My first day in Lhasa was to be a free day, go where I wanted, do what I wanted. But no-one asked the weather as it rained all morning so I stayed in the hotel answering emails and doing a blog. With it raining still in the afternoon a little sleep was called for but I eventually went out into a bright day (or what was left of it), first to the Jokhang Temple and then up to the Potala Palace. There were plenty of people around and police everywhere, not that they bothered most people but all bags were x-rayed before entering the areas where people congregate such as at the temples and Tibetan shopping streets.
The Potala Palace was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising. It is now a museum.The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythical home of the 5th Dalai Lama who started building the palace in 1645. The external parts were completed in three years while the internal parts and furnishings took 45 years to complete. It was pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government, situated as it is between the Deprung and Sera Monasteries and the old city of Lhasa. It is thought that the remains of an earlier fortress, called the White or Red Palace which was built in 637, may be buried under the present palace.
The building measures 400 metres east to west and 350 metres north to south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 metres thick, and 5 metres thick at the base. Copper was poured into the foundations to help proof it against earthquakes. Thirteen stories of buildings containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues rise 117 metres on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill", which itself rises more than 300 metres in total above the valley floor. It was slightly damaged during the Tibetan uprising but due to the personal intervention of Premier Zhou Enlai it was not damaged during the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Despite this 100,000 volumes of scriptures, historical documents and works of art were removed, damaged or destroyed.
Due to the number of photographs I have left this blog to Lhasa only.
The Potala Palace was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising. It is now a museum.The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythical home of the 5th Dalai Lama who started building the palace in 1645. The external parts were completed in three years while the internal parts and furnishings took 45 years to complete. It was pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government, situated as it is between the Deprung and Sera Monasteries and the old city of Lhasa. It is thought that the remains of an earlier fortress, called the White or Red Palace which was built in 637, may be buried under the present palace.
The building measures 400 metres east to west and 350 metres north to south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 metres thick, and 5 metres thick at the base. Copper was poured into the foundations to help proof it against earthquakes. Thirteen stories of buildings containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues rise 117 metres on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill", which itself rises more than 300 metres in total above the valley floor. It was slightly damaged during the Tibetan uprising but due to the personal intervention of Premier Zhou Enlai it was not damaged during the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Despite this 100,000 volumes of scriptures, historical documents and works of art were removed, damaged or destroyed.
Due to the number of photographs I have left this blog to Lhasa only.
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| The local market |
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| Walking round the Jokhang Temple with her prayer wheel |
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| An old corner of Lhasa |
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| Recycling |
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| Cheeky |
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| The front of the Jokhang temple |
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| A photo-shoot |
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| Boris's bikes in Lhasa |
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| The back of the Potala Palace |
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| The west side of the Potala Palace |
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| Prayer wheels |
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| A photo-shoot to the west of the palace |
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| The west side of the Potala Palace |
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| Me and three unknown in-front of the palace |
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| Real wedding photographs (for once) |
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| Me and the front of the palace |
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| The Potala Palace |
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