More noise. Even less sleep ! We are both zombies today. We walked again to Potola Palace in the rain but the weather started to clear a little as we had our water confiscated at security (guess they only allow holy water). The main complex in Potola is quite a climb up but the views of the city and surrounding mountains are fantastic. We toured around the buildings, chapels, audience chambers and past one of the Dali Lama’s private bathrooms (complete with bathtub and prayer flag wrapped western toilet – it’s very good to be the king). The Palace also houses the tombs (in the form of Stupas) of past Lamas. Some of them are massive and all are covered in gold and precious gems. When an important religious figure dies the Tibetan people donate a wealth (and more than they can afford) of gold, gems and money to build the tomb. The more they donate, the more credit they get for the next life. P.T. Barnum would be proud. The excessive amount of gold and mountains of cash donations lying around (seriously – 100 US dollar bills in some chapels) started to annoy me as I imagined how many people it could feed or how many medical schools it could build.

We moved quickly through the place as Bob is a stickler for rules but I think he also wanted to get done early. I was relieved having seen enough after an hour. While the girls where taking more photos I had a chat with Bob. He identifies himself as Tibetan (not Chinese) and is very weary of the authorities. He is also paranoid with regards the rules for tourists. When tourists do stupid things or blatantly ignore their guides more rules are added and life becomes more difficult for the Tibetans. It can’t be fun living like that. So our soapbox advice to travelers in Tibet: Just behave and try not to make the situation worse for the locals.

After Potola we managed to get a bus out of town to see the final tourist hotspot (the Sera Monastery). We saw some beautifully crafted mandalas made from coloured sand and again were led around the dark chapels. One of the chapels attracts a lot of attention with its horse-headed Buddha of health. Worshipers Queue for ages with infants and the elderly to be able to touch their noses to the statue in the belief that they will be healed quicker. Bob explained that they come to this temple and then head to the hospital. Better late than never I guess.

We got back to the hotel early and were able to move our room to one with a few more prefab boards between us and the road. To celebrate the deafening silence we went in search of a well known Internet cafe and coffee shop. A brilliant spot – the cake and milkshakes were excellent (expensive) and if the Wifi had been working I doubt we would have left there until bed time. On our way back we stocked up on supplies for the next few days on the road and managed to spend a few minutes online at an Internet cafe. It’s seems so odd to find a huge hall brimming with fancy computers manned by hoards of online gamers in downtown Lhasa when our hotel a few doors down doesn’t have flush toilets !

V spent a good hour reading me sections from our LP about Buddhism. It really is an odd, complicated and confusing mix of beliefs. Tonight we should sleep (finally) and tomorrow we are off into the sticks – can’t wait.

[Pictures: Potola Palace]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi