Free-wheeling Tibet

Lhasa, capital city of Tibet Autonomous Region, is famous for its legendary history and mysterious Tibetan Buddhism, but it's also a fascinating scenic tourist city to escape from all types of gridlock during public holidays. Unlike other tourism-heavy cities where the only scenery left is crowds during holidays, Lhasa's traffic was much thinned out the night when we arrived, even though it was the first day of the weeklong National Day holiday. Smells of food and notes of distant song floated in the fresh air and we could occasionally spot Lamas wearing red and yellow robes while our bus was rolling along the streets. "You will be safe the whole journey if you are safe the first two days," our tour guide, Hu Anping, said of altitude sickness on our way to the hotel. The sensational sickness really did not trouble me much, so did the rest of our 16 members. It was just two nights of slight headache and insomnia, so totally not worth concerning it too much. But you do need a sound sleep before starting your adventure in Lhasa. Located in the highest place in the world, Lhasa is fully favored by sun and gets more than 3,000 hours of sunshine every year. It rises over 3,600 meters above the sea level, while the world-renowned Potala Palace rises a further 117 meters. Potala Palace is a great place to understand Tibetan Buddhism, and it's also a significant reason why hundreds of thousands of visitors worldwide visit Lhasa every year. The palace, built in the 7th century, was extremely bright and magnificent under the blue sky, and it has over 1,000 rooms in its Red and White palaces. The lower White Palace served as the residence of Dalai Lamas, and the upper Red Palace was the religious area and contains stupa of the Dalai Lamas, except the sixth who wrote lots of love poems that are still popular in China to this day. Potala Palace has a strict limitation on the number of everyday tourists. Starting from 2006, the palace restricted tourists to 2,300 every day. A tour group can only have less than 30 tourists, and the visiting time is limited to only one hour. Thus, no matter if you are traveling on your own or with a tour group, you have to make a reservation a day ahead to buy the palace tickets. Passports or ID cards are required to buy the 200-yuan ($ 31.36) ticket. Thanks to the time and tourist number limitations, the Potala Palace is always quiet and harmonious. You can occasionally see solemn-faced Tibetan Buddhists, children or elderly people, mumbling while adding butter to the lighted candles inside the palace. Pilgrims are plentiful in the streets, with many surrounding the Jokhang Temple in the center of Lhasa. Pilgrims twirled the prayer wheels and prostrated themselves on the ground while moving body length by body length to the sacred temple. Many even walked thousands of miles to the temple. Don't try to talk to them or disturb them, you can feel the strange peace and holiness just by watching them quietly. Even though the pilgrims ignore your existence and would not talk to you, don't take them as cruel and unfriendly to outsiders. Two young pilgrims I met in the street, smiled at me after I accidentally overturned the bags they carried. Another old Lama who nicely accepted my invitation to take a photo with him in front of Lhasa's business street, asked me if the photo was OK with his broken Putonghua and even pointed me the right direction to my hotel. After viewing lots of traditional cultural sites, you must be eager to bring something back to remind you of this marvelous place. Check out Barkhor Street; it will satisfy you. It's the most famous local market where you can buy all kinds of exotic and magical articles, including prayer wheels, Tibetan knives and jewelry and local traditional clothes for your friends. The street also sells scarves and wooden blanket that made in Nepal and India which in good quality. Bargaining is of course what you will need. I usually cut down one third of the original price offered by the sellers, and small stuff like bracelets and necklaces cost 5-10 yuan each after the bargain. I was totally attracted by the overwhelming variety of stuff in the street, and suddenly found myself lost in the bustling crowds. I was surprised by myself that I did not panic or something, I would like to walk like a Tibetan. Tibet reopened to foreign tourists on August 1, but visitors are not allowed to travel by themselves in Tibet. Prospective visitors can either join a tour or the liaison office could assign local tour guides to them. Tibet Tourism Bureau Permit (TTB permit) is required for foreigners, and tourists have to apply it at least seven days in advance. To apply, bring a passport, visa and traveling itinerary in Tibet. Travel agencies could help foreign tourists obtain the permit, and it costs 200 yuan each if the tour has more than 10 members, but 580 yuan each if it is a one-member tour, according to Beijing Tibet Hotel affiliated to the Tibet liaison office in Beijing.