Blog: Tibet's Summer Palace and Debating Monks

I slept well and woke on the morning of April 25 in good spirits. 

After meeting the small group for breakfast, our guide Thring picked us up at the hotel and we drove across the city of Lhasa to the Norbulingka. Located in the middle of the city, it is approximately 90 acres of walled gardens and small palace buildings that served as the summer home of the Dalai Lamas from the 1780's to 1959.  We spent a leisurely, peaceful couple of hours walking around and it was easy to forget we were in the middle of a large city.

The weather was sunny and warm, so we stopped for lunch at a restaurant with a garden courtyard. After a yakburger, fries and a Coke, we got back in the van and drove several miles north of Lhasa to Sera Monastery. Built on the side of a mountain, it is one of the larger monasteries in Tibet, with about 700 monks in several different colleges. Prayer flags fluttered in the wind at many locations on the mountain slopes as we entered the grounds and walked around. The buildings were beautiful and I received a blessing from a monk for safe travels.

At 3 p.m., we joined other tourists in a large courtyard where the monks gather several times a week. After sitting in classrooms during the morning learning Buddhist lessons, the monks pair up and spend a couple of hours in very animated debating to reinforce the lessons.

After a quick drive back to Lhasa, Thring dropped us off at the Barkhor and the four of us grabbed a coffee and snack. We then split up and I spent several hours simply walking around Barkhor Square, watching the vendors and pilgrims, and soaking up the atmosphere. I purchased a couple of bottles of drinking water and sent some postcards home (not cheap postage) before heading back to the hotel.

The evening's festivities involved going to the Mad Yak Hotel for a special Tibetan dinner with traditional folk singing and dancing. The food include tsampa (roasted barley flour mixed with tea and formed into stick-to-your-ribs dough balls), barley wine (not bad), and butter tea (not too bad despite its reputation - it tastes more like a butter-flavored savory broth than tea). 

We followed dinner by driving to the Potala Palace because we wanted to see it lit up at night. As it was still light out, Thring treated us to some milk tea in a small restaurant and we talked as the sun slowly set in the western end of the valley.  We then did the circumambulation (walk around clockwise) of the Potala and spun many a prayer wheel along the way. We also ran into some friendly Chinese tourists in cowboy hats that wanted to take pictures with us.

It being a pleasant evening, we walked a couple of miles back to the hotel. Our path took us through Barkhor Square, empty expect for Chinese military patrols.  The plan for the next day was to wake up early for a 10-hour drive west along Highway 318, the ironically named "Friendship Highway," to the town of Shigatse.  There would be three high mountain passes along the way, including one at 16,500 feet.

Next up:  A long, long day of driving the Friendship Highway, with stops for road construction, multiple accidents, and sightseeing at Yamdrok Lake.

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