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Bookmark & shareA Top Day in Lhasa
As soon as I wake up I head straight to the Jokhang Temple, to join the pilgrims who have been making their prostrations since dawn. Doubtless I'll be dragged in by the irresistable tide of the Barkhor pilgrim circuit that encircles the Jokhang, passing stalls selling everything from turquoise jewellery to bags of yak butter. Like all good pilgrim circuits, the ten-minute walk gets the blood moving and settles the mind. I'm then ready to follow the pilgrims as they file in hushed awe into the Jokhang temple, shuffling past lines of flickering butter lamps and demonic multi-armed protectors to reach the courtyard of golden Buddhas. This is the spiritual heart of Lhasa.
Back blinking into the daylight, I'm ready to explore the old town, a winding maze of whitewashed Tibetan houses that conceals my favourite backstreet secrets - hidden thangka workshops, statue casters, tent makers and Tibetan teahouses. The teahouses are fantastic places to see Tibet on its own terms so I pop into one for a thermos of cha ngamo (sweet, milky tea), surrounded by welcoming Tibetan faces. Lunch is a chicken tikka masala at Snowlands Restaurant or a bowl of jiaozi (dumplings) from one of the numerous Sichuan restaurants in town, a reminder of the political reality of modern Tibet.
A perfect day in Lhasa would have to include a visit to the Potala Palace at some point, if only to pay respects at the former living quarters of the Dalai Lama. It's getting increasingly hard to secure a ticket these days, so if that wasn't possible I'd hop on a minibus up to Sera Monastery to watch the afternoon monk debating.
I top off the day with an open-air dinner at Namtso Restaurant in the Banak Shöl Hotel, chasing down a hot chicken sizzler with a cold Lhasa Beer under a blanket of high-altitude Tibetan stars. Now that's a good day.
Author: Bradley Mayhew
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