Fantastic Lhasa Tour

Today, your three-day fantastic Lhasa tour begins. Lhasa is an ancient city with a history of about 1,300 years. It is the center of politics, culture, economy, and religion in Tibet Autonomous Region, China. 

After breakfast, you will be picked up from your hotel in Lhasa to go to the Potala Palace. It was originally built by Songtsen Gampo, the 33rd leader of Tibet, for marrying Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and it is the political and religious center of Tibet. The palace is 3,700 meters above sea level with a total area of 360,000 square meters. It is combined with the Red Palace and White Palace. Its main building is 117 meters high with 13 floors. Because of its marvelous buildings, the Potala Palace is always considered as the “jewel on the roof of the world”. The word “Potala” means “the holy land of Buddhism”. In the Tibetan Buddhists’ minds, when you walk into the Potala Palace, your minds will be purified.

After the visit to the Potala Palace, we will visit Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Street. Jokhang Temple was also built by Songtsen Gampo with a history of about 1,300 years. There is a gold statue of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, in the Jokhang Temple. So many Buddhism believers come here to worship Gautama Buddha and it is the destination for many pilgrims. There is a legend about the origin of the Jokhang Temple. It is said that one day the ring of Songtsen Gampo fell into a lake. Unexpectedly, the lake was covered with golden light as soon as the ring fell in and a white temple appeared in the golden light and it disappeared after a few minutes. Looking at this scene, Songtsen Gampo believed it is the guidance of Buddha so he decided to build a temple here. And then the lake was filled and the Jokhang Temple was built. 

Barkhor Street is a street surrounding the Jokhang Temple and it is called “the holy road”. It is a fixed route for the pilgrims to walk clockwise to worship the Jokhang Temple. Besides a sacred road, Barkhor Street is also a business district with more than 200 stalls. You can buy kinds of Tibetan souvenirs here such as Tibetan silver ornamentation, carpet, Tibetan knife, Tangka. It is also a good place to appreciate the traditional Tibetan buildings and feel the folk culture. If you are a foodie, you can taste the local food like the butter tea here.

While visiting Lhasa, please follow the tips: 

1. To protect the relics, photography is not allowed inside the temples or palaces.

2. Prepare some necessities to prevent sunburns and high-altitude sickness.

3. To show your respect, you should not wear a hat or sunglasses in the temples. 

4. The threshold in the temples and palaces cannot be stepped on.

5. Bad comments and shouting in the temples are prevented because the temples are holy and pure places.

Jokhang Temple

Potala Palace

In the morning, we will drive north for about 2 hours (175 KM) to visit Lhasa-Namtso Lake. The Namtso Lake, formed by movement of the Himalayas, is the second largest lake in Tibet, the third largest saltwater lake in China, and the highest saltwater lake in the world. In the Tibetan language, the name of Namtso Lake means the lake of the sky. Far away from environmental pollution, the lake is so clear and holy. And it is thought of as the symbol of beauty and purity.

The lake has also become an ideal place for environmental monitoring because it covers a variety of landforms such as glaciers, permafrost, seasonal snow, lakes, alpine grasslands, and wetlands. When you are standing beside the lake, you will be shocked by the endless blue of the lake. There are two big stones standing near the lake. People call them “Couple Stone”. It is said that a couple will be together forever if they have walked around these two stones hand in hand. All in all, I believe that this trip will give you a lot of fun. After the visit to Namtso Lake, we will return to the hotel in Lhasa in the afternoon.

Namtso Lake

Namtso Lake

After breakfast, we will visit Norbulingka and Drepung Monastery. When visiting these places, we should also keep the tips we have mentioned above in mind. 

Norbulingka means “Treasure Garden” in the Tibetan language. It is a man-made garden with the largest scale, the best scenery, and the most historic site in Tibet. It is a villa-style building that integrates gardens, palaces, and temples. It was the place where Dalai Lamas spend the summer days. There are more than 100 species of plants in the garden, not only common flowers and trees in Lhasa but also exotic flowers and other plants from the southern and northern foot of the Himalayas. 

Drepung Monastery was built in 1416. It is the largest monastery in Lhasa. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides. Its buildings are white in general. Rows of white buildings cover the hillsides so that they look like huge piles of rice from a distance. Therefore, it was called Drepung, which means “the collection of rice” in Tibetan and it also stands for prosperity. Corresponding rituals are held in the temple on auspicious days. Sho Dun Festival is the most important and also the grandest festival in the Drepung Monastery. Sho Dun means yogurt in Tibetan. During the festival, local people will contribute yogurt and milk to the monks in Drepung Temple. The large Buddha Tangka will be exhibited on the hillside beside the temple and there will be a Tibetan Opera performance. The Sho Dun Festival is on June 30 in the Tibetan calendar (about the end of the August in Gregorian calendar). The festival activity will last for 7 days. So if you want to join it, you can choose to come at that time.

Then we will visit Sera Monastery after lunch. Sera Monastery was built in 1419. It is said that the temple was built in a place where wild roses bloomed. The wild rose is called “sera” in Tibetan so the monastery was named “Sera Monastery”. The monks in Sera Monastery debate Buddhist scriptures with each other from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Sundays. This kind of debate is a unique method to test the results of their learning. The content of the debates is what they have learned in the morning. Debaters always use various gestures to increase the intensity of the debate. They may clap to urge the others to answer quickly or pull the prayer beads which means to use the power of Buddha to defeat the others. The debate is so heated that it seems they are quarreling with others. So every time there will be many people around them and watch the debate.

After visiting Sera Monastery, you will be transferred back to your hotel. Your 3 days Fantastic Lhasa Tour will come to an end. Hope we can serve you next time in other cities in China.

Norbulingka

Sera Monastery

Author: Liqun Liang

Proofreader: Betsy He