Lhasa

 Lhasa

It was a short walk from  the hotel to the centre of the city. This is where the Potala Palace is located. It is an internationl well known iconic building. It served as the Dalai Lama's home whilst he lived in Tibet.

 

Another view of the amazing building. It is white, red and yellow. The white palace was used for government affairs whilst the red palace was the religious centre of the country.

Parts are also used for chapels and the tombs of former Dalai Lamas.

It dates from the 9th century after the former palace built in 7th century was destroyed by fire in the mod 9th century.

The start of the steps up from the road level in the valley to the palace.

                                        

A view back across the city before entering the palace. Opposite on the hillside is another important building, a monastery but so small so as to be indistingushable in the distance.

                                         

Another view of the city below. The monument is to the peaceful liberation of the country.

 

                                        

The entrance to the white palace from the inner courtyard. Regretably, no photos are allowed inside so you will have to visit it yourself to see the marvellous decorations. There are more than 1,600 rooms but visitors only see a handful of them. 

                                                 

After a tour of the insides, we emerged from the back door of the palace. The building needs to be repainted annually. It sounds like a big job but the staff use a short cut. They don't use brushes, they pour the paint down the outside and leave it to dry. The surface finish in places looks like icicles or a frozen waterfall.

                                        

As we descended we had a glimpse of one of the golden roofs.

The exit from the palace at road level. On the hill opposite in large red letters spells long life the country.

We emerged from the palace and walked into the centre of the city and its main shopping street to find a restaurant.

I ordered a yak stroganoff.

After lunch it was a short walk to the Jokhang Temple, another very important site for Buddhists. It dates from 640AD and was built by King Songsten Gampo. It houses a temple complex and a monastery school. It is also home to two Buddha statues brought to Lhasa by two of his five queens, a Chinese Tang wife and his Neplese wife.

A view of some of the outsides of the buildings...such as a gold roof...

...another gold roof...

...a row of prayer wheels...

...looking up at the roof...

...and the gold roof.

There was a tour of the insides but it was dark and the photos were poor.

One of four kings that rule the four compass points.

Some detail of the decorations...

...and another beam support.

Then it was time to go shopping. Most market and shopping streets had an arch to welcome visitors. I wanted a warm pair of gloves against the cold on the hike to Everest base camp and some anti-altitude tablets. I had spent some time acclaimatising and would have more opportunities but like a good boy scout, I wanted to be prepared. It was no good feeling ill on a mountain and no shops to buy medicine.

Some of the shops had very flamboyant facades.

Some shops were quite unusual such as this look alike Tibetan palace which was a supermarket...

...and even an ordinary row of shops had a Tibetan feel. There was decoration above the windows and although the windows were regular shapes, they had a black surround to mimic the shapes of windows in the Potala palace.