Saturday October 11
The breakfast at the Shangri-La Hotel was huge with Asian and Western food. There were 3 love birds and 1 blue parakeet in a cage just outside the entry. (they moved them to a different place each day near the buffet entrance) Only a couple of people spoke even simple English other than hello throughout our visit in Tibet.
Our guide switched our two days in Lhasa since
the monks at Sera Monastery don’t debate on Sunday. Plus, doing Potala Palace with the numerous steps made more sense after we had acclimated to the elevation.
Our first stop was Norbulingka which means "Jeweled Garden". It was constructed as a summer palace for the Dalai Lama, and it later served the whole government administration. It was built by the 7th Dalai Lama and served both administrative and religious purposes.
Our guide was a monk for some time and knew many of the monks we encountered throughout our visit in Tibet.
Drepung Monastery was our next stop. It lies west of Lhasa under Mt. Gambo Utse and used to be the living palace of Dalai Lamas before the reconstruction of Potala palace (after the 5th Dalai Lama) was bestowed by Qing emperor Qianlong.
The walk past the thangka-like murals painted on big rocks on the "back hill" were interesting.
Lunch was good but my meal came after everyone else had finished. It seemed that they cooked one dish at a time and brought them as they finished. Greg ordered yak chili but got chicken. I felt bad for Cathy as her chicken fried rice came with 2 different finely diced hot chilies so not as expected. Greg and I enjoyed ours.
This morning was cool but after lunch layers got peeled off.
Our last stop was for Sera Monastery which is located in the northern suburbs of Lhasa and is a complex of four structures: the Great Assembly Hall and three colleges. It was founded in 1419 by Jamchen Choje (1355–1435), a disciple of Tsongkhapa. Sera means ‘wild roses’, and the monastery was called this because it was surrounded by wild roses. One of the three main monasteries of Lhasa, it is where the monks’ "famous daily debates" take place in the afternoon, debating over age-old scriptures in a courtyard of Sera Monastery.
Watching the monks debate was a treat, though I wonder if it was choreographed instead of actual debating. I took some video as it is very vocal with loud snaps, cracks and debating but I pushed the wrong button on my phone, and it didn't record.
Our guide told us he had a group at Base Camp two days ago which was great news for us. We were concerned it was closed due to the snowfall that trapped about 900 or so on the mountain and it was closed even to tourists. Everyone was rescued but I think only 1 died
We returned to the hotel, and we finally found someone who could tell us how to get to the roof for the view of the palace. We saw people up there from the viewing spot off the bar but couldn't find the elevator to get there.
Since we figured there had to be a
place in the hotel that served the same food as the room service menu, we went
in search of what the bar had to offer since that was the only other place left. Yay, we found the same menu! Dinner was at the bar since
we wanted to eat light after our huge lunch and the other alternative was the huge buffet or the Asian Restaurant that served huge portions.
Tomorrow, we have another full day of touring sites around Lhasa including Potala Palace.
Photo album: Norbulingka, Drepung Monastery & Sara Monastery - Lhasa, Tibet https://photos.app.goo.gl/656wU62yHst9EymTA
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