Slept like a baby last night and managed to find the dining room for breakfast – no mean feat when there are no signs in any language!! Late start today – 1000- still allowing everyone to acclimatize. I'm having no problems so far, a few in our group have headaches, dizziness and vomiting. First stop today was some random carpet factory/tourist shop chosen by our guide – no doubt for some commission…..none of us were very impressed as we were in a state of anticipated excitement to see the world renowned Potala Palace.

Once we finally got inside the Potala Palace – everyone is given a designated visiting time - it did not disappoint. Unfortunately we could not take many photos inside but a few in our group with really good cameras did manage to get some so I will post them when I get copies. To say it is stunning is such an understatement….it completely dominates the skyline of Lhasa and is treated with much reverence by the locals as they prostrate themselves on the ground praying. The many, many steps we had to climb I figured were preparing us for our trek later in the week!!


Potala Palace is situated on Marpori (Red Hill) 3,700 meters above the sea level, and was originally built by Tibetan King Strontsan Gampo in the 7th century for Tang Princess Wencheng.

The Potala Palace covers an area of 360,000 square meters, and measures 360 meters from the east to the west and 270 meters from the north to the south. Its main hall has 13 stories, 117 meters in height. The Potala architectural complex includes the palace halls, holy tower halls, Buddhist halls, sutra halls, lamas' chambers, and courtyards etc. It features a combination of the stone-and-wood Tibetan watchtowers and the Han Chinese palace halls with the traditional carving beams and pillars, golden roofs and sunk panels. For hundreds of years, Potala Palace has been recognized a great achievement in the history of the world architecture. Potala is the Sanskrit pronunciation of Buddha's Mountain. In the Tibetan language, Potala means residence of the Goddess of Mercy.

The main architecture of the Potala Palace is composed of the two parts: Places used by the Dalai Lama as his living chambers and for political activities; and holy stupas of the successive generations of Dalai Lamas and various Buddhist halls. The first part is concentrated in the White Palace, built in 1645-1653. This part fans out from the original Hall of the Goddess of Mercy towards the east and west, encompassing groups of monastic halls with white walls hence the name the White Palace. The White Palace has seven stories. The fourth story, the Coqenxag or the Eastern Hall, covers an area of 717 square meters and is propped up by 38 large pillars. This is the most important Buddhist hall in the Potala Palace, and has witnessed many major religious and political activities, including the enthronement ceremony for the reincarnated soul boy of the Dalai Lama and the ceremony held when the Dalai Lama begins his reign at the age of 18. The fifth and sixth stories were used as the offices and living chambers of the Prince Regent. The seventh story was the Winter Palace of the Dalai Lama. It is called the Sunlight Hall simply because the hall enjoys boundless sunlight through its spacious windows. The hall is furnished with gold basins, jade bowls, Buddhist paintings and many other treasures, accentuating the high position of the occupant.

The second part is concentrated in the Red Palace, occupies an area of 10,000 square meters, where the statues of Strontsan Gampo, Princess Wencheng and some thousands of Buddhist figures are placed for worshiping. When the Red Palace was built in 1690, the Qing Dynasty Emperor Kangxi sent some 100 artisans of the Han, Manchu and Mongolian nationalities to take part in the construction. The majority of the Red Palace is taken up with various Buddhist halls and eight holy stupas containing the remains of the Dalai Lamas. The holy stupa for the 5th Dalai Lama is wrapped inside gold sheet (approximately equal to 143,000 ounces) and inlaid with 18,677 pearls and pieces of gems, coral, amber and agate. AMAZING!!!

The Three-World Hall, which is the highest in the Red Palace, holds the Beijing-edition Dangyur which Emperor Yongzhen of the Qing Dynasty presented to the 7th Dalai Lama. The westernmost section of the Red Palace is the Hall of the Holy Stupa for the 13th Dalai Lama, built in 1933-1935. The hall, 14 meters high, contains a Mandala said to be made of 200,000 pearls.


It was then off to lunch and a little respite before heading to Jokhang Temple. Lunch was at the Po Ba Tsang restaurant in the city where we all tried a range of Tibetan dishes. Once again at the temple there were very limited photo opportunities but hopefully my photos will convey to you the majestic feel of the temple.


Jokhang Temple is one of Lhasa's holiest shrines, first built in 647 A.D. in celebration of the marriage of the Tang Princess Wencheng and King Stontsan Gampo. Located in the center of old Lhasa, the temple was set up by craftsmen from Tibet, China, and Nepal and hence the different architectural styles. The golden-roofed Jokhang Temple houses a pure gold Buddha which was brought to Tibet by the princess. The Jokhang Temple had been restored and expanded many times from the Yuan dynasty to the Qing dynasty, until today's size. It was listed on the roll of the UNESCO's World Heritage Sites in 2000 as part of the Potala Palace. Covering an area of 25,100 square meters, it is the ultimate pilgrimage destination for Tibetan Pilgrims.

To see the whole complex in a single view, which is amazing, you climb on to the square of the Jokhang temple, from where you get the most amazing scenes of the temple. There are two big steles, both inscribed. One stands as testimony to the alliance between kings of Tibet and Tang, and the other is a walled enclosure in front of the temple which contains some willows called the Jowo Utra ('Hair of the Jowo') and an inscribed pillar erected by the Qing dynasty in 1793 during a smallpox epidemic. It records the central government taught the Tibetan people how to prevent and treat this incurable disease. In the eastern portion of the yard are rows of votive lights. These flicking lights provide a path leading all the way to the main hall. The main hall, more than 1,300 years old, is the oldest shrine of the complex. Above the main entrance, there is a Dharma Wheel (chakra) flanked by two deer. This represents the unity of all things and symbolizes Sakyamuni himself. On both sides of the passageway, paintings showing the building of the temple and renderings of the temple from the seventh century are adorned on the wall. The statue of Sakyamuni at age 12 sits in the middle of the hall. It has been gilded many times and decorated elaborately with jewels typical of Tibet, which probably is the most venerated statue in entire Tibet.

As if this wasn't enough in one day we were then introduced to the delights of Bakhor Street. Bakhor is the oldest street in Lhasa, encircling the circular street of the Jokhang Temple, a distance of 500 m. Barkhor Street is a trading site as well as religious center. The goods for sale here exemplify local Tibetan culture and artefacts. We saw many pilgrims holding prayer wheels to circumambulate along the street clockwise or progressing by body-lengths along the street. Some of them are teenagers and some have come thousands of miles to reach this sacred place, the way they express their piety is awe inspiring. Running off Bakhor Street are many narrow alleyways which makes the whole area like a maze….need less to say those of us who are geographically challenged found ourselves walking a lot further than we really had to but the atmosphere is such that you don’t really mind as you never know what you might find around the next corner!