Barkhor Street

Barkhor Street is a street that shows the Tibetan customs. Here you can feel the customs of the Tibetan area, and it is mainly surrounded by shops and restaurants around the Jokhang Temple and the places where you can manage all kinds of small objects. Here what you will feel more is the devout worship of the Tibetans, and the shops on both sides are for sale the decorations that feature a variety of Tibetan style. Walking in a clockwise direction, you will find several exits that can be reached in different directions to the city of Lhasa. The transportation in all directions makes the Barkhor Street the busiest and bustling street.

There are some seats placed on both sides of the street. When you are tired, you can take a break. Especially during the Chinese New Year, there are more Tibetans who come to kowtow to pray. These seats really help a lot of people. You will feel happy when you see them kowtowing happily there.

On the back of the Jokhang Temple, there is the most famous Makye Ame. The legend about the beauty of the Sixth Dalai Cangyang Gyatso attracts many diners. It is not necessarily for eating, but for an atmosphere, even if standing in the restaurant on the second floor, you can imagine how Cangyang Gyatso at that time came out of the palace and went to drink alcohol for a date.

Of course, here you can also buy some favorite Tibetan style ornaments, turquoise, Nanjiang carnelian, Dzi Beads, etc., all of ornaments showing the beauty of Tibet can be almost found here, if you have patience, you can have a good chat with the owner, and the price will be very acceptable too.

At night, the wind sound of the Barkhor Street is very loud, the people there are very quiet, the best order is in the city of Lhasa, and what left there are peace and tranquility.

Jokhang Temple

The Jokhang Temple, in Tibetan language is called “Jingkang”, and it is the end of the pilgrimage of Tibetan Buddhist believers. The sacredness of the Jokhang Temple is not inferior to the Potala Palace.

It was built by Srongtsen Gampo in commemoration of the Princess of the Chizun. It is often said that “there is Jokhang Temple first, then followed by Lhasa City.”

Lhasa has three circumambulations: internal, middle and external meridians, all centered around the Jokhang Temple. Every day, saints come here to turn scripture. The biggest highlight of the Jokhang Temple is the 12-year-old statue of Sakyamuni when Princess Wencheng entered the country. The reason why Lhasa is called “Holy Land” is related to this Buddha image. Also don’t forget to board the third-floor platform, which is a good place to look at the Potala Palace and overlook the Jokhang Temple Square.

Official phone number of the Jokhang Temple: 0891-6323129

Time reference for visiting: 1-3 hours

Transportation to the Jokhang Temple: Take the 9, 10, 11 ring line, No.12, 15, 17, 18, 19 and other buses to the city maternal and child health care station to get off; take the No.23, 25, 28, 29 and other buses to the Cuomeilin station to get off; or walk up from Barkhor Street.

Tickets: Ordinary ticket: 85 RMB (from Monday – Sunday during January 1st – December 31st)

Tips: The photography permission in the hall is 90 yuan / piece (some halls don’t allow photography in the temple).

Opening hours: 07:00-17:30 (from Monday – Sunday during January 1st – December 31st)

Tips: 07:00-11:30 is mainly open to believers, it does not accept teams of more than 10 people; and it is open to tourists from 11:30-17:30.

Special Note:

Every afternoon, there will be a lama debate on the second floor of the Jokhang Temple. On the second-floor terrace of the Jokhang Temple, you can see the Potala Palace from afar. The annual Ganoderma Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the Tibetan calendar and the Lucky Heavenly Mother’s Day on the 15th of the Tibetan calendar are the liveliest times of the Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Street. Don’t miss it.

Drepung Monastery

Drepung Monastery is the largest and highest-ranking temple in the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism and the largest temple in the world. The white buildings are covered with hillsides, and looking from the distance, it is like a huge pile of rice. There are some well-known buildings in the temple, including “Gandanpozhang”, “Cuoqin Hall”, and the four “Zhacang” and the affiliated Kangcun. In addition, the “Tibet’s Largest Kitchen” next to the Cuoqin Hall served as a task for more than 10,000 monks to cook and make tea during their heyday. What you can’t miss in the Drepung Monastery is a large-scale debate ceremony every afternoon. The squatting people are in groups of two, one sits on the ground, the other stands on the opposite side, and the verses are debated in exaggerated movements. The scene is very interesting. Every year at the Sho Dun Festival, Drepung Monastery holds the largest buddha ritual in the Tibetan area, displaying a giant Buddha image Thangka on the hillside, attracting a large number of believers and tourists to pray, whose scene is very spectacular.

Official phone number of the Drepung Monastery: 0891-6860011

Time reference for visiting: 1-3 hours

Transportation to the Drepung Monastery: Take bus No.24 and No.25 to the Drepung Monastery Station, then take a hike along Dangba Road for half an hour. Sometimes there are tractors carrying tourists up the mountain, which costs 1 yuan/person, otherwise you have to walk up the mountain.

Tickets: Ordinary ticket: 50 RMB (from Monday – Sunday during January 1st – December 31st)

Opening hours: 09:00-16:00 (from Monday – Sunday during January 1st – December 31st)

Tips: The debate begins at 14:30, and most of the temples in the afternoon are closed.

If there is enough time, everyone can experience the debates of Tibetan monks. Although you maybe don’t understand, and they look a bit like quarrels, it is interesting. Except for Drepung Monastery, you can also see the debate at Tashilhunpo monastery. No photos are allowed in all the temples, but many stories about Tibetan Buddhism you hear along your trip there are the biggest gains, and you can see many Tibetans coming to worship, with no malicious evaluation.

Norbulingka

Norbulingka is on the edge of the Tibet Museum. It is known as the summer palace of Lhasa, and it is the residence of the Dalai Lama. In the summer, the plants are flourishing and the Norbulingka is beautiful. The colors are very good. Outside of Norbulingka it is a park where local citizens can relax and enjoy the sun lazily.

It is open from 9:00-18:00 during Monday-Saturday, basically you cannot buy tickets after 17:00 o’clock. There are many people who come for a walk and rest. The monks who talk in the sunshine are different from the serious ones you have seen in other temples. They also love to laugh in life. You can see the contentment of life from their faces. The old people who have tea enjoy every moment there. You will feel that time has slowed down, like the sunset that arrives at 8 o’clock in the evening.

There are a lot of vegetation in the garden, and there are lush forests on both sides of the road. The discomfort caused by lack of oxygen at your first time to the plateau is completely dissipated here. It is a very good choice for your first time to Tibet. It is strongly recommended that anyone who has just arrived in Lhasa does not adapt to the weather there take your visit to the Norbulingka and prepare for the next trip.

The Norbulingka is composed of several groups of palaces. It is called Zhangpo, and there are several monks in each temple who are chanting. The environment is quiet, and the Buddha statue is filled with the taste of Tibetan incense. One of the palaces is magnificent, and the wall about four meters high extends forward, and the entire wall glitters like gold.

When you come to Norbulingka, you will know that the Snowdon Festival is a very important festival in the hearts of Tibetans. Men, women and children sing and laugh, and dance. Everyone looks so happy there.

Sera Monastery

The debate of Sera Monastery is very famous. The Debate Garden is at the northern end of the main entrance. The time for debate is generally from 15:00, and you can watch it at will. The martial arts work is fixed every Monday to Friday afternoon and is open to visitors. What is more formal than the usual debates are the regular seminars, which are held by the monks to discuss and even debate the Dharma. The daily debate is an auxiliary method for the lamas to understand the meaning of the righteousness and improve their cultivation.

When you go to the Sera Monastery to see the debate. Listening is incomprehensible, it can only be seen; if you can’t understand it, you can only regard it as a lively show. The monk is either serious or relaxed, or contemplative or smiling, or eloquent or refuted, making a scene of enthusiasm. You may think that if all the colleges had such a strong academic atmosphere, there would not be so many people who had lost their lives.

In addition to the debate, the architecture in Sera Monastery is also very distinctive. As one of the three major temples, Sera Monastery is also very famous in Tibetan temples. Visitors will come here to watch the debate that begins at 15:00 pm every day.

You need to a climb 200-meters slope after entering into the gate of Sera Monastery. In the middle it is the main road, the temples are on the sides, and the older murals are preserved in many halls of the Sera Monastery. In addition, the celestial burial platform in Lhasa is on the hill behind the Sera Monastery. After 16:00 o’clock in the afternoon, Sera Monastery will close some halls, so it is necessary to go there earlier if you like to visit them. If you are not afraid of feeling tired, you can climb to the back of the Sera Monastery, where you can take a panoramic view of Lhasa. You will feel it memorable if you make your Tibetan tour to the Sera Monastery.

The Potala Palace

For most of people who take a tour to Tibet, the Potala Palace is their top 1 choice there.

It is the highest and most majestic palace in the world, and it is the most important symbol of Lhasa and even Tibet. It was built by the Tubo dynasty, Zanpu Songzan in order to marry the Princess of Wencheng and Princess Bhrikuti. Over the past 1300, there have been nine Tibetan kings and 10 Dalai Lama who have been here for administration.

“Potala” is Sanskrit and translated as “Putuo”. It originally refers to the residence of the Goddess of Mercy. The Potala Palace is also a holy place in the hearts of all pilgrims. It is mainly composed of the Red Palace and the White Palace. The highest red palace in the middle is an important place for religious ceremonies. The surrounding White Palace is place mainly for the Dalai Lama’s life and political activities.

There are a large collection of historical relics collected and preserved in the Potala Palace, including pagodas, statues, murals, Thangka, and scriptures. The most striking of them is the eight spiritual towers of the Dalai Lama since the Fifth World (the Sixth Dalai Lai Cangyang Gyatso has no spiritual tower), which is a palace of art. There are three locations for taking the photos of the Potala Palace: the Yaowangshan Observation Deck on the southwest side of the Potala Palace, the artificial lakeside on the Zongjiao Lukang Park, and the Potala Palace Square.

Official telephone number of the Potala Palace: 0891-6339615;

Referred time needed: 1-3 hours;

How to go to the Potala Palace:

Take the No. 8 bus and get off at the Yaowangshan Farmers Market Station; if you are departing from Beijing East Road, you can walk to it.

Ticket:

Ordinary ticket: 200 RMB (Monday to Sunday during May 1st – October 31st)

Ordinary ticket: 100 RMB (Monday to Sunday during November 1st – April 30th of the following year)

Free of charge: children under 1.2 meters.

Open time:

09:00 a.m. – 14:00 p.m. (Monday to Sunday during January 1st – December 31st.

Tickets for the Potala Palace during the peak season are difficult to buy, and time does not allow you to queue up to buy tickets overnight if you are in a hurry. So, you can book tickets and guides for the Potala Palace online in advance. The whole process will be very satisfactory and the time is reasonable. The tour guide is also very good, but the history of Tibet is not something you can learn by visiting the Potala Palace as you need to learn slowly. Anyway, Potala Palace is surely a great place for you to take a visit.