibetan. The palace has 374 rooms, and was built as the winter home for the Dalai Lama, about 100 years after the Potala Palace, in a western suburb of Lhasa on the bank of the Kyichu river, about 3 kilometers west of the Potala Palace. There are large horticulture gardens with many flowering plants like roses and petunias, fruit trees like apple and peach, herbs and rare plants, and also popular trees like bamboo. There was also a zoo here, to house the animals gifted to the Dalai Lama. The most visitors to this palace are on the Yogurt Festival Day in the beginning of August. At the time of the Chinese Revolution in 1966, the Norbulingka was renamed People's Park and opened to the public, but has since become a World Heritage site recognized by UNESCO and maintained as the winter palace of the Dalai Lama.

Entrance to Norbulingka

Chinese couple for a pre-wedding shoot

Tibetan painting inside Norbulingk

Winter palace for the Dalai Lama - Norbulingka palace

Though it seems that circumambulating a temple in the morning on the streets, and an afternoon visit to a horticultural retreat is the bare minimum one can do on a Saturday, I was exhausted. Shiva will decide, he has brought me this far, all the while wondering how far I will go.

AUM Namaha Shivaaya