Started the day with a traditional Tibetan breakfast, one of the offerings at hotel buffet. You put scoops of tsampa (finely ground barley), finely crumbled dried yak cheese and a little sugar in a bowl, then add a little hot tea and stir to mix. Add more tea as needed to reach a thick oatmeal consistency. It was pretty good!
The Potala Palace was built in the 17th century by the 5th Dalai Lama. It's situated on the highest hill in Lhasa, and contains within it a holy cave where the king of Tibet (the same king who invited a Buddhist teacher from India, and who built the Jokhang Temple) prayed in the 7th century. The palace is 13 stories high and contains nearly 1000 rooms.
The white sections were used for administrative purposes, the red for religious and the yellow as study areas for the Dalai Lama.
Our reservations for the palace were booked months ago by our tour provider. There is a timed ticket entry system. You can take as long as you want to climb up, but have one hour to tour once you enter the palace. The climb to the palace involved 400+ steps and ramps, which created a little apprehension in some of group. Two people elected to walk around the bottom, but the other 11 climbed with our guide and with stops to catch our breath, all did well.
We climbed through gates, corridors and courtyards, but once we entered the palace proper, no more photos.
Once inside the palace, more stairs which grew increasingly narrow and steeper until they were little more than ladders with handrails. Our guide provided a wonderful commentary as we walked through room after room seeing images, stupas, thrones, living quarters, books, etc. Again, floor to ceiling decorations, with the ceilings covered with draped tapestries and carved as and painted wood.
The bodies of 8 mummified Dalai Lamas are entombed in the Potala Palace: numbers 5-13, with the exception of number 6, the naughty Dalai Lama. That bad boy had a serious interest in women, and the monks eventually made him leave the palace. Traditionally, three days after death, Buddhists bodies receive a sky burial, exposed on a platform to be eaten by vultures, completing the cycle of life. Only special souls, like a Dalai Lama, are buried.
At the highest point in the red palace, we reached 12,282 ft elevation. And after a celebratory photo, we walked back down.
The farewell dinner at our Lhasa hotel concluded with a performance of several styles of traditional dance, including the yak dance. One more thing yaks can be used for!
Leslie and Marybeth
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