Mystical Tibet: March 2008

Day 06 Everest

That day was probably the most stressful day in my whole Tibet tour. The million dollar question was - will we be able to see Mount Everest. We have spent one day travelling here, and will spent another day travelling back. Though the journey itself was great, it would have been a big disappointment if we are not able to see Everest.

So far during our stay in Tibet it has always been cloudy. In the early morning when the sky is still dark, the sky is clear and we can see a lot of stars. But the weather changed suddenly and clouds started to creep in. When we are at Pang La, where one is suppose to be able to see 4 out of the 10 highest mountains in the World (Everest, Lhotse, Cho Oyu and Makalu), all the high mountains are covered by clouds. So you can imagine the exhilaration when we got the first glimpse of Everest. Unfortunately we only saw Everest for about two hours and when we reached the Everest base camp, it was completed covered by clouds. But that probably make our trip even more memorable.

1. At Pang La, early morning

2. First glimpse of Everest

3. The Rongbruk Monastary, highest monastary in the world

4 to 9. Everest

10 & 11. Taking horsecart to Everest Base Camp

12. Interesting notice at Everest Base Camp.

13. Everest is now completely covered by clouds

14 to 17. From Pang La

Day 02a Lhasa - Potala

The Potala is perhaps the most important and well known symbol of Tibet. It is a 13-storey castle over 117m high blend into the hill ("red hill", well using the word hill may be an understatement here since the red hill is about 3,700m above sea-level, highest than most mountains in the world) it is built on. The Potala contains over a thousand rooms, and is thought to house 10,000 shrines and 200,000 statues. Original construction dates back to the 7th century, the White Palace was completed in 1653 and the Red Palace in 1694.

Entrance to the Palace is by the west gate. Then one walks up the ramp around the back of the Palace to the building entrance at the eastern side. The entrance leads to an open courtyard, which leads to the White Palace, which houses the former living quarters of the Dalai Lama.

But entrance to the living quarters of the Dalai Lama (which is open to the public) is actually through another rooftop courtyard, reached after climbing a staircase in the White Palace building. The other side of the courtyard is the entrance to the Red Palace.

After entering the Red Palace, one goes downward through four levels to the bowels of the building to exit by the same car ramp. The upper levels of the Red Palace enclose an open skylight space, with chapels arrayed in a gallery-like rectangle around that space. Interspersed through the many chapels and shrines of the Red Palace are the eight gold-plated stupas, each containing the salt-dried body of a past Dalai Lama.

Photography is not allowed inside the Palace, and it is said that this is enforced by the caretakers as well as numerous video surveillance cameras in the building. (Perhaps with camera mobile phones nowadays it is possible to sneak some pictures.) The only photographs that can be taken in the Palace are at the rooftop courtyards. Anyway you can't get good vantage points to take photos of the Potala exterior in the Palace grounds (they are at the Potala Square, Chakpori Hill, Luklang Park and rooftop of Jokhang). But the treasures inside the Potala are truly stunning, with stupas of the Dalai Lama ranging over several storeys,fine murals, gilden statue, three-dimensional mandela, exquisite craftworks, a vast assemby hall illuminated by skylight.

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1.A row of prayer wheel at west gate of Potala

2. Up the car ramp to Potala

3. Looking south from the car ramp, on the right is Chakpori Hill

4. One enters the palace building on the eastern side which leads to an open courtyard. In the background is the White Palace.

5. From the first courtyard, one climbs a flight of stairs to another rooftop courtyard. On one side of the courtyard is the entrance to the living quarters of the Dalai Lama at the White Palace, another side of the courtyard is the entrance to the Red Palace.

6. Looking at the Red Palace from the rooftop area

7. A golden roof. The Tibetans use the golden roof to mark important locations in the Potala, such as chapels and stupas of past Dalai Lamas.

8. Looking at Lhasa city from the roof

9 to 11. Ornaments

12. A window

13. Agar dance. Some workers repairing the roof

14. This is the central open skylight space of the Red Palace

15. View of north Lhasa while going down from the exit to the ramp.

16. This is a view of the Sera Monastery from Potala, taken with a telephoto lens.

Day 03a Lhasa - Jokhang

The Jokhang or Tsug Lakhang (central cathedral) is Tibet's most sacred temple. The temple was built in the 7th century by King Songtsen Gampo. In order to promote friendly relationships with the neighboring countries, he successively married Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal and Princess Wen Cheng of the Tang Dynasty. When the two wives arrived in Tibet, each brought a statue of Jowo Sakyamuni. To house the Buddha brought by Princess Wen Cheng and Princess Burikuti, King Songtsem Gampo constructed the Little Jokhang and Jokhang respectively. (Although today the two statues have switched location, i.e. the statue brought by Princess Wen Cheng is now housed in the Jokhang.)

The Jokhang Temple was built on the former site of a lake. According to the legend, the lake site was chosen after many failed attempts to build a temple in the region. Princess Wen Cheng advised that the geography of Tibet was very much like a hag, with the lake at the heart. In order to build the temple the hag must be demolished by filling and leveling the lake using 1,000 sheep to carry soil from a mountain far away. When the temple was done, it was called Ra-Sa-Vphrul-Snang ('ra' meaning sheep and 'sa' meaning earth in Tibetan) to commemorate those sheep.

Whether the legend is true or not, this temple brought Buddhism into Tibet and became an inseparable part of Tibetan history and culture. The city of Ra-Sa grew around the temple and over time, become known as Lhasa, a holy land.

The main hall of the temple houses the Jowo Shakyamuni Buddha statue brought to Tibet by Princess Wen Cheng, perhaps the single most venerated object in Tibetan Buddhism. The statue of Sakyamuni is a rare treasure. When Sakyamuni was alive, he disagreed with the idea of 'personal worship' and did not allow likenesses of himself to be created. Only three statues, designed by he himself, were permitted to be sculpted during his lifetime. The first is a likeness of him at age eight; the second shows him at age twelve when he was still a prince of India; and the third is of him as an adult. The statue kept in the Jokhang Temple is the statue of Sakyamuni at age twelve.

We did not enter the main hall of the Jokhang to see the statue, since we have seen enough statues at the Potala. In any case like the Potala photography is not allowed inside.

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1 to 3. The front entrance of the Jokhang is always full of devoted pilgrims.

4. This is formerly Dalai Lama's room in the Jokhang.

5. In the main courtyard of the Jokhang.

6. View of the Potala from the rooftop of the Jokhang.

7. A huge prayer wheel at the entrance of the Jokhang.

8. Barkor Square from the rooftop of the Jokhang, with Potala in the background.

9. Ornaments on the rooftop of Jokhang - the two golden deer flanking a Dharma wheel is iconic.

10. Close up look at the gilted roof of the Jokhang.

11. The rooftop of the Jokhang overlooking the main courtyard.

12. Pilgrims cicumambulate the courtyard of the Jokhang.

Day 10 Lhasa - Bakhor

The Barkor Bazaar is a lively combination of marketplace and pilgrim circuit. The 20-min circuit around the Barkor Bazaar, with the Jokhang in the centre, is one of the four scared circuit pilgrims embarked on when they are in Lhasa. The circuit is always busy with pilgrims muttering mantras as they cicumambulate. There are also many street side vendors, selling kata scarves, prayer-flags and prayer wheels to the pilgrims. The Barkor Bazaar can be said to be the focal point of Lhasa. We came here nearly everyday during our stay in Lhasa, for meals, shopping and people-watching.

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1. Shops around the Barkor