Welcome Musicians

There are pics today. We left the hotel at 5 AM to catch an early flight to Lhasa. We arrived at our hotel around 1 and had lunch. Then we left for the summer palace. Flying in, we noted how brown the area looks. It’s quite cold in the winter, and doesn’t get much rain or snow. Lhasa has lots of parks and green areas, which obviously require lots of watering. I expected to see a lot less cars and more bicycles. There were fewer cars and more scooters; but not all that many bikes. Young people have been migrating into Lhasa because they find it easy to start a business. They want more modern homes with Western plumbing and conveniences. Several high rises are being built in the area.

Welcome Scarf

We had a bizarre drive from the airport to town. Several tour busses were in accidents which caused some deaths. The locals passed a law that no tour bus can have more than 20 people when entering or leaving Lhasa. The “20” includes the driver, the guide, and a policeman to ride with us to make sure we obey the law. We had a second van. Seven of us had to ride in the van.

Our hotel has recently been modernized, but it’s obviously in a poorer area. We have to tell the staff when we will take a shower, so hot water will be available. We were given a welcoming ceremony when we arrived. Two musicians played music while a couple of yaks (men in costume) danced around. An attractive young lady gave us white ribbons (for good luck) and a sincere welcome.

Welcomed

There are two palaces the Deli Lama used in Lhasa — a winter palace and a summer palace. We visited the summer palace today because it’s pretty much at ground level. I’m no athlete, but I am in decent shape. Danita and I have been taking the altitude pills. Nevertheless, I felt the affects of being at a high altitude. We kept our pace slower, always used elevators, occasionally felt dizzy, occasionally felt tingly fingers, etc.

Entrance To Summer Palace

The summer palace has several buildings. We were allowed to enter several of them, but we could not take pictures indoors. We spent most of our time in the building built by the 14th Deli Lama (the current Deli Lama). He had to leave Tibet a few years after the building was completed. The highlight seemed to be a radio donated by the Indian government. It was about the size of two stoves side-by-side. I don’t know how he tuned it because there were no dials on the outside.

14th Deli Lama Building

We didn’t go inside the main building,built by the 7th Deli Lama. But we did go inside the library built by the 1th Deli Lama. The building has 1300 religious documents. The white banner you see on the outside of the building has a blue design of several diamonds inside a large white diamond. This is a religious good luck symbol. You can’t tell from the picture, but the line making the diamonds is an infinite loop, crossing over and under itself in an Escheresque manner. It symbolizes that life is infinite.

13th Deli Lama Library

Other than dinner, that’s it for today. Most of us are pretty tired after that mild exercise.