We saw the Potala Palace today, home of the Dalai Lama. Or, rather, I should say former home since I think that the Dalai Lama left here in 1959 after the Chinese “liberated” Tibet. He hasn’t been back since. No one ever explained what exactly Tibet needed liberating from and Wendy, our national guide, asked us not to pose questions like that to the local guide.
The Potala Palace is pretty much a museum now, but the religious context for the place is obviously still a touchy subject. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside. That’s understandable. The palace is held sacred by the Tibetan Buddhists.
Today was the start of a holy month for the Tibetans. Thousands of them were making a circuit of the palace (in a clockwise direction only), most of them holding prayer wheels. A couple of older people had some beautiful prayer wheels that were obviously antiques. I wonder how they survived the Cultural Revolution since so many religious artifacts, statues, etc. were destroyed then. Most of the statues that we have seen in the Tibetan temples are cheap, tacky, modern copies – very sad.
Tibet’s place in China is a touchy subject with the Chinese, too. There are Chinese soldiers in force everywhere. You can’t go anywhere in Lhasa without seeing packs of them. I guess that the Chinese government does not want a replay of 2008 when riots disrupted Lhasa. The Chinese soldiers were so jumpy that George couldn’t even put her knapsack down for a moment to change her camera lens. Were they afraid that the knapsack contained a bomb? Apparently, it was okay for one of us to hold the knapsack instead while she rummaged around looking for her lens. Go figure.
Things that make you go, “Hmm…!”
After lunch, we went to the Jokhang Temple, otherwise known as the House of Religious Science. I wish that our guide could have explained things a bit more to us, but most of her talks were very basic and lacked in any detail. I don’t know if this was a language problem or a political one and I wasn’t about to rock the boat by asking.
Anyway, this temple has its foundations in the 7th c, although it was sacked more than once by the Mongols, and probably trashed by the Cultural Revolution. Somehow, their huge collection of rare metal sculptures survived. Not sure how.
While there, we saw two groups laying down new flooring. It is done strictly by hand, or rather, strictly by foot. Crushed rock is pounded into the floor by stomping on it. The end result is like an artificial marble. It was interesting to watch, but must be back breaking work. The workers sang as they pounded the rock in place.
We finished up the day with a visit to Norbulingka, which is the Dalai Lama’s Summer Palace (now unoccupied, of course). Not sure why it is called the Summer Palace since it is within walking distance of the Potala Palace. The temperature difference can’t be that great.
There were a lot of birds in the surrounding park, but the biggest surprise was a flock of parrots! Paul managed to get a shot or two of them. I wonder if they migrate? How can they survive the Tibetan winter?
