Tibet - Pre-tour to Chinese Adventure

Begin today with a memorable visit to the Potala Palace (WHS), built by the 5^th Dalai Lama in the 17^th century and former home to ten Dalai Lamas.  The palace, splendidly set on a hill overlooking the town of Lhasa, is an almost mythical architectural wonder with thousands of colorfully painted rooms, chapels bedecked with silk brocade banners, and religious statues. Inside, see altars lit by yak butter lamps, which are tended by crimson-robed monks, along with extravagant gifts given to the many Dali Lamas who have lived here. The bus will take you to the top of the hill where you will enter the palace, but you will need to go up and down many stairways within the palace in order to enjoy the guided tour.  It will include both the White Palace, with living quarters for the Dalai Lama, and the Red Palace, with untold numbers of vividly painted worship halls and shrines, along with jeweled, solid gold tombs for past Dalai Lamas.  Gradually descend the hillside steps until you arrive in the enormous Lhasa Public Square in front of the palace. Watch for pilgrims on their circuit in and around the palace and the town, turning their prayer wheels as they walk.  The bus will take you to nearby Chagpo Ri or Iron Mountain, facing the Potala Palace, where you will pass a row of huge brass prayer wheels, set into the wall of the nearby nunnery.  Climb the stone stairs cut into the side of the mountain to reach two unusual and historic 7^th c. cave temples.  Here, the first King of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo, housed a Chinese princess and a Nepalese princess, whom he later married in an effort to unify his new kingdom.  You will see amazing rock carvings, many of which are over 1,000 years old.  Enjoy lunch at a Tibetan restaurant where you will be able to sample local specialties.  In the afternoon, visit Tibet’s most sacred religious building, Jokhang Temple, built in the 7^th century by King Songtsen Gampo to house images of Buddha brought to Tibet by his Nepalese and Chinese wives.  In front of the temple, you will see many pilgrims prostrating themselves on paving stones polished by centuries of worshippers.  As you approach the entrance to the temple you will see more pilgrims and crimson-robed monks lighting candles and lamps, while others carry offerings of food into the temple where they go to worship. Your guide will take you on a tour through the temple with its numerous chapels wrapped in colorful banners and up to the roof to walk among the huge golden Buddhist symbols that cap the building. From the roof, look down over the most spectacular view in Tibet –the teeming, vividly decorated Barkhor Market (see below), across the city rooftops to the splendid Potala Palace, situated high on a hill overlooking the city, and on to the snow-topped Himalayas that completely surround the city.  Descend the stairs and pass along a row of prayer wheels, turning them, if you wish, to send prayers to heaven. 

Spend the rest of the afternoon in the unforgettable, amazing Barkhor Market.  Here enjoy the stimulating sights, sounds and fragrances around you – herbs, spices, dried fruits and nuts from all over Asia; glittering brass, bronze & copper religious and household objects; hand-woven piled carpets; yak butter and the churns in which it is made; thangkas or hand-painted religious scrolls; carved wood blocks used for printing religious designs; brightly colored prayer flags printed with prayers to decorate tree branches and other objects along the pilgrimage routes and so much more – all surpassed by the fascinating Tibetans who have come there to shop.   Among the shoppers you may see handsome, heavily tanned Tibetan nomads in elaborate tribal dress, the men with red tassels braided into their shiny black hair and wearing fur-trimmed silk brocade hats and long coats; the women in brightly colored clothing with elaborate jewelry and hair ornaments; or crimson-robed monks with their begging bowls.  Enjoy free time here for shopping, taking photos and observing the astounding swirl of activity around you.  B/L/D   Lhasa Hotel (4-star)

Travel into the nearby Tibetan countryside for a guided visit to 15^th c. Drepung Monastery, set in terraced layers on a steep mountainside, once the world’s largest monastery with 10,000 monks.  Largely untouched by the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the monastery still holds a great deal of interest. Climb the stone steps to the Ganden Palace, from which the first four Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet, and where the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th are buried.  Continue your guided tour through the monastery grounds, stopping to see the enormous kitchen where food is prepared for the 600 or so monks that live there now, visiting chapels hung with colorful brocade banners, the highly decorated Main Assembly Hall with 180 pillars, numerous Buddhist images and banners, and at least one of the four Buddhist colleges that were once devoted to Tantric study, logic & other levels of Buddhist learning.

NOTE: You should be sure to stay with your guide and follow a clockwise circuit of the monastery grounds, as it is considered sacrilegious to walk through the monastery in the opposite direction.

Return to Lhasa for lunch, after which you will take a guided tour of Norbulingka Palace, the summer residence built by the present Dalai Lama (the 14^th) in the 1950’s.  Visit his private quarters, his mother’s room, the assembly hall with wonderful murals of all 14 Dalai Lamas, and best of all, the Audience Chamber with its intricately painted murals laying out 301 scenes from the history of Tibet. Your guide will take you to the nearby, splendid new Tibetan Museum, where you will see excellent, modern exhibits which explain the life of the Tibetan nomads (including an early tent), and the Buddhist religion, and house many of their most precious art objects.  B/L/D Lhasa Hotel (4-star)

Your bus will take you across the barren, dusty countryside of the Tibetan plateau to tour a typical mud brick village (whitewashed each New Year’s day), to visit a home and to step into some of the classrooms of the school.

NOTE: We recommend that you bring some small presents for the children and/or the school – pens, pencils, colored pencils, crayons, pads of paper or small notebooks – school supplies, in general, are much needed and will be appreciated.

Your exploration of the Tibetan countryside will continue on to a park noted for its thermal springs and scenic beauty.  Here, eat a box lunch, brought from your hotel, and then spend a bit of time exploring the park.  Return to your hotel for dinner and an evening program of Tibetan music and dance.  B/L/D Lhasa Hotel (4-star)