We had a
late start today. We left at 10:00 am to
head to the Sera Monastery which is one of the most significant religious sites
in Lhasa. It currently has about 400
monks. The views of the mountains around the monastery are magnificent. Way up the mountain is a small yellow
building. It is the convent in which 15
nuns currently live.
Street Scene Heading to Sera Monastery
 | |||||||||||||||||
| Nunnery - 15 woman at present |
Store with Name of Monastery
Description
 |
| Walking up street |
Mountains in the background
Prayer Wheels
Walking up Street to main temple
Temple of Sera Monastery
Mandela made within the last year
Ancient Mandela (sand painting)
Buildings in which Monks live
Temple entrance
Temple
Paintings on rocks of the mountain
Tibetan woman in front of temple
Paintings on Mountain
Another building on Mountain
Clouds on Mountain
Leaving monastery - gate ahead
Our next
stop was in a Tibet home. Our guide
explained how the people live. It is a
multi-generational home, although the only person we saw was the woman. I noticed our guide giving her some money as
we left.
Visiting Tibetan Home
"sitting room"
Entrance Door with our local guide
Views of "sitting" room
Prayer Room
Prayer room - Lama of importance to family
Another view of room
Another Room
Other room
We then
stopped in a “Tibetan Steak House”. The
food was acceptable. We got back into
the bus and were driven to the parking lot of the Potala. Getting tickets is a problem and they are
timed. Our tickets were for 2:30. If we weren’t there at the specified time, we
would be denied entry. There are three check points where you go through metal
detectors. I went thru the first one and
acknowledged that I would be unable to climb to the top. At the third check point, you are entering
the red part which is where the Dalai Lama lived. You have exactly one hour to go through the
religious part. If
I think
this is where we went thru a park like area and there were Tibet women selling
“jewelry”, which is really junk and probably imported from China. There was a necklace that I wanted to buy. I didn’t realize what junk it was, but I
liked its appearance. She asked 100
Yuan. I think I started at 20. We
reached a point where she said her final offer was 50. I said 40 and she took it. I still think I overpaid. 40 Yuan is worth a bit less than $7. Debbie was interested in some bracelets. These two women effectively had her
surrounded and when she refused their price they obviously cursing out guide
who is Chinese] . I think that the Tibetans just
about hate the Chinese. Chinese teachers are brought in to teach in the
schools. China is investing a lot of
money in Tibet. They are building roads,
railways and apartment buildings. I get
the impression that the Tibetans would prefer that the Chinese just go away. The Chinese on the other hand object to the
Tibetan’s devotion to religion and don’t understand why they don’t want to work
and improve their lives.
Potala Entrance
Potala - "office" section
 |
| Potala |
Paintings on rock wall
Potala
 |
| Potala |
Looking up at the Potala
Treasure Hall
Me in the Potala
Treasure Hall of Potala
Potala
Potala
Street with sales kiosks
I felt
badly that I couldn’t make the climb, but the air is too thin here. I really should have had the prescription
filled which would have helped me deal with the thin air.
Tonight
dinner is in the hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment