mero sero phero: around lhasa -- tibet trip part 2

this second series of the tibet trip are all images from around lhasa, taken on the 14th and 15th of june.

lhasa was very warm, and totally not what we had expected! spotlessly clear blue skies, very strong sun. we'd all taken diamox from the day earlier to get used to the sudden additional elevation of over 2000m. The 3 nights we stayed at lhasa helped to get us acclimatised to the rare air, and the zillion of steps to the potala and the various gumbas surely had us panting for a purpose!

one thing that stuck me most about lhasa was how clean the city was.. free of pollution -- garbage, or noise ! no litter anywhere in the streets, and no honking of horns. almost all 2 & 3 wheelers running in the city are electric ones. all the roads have no horn sighs, and they all have cycle lanes! and trees.. they are planting trees all over.. what a green city it is going to be in a couple of years from now... so much for us in kathmandu to learn from

so this is where we visited in those two days.. starting with the potala, then the jokhang temple on day one.. and the the drepung monastery, lhasa train station, lhasa riverside, norbulinkha palace and the nepali consulate on day two ...

DAY ONE

... we started our lhasa trip heading towards the potala palace... this rikshawala was trying to tempt to take his ride there...

when we reached near the potala it was find hordes of tibetans doing the 'kora' (circumambulation) of potala palace.. there was a continuous sound of shuffling feet...

...charity for the one who is doing kora prostate, sideways, not body length wise...

potala palace is a unesco heritage site...they said that the palace built on the 'red hill' and was was initiated by emperor srongsong gampo, our nepali jwain (having married princess bhrikuti devi). the palace started from a building atop the hill and then subsequently built downwards by following rulers...

... posing with the palace...

.. and in a group...potala at 3650m asl it is said to be highest palace in the world...

the potala has the red portion of the building and the white... this red portion (with the chinese flag aflutter at the top) is said to be the religious portion ... the black wand white kilt like drapery in the front is actually fabric!!

...wind blows the window trimmings upwards...

.. a long way up...

details of the white portion of the palace, meant to be the political and administrative side. again that drapery is all cloth...

... the entire top portion of the palace' walls on the red side have these neatly arranged twigs of the tamarisk shrub packed in tightly with mud at the back.. the details you can see from one of the walls below. at the highest point all the walls are made of these twigs...

... people have managed to squeeze in 'rare' coins in between the twigs

... looking down at the 'liberation' square...

.. closer look at the mountains at the back.. and one sees water pipes and reservoirs... and the barren mountain now pockmarked with the plantation of millions of trees. the face of lhasa and thereafter the climate, will surely change i a couple of years when the trees are big, and lhasa will appear more green than brown...

out guide was telling us that the lamas have been urging people that the biggest dharma that they can do is to plant trees.. and so they do so, around their villages.. along the highways...

.. huffing and puffing up the palace.. prabhubabu never leaving nanu's side, with her injured foot...

... beauty in every direction...

... details of the entrance...

.. phupu bhadai guardians of the entrance!

one of the two drums near the deyang shar (the east quadrangle) that used to be sounded at 9 in the evening to tell everyone in the palace to be quiet...

this should have given us a hint to what lay ahead of us in terms of toilets as we headed westwards towards manasarovar and mt. kailash!

my later blogs will explain these further!

the open toilet of yore.. stuff dropping down vertically to the rock below..

... the shiny floor surface in this courtyard and elsewhere, looks like granite but is called 'aka' made with mud, stones and butter and pounded down skillfully...

.. this picture in the premises shows how...

...quarters for palace staff at the quadrangle...

.. lining up to climb to where the tombs of various dalai lamas, their prayer rooms etc are kept.. more importantly for us.. the 'cave' in which there are statues of the emperor srongsong gampo with his two wives-- our own bhrikuti devi. and the chinese princess . of course he also married a tibetan princess too. guess that is how balance of power was maintained in those days! it was a very mixed feeling thinking of the young princess married across the himalaya.. and probably not able to visit home.... her maiti...

no cameras allowed beyond this point.. but we marvelled at tomb after tomb of gold and silver tombs inlaid with precious stones.... one tomb used 2721 kgs of gold !!!!

(and notice the colour of the sky.. seems we are closer to heaven at this point!)

we came out of the the restricted quarters on the dot of the hour (it was all timed!!)

.. and this was the view on the northern side... the water body is a lake that was formed too fill in the holes caused by the soil excavation while building the palace...

layers upon layers of kamero...

.. and now on our way down on the other side...

prayer wheels below the potala

.. om maney peme hum...

...potala from the northeastern corner...

... catching up on our breaths...

... next stop is the jokhang temple... the holiest of holy shrines for tibetan buddhists, and again where bhrikuti devi's influence is mentioned ...jokhang temple was built to house a rare statue of buddha that bhrikuti brought along with her from nepal as part of dowry. it is said that the statue was destroyed during the cultural revolution, but that the torso and others bits have been found in different places..

...yak tails on the pole in the square in barkhor square in front of the jokhang temple...

... again the auspicious symbols. and the flag...

people sweeping the square...

...inside the temple entrance people throw not only coins but even paper money.. coin usage is quite rare...

sprucing up the colours, as part of the renovation and maintenance...

...the window is from where the dalai lama would peer down to see fortnight-long annual festivities. he would come from potala for that period and stay at this temple...

details of courtyard barrier

.. statue of the the 10th panchen lama. taken from afar. no pics allowed beyond this point. behind this is the statue of shakyamuni brought by chinese wife of emperor gampo. the one brought by bhrikuti was destroyed in 1960

...the potala as seen from the terrace of the jokhang temple...

... the flag again ...

.. the golden roof...

the main courtyard of is said to have been built over a body of water that was filled up by bringing soils from far away hills. bhrikuti wanted the temple to be built and all signs pointed to a pond. it was the chinese princess who gave her the idea of filling the pond... there is a point in the temple where if yo have the ear for it , or even the dharma for it, one can hear the sound of water below!

the gilded roof reflected in dr.saab's glasses.

.. monks practice debating the scriptures with each other...

.. and in action....

that evening i discovered saffron being sold i the loose. i never imagine this expensive commodity could be bought in this manner. it seems the tibetans add a few stamens of saffron to hot water and drink it as tea. for obvious benefits.. which i could not decipher...

.. and the fizzy one in chinese clothing... with extremities tingling because of the diamox.. the fizziness of soda fell flat and odd!!

DAY TWO

loved this sign of a gigantic yarsa gumba being taken for a ride by a diminutive yak...

.. don't know what the sign says! :)

here is the proud yak behind a fountain...

.. and this a real one in the forest as we were climbing towards the drepung monastery. this was probably the first 'live' yak we saw.. thus the excitement.. later in in the trip we could see millions of them!!!

details of feathered ones on eaves

first time we came across beggars.. that too so many of them... seemed so simple to say 'mani' for money. sounded like they are repeating 'om mani...' !.

this one at least was playing a beautiful instrument

...prayer flags adorn the rocks...

first time i saw trash.. that too dumped in the crevice.. sad. otherwise lhasa is such a clean city

this is the drepung monastery.. before the 'liberation' it was the the largest monastery housing 10,000 monks. like a little township... now it is down to 300.

it was built in the 15th century and was initially used as personal residence by the 5th dalai lama.. this was before the seat of power shifted to potala

adorned rocks

view of the valley.. portion of lhasa can be seen

...spider web of prayer flags all over the hillside...

turquoise inlaid on the 'aka' flooring

metal frame on the mountainside where an embroidered 40 ft wide thanka is rolled down during the yogurt festival every august. that is a time when all insects are out so the monks stay in and pray lest they accidentally kill them while walking about...

.. a seeming assembly of buddhas inside a praying chamber...

...lovely abundant fragrant roses...

different kind of motifs in the ceiling.. such colours!

... resting away from the harsh sun.. tashi with baba and shambhuji and ajitaji

... us. in front of the main chanting hall..

... and the rest...

painting outside the hall

.. we went to see the kitchen used to feed the monks. humongous firewood stoves.. that are hardly used now...

below are rows of copper utensils

the giant cauldrons (now no longer used) in the kitchen

... inside the colourful and huge chanting hall...

a strange side chapel (only for men) in the same hall...

in the left manjushree, who made kathmandu valley inhabitable -- with one deft blow of his vajra to split open the chobhar gorge and let the waters of the lake drain out!

... shakyamuni buddha with lots of ornaments...

...walking doubled up beneath the cabinet that houses the 40 ft thanka that is rolled down the mountain every august...

idhar ki udhar is the question.. quite philosophical,, which way do you want to go in life.. any way's possible!!

... the original statue on stone of manjushree.. this is said to be the original place where the monastery was established and which was then later then expanded all over the hillside...

frozen stalactites of paint trickle on the outside wall

walking down all the steps that we climbed up!

... down the narrow alleys...

burning incense for a fee at the bottom of the monastery

back in downtown a grill work on a wall with the unending knot

... opening celebrations of a swanking mall just across our hotel...boasting a host of brand names, restaurants and multiplex...

.. taken from the escalator of the mall... so this is also lhasa!

next stop was the lhasa river.. which goes and meets brahmaputra near the airport

while some offered prayers for dear departed souls at the riverside. others started skipping pebbles on the water...

... blacktopping under process on the main street...

the stop after that.. lhasa train station...everyone wanted to go and see the fast train that goes between lhasa and beijing. unfortunately there were no trains coming or going in the afternoon for the disappointed tourists from a 'no-train' country!

...the menfolk look at the rates of trains going to various parts of tibet and china ...hard sleeper and soft sleeper options... hmmm

... like most, baba had to be content looking at the poster of the train...

...the grand station from the outside,,, train lines are being extended upto shigatse.,. which will make it so much easier for nepalis travelling across the himalaya...

cloud that looks like ones painted in thankas

at the norbu linkha (garden) the summer palace of the dalai lama

... fascinating gnarled trunks of tree in the garden...

... an iris in bloom...

sculpture of a flame.. this is where the olympic flame was lit. the flame was taken from here to the potala...

the gates of the norbu linkha palace. this was the residence of the dalai lama, including the current 14th one who had to flee in the cover of darkness in 1959 ...

.. carving of a tiger on one side....

.. and a snow lion on the other....

ladies of the group under the lion

... and the gents lined up nearby

final stop the nepali consulate. the consul general was away in manasarovar, but ramesh pandeyji and amber nepaliji were kind enough to let us in and give us a tour of the premises

... two resident ducks in the consulate with 5 resident staff and 5 p\other non resident staff...

... raindrops... what a relief from the scorching heat...

ramesh bhai graciously made great masala chiya for all of us.. was like coming to maiti!!

amberji, rameshji with baba

...the consulate premises established by the ranas is crying for repair and maintenance. the chinese government have offered to build it, but decision in nepal is still pending it seems...