2024 Road Scholar IV: Lhasa Norbulingka (10/8/2024)

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

We departed the hotel at 4:30 (with a box breakfast) for a 7:40 flight on Air China for Lhasa, Tibet.

On the plane we received a "Happy Meal"
lunch with a "hamburger"

Arrived in Tibet at 12:30, and found ourselves ringed 
with mountains; the Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains to the
north and the Himalayas toward the south

Tibet has six of the world's highest 20 airports, and Lhasa is number 18 at 3,570 m/11,713'.

Lhasa Gonggar Airport Terminal 3 (2018-2021)

We required a special group permit to enter Tibet. We chose this Road Scholar itinerary because we did not make it to Tibet when we lived in Shanghai (no openings in organized group tours).

In Tibet one is welcomed with a khata/scarf,
a white scarf in this case, as a symbol
of welcome, but also of honor and respect,
and representing air and purity

Khata in other colors include blue (representing sky/space), yellow (earth), red (fire), and green (water), which are generally used in Buddhist temples. There is also orange symbolizing humility and the renunciation of worldly pleasures.

To reach the city of Lhasa, we had to cross the 
Brahmaputra River (called Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet)
and go through a tunnel to the Lhasa River valley

Lhasa, the capital of the Xizang/Tibet Autonomous Region of China, was founded c 633 CE by King Songtsen Gampo as his new capital. He built two temples to house images of Buddhas, which were dowries from his two wives, Bhrikuti of Nepal and Wencheng of China. After the demise of the Yarlung empire c 900 CE, the 5th Dalai Lama established his capital in Lhasa c 1645 CE.

The Treasure of the Plateau (1991, by Zheng Xiaodong)
depicts a pair of yaks in copper

Our tour bus was a 30-seat Toyota Coaster, which had to
drive in reverse through a narrow gateway to the hotel

Our accommodations changed a couple
times, and we ended up at Xueyu Tiantang/
Snow Heaven International Hotel

Snow Heaven Hotel room

The hotel room has an oxygen dispenser to help
reduce symptoms of high altitude illness

Snow Heaven bathroom

The Toto toilet could be commanded by voice
if one spoke Mandarin; fortunately, there was a
remote control for those not speaking the language

Every time we inserted the key card into the electricity slot after entering the room, we would be welcomed by both the television and the toilet! 

View from the hotel room with the mountains

Hotel lobby décor

The hotel has large canisters of oxygen
to fill the personal-size cans they sell (KSS)

This high tech hotel even had a robot,
where food delivery services came in,
punched a few buttons, and the robot
completed the delivery to a hotel room (KSS)

Screen on the delivery robot (KSS)

Our afternoon excursion took us past the Potala Palace
(1645-1694), a dzong/fortress built as the seat of the
secular and religious government under the Dalai Lama

Not everyone in our group realized that the Dalai Lama is no longer in Tibet. Various dynasties ruled over the Tibetan Empire that was founded in 618 CE. The Chinese Qing dynasty sent a military expedition into Tibet in 1720 during a war between dynasties, and took over rule until their own demise in 1912. Tibet was then de facto independent. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the People's Liberation Army entered Tibet a year later and defeated their forces. An agreement was signed in 1951 annexing Tibet to the PRC. However, in 1959, there was the Tibetan Uprising that turned violent and was quelled by the People's Liberation Army. Meanwhile, the 14th Dalai Lama managed to escape the country, dressed as a soldier, and set up a government in exile in India.

But remember, we are not supposed to mention the current Dalai Lama!

A figure of a Chinese lion, symbolizing
wealth and prosperity, holds a golden ball
in his mouth, which is carved in such a way
that the ball cannot be removed (KSS)

Entrance gate to Norbulingka/Treasure or Jewel Garden,
 the summer palace of the Dalai Lamas,
founded in the 1740s by the 7th Dalai Lama (KSS)

Entrance gate detail (KSS)

Families relax on the grounds of Norbulingka

Entrance gate to Kelsang Podrang/Palace (1751-1755) was
used by the 7th & 8th Dalai Lamas (Kelsang was surname of 7th) 

Local guide Nima points out a Vajra knot
of braided khata/scarves

Entrance gate detail (KSS)

Outer courtyard of Kelsang Podrang
looking towards the palace (KSS)

Outer courtyard looking towards the gate (KSS)

No photography was allowed inside the palace assembly hall, which contained the Dalai Lama throne and 65 thangka (Tibetan paintings on cloth) of the White Tara/Buddhist goddess of compassion, healing, and longevity.

Khamsung Zilnon, a pavilion from which the Dalai Lama
could observe Tibetan Opera and festivals from the
open window in the center of the top floor

Jingtailan/Chinese Cloisonné incense burner

There are eight auspicious symbols of Tibetan Buddhism: Dharma wheel, lotus flower, eternal/endless knot, victory banner, precious umbrella/parasol, vase [of treasure], right-coiled conch, and pair of golden fish.

Signs with couplets about fire-fighting are seen
throughout the complex: Don't move the fire-fighting
equipment. It's useful at the critical moment.

The fire-fighting equipment

Crassula ovata/Jade plants and
Aeonium arboreum/Tree Houseleek (KSS)

Takten Migyur Phodrang/Eternal Palace (1954) is the
new Summer Palace built for the 14th Dalai Lama (KSS)

In the center of the roofline is the Dharmachakra/Wheel
representing the teachings of Buddha and the Noble
Eightfold Path, flanked by a male and female deer that were
reported to be the first to sit and listen when Buddha
first taught; the three symbols are a sign of Buddhism

Again, no photography was allowed inside the new summer palace, which had an audience chamber with murals depicting the history of Tibet in 301 scenes, the private quarters of the 14th Dalai Lama as he left them with a large Soviet radio, the assembly hall with throne, and living quarters of mother of the Dalai Lama, including a modern bathroom.

Yellow Hat Buddhist monks are part of the Gelugpa order
of Tibetan Buddhism, of which the Dalai Lama is the head

There are four orders or schools in Tibetan Buddhism, and the other three: Nyingma, Kagyu, and Skaya sects wear red hats, (although some consider only the Nyingma as the Red Hat sect), while the Kagyu monks wear white hats in the summer.

A Norbulingka water feature is ready for winter?

Symbol for Lhasa as the City of Happiness
sculpture (2012) 

Lamp post on Beijing Middle Road

Potala Square with the Monument to the Peaceful Liberation
of Tibet (2001-2002, by Qi Kang) that is supposed
to be an abstraction of Mount Quomolongma/Everest

Is it what the People's Republic of China calls the "Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" by the People's Liberation Army, or what the exiled Tibetan government calls the invasion and annexation of Tibet?