My Lhasa Tour on Oct 25,2007
I took a stereotyped photo in front of the Potala Palace At 9:00am this morning, we started to visit Jokhang Temple. The temple is very close to our hotel. So we walked to the temple. To our big surprise, there were already a great number of local Tibetan people there. They either prayed with hands and knees touching the ground or walking around the Jokhang Temple. Walking around the Jokhang Temple is said that it can bring prosperity and peace to one's whole life. Most of them come from the remote villages or mountainous areas. They come here once a year. The Jokhang Temple was first built by King Songtsem Gampo (617 – 650). He was the 33rd king of Tibet. He was the leader of the Tubo (or Tibetan) Kingdom. He actively promoted Buddhism in Tibet. During his reign, Tibet achieved great progress in social innovation and realized the integration of Tibet for the first time. Before he built the Jokhang Temple, he had built the Little Jokhang Temple for one of his two wives -- Princess Wen Cheng who came from the Tang Dynasty. His another wife was Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal. Jealous of her, Princess Burikuti asked Gampo to construct a Jokhang for her as well. Therefore, in 647 the big temple was built. Later it was repaired and expanded many times in Ming ande Qing dynasties. After visiting the Jokhang Temple, we also walked around the temple along the famous Barkgor Street. The street is lined with huge numbers of shops selling various kinds of tourist stuff with Tibetan style - skybeads and much more. After lunch, we took a short time rest. Then we began our most exciting trip to the Potala Palace. It is located north of the middle section of Beijing Road. Actually Lhasa is not a big city. It is sandwiched by two mountains from north side and south side. The Lhasa river rides over the city. So most part of the city is located on the flat land between the mountains. The Potala Palace is built on the high land uplifting of the flat land. Like every tourist, I took a stereotyped photo in front of the Potala Palace. Still suffering from the lack of oxygen, we all found the palace climbing was a tough job! The palace is 115.703 meters high. We had to walked step by step to the top. The Potala Palace was built at the time of Songtsan Ganmpo in the 7th century. In the 17th century the 5th Dalai Lama extended the palace to its present size. At this time, it became Dalai Lama's living and working place. He first combined the Religion and the politics, unifying the Tibet to its greatest extent. The main construction is divided into two parts: red and white palaces. It include living quarters, temples, funerals supas and monk dormotories. The countless cultural relics in the palace are of priceless value! |
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