Lhasa Favorites

Favorite thing: The world famous Potala Palace is located on 'Red Hill', to the west of old Lhasa. It was originally built in the 640's, during the reign of King Songtsan Gampo. The 13-story palace stands 117 metres high and has over 1000 rooms. It covers an area of 130000 square metres.
The entire building is made of stone and wood, with walls averaging 3 metres thick. The Red Palace contains various chapels and mausoleums for previous Dalai Lamas. The 5th Dalai Lama's mausoleum is in the west part of the palace and is 5-storeys high. His enormous Chorten is gold-covered and inlaid with diamonds, pearls, turquoise, agate and coral. The whole structure stands 14 metres high. The White Palace contains the living quarters of successive Dalai Lamas and their tutors. The offices of the old Tibetan government and their assembly halls are also located here.The original Potala was destroyed in the 9th century, during the breakdown of the Tubo Kingship era. It was rebuilt during the reign of the 5th Dalai Lama and completed in the late 17th century. It became known as the 'Winter Palace' by the 1750's, when the 7th Dalai Lama built the Norbulingka Park, as his summer residence. The Potala is full of elaborate art work and frescos that tell many stories. They portray religious subjects as well as the customs and traditions of Tibet. The frescos in the west hall depict the life story of the 5th Dalai Lama. One picture describes an important meeting between the 5th Dalai Lama and the Chinese Emperor Shun Zhi n 1652. It was after this meeting that the title 'Dalai Lama' was bestowed on him and successive leaders of Tibet. The Potala contains many precious works of art, including ornately decorated statues, sculptures and Tibetan painting. The topmost hall in the Potala is called 'Sasong Langjie'. It contains a portrait of the Qing Emperor 'Qianlong' bearing the words 'A LONG, LONG LIFE TO THE PRESENT EMPEROR' written in Han, Manchu, Mongol and Tibetan. Dalai Lamas came to pay homage to this portrait on each Tibetan New Year's Day. The Potala has been a sacred place for hundreds of years. Thousands of pilgrims from Tibet, other parts of China and abroad come every year to pay homage. Their devotion is shown by the difficult journeys they have to make to reach their 'Holy city.' After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, the Potala was listed as a cultural relic under the special protection of the state. Architecturally, it is considered to be one of the wonders of the world--admired by Chinese nationalities and foreigner's alike.

Fondest memory: Mt. Kailash I was thinking to plan a new trip to Tibet in order to reach sacred Mt. Kailash. This time I would have gone with Gigi, but he passed away few months ago, climbing a low mountain near to Bergamo. Now, I don’t know if and whenever I’ll go to Tibet again. If any of you is going to Mt. Kailash, please light a butter lamp for Gigi’s soul. He could be walking somewhere round the mountain.

Favorite thing: Nowadays, in order to travel to Tibet you have to join a group with a guide. The Chinese government prefers tourists to join a tour group, although it doesn’t admit that Tibet is closed to individuals. Moreover, rules are changing constantly. If you are at least five people travelling together, you can ask a Chinese travel agency to arrange a specific itinerary. Otherwise, if you travel alone, you have to chose between four and eight days trips, and your itinerary will be pre-planned and restricted. Once in Lhasa, you can split from the group and spend some more days by your own. In this case you need a visa extension. Travelling solo could be quite complicated, requiring extra time, extra visas, extra money and patience to arrange any excursion outside the main towns. Get information about public bus could be almost impossible and you may need to obtain a permit before buying a bus ticket. If you have enough money, you can pay a local tour company to obtain the permits to take you almost everywhere, but it may be very expensive and you have to be accompanied by guide and driver all the time. And the guide could be Chinese! Bear in mind that you are in a Chinese ruled country, with heavy Chinese bureaucracy. Many of their rules are a clear attempt by Chinese authorities to control the movement of foreign tourist, in order to limit their contacts with locals. Don’t forget that you could place yourself and Tibetans at great risk if you ask sensitive questions or stay with them. Also, if you are found by the police making political statements, you will place any Tibetans, that you have talked to, in a very real danger. Our Tibetan guide beg us not to ask any question about political and religious matter, when we were in a public place.

Fondest memory: TIBET:
Population: 6 million Tibetans ; 7.5 million Chinese emigrants (estimate 1996)
Religion: 90 per cent of the Tibetan population is Buddhist.
Spiritual Leader: His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Language: Tibetan. Chinese is imposed as the official language.
Economy: Tibetans work mostly in agriculture and cattle-breeding. Chinese mainly work for the government, in trade and service industries.
Government:Communist.
Relation with China: Colonial.
Legal status: OccupiedTIBET IN EXILE:
Population: 130.000
Government: democratic, based on system of popular votes and electoral colleges. Head of state: His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Spiritual Leader: His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Seat of government: Dharamsala (India)
Literacy: 75 % (92 % of Tibetan children attend school).
Army: none

Favorite thing: I'm in Chengdu now. And the news from Tourism Bureau, Tibet would open to tourists from 1st, May.

Favorite thing: If you decide you want to stay, you should be looking for a proper job, because you could end up like this. Cutting stones into small pebbles...

Favorite thing: The tibetan part of Lhasa also has the most streetmarkets. Here can buy everything, food, furniture and whatever you can think of.

The picture is at the Tromsikhang Market.