Lhasa

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Lhasa (??) is the capital of the Tibet autonomous region in China. It is located at 3650 meters above sea level on the northern slopes of the Himalayas.

Table of contents
	lhasa Travel Guide : 1 Understand 2 Talk 3 Get in 4 Get around 5 See 6 Do 7 Eat 8 Drink 9 Sleep 9.1 Budget 9.2 Mid range 9.3 Splurge 10 Stay safe 11 Get out 12 Respect

Understand

Lhasa is the heart of Tibet, a one of a kind city, a must see. There are plenty of resources for tourists, good hotels and hostels, restaurants, travel agents, and traveler cafes for exchanging the latest info, advice and rumours. In parts you might think you are in Kathmandu, the backpacker scene is so evident.

Talk

Get in

It is possible to visit Lhasa on 3-5 day tours from Kathmandu, Nepal, but there have been reports of tours that do not allow enough time for visitors to adjust to the dramatic altitude change resulting in some travelers sufferring altitude sickness being left off along the way (without any refund, of course).

Chinese Standard Time (Beijing) is used in Tibet, which is 8 hours ahead (+) of GMT and 2 hours 15 minutes ahead of Nepal.

Get around

See

• The Jokhang Temple Monastery - The oldest part of Jokhang dates from the 7th century AD. It was one of the two temples built by King Songtsen ( Srongtsan) Gampo to house the statues of Buddha that his two foreign wives brought to Tibet from China and Nepal. The innermost shrine of the Jokhang contains the oldest and most precious object in Tibet, the original statue of Shakyamuni (the historical Buddha), which Princess Wen Cheng brought from Chang?an over 1300 years ago.
• The Potala Palace - A stronghold probably existed on Red Hill as early as the 7th century AD when King Songtsen Gampo built a fortress on it for his two foreign wives. The present Potala was built mainly in the Fifth Dalai Lama?s reign, between 1645 and 1693. It became winter palace in 1755 when the Seventh Dalai Lama made the Norbulinka into a summer residence. With over 1 000 rooms, the Potala contained the living quarters of the Dalai Lamas while they lived, and their sumptuous golden tombs when they died.
• The Norbulingka Summer Palace - The Seventh Dalai Lama put up the first summer palace in 1755 and each successive ruler added his own buildings. Norbulingka is now undergoing complete restoration.

The Potala was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994, the Jokhang Temple Monastery in 2000 and the Norbulingka Summer Palace in 2001.

• The Barkhor Street market
• Drepung Monastery was founded in 1416 by a disciple of Tsong Khapa, was the biggest and richest monastery in Tibet and its lamas helped to train each new young Dalai Lama. Drepung was also home to the Nechung, the state oracle. At its height, Drepung had over 10 000 monks, and governed 700 subsidiary monasteries and owned vast estates. Drepung belongs to the Gelupa sect.
• Sera Monastery was founded in 1419 by one of Tsong Khapa?s (the founder of the Gelupa sect) eight disciples. It became famous for its tantric teachings, while Drepung drew fame from its governing role. Sera was smaller than Drepung, with 7,000 monks, but was very rich and comparable in power. The monks of Sera were considered clever and dangerous.

Do

Eat

A lot of nice and comfortable restaurants can be found in Lhasa old district. Most of them are located near the Jokhang Temple along Beijing Zhong Lu (or called Beijing Road Middle) and its tributary road Zang Yiyuan Lu (or called Tibetan Hospital Road). Some of them serve western food, Nepali and Indian food. Examples are Snowland Restaurant, Lhasa Kitchen, Naga French Restaurant, Tashi Restaurant. Each meal can be as cheap as USD$3 per person (price at 2005 October). On the southeast corner of Barkhor Street, there is a well-known Tibetant restaurant among backpackers -- Makye Ame - means beautiful woman. Sitting at this second-floor restaurant gives you an amazing view, especially at sunset, of the part of the Bakhor Street which is full of pilgrams moving in clockwise direction.

For Chinese restaurants, though usually poorly-decorated, meals are far more cheaper. One beef noodle can be as cheap as USD$0.7! Most of the Chinese restaruants, however, serve Sichuan's spicy cuisine. In recently years, a lot of Chinese, most of them from Sichuan and Shannxi provinces, moved to Lhasa for business.

Apart from eating at restaurants, you can buy food or snacks in two big supermarkets at Beijing Zhong Lu near Beijing Dong Lu (Beijing Road East). One is called Hong Yan Supermarket, another Le Ba Long Supermarket which is on the second floor of a shopping mall. Both supermarkets are good places to refill your rucksack.

Drink

Tibetan butter tea is a must try, though it may not be a pleasant experience! It is salty, a mixture of tea and Tibetan butter. Traditionally it is mixed by hands with a thick rod in a long upright wooden container. However, with the electricity came to the town in recent years, modernized Tibetans turn to use electric mixers to make their butter tea!

Another option other than Tibetan tea is sweet tea which is more tasty. Sweet tea was orignated from Tibetan nobles in the old days who learned from English counterparts' milk tea.

'Chang'- Tibetan beer made of barley, lighter flavor than a normal beer.

Sleep

Budget

Mid range

Splurge

Stay safe

Lhasa is at 3650 meters, about 11,000 feet above sea level, so there is considerable risk of altitude sickness, especially if you fly in from a much lower altitude so your body does not have time to acclimatise. This is a serious concern; altitude sickness can easily ruin a holiday and can even be fatal.

See the Wiktravel topic altitude sickness.

Get out

• Samye Monastery was constructed in 779AD under the patronage of King Trisong Detsen and overseen by Santarakshita and Padmasambhava, two prominent Buddhist teachers from India. It was the first Buddhist Monastery established in Tibet and as such remains one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the region. Samye is located in Dranang, 150 kms south-east of Lhasa.

Respect

• Do not wear a hat inside the Jokhang, Potala or other sacred sites.
• Circumambulate stupas and other sacred objects in a clock-wise direction.
• Do not climb onto statues, mani stones or other sacred objects.

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