Barkhor Street

It is a flourishing street around Jokhang Temple. Along the street are stores which selling all kinds of light industry products and handicrafts made by local and Nepal makers.

It’s the best place for travelers to buy native products. It is also the main route for Buddhists to pray, it’s called Prayer Path, which means around the Jokhang Temple deasil to have a walk to pray for their afterlives and other things.

Potala Palace

The highest palace above sea level in the world. Built on top of the Red Hill of Lhasa in the seventh century and destroyed later.

It was rebuilt during the rule of the fifth Dalai Lama, repaired and extended later into what it is now.

The palace proper contains 13 floors and is 117.19meters high. And it is divided into The Red Palace and The White Palace. The former is composed of Dalai Lama’s saint Ashes Pagodas and various Rooms of Buddha, while the later is the place where Dalai Lama lives and works. Many precious antiques from ancient Tibet and other countries can be seen in the Potala Palace.

It is the largest museum of cultural relics in Tibet. It is a symbol of the wisdom and power of the Tibetan people and it is also listed as a world-class culture heritage by United Nations.

Baiju Monastery

Built in 1414 and located at the west side of Change mountain, Gyantse county, it is equally and separately dwelt by three religious sects: Sakya, Gedan and Gelu.

The main construction is Chuoqing hall; the Baiju Pagoda beside the monastery is marvelous. The pagoda is 32.5 meters high, with 9 floors, 108 doors and 77 Buddha rooms, the statues and sculptures in the pagoda are exquisite, succinct and life like, there’re 100,000 Buddha statues totally, so it’s called “Ten Myriad Pagoda”. The monastery is well regarded an art museum.

Xialu Monastery

Built in 1,000A.D, it is located 30km southwest of Xigaze. It is a unique construction with Tibetan and Han styles missed together.

Two monastery treasures are the classic inscription plank made of sandal wood and the holy water jar. The frescos in Xialu Monastery are abundant and beautiful, they are invaluable art treasures of Tibet.

Sakya Monastery

Being divided into the north part and the south part, it is located 160km west of Xigaze. The north part, built in 1079, is a ruin now, while the south part, built in 1268, embraces many historic and cultural relics, official documents, stamps, caps and costumes from the central government of Yuan Dynasty, and very precious frescos of historic subject from Song and Yuan Dynasties.

The book storage of Sakya Monastery is remarkable, there are not only religious classics inscribed with gold powdered ink, but also more than 10,000 books over geography, history, medicine and literature in Tibetan. Sakya Monastery, which is well－named “Tunhuang the second”, is quite well－know for its book storage, rich and valuable historic relics.

Zhaxi Lhunbo Monastery

Built by the presiding of the first Dalai Lama Gengduenjuba, the disciple of Tsongkhapa, in 1447, it is located at the foot of Nima Hill near Lhasa. The later fourth, fifth and sixth Panchan Lama extended it into the size of what it is now.

it’s the traditional seat of Panchan Lama. A 22.4 meters gilded copper statue of Amitabha Meitriya, the tallest in the world, is enshrined and worshiped in it. There are in the monastery halls of Panchans holy relics, the holy relic hall for the tenth Panchan Lama is completed in September 4, 1993.

Rezheng Temple

Established by TsongTunpa in 1057 and located in Lingzhou county, it’s the first and most important Temple of Gedan sect, as a branch of Buddhism, it spread all over Tibet rapidly.

The whole temple holds an area about 25mu, the main hall has three floors, the first floor is the big praying hall surrounded by several smaller ones. There are lots of Buddha’s status and Buddhism classics in it. Part of the temple was destroyed in 1951’s earthquake.

Chubu Temple

Built in 1187, it is located at the upstream of Chubu River, 60km to the west of Lhasa. The living Buddha Gemaba was granted the title of Great King of Buddhism by emperor Chengzhu of Ming Dynasty. It was the political, economical, religious and cultural center of Tibet at that time. Chubu Temple is the source of Living Buddha’s Rebirth, this theory about the religious faith has been influencing the whole Buddhism world of Tibet.

Sera Monastery

One of the most three great monasteries of Tibet. Built in 1419 and located at the north part of Lhasa, it was constructed by Sakyayishi, one of the Chongkhapa’s most well-know eight disciples. Twice, he went to Beijing to meet Ming emperor, he got a lot of presents from emperor MingChengzhu, and was granted the title of Buddhist King of Great Benevolence and silk－pictured by emperor Xuanzhong.

Sera Monastery was called ShaoLin Monastery of Tibet in the past, because it’s the monastery trained the bodyguards for nobles at that time.

Drepung Monastery

The largest monastery of the world and one of the most well－know Shamanism monasteries in china. Once there were over 10,000 monks lived in.

Built in 1416 and located at the foot of Mt. Ganpoi Uze northwest suburb 5km of Lhasa. The Sheldon Festival is the most important and hilariously of Drepung Monastery every year.

Thousands of Buddhists from everywhere Tibet arrive there to attend all kinds of programs the monastery hold. One of the holy programs is Unfolding Buddha, which means roll out the portrait of Sakyamuni on the slope in front of the monastery, the portrait was embroidered on a huge silk, about 1500 square meters. Before he moved to the Potala Palace, the 5th Dalai Lama lived here. The Drepung Monastery used to nourish a lot of scholars of Buddhism in Tibet.

Gedan Monastery

About 60km east－side Lhasa, built in the fifth century by the president Chongkhapa of Shamanism(one of the most important branch of Buddhism).

The main construction are Raky hall and Chiduokang, the former can contain over 3,000 monks to Buddhism Classics－reading in it at the same time. And the statues of Maitreya and Chongkhapa are both delicate and good handwork.

Ramqe Temple

Built in the middle of the seventh century, it is located at the north－side of Lhasa, burnt and rebuilt in succession. There are frescos and statues of Sakyamuni, Mozulji, Maitreya in the temple. Sakyamuni’s twelve－year－old life－sized gilded statue is in the main hall.

It’s said that when princess WhenCheng passed there, the carriage which hold the statue fell into the soil, after a short but deep thinking, princess WhenCheng decided to leave it there. And the Temple was built later.

Jokhang Temple

Built in 647A.D and located in the center of Lhasa, it is one of the earliest constructions in Tibet, its roof is covered with gold, making much of a sight.

There are various statues of Buddha, in the central hall on the first floor, there is a gold sitting statue of a 12-year old Sakyamuni, brought in by Princess Wencheng. It is one of the most precious antiques in Tibet. A large number of precious walls along lobbies and inner temples are covered with legendary frescos.

The Tang Willow(The willow trees beside the Tablet, called “Princess Willow”, is said to be planted personally by Princess Wencheng and the Tubo King Songtsan Gambo.) and the TangPo Unite Tablet(constructed for the confederacy between Tang dynasty and Tupo Kingdom) are still in front of the temple.

The special structure style of Jokhang Temple is the symbolization of Buddhistic thought. The west toward gate means the final pure area of human is in the west(in China, most of temples’ main bodies or gates faces to west, only a few faces to south), the brilliant center of the temple stands for the core of the universe, and so on.

Aftershocks felt in quake-hit eastern Tibet

Forty-five aftershocks were felt in Tuoba Township in Qamdo Prefecture of eastern Tibet Autonomous Region after an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale jolted the region on Monday night.

The earthquakes affected seven townships in Qamdo. As of 2:00 a.m. Tuesday, 13 aftershocks measuring above 2.0 on the Richter scale had been felt.

In Kangba village of Tuoba, several walls of houses cracked and a few basic residential structures collapsed, but no casualties have been reported.

The quake's epicenter, at 31.5 degrees north latitude and 97.8 degrees east longitude, occurred at 7:59 p.m. (Beijing Time) on Monday, China's Seismological Monitoring Network said.

Tibet harvests recorded tourism income in May Day

Two foreign tourists pass by the Jokhang Temple Square
Tourists are visiting the Potala Palace

During the May Day golden week, Tibet has received 339,695 tourists with an increase of 32.6 per cent and the tourism income amounts to 135.56 million yuan (16.95 million USD), up by 31 per cent.

Explorative tour increases Tibetans' income

The Tibetan guy, Pasang is bargaining with some foreign tourists in English for hiring the carriage at a tourist-inhabitated place, 4 kilometers away from the 5,200-meter Qomolangma Base Camp. Finally, the two foreign tourists hire Pasang's carriage with 50 yuan (about 6.25 US dollars) to go to the Qomolangma Base Camp.

Pasang says that he can earn more than 100 yuan (about 12.5 US dollars) by transporting tourists to the Qomolangma Base Camp 4 times every day as it is the best time for climing the Qomolangma.

In Tashizong Village of Tingri County at the foot of the Qomolangma, there are hundreds of farmers and herders dealing with offering service to tourists and expeditioners. They run Tibetan characteristic family hotels, sell travel souvenirs and transport material for the climbers. It is the main method for them to gain cash income.

The Tashizong Village is the nearest village to the Qomolangma and locals are mainly engaged in agriculture and stock raising industry. Since 2,000, lots of travellers flock to Tashizong Village in spring and autumn for further journey to the Qomolangma. More and more locals understand that the Qomolangma will help them earn money.

Samdrup, a liaison officer of the Qomolangma Base Camp says that since the end of this March, over 500 locals and 1,000 yaks have participated in transporting service for the coming tourists with a total income of 500,000 yuan (about 62,500 US dollars).

Every mountaineering season, local farmers and herders gather near the Qomolangma Base Camp to serve the coming mountaineers and tourists until end of May. In all, Tashizong villagers have earned about 3 million yuan (about 0.375 million US dollars) by offering service to the explorative tourists and mountaineers.

Busy spring plowing in Tibet

Farmers from Tingri County of Tibet are planting Qingke
Farmers from Namling County of Tibet is planting Qingke

Xigaze Prefecture of southern Tibet has entered the spring plowing period and local farmers are busy with crops planting.

Nagri

The ridge of Tibet. There are a great many scenic spots and cultural relics, some of them are the holy mountain Gangrinboque, lakes like Mapang Yumco, grassland, the Ruins of the Guge Kingdom, the Clay Forest in Zada, and Toding Monastery. Burang county, borders Nepal and India, it has become the international market of Tibet. All kinds of handicrafts from Nepal, India and local Tibetan areas can be purchased there.

Nyingchi

It is called thetzerland of Tibet for a mild climate, rich bottomland, lush natural vegetation and many species of trees, etc. It is located at the lower reaches of Yalung Zangbo River.

The average height is about 3,000 meters above sea level, the lowest area is only 900 meters. It’s famous for the deepest grand canyon of the world. It is a beautiful natural area for sightseeing.

Qudi

It’s famous for the wide grassland Qiang Tang, one of the five biggest grasslands of China. The average height of the grassland is about 4,500 meters above sea level, so the local people call it Qiang Tang.

Qiang Tang means the northern highland. Qudi means Black River in Tibetan, there are many natural scenes and cultural heritages, like the Heavenly Lake Namco, Nianking Tanggula Holy Mountain, the ruins of Xiangxiong, the cave frescos in Dangxiong, KulouQiang(the Wall constructed with hundreds of skulls). It’s also the fairyland for wild life.

Tibet antelopes are the most precious. The western part Qiang Tang is called “no-man land” and spreads about 200,000sk.km, The average elevation is over 5,000 meters above sea level. It’s considered the forbidden zone of life and is regarded as the purest area of Tibet as it is without human footprint. There are over 370 lakes in the western part of Qiang Tang, thousands of water birds live there. Some of them came from the Mediterranean.

Shannan

How was this colorful civilization constructed by Tibetans on a plateau over 4,000 meters above sea level? The answer can be found only after researching around Shannan.

It is here where the elevation of the highest river of the world Yarlung Zangbo, passes by. This is the cradle of the Tibetan civilization.

A fable has been told around the plateau for thousands of years, the fable is that the macaque is the ancestor of human beings. This idea about the origins of human life was spread from Zedang(the capital of Shannan), over the plateau.

Zedang means “the playground of the macaques” in Tibetan. In Shannan there’re many architectural ruins from ancient times. Yongbu Lakhang is the oldest palace in Tibet, it’s constructed on a hill, which looks like a female deer. Hence the name Yongbu Lakhang, which means “the palace on the leg of a doe”.

This structure and location of the palace influenced the later ones. All buildings, such as temples and palaces were constructed on a hill and have a similar style. Samye Monastery, Changzhu Temple, Tombs of Tibetan Kings, Yamdrok Yamtso Lake, Sunding Monastery(it’s the seat of the only female Living Buddha Dodge Pamu of Tibet), Changkhor Gou Cultural Heritage etc are also quite famous.

Xigaze

One of the most colorful areas in Tibet with spreading grassland, rich bottomland, subtropical forests and glacial plateau, etc. There’re five peaks which are over 8,000 meters above sea level, in this county, so famous for mountain climbing.

Thousands of travelers, most of them are experienced climbers, come from every corner of the world to see and climb these beautiful mountains per year.

Xigaze is also a city with long history and flourishing culture, it’s the seat of the Panchan Lama. Just as in other counties, there’re many religious seats, some of them here are Baiju Monastery, Zhaxi Lhunbo Monastery, Xialu Monastery, Sakya Monastery. “Xiga” means manor in Tibetan, once there was a palace, which was called Potala.

It was the second one built on the Jiong Mountain where the center of the manor. It’s said that when the seignior of Xigaze heard Potala Palace was quite grand, he decided to build a similar palace immediately. But there was no blueprint of the Potala palace.

A craftsman, after visiting the palace, made a model of it with a big radish. Subsequently, a palace was built using the radish as the model. The result did not seem as grand as the Potala Palace. The radish had dried out and shrunk after the long journey and the palace built using it as a model, was a great disappointment. It’s just a joke, but the ruins of the palace are still there today.

Lhasa

The capital of Tibet. “Lhasa” means the land of Gods in Tibetan, so we can image it’s the center of Buddhism. In fact, 100 percent of Tibetans are Buddhists.

As the center of religion in Tibet have many religious buildings. Some of them are Jorkhang Temple, Ramqe Temple, Norbu Lingka, Gedan Monastery, Sera Monastery, Drepung Monastery and Potala Palace, etc.

One thousand of visitors have one thousand ideas about Lhasa, The details of local culture are so rich and colorful, and somewhat mysterious that ones imagination runs wild. As a visitor, you must realize you are standing on “the ridge of the world”, and close to the holy land, because it is so near to the sky.

Around the foot of Potala Palace, there are thousands of houses built in the local style, at the top of every house, there’re always flapping some small burgees(“Jingfan” ), the colors of them are blue, white, red, green and yellow, the colors are in vertical stripes. blue means sky、white means clouds、red means fire、green stands for rivers and yellow, the earth.

In the Tibetan mind, everything has a spirit; from a mountain to a rock, Buddha exists everywhere. So, in Lhasa and other areas of Tibet, you will notice that a lot of natural objects, like rocks, trees are marked with special signs, and the Tibetan people walk around them from right to left when they pass.

Potala Palace at Night

So beautiful and holy.

Lhasa overpass opens on eve of tourist boom

Panorama of the Liuwu Bridge
Part of the Liuwu Bridge

A major bridge, more than a kilometer-and-half long, opened to traffic here on Monday, just in time for May Day holiday week when Lhasa expects an influx of tourists.

With an investment of 450 million yuan (about 58 million U.S. dollars), the urban overpass is comprised of a northern and southern bridge.

The Liuwu Bridge is 1,660 meters long and 29 meters wide. It spans the Lhasa River and links this plateau city with the Lhasa railway station, terminus of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
The opening of the bridge has cut travel time from downtown Lhasa to its railway station from half-an-hour to 10 minutes.

Tourism officials say they are expecting 200,000 visitors during the May Day Golden Week.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway began operating last July, and there are plans to extend it to Xigaze, the second largest city in Tibet, 277 kilometers southwest of Lhasa.
The region will also start building its fourth airport in Ngari. There are now airports in Lhasa, Qamdo, and Nyingch.

Statistics from the regional tourism bureau show Tibet received 110,000 visitors in the first quarter this year, up 15.8 percent year-on-year. It expects to receive more than 3 million tourists this year.

Ordered passenger transport on Qinghai-Tibet Railway

A passenger is for ticket examing at Xining Railway Station

Qinghai-Tibet Railway embraces its first May Day holiday since its operation on July 1, 2007. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corporation increases wickets and service establishment to ensure the ordered passenger transport for the Tibetan railway.

Manpower trike popular in Tibet

A manpower trike carring passengers passes by the Potala Palace
Manpower trikes in Lhasa street,

During the May Day holiday, many tourists choose the manpower trike in Lhasa street. There are over 800 manpower trikes in Lhasa and each trike is busy with a daily passenger transport amount of about 100 person-time in May Day Golden Week.

Can I use Credit Card in Lhasa?

It is not so easy to use credit card in Lhasa as in other big cities in China. You can only use credit card in a few top class hotels like Lhasa Hotel and Tibet Hotel; and in a few tourist shops. You can not withdraw cash from any bank in Lhasa, but you can withdraw cash in RMB from a few ATM machines - but please remember, you can only withdraw not more than RMB2000, and you can only do it once a day!