Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple

Tibet Day 3 -  Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple

Today the highlight of the day was our visit to Potala Palace.  The Potala Palace was built in 1653 and another portion in 1683, was the political and spiritual home of the Dalai Lama.  It was from this palace that he fled Tibet in 1959.  The palace has 1000 rooms of which only 16 are open to visitors.  There are 360 steps to climb to get up to the portion of the palace where the rooms on view are located.  It is basically a museum now, tended by monks and they were there in most every room, sitting on their prayer cushions chanting away as thousands of visitors streamed through.  There are many sacred statues in the palace, an enormous collection of scriptures, and the burial stupas of previous Dalai Lamas.  In these stupas the bodies of these previous Dalai Lamas are embalmed and preserved and they are encased in these enormous gold, silver, copper and other precious metal structures that are encrusted with jewels and religious symbolism.  The rooms in the palace are ornately decorated in Tibetan style, with scenes from Buddhist scripture and cosmology on every wall.  The room of the current Dalai Lama is left exactly as he left it when he fled Tibet in 1959.  Security is very tight at the Palace and no pictures are allowed inside.  Our guide said they have hidden cameras all over and if someone does take a photograph they are in trouble.  For folks like us on a group tour, one such infraction would mean the tour company would be banned from bringing more groups there!  We had only 70 minutes to go through all the rooms and our guide was amazing at imparting a lot of information pretty quickly!  Tibetans come to the palace and circumambulate its perimeter down at the bottom, spinning the prayer wheels and prostrating themselves as they go.  It is a very holy place, notwithstanding the extent to which the Chinese are controlling it and curbing access to it as much as possible.  All 14 of us managed to get to the top which our guide said was a first for him this year!  Usually a few folks give up because of the altitude sickness but we all managed to do it, even though some did it slowly. It is a long climb!  The views up top out over the mountains are beautiful and well worth the climb.  And the interior is spectacular.  I bought the souvenir book since pictures were not allowed inside.

After we climbed back down we were all pretty tired.  We went to lunch and then came back to the hotel for a rest.  By then I was not feeling well and it became apparent that I've managed to contract the traveler's GI illness that is almost de rigeur on trips like this one.  I've taken all the meds I brought with me and am hoping that by later tonight I'll feel better.  I doubt I'll eat much dinner though.  At this point food does not appeal!

After lunch we went to the Jokhang Temple, one of the holiest places in Tibet and a signficant place of pilgrimage for Tibetans.  They come from all over the country to pray in this temple at the golden statue of Sakyamuni Buddha.  Once again, the security at the Temple was intense and we had to go through screening not unlike airport security.  No pictures were allowed inside there either.  One member of our group who was here in 1986 was appalled at how the Chinese have "ruined" the temple area.  It is now very tightly controlled so that even the Tibetan pilgrims who ordinarily would be doing the prostrations as part of their pilgrimage in the large square in front of the temple are not permitted to do so and are limited to a very small area right in front of the entrance.  And once inside, most of the little chapel rooms are closed to the public.  People leave their offerings outside the rooms and if they want a blessing from a monk, the monk comes out to them.  It was absolutely packed inside the temple and very smoky from the incense and the yak butter candles that burn all over the place.  In fact the floor was pretty slippery from the yak butter oil that is used in the candles.  After we left the inside of the temple we went up on the roof where we had a great view out over Lhasa and could see the Potala Palace.  We also saw off in the mountains an enormous storm brewing complete with thunder.   We were glad we had done the mountain monasteries yesterday because it might have been a little too exciting to be up on those mountains when that storm blew up!  

I was relieved to learn that we had the rest of the afternoon free, as I was not feeling up to much.  I returned to the room and am taking it easy waiting for the meds to kick in so I feel better.  At this point in the trip we've got a few folks suffering from something or other.  Our guide has a bad cold as do a couple of the travelers.  A few folks have felt wobbly all week due to the altitude.  Side effects of intense travel!  Tomorrow we leave very early for our flight back to China.  Then we start our three day Yangtze River cruise.  I'm hoping I feel better before we start the airplane travel tomorrow as that is always pretty tiring with lots of traipsing about all over the place and lugging heavy bags etc.   I'm going down early tonight to be sure!

Pics today are of the palace and the temple and a shot I got at the Palace of a typical Tibetan lady.  I wish I could have taken interior shots because they were amazingly beautiful!