Too excited to sleep..

Interesting choices at breakfast, a bit of Tibetan, Chinese and Western, then off to the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lama’s. Dharci was very informative, friendly and lively. The old buildings and temples were our first taste to Tibetan Buddhist culture. The stories of the different Dalai Lama’s were fascinating and intriguing. The gardens were very reclusive in the hot Tibetan summer with many willows, bamboos and other Chinese plants having been planted as gifts brought to Tibet by the Princess Wuling of Chinese and subsequent courtiers. The 5th Dalai Lama’s study was a palace in itself. We saw many different sculptures of Buddha and Lama’s.
Next we were off to the Potala Palace. 1 hr to see everything, 15 minutes only in the red temple. We only just made it as there are restrictions on the number of visitors each day. WOW it is enormous and set in the side of a mountain. It has fairly recently been restored and the colours were brilliant. We slowly ascended the steps after going through security checks and we had many stops along the way, of course admiring the views while trying very hard to breathe normally. No one is allowed to take oxygen or water into the grounds. When we reached the red temple it was magnificent but unfortunately no one is allowed to take photos inside. We saw sleeping quarters, bathrooms, studies, temples, waiting rooms, Tibetan books, and elaborate sculptures of the Dalai Lamas 1to 13, no 8 was a romantic so he is not revered and no 14 was not talked about. The different Buddhas and their meanings as well as the old kings of Tibet and their stories had our heads spinning but it was worth it.

The walk down gave us a wonderful view across Lhasa, a very young and modern city which appeared very prosperous. Buddhists were circling the temple in traditional clothes with their prayer wheels in their hands, chanting or singing. It was quite a sight.

Lunch at a Western style steakhouse so roasted yak on rocks I had, very tender in a herbaceous sauce. It was delicious. The decor was Tibetan and then off to the Sera Monastery.

Sera Monastery is also set on a mountain and it houses about 2 thousand Buddhist monks. The debating of the monks was a highlight as well as seeing their kitchen and of course their temples. Colourful and ancient, hard to belief it is so old yet in such strong structural position. Rest for an hour then off to dinner at a traditional Tibetan restaurant with Dharci. We tried Barley wine, Tibetan beer (quite nice, very light) . Dharci’s mother made butter tea a very traditional drink for us to try. We sample many different Tibetan cooking and presentations, a very interesting dinner.