Tibet - After Thought

Tibet provides combination of unique culture and nature unlike any other place. The experience is worth all the suffering from altitude sickness for me.

Our trip covered Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Street, Norbulingka, Drak Yerpa, Sera Monastery, and Namtso Lake over 3 days, with one day to acclimatize. Overall, I think the pace was just right, other then the short stay at Potala.

Potala, Johkang, and Barkhor are in short distance within each other in Lhasa city, and therefore are must visit for first time visitors. The scenery along the route to Namtso Lake and the lake itself was well worth the travel time. But there's not much activity at the lake other than enjoying the view, picture taking, and yak riding - no water activity.

Norbulingka and Sera Monastery are also within the city. I enjoyed visiting Norbulingka in a sunny afternoon. Although I did not get to see the inside of Sera Monastery, I think I probably would rank it below the aforementioned spots as we saw so many religious treasures already prior to visiting the monastery.

Drak Yerpa would be interesting for visitors who are well versed with Tibetan Buddhism as many important figures mediated there.

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For all non PRC citizens, Tibet entry permit is required, including residents of HK, Macao, and Taiwan. The agency of my guide obtained the permits for all of us prior to our arrival to Lhasa. The permit for Levi and her parents, who had PRC visa was straightforward and were taken care of well advance of us arriving in Beijing. As I hold a PRC travel document, my permit was not ironed out until we arrived in Beijing.

The permit was required not at airport, but when we registered at the hotel. I don't know how that applies to visitors who camps - or maybe even the camp sites require registration.



Hotel

We stayed at House of Shambala. At about USD$70 a night, it was above average cost wise. There was no additional tax or service charge, so what you see is what you pay.

The rooms were adequate, though like most hotels in China, the bed was on the hard side. Our room was by the street and was noisy during the day. The inside room not facing the street are likely quieter.

The staffs were friendly and helpful. There was no elevator, so ask the staff to help carrying the luggage, especially if you just arrived at Lhasa. Take advise from me who had hard time with altitude sickness. The staffs were more than happy to help with the luggages.

There was a computer with internet connection free for guests at the hotel counter. There was a restaurant on the 3rd floor. The food was decent, though on the expensive side relatively as one would expect. Hot water helped in combating altitude sickness, we were provided hot water in thermo everyday.

There was electrical problem in our loom on the last night of our stay. We got candle from the hotel, although I did not feel safe lighting candle with a lot of wood furnitures around.

Shambala Hotel is near by, but related to House of Shambala. Shambala hotel has more rooms and appear to be more well known. We also saw Yak Hotel which is around the corner from our hotel on the west side of the town.

Food

The Tibetan food we tried was influenced by Indian food. We did not try the barley/diary food as it was a little bit out of our comfort zone. There were also plenty of Chinese (Han) food in Lhasa. Sichuan cuisines were all over the place, although most of them did not seem to have English speaking capability.

A few blocks west of Potala Palace, YuBaoZi on Beijing road serves small Chinese dishes and bun, and is open 24 hours. The cost was about 8-15RMB per person. The bao-zi (bun) is cheap and decent.

Lhasa Kitchen by Jokhang Temple is English friendly though we did not like the food too much. It serves Tibetan, Nepalese, Indian, and Chinese food. The cost was about 20RMB per person.

Like Lhasa Kitchen, the restaurant in House of Shambala serves Tibetan, Nepalese, Indian, and Chinese food. We liked it but it was on the expensive side, averaging about 40RMB per person. We liked the vegetable tika with rice and samosa.

We did not see western fast food in Lhasa. There was a Chinese fried chicken franchise next to Jokhang temple, we did not try that.



Thoughts

There was feeling of subtle tension. There is a saying "If one is in trouble for murder, money would take care of it. If one is in trouble for politics, nothing would save him." So for the sake of everyone, especially the locals in contact with visitors, avoid stirring the political tension.

The scenery is unparalleled and the religious treasures are invaluable. Lhasa was definitely the highlight of our China trip.

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