Day 6 - The Potala and the Jokhang

At breakfast, we found out that the group of people we met at the airport were also staying at our hotel. After breakfast, we worked on finishing the last two day’s blogs and did some laundry. We were not going to be picked up until 11:00, so we got some extra rest.

We met or guide Ten Zin (pronounced Din Tee). Our driver was Sow Nang (Sew Nom). When driving in Lhasa, it is impossible to go more than a few feet without blowing your horn (it must be the altitude that makes them so horny). Our driver is very good at this as he cuts in and out of traffic.

Our first destination was going to be our best. The Potala. Just looking at it from the street impresses you. We walked up the stairs and ramps slowly. We were drinking plenty of water to get over the altitude sickness. When we started up the ramps, I would feel lightheaded. After the second ramp, I felt much better. Kim didn’t feel as good, but we stopped a lot to rest. When we would go up a long steep staircase, I would feel lightheaded again.

The Potala is the Palace where the Dalai Lama used to live before he was exiled to India. Fortunately, the Chinese Government guarded the palace during the Cultural Revolution and wouldn’t allow it to be desiccated. Many of the other monasteries were not that lucky.

The Potala 

The Potala 

I have been to a lot of cathedrals around the world. I feel this place it just as nice or better. What really made this experience was the pilgrims. Their dress and their customs have not changed for centuries. If you could block out the tourists, it would be as if you were transported back several hundred years. You will not see that at any European cathedrals!

The palace is impressive in size. It contains just under 10,000 rooms. Sections of the palace were built in the 7th century. Photography is not allowed in the palace, but we’re sure pictures would not do justice to this most Holy sight of the Buddhists. The rooms were intricately detailed and beautifully painted in bright colors. Statues of the various Buddhas and lamas were everywhere, often decorated in gold and precious jewels. Monks strolled through the halls and were found meditating in nooks and crannies throughout. Huge Yak butter candles lit many of the rooms.

In one of the chapels, we saw a cat. It must have been cared for by the monks. They had provided it with a basket that was tied to a pillar. To our surprise it started to climb that pillar. Since the pillar was wrapped in cloth, the cat could easily climb.

We keep running into the same group of Americans that we met at the airport. We exchanged bathroom stories. I told one of the women that Jon doesn’t have a problem with these stinky holes in the floor, but I just can’t seem to stop that old gag reflex. I was going to give it another try at the Potala yesterday, but while walking down into the dark passage way to the "toilet" I was surrounded by about 75 buzzing flies coming out of the pit. No thank you, I think I’d rather burst. The American woman told me she did make the trip into the dank pit and she now knows where the term "Holy Shit" came from. [Jon: I did use that toilet. I’ve been in worse. Whatever you deposited, it had a fall of several hundred feet. Sweet!]

At lunch I got to try some Yak meat. It was a French restaurant that used local ingredients for French recipes. Kim had a pizza that was very good. I ended up eating half of it. I got Yak stew in a red wine sauce served over noodles. It was also very good.

After a brief rest, we went to the Jokhang. It was another beautiful temple. Although there were pilgrims (not the kind that came over on the Mayflower) at the Potala, the tourists outnumbered them. That was different at the Jokhang. There a lot of pilgrims both inside and outside the temple. I felt funny taking their pictures, but I tried to do it as discreetly as I could. Most of my pilgrim pictures are from the back. I hated to take the pictures, but I wanted to preserve the memory of what I saw and show my friends and family. There are two huge incense burners burning juniper bushes. The fragrance it left added to the sight of the pilgrims and the temple. The Jokhang was originally built to house a Buddha that was given to the king as a wedding present. The location was selected by another queen (My god, I cannot keep one wife in line. How could you have two or more. He must have had lots of Alka-Seltzer.). She said that a demon was sleeping below that spot and the temple must be built over its heart to subdue it.

The Jokhang 

Top of the Jokhang 

Pilgrims at the Jokhang 

Just outside of the Jokhang, was a neighborhood called the Barkor Square. There were pilgrims and tourists walking clockwise around a set of streets circling the Jokhang. Each temple has a kora, or pilgrim circuit. There are tourist shops and shops for the pilgrims all along the Jokhang kora. It is an interesting mix.

We went to supper at a place that was known for its Tibetan food. Thank god there were pictures next to each dish. If that wasn’t there, I would have just gotten the Yak burger and fries. Kim was a little more adventurous than me. I just ordered dumplings. Kim went for something like the Tibetan version of a fajita. There was a cat running around. I was going to pet it when it came over. However, it was in bad need of a bath and I was going to be eating in a few minutes, so I yanked my hand back and let it go by. After dinner we walked down to Barkor Square to see what it looked like after Dark.

We managed to keep hydrated today and the effects of Altitude Sickness were lessened. I think this was the first test of our marriage. If I told Kim to drink another gulp of water, I think she was going to severely beat me.