China - Lhasa II

The weather has cleared up and we're taking in the sights. Lhasa has a significant number of monasteries and other historical places of interest. With only a few days here, we chose to see just four; the Potala, the Jokhang Temple, the Barkhor, and the Sera Monastery.

Here are a couple pictures of the Potala (we're taking the inside tour later today).




Prayer flags for sale in the Barkhor:


Each day starting well before sunrise pilgrims and the local community start the day doing koras around the Barkhor, which circles the Jokhang Temple. There are hundreds of people in the front of the temple with hand protectors and pads which they use to pray. Others prostrate one body length at a time all the way around the circuit; kora means to circum-ambulate an object of devotion. A few guys were throwing there bodies at least 4 body lengths using wooden blocks on their hands for speed. This goes on most hours of the day and night; with people of all ages.

A Tibetan boy prostrating in front of the Johkrang:


We went to the Sera Monastery to watch the Monks debate. This goes on each afternoon. This is part of the teaching of the Tibetan scriptures. The monks discuss the scriptures and debate the correct interpretation of the piece. It is a very lively (and loud) scene with hand jestures, clapping and a lot of jumping to get the point across.











At the Sera Monastery, Michelle tries out her teaching skills:


Finally we had some really nice...


and shopped for some...


We're leaving in the morning to take the Friendship Highway down to Kathmandu. We've hired a private landcruiser and will make the trip in 6 days. Along the way we'll visit some lakes, monasteries, and Everest base camp. We've hooked up with two other people for the adventure, Jay (from Toronto) and Shivae (from New Zealand, living in Vancouver, B.C.)