Potala Palace…. Wow… Lhasa… Wow…
I went on an almost enchanting ride last night to the train station to get John and my train tickets to Chongqing. As I left the hostel, the sun was just starting to tuck itself in behind the awesome mountains…. the sky was a blue-purple-pinky color… sooo clear and so beautiful. The road winded around the mountains… it wasn’t long before the light of the sun totally disappeared and the moon shone brightly over the mountains. As I got closer to the train station, I could see the Potala Palace with lights shining on it… it was breath-taking. It was just so huge… and wicked with the silouettes (sp?) of all the mountains behind it… man… it made the long drive out to the train station so worth it. When I returned to the hostel, our 2 friends were still down for the count… John was feeling a little better. He had gone out to get some food.
In the morning, everyone was feeling much better… we could see the sunrise from the window of our hostel room as it peaked over the mountains and lit up the Potala Palace. I can’t believe we are staying here for 20 Yuan a night. After a quick breakfast, we went to the Potala Palace. Now, to see it in pictures is one thing… but I never dreamed of how great it would be to see it in person. It is a HUGE palace. The stairs up were not as bad as they looked from the outside but still quite a trek and the entrance fee was very very steep (100 Yuan!) and you can’t even take photos after paying that… BUT it was SOOO worth it. Walking through the Potala Palace actually brought a tear to my eye…. I don’t know whether it was because I was just in awe at how beautiful it is and how devoted the people who come here to pray are… or whether it was because I just realized that I am in Tibet, one of the top places I have ever wanted to see… and I am now actually here… it almost brings a tear to my eye just to write that. I can’t even explain it… if you ever get a chance to come to Tibet, DO IT! I can already see that China’s influence is coming in full force and I don’t know how long Tibet will be the way it is. There are so many beautiful and interesting people with sooo much history and culture.. and the colors! The colors of the monks’ robes, of the prayer flags, of everything is just so vibrant! I could literally just sit in the main square and watch people. I especially like the no bum/crotch pants that babies wear so that they can just pee and poop on the street… I wanted to take a picture but I thought it’d be a little intrusive…hehe.
Anywho… after the Potala Palace, we went for lunch… the food here is pretty awesome too… John had a Yak steak with mushroom sauce (it looked sooooo good)… and I had cheese momos… man, how come it always sounds like John is eating the most delicious food ever and I’m eating something that you sweep out from under your bed?? haha. The momos were quite good though… so there. We hit the market after and got everything we wanted to buy. We will be too busy tomorrow to come to the market and we leave on the train on the 25th… sigh… it will be sad to leave but the trip must go on! And incase you are wondering, the train from Lhasa to Chongqing takes 49hours! But, I hear the scenery is amazing.
Anyway, tomorrow we are going out to Yamdrok Lake… Namtso Lake is the more famous one but there was just a big snow up there and the road there is closed. Too bad. I guess we will have to settle for Yamdrok. Oh well. I’m sure it will be beautiful. Hopefully I will get a chance to tell you about it before boarding our 2 day train.
Tags: China
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