Lasa Century Hotel Lhasa

... br>on the butcher businesses. We're used to seeing meat hanging in the<br>breeze now &#8211; but an interesting twist here is that on some pieces<br>they leave the yak hair on the meat as if to illustrate that yes this<br>is the real deal and yes this is a fresh kill. <br><br><br><br><br>If<br>there are street names we don't see them and you don't really need<br>them eventually all the streets place you at Barkhor Square &#8211; an<br>area that surrounds the ...

... and the prices were very high, until I started bargaining. I found that if they won't meet your price, and start to walk away, they'll usually relent, and you get your price. It didn't always work, but most of the things I saw could be found at other stalls, so I would just try again somewhere else until I got a price I was satisfied with. There were some really beautiful arts and crafts, and of course some touristy things ...

... to visit, if you are having trouble breathing.<br><br>However we had to visit the Potala palace. This is or was the ancestral home of the succession of Dalai Lamas. The palace is currently empty but kept in good repair, while the current Dalai Lama lives in exile. We struggled up the huge steps and through the main entrance to finally step inside what must be one of the wonders of the world.<br><br> The Potala is the winter palace of the Dalai Lama and is now a World Heritage Site. You ...

... uns dann zum Norbulingka , dem Sommerpalast des Dalai Lama.<br>Das Highlight dort war sicher der Palast des 14. ( des aktuellen, der in Indien im Exil lebt ) - wo man noch alles so vorfindet wie er es in jener Nacht 1959 fluchtartig verlassen hat.<br><br>Danach hätts dann am Abend im Hotel noch ein tibetisches Dinner gegeben - aber da musste ich leider schon w.o. geben :-(

... Was schon ziemlich daneben war. Nachdem wir dann die Treppen hochgehechelt waren, die Hoehe merkt man immer besonders wenn man irgendwo hochklettert, war die Sicht dann aber Entschaedigung genug. Der Palast war dann auf jeden Fall sehr schoen, wenn auch etwas voll, ueberall brannten Butterlampen und es wimmelte nur so von rempelnden Glaeubigen und Moenchen (viele mit Handy und IPod, man muss ja mit der Zeit gehen), die aber auch so garkeine Ruecksicht auf im Weg stehende ...

... may take many years until he's localised. similar procedures take place in the search for reincarnations of other important Lamas as well. The present Dalai Lama has apparently stated that he will not be reborn in an occupied Tibet where he is not welcome and may in fact never be reincarnated. He's also so disappointed by the stalemate in the negotiations with the Chinese that he's considering semi-retirement, whatever that means... In the afternoon we visited the ...

... an order for some butter. I can't remember if I mentioned when we got to the Palace it wasn't open for the tours, and we watched lots of people walking up the street, some with their hand prayer wheels. We asked where they were going and Punkjum, our guide, said they are all Tibetans and they are praying, each morning they walk the 60 minute walk, clockwise, around the Palace saying their prayers and chants. Like the Budhists in Nepal they all are very dedicated to their religion.

... a memorable array of Sino-Tibetan specialities: Qancakes, Hide the Meal, Wood Ear Meat Thread, Big Disk Chicken, Amorous Feelings Beef Tenderloin. Sic! But the joke was on me. That evening, my money belt disappeared, probably as I dozed near the iron stove. The holy mountain seemed to mock people like me, unserious materialists who were merely passing by. That said, it works, this karma thing. A month after the trip was over, I received a Japanese postal order for $200. If I had given Ona ...

... month by month," she said. "Normally we have a full list for the whole of the next year by November or December." The number of Chinese tourists coming to Tibet has risen dramatically since the opening of the province's first railway, the world's highest, two years ago. This year, the tourist authorities had been preparing for five million visitors this year, but instead had received little over 100,000. Tibet support groups abroad say that the exclusion of foreigners and in ...