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Destinations: Middle East, Africa, Asia,
Australasia, South,
Central & North America.
Read all about it. Written
by Dr Samiramis Sarkardei.
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Third day in Lhasa
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I think it is safe to say that I have been yaked out! or as Sam mentioned last night, you know when you have been yaked! As much as I would love to be a proper traveller and say that I will eat Yak from the day I arrive in Tibet until the day I leave, I don't think my taste buds are going to forgive me, not to mention my gut! It is not so bad, but like I said yesterday, I have this association between the taste of Yak and smell of it at the butcher's shop and I can't disassociated the two from each other! Even inside the temples and the Monasteries they have Yak butter burning with candles and the smell for me at times is absolutely unbearable! But I have found the trick, afterall as they say, if you can't beat them, join them.....and no I haven't decided to smear myself with Yak butter, but I have a scarf which I now attach it to my face to protect my nose and my mouth, this way I look like the locals on the streets! The air here is surprisingly quite polluted, and it is more apparent because the air is so thin, so alot of times you see the locals going around with a little white face mask! Also this way, breathing is a little bit easier, as you take in some Carbon Dioxide from your exhaled air! Just have to make sure, I have brushed my teeth well! :)
Today we visited Drepung Monastery and Norbulingka Palace which is Dalai Lama Summer Palace. Drepung Monastery, also called Tashi-Megyur-Chakju-Ling, is one of the six largest monasteries of the Gelupa sect. It is located at the foot of the West Valley Mountain (Gyephel-Ou-Tse), about 10Km from Lhasa. It was built in 1416 by Jamyang-Choje Tashi-Phlden, a disciple of Tsong-Khapa. Over ten thousand monks resided there before Liberation, making it the largest Monastery in Tibet. The main relics in these temples are the image of Maitreya, Yamantaka, Mitrukpa, Sutra-Kangyur with golden letters, thangkas silk scrolls which are very precious and are rarely seen in the world as well as Buddhist scriptures. The monastery covers an area of 20 thousand square meters.
The second place we visited this morning was the Dalai Lama summer Palace, Norbulingka. This means the jewelled garden. The garden covers an area of 360,000 square meters. The whole garden consists of two main parts- Norbulingka at the eastern area and Jianselingka at the western area. Gesang Palace, Jianse Palace and Daktunmiju palace are the main building in Norbulingka. There are pine trees, cypress and some other trees as well as many different kinds of flowers. We arrived back at the hotel around 1 and had lunch. Everyone in the group has gone to see one more temple. I am not feeling that great, as I have got a cold, so I have decided to give that a miss and instead come to the internet and go back to get some rest. Tomorrow a few of us are going to see the Yamdrok Tso Lake. It is very far from Lhasa, about 5 hours drive there. The cost for hiring a van is 1000 Yuan which is about 67 pounds. I was the only one who wanted to go. I know it is expensive, but how often do I get a chance to come back here and to see things. I have asked Steve to come as well as Emma and we decided to also take Lisa on the trip as a gift. I think it is going to nice.
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