Tibet is also known as “The roof of the world”. And with all the mountains surrounding you, it also feels like that. We didn’t see any other tourists during our trip to Tibet and this made it an extra special experience for me.
Actually Tibet made an overwhelming impression on me in many ways: the colours, the phenomenal beauty of the landscapes, de altitude, the super friendly Tibetans. The culture and the penetrating smell of yak butter.
I visited Tibet (unfortunately) for only 4 days in 2006, but I’ve seen a lot of Lhasa and its surroundings. Here are my highlights for Tibet:
Yakbutter 
Don’t need a diaper 
We bought a walking stick for this couple
1. Debating monks in the Sera Monastery
The debating monks in the Sera monastery will complete your trip to Tibet. In this monastery the monks learn the art of debating. Every afternoon at about 3 pm the monks debate for half an hour. The whole garden is filled with monks who yell (politely) and clap their hands to emphasize their opinion. It’s really impressive when they clap to make their point clear to the others. That, combined with a garden full of monks in red robes and colourful prayer flags. You definitely can’t miss a visit to this fascinating and impressive spectacle.
Debating monks
Location:
Sera Monastery
Side street of Sela N Road, Lhasa, Tibet
2. Ganden Monastery
The Ganden Monastery is one of the earliest and largest Buddhist monasteries in Tibet and is also known as one of the ‘Three Great Temples’. The monastery is located on Wangbur Mountain, about 50 kilometres from Lhasa at an altitude of almost 4.000 meters above sea level! The air is very thin and cold, so it could make it a little hard to breathe.
The bus ride to the monastery on itself is definitely worth a trip by itself: stunning views at the Tibetan mountains, colourful prayer flags, yaks and very friendly and photogenic people.
Location:
Ganden Monastery
Dagzê District, Lhasa, Tibet
Meeting people in the bus 
Pilgrims on their way to the monastery 
Prayer flags everywhere 
Valley view from the Ganden Monastery
3. The Potala Palace
The Potala Palace is built at 3.700 meters and looks over the city of Lhasa. The Dalai Lama used the palace as his winter palace from 1649 until 1959, when the Chinese banned the Dalai Lama from Tibet. The Potala Palace is a museum ever since.The palace is divided in the Red and White Palaces. It was very impressive to walk through and around in this palace: it breathes history!
Vanaf een afstandje zie je hoe immens groot het Potala Paleis werkelijk is
Tip: Visit the Potala Palace when you’re used to the altitude. You’ll have to walk a lot of stairs to enter the palace and you can get altitude sickness because of the exercise.
Location:
Potala Palace
35 Central Beijing Road, Lhasa, Tibet, 850000
Potala Palace 
The stairs to enter the palace 
Prayer wheels 
Prayer coins for good luck 
View from the palace
4. Jokhang Temple and Jokhang Square
The Jokhang Square is the place to buy your colourful Tibetan prayer flags, in all shapes and sizes. Tibetan Buddhists are walking around at the square with their hand prayer wheels. The traditional Tibetan dress and hairstyle are something different, but beautiful. On the other hand, the Tibetans I met were fascinated by my blonde hair as well.
Usually you can find a lot of people laying on the floor and praying at the square in front of the Jokhang Temple. They crawl over the floor on their hands and feet, sometimes until their knees bleed; it’s so fascinating (yes, I know, this blog is full of the word “fascinating”, but that’s what it was!). You can see this scene even better from the roof of the beautiful Jokhang Temple, overlooking the square.
Tibetans consider the Jokhang Temple as the holiest and most important religious place. The oldest part of the temple is already built in 652. The Jokhang Temple and Potala Palace are both listed as UNESCO World Heritage.
Location:
Jokhang Temple and Square
Lhasa, Tibet, China, 850000
Waiting at the entrance 
The entrance 
At the roof of the temple 
Colourful pillars 
View at the square and the Potala Palace 
Detail of the temple 
The square from the Jokhang temple
5. Tour to Yamdrok Lake and Mount Kangbala
During my visit to Tibet we also wanted to see a bit more of Tibet then only Lhasa, so we chartered a minivan with a driver and English speaking guide for a day and drove through the beautiful Himalaya’s. The drive over the Southern Friendship Highway is breathtaking and with a private guide, you can stop wherever you’d like.
The Yamdrok Lake (or Yamdrok-tso) is partly located along the road to Nepal at about 100 kilometer from Lhasa. It’s one of the three largest holy lakes of Tibet. The Yamdrok Lake was very impressive to me. The lake is very peaceful and incredibly blue in the middle of the snowy mountains. It’s really worth it to make a (short) stop here and enjoy the gorgeous view.
At the Kangbala mountain pass you could also “climb” to the peak of Mount Kangbala at 4.490 meter!
Reached the top!
Locations:
Yamdrok Lake
Along the Southern Friendship Highway to Nepal (S 307)Mount Kangbala
Along the Southern Friendship Highway to Nepal (S 307)
Tingri County, Shigatse, ChinaWe chartered a private mini-van with a driver and English speaking guide for this tour.
Tibetans welcome their guests with a white prayer scarf
NB. In November 2006 I accompanied my mom on a KLM-flight to Chengdu (China) as this is one of the destinations she flies to as a flight attendant. On the plane some of the crew told us that they’d fly to Tibet the day we’d arrive in Chengdu. We just had to book a flight ticket and hotel room and to join them, so I didn’t have to arrange this part of the trip myself.
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