On to the Palaces...!

Afternoon of June 4, 2012

After being pilgrims and walking the kora with 42,000 of our new Tibetan Buddhist friends, we head off to see how the other half...or should we say the 1%...lived. Our first visit will be to the Norbulingka, the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lamas up to and including the current Dalai Lama before he left Tibet. The name Norbulingka means Jewel Park, and it definitely feels like a very large park. It's kind of funny that the Summer Palace is only about a 10 minute drive from the Potala Palace where the Dalai Lama and his family and staff spent the rest of the year.

We are greeted at the main entrance by a pair of Snow Lions...and, of course, Chinese security...

The palace grounds are indeed very park like with long walkways through trees, and the shade is most welcome as the day warms up.

On the palace grounds there are countless pavilions, from small to large, and each has a purpose. We first visit the storage building where the current Dalai Lama's vehicles are housed. And when we say vehicles, we really mean carriages that were drawn by horses or men, and some in which the Dalai Lama would have been carried. We also saw the tricycle the current Dalai Lama used as a child...unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos in this building.

We were allowed to enter many of the buildings on the grounds, but photos were prohibited so we were really only able to take pictures of the exteriors. This building contained an area for the Dalai Lama to study with his teachers, and to receive visitors.

One of our fellow travelers, Ted, just has a way with animals...we can't explain it. We were standing in the courtyard of one of the Summer Palace pavilions, and Ted just happened to decide to stand and wait for a moment near this sign...and sure enough, this little dog comes strolling from the walk outside, marches over to Ted at the sign and checks him out as if to say "What are you doing?! Can't you read?! This is the dog area!"

Funny epilogue, one of the palace staff noticed us all taking photos of Ted in the dog's area, they asked our Tibetan guide Nima what was so funny...and when we came out of the building they had moved the sign out of the courtyard. We guessed that our reaction to the sign was not what they had intended.

Actually the Dog Area sign was meant to make visitors aware that a very large Tibetan Mastif lived on the roof...

Next, we got a chance to tour through the private residence of the current Dalai Lama...he was not home at the time so it worked out well. Again, we were not allowed to take pictures, so you'll have to take our word for what's inside...or better yet, plan to visit it yourself! Inside the Dalai Lama's house we saw his prayer chapel, his study room, his two reception areas, and his sleeping quarters. We also saw his mother's quarters, and here's an interesting little tidbit...mama's bathroom has a western style toilet...and a bath tub! Our guide said that, at the time, it must have been the only tub in Tibet. (We were told by our guide that most rural Tibetans do not bathe more than once or twice a year, and often in a river...)

After leaving the Dalai Lama's private residence, we walked deeper into the palace grounds to the tea houses which are perched like two little islands in a serene pond. This would have been a beautiful, tranquil place to take afternoon tea...

On our way out of the palace grounds, we stop for a quick photo and then it's back on the bus for the short drive to the Potala Palace

It was really interesting to be at the Potala Palace...kind of like being on the Great Wall or at the pyramids...we've seen the images of it a thousand times, and now we are actually here!

We took a few photos as we made our way up the 400+ steps and incline walkway to the base of the palace...We will not be allowed to take any photos inside the palace, but we purchased a beautiful picture book so that we could remember our visit inside the palace.

From the porch at the base of the palace you can look out at an area that once contained a lake, and legend has it that the current Dalai Lama would look out longingly in the winter at the local children skating on the frozen lake. Today, as you can see, the Chinese government has decided to make a very clear statement by placing this monument commemorating the 50th anniversary of the "liberation" of Tibet directly across the boulevard from the Potala Palace...really quite striking as we consider the current state of Tibet.

Halfway up the palace we emerge outside onto a rooftop courtyard. Up these stairs is where the actual palace tour begins. Our tour guide has to check in at this point and the time at which she enters this doorway is recorded. We have exactly one hour to compete the tour of the palace and check in at the exit checkpoint.

Over the course of the next hour we see prayer chapels, studies, receiving rooms, meditation chapels, the Dalai Lama's private living quarters, and a lot of magnificent artwork. We also saw the tombs of several of the past Dalai Lamas...they are large, gold, jewel encrusted tombs, perhaps 8-15 feet in height...and the many statues depicting Buddha, various gods, and past Dalai Lamas. What made the greatest impression on us was the display of all of the trappings of royalty we saw in the palace...we had the impression of the Dalai Lama as a very simple, humble man, but the palace showed us that this was the place of kings. It made us realize that the Dalai Lamas over the centuries were both religious leaders as well as political and societal rulers as well...it makes us think about the theocracies we have seen in our own times and certainly gives us more to think about as it relates to Tibetan history and politics.

We reached the exit checkpoint in 58 minutes and emerged into the afternoon sun and heat. As we made our way down from the Potala Palace, we snapped this picture of a small shrine with offerings left by pilgrims and visitors to the palace...it is extraordinary how the Tibetan Buddhists create opportunities to make offerings seemingly everywhere...

Outside of the palace and across the street, there is a viewpoint which is terrific for viewing the palace and taking pictures.. so we put our lives on the line, dashed across the boulevard dodging speeding buses and taxis, and we got some incredible photos...

Once we returned to the hotel, we had lunch...including a nice cold Lhasa beer (the label says "Beer from the Roof of the World") and then we have the afternoon off. So we decide to head to the market...just as we finish lunch, we learn from our guide that the authorities have declared that all western tourists need to be accompanied by a guide if they go shopping. The authorities claimed that because there were so many people around for the holiday they had to tighten security. So, Nima agreed to accompany us to the Barkhor market in the heat of the afternoon to see if the restriction was being enforced.

We got to the market and began to look around, and we saw that a large number of the vendors in stalls were already closed up, and many others were in the process of closing. At one point we saw a policeman tapping on his watch as he motioned to a vendor that his stall should be closed. We stopped in the jewelry store pictured below and found a few items we liked...and then we had to haggle a bit. Now, we don't like to haggle, but it is the custom, and we know that the given price was certainly more than we should pay. So we told the salesperson that the total was more than we wanted to spend...his reply was to ask us to enter "our price" onto his calculator and he would take it to his manager...that line reminded us of what you always hear when you buy a car! When all was said and done, we got the items for nearly half of the original price, and felt quite good about our haggling experience. We looked around a bit more...Ted and Neil were looking for some monk apparel but the shop was closed...and then headed back to the hotel.

For dinner, we went to a small local Tibetan restaurant where we had a great time trying to converse with two young men who were our waiters...and they really tried to sell us on Tibetan dishes like yak tail or yak tongue. The food turned out to be pretty good, though the service was funny...the individual dishes showed up at our table in the order they were completed, sometimes with very significant delay between deliveries. It was great fun, and we returned to hotel in good spirits and ready for a good night's sleep.