I stayed in Lhasa for two days. The highlights in Lhasa are the palace of the Dalai Lama (the Potala), the Jokhang (the most revered temple in Tibetan Buddhism), and the Summer palace of the Dalai Lama (the Norbulingka). Just outside is the Drepung Monastery, once the worlds largest monastery with some 10,000 monks.

From Lhasa we drove to Tsedang. There we visited the Samye Monastery, one of the oldest monasteries in Tibet, founded in the late 8th century. It is one of the more beautiful monasteries. It has four stupas arranged around if in four of the holy colors. From Tsedang we visited the Chongye valley. Here are the Tombs of the Tibetan Kings, burial mounds from around 1000. From there we went to the Yumbulagang Monastery. This was the most beautiful and interesting monastery I visited. It has reputedly the oldest building in Tibet from the 7th century. The original building may date back 2000 years. It is situated on a cliff at about 4,500m (15,000ft) altitude. It is a bit strenuous to walk up there at the altitude, but well worth it. After that we visited the Tandruk Monastery. It has a fantastic wood carved altar, reputedly the largest in the world (though I doubt that claim). This monastery is also among the oldest in Tibet from the 7th century.

From Tsedang we drove to Gyantse. This trip was over the first of several mountain passes. This one (Kamba-la) was about 4,800m (16,000ft) high. It was an interesting drive up to the pass along a steep switchback road. The pass was in the clouds, with snow on the ground. From there the road went along a large mountain lake (Yamdrok-tso), one of the holiest lakes in Tibet. The lake is at an altitude of around 4,500m (15,000ft). From there we climbed another pass (Karo-la) up to about 5,000m (16,500ft) and then to Gyantse. In Gyantse is the largest chörten (stupa) in Tibet, the Gyantse Kumbum. It is quite impressive, located in the Pelkor Chöde Monastery. It is from the 15th century.

On this road there was extensive road construction. The road had mostly been build, but none of the bridges. It meant that at every little brook coming down the mountain (of which there were many), we had to leave the road, drive through the stream, and back to the road. This was wild driving!

From Gyantse we drove to the Sakya Monastery. This was one of the largest monasteries before the Chinese invasion. It has the tombs of several Dalai Lamas. From there we went back to Shigatse for an overnight stay. In Shigatse is the Tashilhunpo Monastery, a very impressive one with many wall paintings of Buddhas and the tombs of several Panchen Lamas.

From Shigatse we returned to Lhasa. This drive was the most eventful of them all. We drove over the highest mountain pass at about 5,200m. The road was in really bad condition. It was a one lane road with traffic in both directions. Passing was only possible in certain places. There were several areas with large holes in the road where traffic was backed up. Combine this with snow on the road, and you have a recipe for a big traffic jam. Trying to move two mile long lines of trucks past each other on a one lane road takes a long time. Everybody tries to move ahead as soon as there is a bit of an opening, which immediately blocks the one lane road again. One truck did make it when he tried to pass another on the one lane road. He fell of the precipice and was lying about 150m below the road. From there we drove back to Lhasa. On the way we passed the Yungdrungling Monastery. It is a monastery of the Bön religion, the pre-Buddhism religion in Tibet.

The weather was mixed, sometimes sunny, often rainy. At the higher elevations it was frequently snowing. Temperatures were somewhat chilly.

Tibet has been invaded by China in 1952. It has been occupied by China since then. The few times I talked with Tibetans, it was clear that they resented the Chinese occupation. China is settling millions of Chinese in Tibet in order to get Tibet under closer Chinese control. By now the native Tibetans are already in the minority. In business, Chinese have significant advantage over Tibetans.

Tibetan is a language with their own script, quite different from Chinese. Since the Chinese occupation, Chinese is the official language. Anybody who doesn't speak Chinese is at a severe disadvantage. Recently, the Chinese have made some concession as far as the language is concerned. For instance, direction signs show names in Tibetan as well as Chinese and English scripts.

Traditionally, at least one son of every family would become a monk. This was their version of population control. Because of that, almost every village had a monastery. In the beginning of the Chinese occupation, the Chinese systematically destroyed the Tibetan monasteries. They destroyed over 90% of them. Only recently have they started to support them in order to increase tourism. Even though most of the monasteries are destroyed, the ones that are left are exceptional. I was especially impressed by a small monastery from the 8th century, sitting on a small peak near the Tombs of the Tibetan Kings.

Religion plays a large part in Tibetan life. Especially in Lhasa, but also in other cities and towns you can see monks, and other worshippers with their prayer wheels. Most buildings have some arrangements of sticks with colored prayer flags on their roof. Similar arrangements are seen in many places along the roads, on mountain passes or on hill tops. The flags are printed with Buddhist sutras. They are strung up to purify the air and to pacify the gods. When the flags flutter, prayers are thought to be released to the heavens. The colors of the flags are significant. They are:
red: represents fire
green: represents wood
yellow: represents earth
blue: represents water
white: represents iron.

White scarfs are used for greeting people (i was given one when I arrived. They are also used to drape over statues in temples and monasteries.

Buddhism in Tibet uses considerably more colors in decorating their temples and monasteries than Buddhism in other countries. The most important temple in Tibet is the one in Lhasa. Worshippers are everywhere in Lhasa. Most are older people, but there are younger ones as well. There are also many Buddhist priests in Lhasa, old ones as well as many younger ones. It seems as if there are still plenty of young men who want to become priests. Both pilgrims and monks use prayer wheels during their worship. In the temples you can see the prayer drums. Pilgrims walk by them and set them rotating while praying.

One interesting part of the temples and monasteries is the use of Yak butter. It is used for most everything, from material for candles to intricate decorations to lubricating prayer drums. It never smelled really bad, but sometimes you could smell it somewhat.

Using colors is not only prevalent in temples. Trucks and farm vehicles are also often colorfully decorated. One decoration symbol that is used frequently is the swastika. It is from here that the Nazis imported this symbol. In Tibet it is a sign of good luck.

I didn't get to talk to Tibetans very much. Only in Lhasa did I have the chance to go out and talk with people. During the tour I didn't have the opportunity to talk with anybody. You would have to take more time in order to get more chances to meet local people.

The scenery in Tibet is of course stunning. Unfortunately the weather was not very good while I was there, so I didn't see as much of the mountains as I would have liked. But what I did see was impressive. The highest mountain that I saw was about 7,000m (23,000ft).

Local buildings are usually single story buildings. They are build around a courtyard. On the outside they usually don't have many windows, if any at all. The houses in each village are usually of the same design, with different designs in different villages.

The food was quite good. This was somewhat of a surprise, since the guide book that I had warned that Tibetan food is not very good. It looks as if this has recently changed for the better. Two things however were not really to my taste. One of them was dried Yak cheese, the other was tea with Yak butter. The dried Yak cheese was hard as stone. I tried to keep it in my mouth for a while to soften it, without success. I would have broken my teeth if I had tried to chew it. It also was completely tasteless. Tea with Yak butter on the other hand does have taste, but not a taste that I could get used to that quickly. I tried it ones and decided that I definitely don't want to try it again anytime soon.

The local beer is very good and very inexpensive. One big surprise was their selection of imported beers. From the USA they had the ubiquitous Budweiser, but in addition to that they had Pabst Blue Ribbon. This is an old US beer that is slowly making a comeback in the USA. It is my favorite beer here in the US.

It was an interesting trip. Too bad I didn't have more time to see the country and meet the people. It is sad to see how a whole culture being destroyed by an occupying country. I h ope they'll survive, but it doesn't look good.

All pictures are © Günther Eichhorn

Temples, Monasteries, and Fortresses
A fortress near the airport of Lhasa. Is was destroyed by the Chinese when they invaded Tibet in 1952. (463k)	A Buddha statue carved out of a wall. It is from the 11th century. It is on the road from the airport to Lhasa. (404k)	These arrangements of sticks and prayer flags can be seen everywhere in Tibet. (3107k)	A view of Barkhor Square with the Jokhang in the background. (315k)	The Jokhang, the holiest of Tibetan Temples, viewed from Barkhor Square. (406k)
One of the big incense burners in front of the Jokhang. (430k)	Yak butter lights in a prayer room in front of the Jokhang. (316k)	Barkhor Square with the incense burners in front of the Jokhang going full blast. (233k)	View of the Barkhor Kora, the pilgrimage circuit around the Jokhang. This is the most important pilgrimage circuit in Tibet. It is full of stalls of various vendors. (530k)	The Potala, the palace of the Dalai Lama. (395k)
View of the Potala from Potala Square. (480k)	The Potala over modern downtown Lhasa. (521k)	View of the Norbulingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lama. (496k)	A huge prayer wheel on top one of the buildings of the summer palace. (286k)	A small temple in the park around the summer palace. (3034k)
View over the Drepung monastery. (675k)	The main building in the Drepung monastery. Note the mirrors in the yard. (388k)	A closeup of one of the mirrors. They are used to collect sunlight to head water for tea. (347k)	Roof decoration in the Drepung monastery. There little towers can be seen in many monasteries and temples. (316k)	A view of a chörten (stupa), prayer drums and a pilgrim in the Drepung monastery. Notice the Yak butter lubrication dripping down from the prayer drums. (461k)
Prayer drums in the Drepung monastery. (434k)	Some very old prayer drums in the Drepung monastery. (454k)	The interior of a temple in the Drepung monastery. It is usually fairly dark, since the Yak butter lamps don't give much light. (232k)	Interior of the Drepung monastery. Note the colorful decorations. (454k)	Painting of a Lama in the Drepung monastery. He is from the Yellow Hat sect of Buddhism. (518k)
Colorful Buddha statue in a temple in the Drepung monastery. (682k)	Hundreds of Buddha statues in the Drepung monastery. Many temples have these arrays of Buddha statues. (665k)	Prayer books, neatly stacked in the Drepung monastery. They are pages, connected with fabric, and folded together. The stack of pages is then folded in cloth. This room held hundreds of these prayer books. They can be found in every temple. (382k)	Yak butter candle in a temple in the Drepung monastery. (209k)	A worshipper in the Drepung monastery. It one prayer wheel is good, two must be even better. (271k)
A worshipper reading Buddhist scrolls like the one stacked in the temple. (412k)	View of the mountains behind the Samye monastery. About 2/3rd up the mountain on the left side is the 8th century Chim-puk Hermitage. (236k)	The main building of the Samye monastery. (399k)	The blue stupa in the Samye monastery. (565k)	The green stupa in the Samye monastery (534k)
The white stupa in the Samye monastery (581k)	The red stupa in the Samye monastery (427k)	Wall paintings in the main building of the Samye monastery. (532k)	Details of the Buddha paintings in the Samye monastery. (401k)	Tomb of the Kings in the Chongye Valley. One of the tomb from around 1000 AD. (429k)
Yumbulagang Monastery, high on a cliff. (245k)	Getting closer to the monastery. It was well worth the climb. (472k)	Interior of the Yumbulagang Monastery. (412k)	Buddha statue in the Yumbulagang Monastery. (607k)	Buddhist scrolls in the Yumbulagang Monastery. (445k)
Prayer drums outside the Yumbulagang Monastery. (331k)	Main temple in the Tandruk Monastery. (288k)	Entrance to the Tandruk Monastery with two huge prayer drums, each over 3m (10ft) high. (452k)	Huge prayer drum in front of the temple in the Tandruk Monastery. (304k)	A well in the Tandruk Monastery. The monks were drawing water while we were visiting. (312k)
Decorations on the windows on the outside of the Tandruk Monastery. (412k)	A huge wood carved altar in the Tandruk Monastery. My guides said it is the largest wood-carved altar in the world. I somewhat doubt that, but it certainly is a masterpiece. (718k)	Detail of one of the Buddha statues in the wood-carved alter in the Tandruk Monastery (579k)	A mask in another one of the temples in the Tandruk Monastery. This was the only monastery where they had masks and masked statues. (294k)	A veiled Buddha statue in the Tandruk Monastery. (504k)
A fortress on a hill overlooking Gyantse. It was destroyed by the invading Chinese and is only now being restored. (223k)	Gyantse Kumbum, the largest chörten (stupa) in Tibet. (391k)	Monks in a temple in the Pelkor Chöde monastery in Gyantse. They are making decorations from Yak butter. (363k)	A monk making Yak butter decorations. (353k)	Buddha statue in a temple in the Pelkor Chöde monastery. (546k)
Buddha statue in a temple in the Pelkor Chöde monastery. The colors, texture and design of this one was especially appealing to me. (563k)	View of the Pelkor Chöde monastery in Gyantse. (415k)	Mound with prayer flags over the Pelkor Chöde monastery. (219k)	Monks in the Sakya monastery. (424k)	Roof and window decorations in the Sakya monastery. (480k)
Tomb of one of the Dalai Lamas in the Sakya monastery. (592k)	View of the Tashilhunpo monastery in Shigatse. (545k)	In the Tashilhunpo monastery. (412k)	Inside the Tashilhunpo monastery. (521k)	Swastika floor inlay in the Tashilhunpo monastery. (529k)
View of one of the temples in the Tashilhunpo monastery. (367k)	View of one of the temples in the Tashilhunpo monastery. (465k)	View of a wall covered with wall paintings. (488k)	Buddha wall paintings in the Tashilhunpo monastery. (508k)	Wall paintings of Protectors in the Tashilhunpo monastery. (538k)
Closeup of one of the protector paintings. (486k)	Closeup of one of the Buddha paintings. (419k)
People
A Tibetan woman in Lhasa. (277k)	Local woman. This was the typical dress that women in the cities and villages wore. (267k)	A couple of local men watching us try to fix the car, one of them with a prayer wheel. It seems as if they are using prayer wheels even in regular local life. (403k)	A family in front of the Sakya monastery. (355k)	In China you often see men relaxing like this. You have to be used to sitting down like that with your feet flat on the floor. (280k)
School kids. (236k)	School girls in uniform playing in the street. (335k)	Local street scene with a pool table outside. (503k)	Bottles stored in a bar. Notice the Budweiser and Pabst Blue Ribbon. The bottles lying in the rack are beer bottles, not wine bottles. (515k)	Local family in one of the high valleys. (486k)
Local nomads in one of the high valleys. (463k)	Life stock herd in one of the high valleys. (487k)	Yak herd and local nomads in a high mountain valley. (377k)	Farm work. Notice the colorful decorations on the animal. (511k)	Local passengers waiting for their bus to continue. (302k)
Local man waiting for the bus to continue. He was of a different ethnic background. (344k)	A pilgrim in Lhasa with a prayer wheel. (263k)	Another pilgrim. This seemed to be from a different ethnic group than most Tibetans. (224k)	An older worshipper in Lhasa. Some of the prayer wheels are very elaborate. (349k)	An old woman, praying with her prayer wheel on her walk around the Jokhang. (312k)
A group of Tibetan monks with prayer wheels. (357k)	A Buddhist monk with an elaborate prayer wheel. (363k)	Beggars in Lhasa. (340k)	Buddhist monks asking for alms. (320k)	A Tibetan monk, with a plastic shopping bad. (232k)
Roads and Transportation
A bicycle rickshaw in Lhasa. (460k)	Hauling sacks on a hand-drawn cart. A lot of transportation is done by hand. (543k)	A street vendor in Lhasa selling vegetables and spices. (431k)	Bicycle transport, fully loaded. (399k)	Local transport. (408k)
Local transportation means. (447k)	Street scene in Lhasa. (420k)	Pabst Blue Ribbon was one of the most common imported beers in Tibet, with lots of advertising. (399k)	A street sign with directions in Tibetan, Chinese, and English. (228k)	A utility vehicle, colorfully decorated. (474k)
A local truck, colorfully decorated like many local vehicles. Notice the swastikas on the roof. (406k)	Local transport. (275k)	Overland bus at a rest stop. (327k)	A bus on its way to the mountain pass. The peak ahead was the highest peak we saw, over 7,000m (23,000ft). (347k)	Our Toyota Landcruiser broken down in the middle of the road. (423k)
This is the main road along lake Yamdrok-tso. This is representative for the road conditions in that area. (331k)	Trucks on the main road. Traffic on that road was pretty atrocious. (352k)	Switchback road leading up to the Kamba-la pass. (226k)	Top of the Kamba-la mountain pass in the clouds. (259k)	Prayer flag mound on top of Kamba-la. (294k)
Snow on the road up to one of the mountain passes. (217k)	Prayer flags on a mountain pass. (421k)	Prayer flags on top of the highest mountain pass that I drove over at 5,200m (17,000ft). (292k)	This truck rolled down the mountain while trying to get by oncoming traffic on a one-lane mountain pass. (333k)	Closeup of the truck that rolled down the mountain. (455k)
Traffic jam on a one-lane mountain pass road. It took hours to get through the oncoming traffic. (418k)	This was the worst part of the road. This hole caused the hour long traffic jam. (450k)
Houses
Local village with road construction in the foreground. There was lots of road construction going on. (604k)	A local store. (387k)	A local house. (399k)	Local house. (455k)	A typical Tibetan house. They are one-storied, have few windows on the outside and are build around a courtyard. (408k)
Another local house in a different style. (515k)	A house with prayer flags on the roof. (290k)	House decorations, including a swastika, a symbol of good luck. (248k)	Tibetans use everything that their cattle provide, including cow dung. They put the cow patties on the walls of their houses to dry. They are used for fuel for heating and cooking. (649k)
Nature
The Brahmaputra, one of the largest rivers in India starts here in Tibet. (359k)	A large sand dune in the Brahmaputra valley near Samye Monastery. (399k)	A view of the mountains along the Brahmaputra valley between Lhasa and Tsedang (499k)	Mound with prayer flags in the mountains. (447k)	Prayer flag mounts on both sides of the Brahmaputra. (255k)
Yamdrok-tso, the holiest lake in Tibet. (219k)	Colorful cliffs west of Shigatse. (274k)	View of the highest peak in the area (700m, 23,000ft). (320k)	Lupines. These blue flowers gave a lot of the desert a nice blue color. (413k)	A hawk. (335k)
Vultures. (223k)	A Yak. These are HUGE creatures. And the wild ones are supposed to be even larger that the domesticated ones. (272k)

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