Nice easy 0930 start this morning with visits to 2 of the most important monasteries of the Gelug Sect in Lhasa. A little bit of the city history was discussed last night between some of my fellow travelers but we were careful not to stray into the political arena as you never know who might be listening. There is a VERY high police/army presence here and I have to say it is quite disconcerting seeing very young men with loaded guns marching through the streets and snipers on the rooftops of some buildings. Two of our group observed a tourist bailed up last night after taking a photo of the 'guards' - must have been terrifying as 5 soldiers marched up in front of him, the lead soldier took his camera and proceeded to delete photos…guess he was lucky not to lose the camera and/or get taken away!

Lhasa, has a history of more than 1,300 years a political, economic, cultural and transport center of the region. Lhasa has an area of 30,000 square km with a population of 400,000. Lhasa is home to the Tibetan, Han as well as other ethnic groups, but the Tibetan ethnic group makes up about 80% of the total population. "Lhasa" means "sacred land" in Tibetan.

First stop today was the Drepung Monastery situated at the foot of the Mountain Gampo Utse about 5 kms to the west of Lhasa. The monastery was first built in 1416 by a disciple of Tsong Khapa under the patronage of a noble family and later widened by the Fifth Dalai Lama. The second, third and fourth Dalai Lama once lived here. It is one of the "great six" Gelukpa university (yellow sect of Lamaism) monasteries of Tibet. Covering an area of 250,000 square metres, Drepung Monastery is the largest of its kind in Tibet. It was once the world's largest monastery before the founding of the People's Republic of China, having more than 10,000 monks.

Seen from afar, its grand, white construction gives the monastery the appearance of a heap of rice. As such, it was given the name "Drepung Monastery" which in Tibetan language means "Monastery of Collecting Rice". From 1645, when the Fifth Dalai Lama established the Potala Palace as Tibet's political and spiritual headquarters, the bodies of later Dalai Lamas were entombed there instead. The Drepung Monastery houses many cultural relics, statues of famous celebrities in Buddhism, rare sutras, flowery wall-murals and a famous conch shell giving it great historical significance. There are 3 monastic colleges for the study of philosophy and one for the practice of Tantric Buddhism.

Following this visit we headed off to lunch before taking a detour to the Tibet History Museum. Most of us were not sure why as this was an option on the tour and we did not want to miss the Lama debating at the Sera Monastery…..our guide and communication do not seem to fit well together!! However he assured us that we would spend about 30 minutes at the museum before moving onto the monastery for the unique debating session. Thanks to 4 self absorbed German tour members we ended up at the museum for over an hour…BORING. The rest of us were annoyed to say the least especially when we found out we had only stopped there because the 4 Germans wanted to see the propaganda from the revolution!!! So much for appreciation of the ancient history and culture of this place!!

The museum was very disappointing. A few relics were to be seen but most rooms were devoted to the “revolution”. Interestingly the historic and cultural relics had English translations but none of the revolutionary displays were in English. The highlight was seeing some soldiers playing at being tourists and we managed to get a few discrete photos!!

Sera Monastery was built in 1419 by Jamshen Choje Shakya Yesh a pupil of Tsongkhapa. It is located on the Serawoze Mountain in the northern suburbs of Lhasa. Each year it will hold the grand Sera Bungchen, which attracts Buddhists from all over the world. "Sera" means wild roses in Tibetan language.

Sera Monastery is magnificent and covers an area of 114,946 square meters. It housed several institutions in its grounds including the Tsokchen (Great Assembly Hall), the three Zhacangs (colleges) and 33 Kamcuns (dormitories). In the main hall, scriptures (scripted with gold powder), statues, scent cloth and murals are everywhere. The Great Assembly Hall, a four-storey structure, is where several religious rituals and rites are conducted. It covers an area of 2,000 square meters built with 125 pillars (86 tall and 39 short columns). The five chapels in this building have statues or images of Maitreya, Shakyamuni, Arhats, Tsongkhapa, and Kwan-yin with one thousand hands and eleven faces. The ancient and delicately written scriptures "the Gangyur of Tripitaka" (dated 1410) in 105 volumes written in Tibetan is the treasured possession of this monastery. Zhacang means Buddhist College in Tibetan. It is the area for monks to study the Buddhist Classics.

As beautiful as the monastery was to see we were very disappointed and angry to find that we had missed the debating session. Actually most of us were seething with rage as this was one of the trip highlights. We have been assured we will see the session on Friday afternoon when we return from our trip to Shigatse and the Everest Base Camp. Have to admit my doubts about this tour leader and his capabilities are increasing by the minute. His excuse was that he had to please everyone and thus our visit to the museum – when we pointed out that he had pandered to 4 people in a group of 12 he could not see how illogical it was.

Upon returning to our hotel we were informed that we would be breaking up into separate groups for the trip out of Lhasa. Bonus for some of us is that the Germans are in another group…..YIPEE!!!! Mind you I better not celebrate too soon until I see who joins us!!

Had an enjoyable dinner with a few of my group at the Nyima Zhachoga (Sun Tribe) Tibetan Restaurant. Has the most wonderful waitress who was eager to improve her English. With 3 English teachers and a communications expert as diners we were all ready to assist. With many smiles and much laughter she finally asked me to write down the words in English for everything on the table!! Has our first alcoholic drink as well……Lhasa beer!!