Oct 14, 2014, Tuesday - Lhasa

This is our first full day of sightseeing in Lhasa.  A lot of westerners in Lhasa, not so many in Tsedang.  Lots of use of the horns when driving, mostly "watch out" to other cars or pedrestrians when passing.  

The first stop was the Norbulinka Palace, summer home of the Dalai Llamas, and several associated buildings.  The Palace is a World Heritage Site.

Lake Central Palace at the Norbulinka Palace Complex

From there we walked across to the Tibetan History Museum that had displays from the Paleolithic era to today.

Tibetan History Museum

 

Paul sitting on a rock ball.  Waiting for our ride.

After lunch we went to the Sera Monastery.  At its peak it housed over 2000 monks.  Today there are about 400.  During the tour we saw a couple of Mandalas, beautiful sand paintings (yes, this picture is made with carefully placed colored sand).

Potala from Sera

 
The highlight of the visit was watching and listening to the monks “debate”.  As it was described it appears to be a method for reinforcing teaching.  Generally it was one monk discussing a topic with one to three other monks.  It was very noisy and very animated. 

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This evening we walked down to the plaza in front of Potala Palace.  There was a music, light and fountain show going on in the plaza with the palace in the background.  It made for some very interesting picture taking. 

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