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Posted On Monday, September 17, 2012 at
at
7:56 PM
by Alvin
The journey from Linzhi (林芝) to Lhasa (拉薩), although lasting 8 hours, was an enjoyable ride as we passed vastly different landscapes, colorful Tibetan villages and a few mountain passes at over 5,000M ! We arrived on the eastern fringe of Lhasa at about 6P.M. and slowly acclimatised to our new height of 3,700M ! Feeling alright the next morning and we ventured (again very slowly) across town for a bit of "hotel shopping" and we found this Bin Guan with a magnificent side view of The Potala Palace (布達拉宮) ! The Potola Palace would definitely rank as one of the most dramatic and imposing man-made structures we had experienced - the colors, location and day-long worshipping crowds (going clock-wise of course) performing their daily rituals of 轉經輪 and 轉山 combined to give the palace a very special atmosphere. We queued a day before for the tickets to visit the palace and although lasting only an hour, the palace's internal alleys, giant sacred stupas, statues from another age and the smell of yak oil would linger in our memories long after.
The following 8 days we visited the many temples and monasteries around this holy city - Jokhang (大昭寺), Sera (色拉寺), Drepung (哲蚌寺), Samye (桑耶寺) etc. and we thoroughly enjoyed the lake and mountain scenery. We saved some relaxing time-out for a pleasant stroll along the river valleys of Lhasa (拉薩河) and Yarlung Zangbo (雅鲁藏布江) and of course, a spot of shopping and haggling around Barkhor Square(八廓街) - Mandy bought a characteristic yak-head silver necklace. Also, we had countless delicious dinners of yak and mutton at the neighbouring Tibetan restaurants. All this last minute relaxation was to prepare ourselves for the 24 hours "hard seat" train journey of a lifetime on the impressive and scenic Tibet-Qinghai Railway (青藏鐵路) to Xining (西寧) in the Province of Qinghai (青海) !
The journey from Linzhi (林芝) to Lhasa (拉薩), although lasting 8 hours, was an enjoyable ride as we passed vastly different landscapes, colorful Tibetan villages and a few mountain passes at over 5,000M ! We arrived on the eastern fringe of Lhasa at about 6P.M. and slowly acclimatised to our new height of 3,700M ! Feeling alright the next morning and we ventured (again very slowly) across town for a bit of "hotel shopping" and we found this Bin Guan with a magnificent side view of The Potala Palace (布達拉宮) ! The Potola Palace would definitely rank as one of the most dramatic and imposing man-made structures we had experienced - the colors, location and day-long worshipping crowds (going clock-wise of course) performing their daily rituals of 轉經輪 and 轉山 combined to give the palace a very special atmosphere. We queued a day before for the tickets to visit the palace and although lasting only an hour, the palace's internal alleys, giant sacred stupas, statues from another age and the smell of yak oil would linger in our memories long after.
The following 8 days we visited the many temples and monasteries around this holy city - Jokhang (大昭寺), Sera (色拉寺), Drepung (哲蚌寺), Samye (桑耶寺) etc. and we thoroughly enjoyed the lake and mountain scenery. We saved some relaxing time-out for a pleasant stroll along the river valleys of Lhasa (拉薩河) and Yarlung Zangbo (雅鲁藏布江) and of course, a spot of shopping and haggling around Barkhor Square(八廓街) - Mandy bought a characteristic yak-head silver necklace. Also, we had countless delicious dinners of yak and mutton at the neighbouring Tibetan restaurants. All this last minute relaxation was to prepare ourselves for the 24 hours "hard seat" train journey of a lifetime on the impressive and scenic Tibet-Qinghai Railway (青藏鐵路) to Xining (西寧) in the Province of Qinghai (青海) ! 
