Our first stop today was the famous Jokhang Temple. This is the most holy temple in all of Tibet, and Buddhist pilgrims flock around and inside the temple.
We then walked the Barkhor pilgrim circuit, where the faithful pray and prostrate, and the business people sell trinkets.
Our next stop was the famous Potala Palace - formerly the spiritual and political center of Tibet, but now really just a museum. There are, however, some amazing artifacts, including the gold and jewel encrusted tombs of all of the Dalai Lamas (with the exception of the 6th I believe) and some incredible historical artifacts.
Finally, our last visit for the day was the Sera Monastery. This was truly fascinating - it’s a very active monastery, and we were able to catch the monks debating philosophical points of the Buddhist scriptures. The older monks teach the younger ones, and clap their hands and perform other actions depending on whether or not their students make good arguments or not.
We spent the evening at a local “bar” our guide recommended (and joined us) - it’s more like a show of local pop music and dancing. It was a lot of fun - we were the only foreigners in there, and it really gave us an idea of what real local Lhasa entertainment is about for the younger kids.
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