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The views are breathless. Considering you are 11,965 up in the air, I mean that.
When India tectonically pile-drived into Asia 10 million years ago, it had all sorts of implications. A huge swath of territory, 970,000 square miles, splintered and got pushed up into a vast plateau, with some places so high and dry that they count as deserts. When humanity arrived around half a million years ago, the geological isolation promulgated cultures very different from their neighbors. This is why Tibet today is a standout in more ways than one.
I’m not going to get into the whole sore point of China-Tibet-what-belongs-to-whom, but let’s just say it all comes down to whom you ask where. What isn’t up for debate that Tibet isn’t like anything around it, not India to the south, Central Asia to the west, and not the Sinitic regions east and north. No wonder tourism is skyrocketing.
In Tibet, all roads lead to Lhasa. Dominating by the squat majesty of Potala Palace, former winter residence of the Dalai Lama, the city, and palace, manages to buck the modernizing trend that has swept up much of Asia. Sure, you have the sleek sections of town, but for the most part, Lhasa seems downright quaint. And, to be honest, it’s the quaint parts that you want.
Start in the Barkhor, which is a system of streets that form a pilgrimage circuit around the Jokhang Monastery, which itself is the spiritual heart of the nation. Monasteries are going to be a big part of the tour; Buddhism saturates every aspect of life in Tibet. Monasteries, temples, shrines, reliquaries, and religious schools jostle for space in Lhasa, and they are the main pull for curious outsiders. Many of the tour routes, in fact, are pilgrimage routes. Follow a group of monks or true-believers, show some respect, and you’ll be carried along to treasures of art and architecture so sublime they don’t look of this Earth.
A good example are the Chango Ri Rock Carvings (and paintings). I haven’t room to explain the dizzyingly complex Tibetan Buddhist cosmology here, but it is pretty much painted out for you at Chango Ri…if you can take it all in. It is a similar panorama at the Red Palace, but with the added pluses of a throne room, mandalas, funeral stupas, and gorgeous rendering of Jampa, the Buddha yet to come. Like I said, it’s complex. But also dazzlingly beautiful, utterly serene, and even weirdly calming.
To be sure, Lhasa isn’t a party town like Hong Kong or Shanghai. That’s fine as far as Lhasa is concerned. But if you want a peep into the otherworld, you can’t get closer. Contact Steele Luxury Travel for all of you travel needs to Tibet and beyond // www.SteeleTravel.com