The Potala & a Whole Lot of Tea

Yesterday I went to the Potala Palace. I'll say this in a whisper, "It was kind of dissapointing". :( Well, the outside is amazing, impressive, and awe-inspiring. The kind of massive architectural wonder that takes your breath away while you snap off a zillion photos from each new view point. You will all have to wait until I can post photos again to even slightly appreciate how absolutly stunning the building is from below. I walked into more than one sidewalk pothole while craning to watch it as I walked across the front. (In comparison, I gave the *awful*, totally out-of-place, Beijing inspired square and monument across the street about 5 seconds and only because my neck was getting stiff from looking up at the palace).

Inside however, the Potala has turned into a dark and dusty museum. I grant that my reaction could have a lot to do with the sheer exhaustion and lack of oxygen I was experiencing when I finally arrived at the top of the Marpo Ri (the hill it sits on). To get to the section of the Palace actually open for visitors (the backside and middle, not the front really recognizable part... at least not from the outside), you are required to haul yourself up the long, steep road that winds up the back of the hill. And then when you get to the courtyard at what you've hoped was the top... its not. Then you need to climb up a series of really steep steps to the very top of the palace and only then... you can finally start working your way down again. For a while as I dragged myself in slow-motion up the hill, the 100 yuan ticket and the aggressive vendors awaiting my return to the bottom were the only things that kept me putting one foot in front of the other.

Don't get me wrong- even as a dark, dusty, and empty building the Potala is fascinating. However, I did have a really hard time imagining it with the Dalai Lama and his entourage inside. I don't think anything in there has been touched since they've left. Final summary: it was worth seeing but on the same level as visiting some of the large, cold, empty cathedrals in Europe. The temples and monasteries are much more spiritual experiences because they are still alive.

So, that was yesterday. Yep, seriously that was all I did. It was all I could do... and I'm not exaggerating that life in Lhasa, as a foreigner, really forces you into more of a half-day schedule. After the Potala, I shuffled my way back to the old area of town where I'm staying and dropped into one of my favorite teahouses. Anne, one of the people I'll be traveling with this week, showed up about an hour later. I don't think we left for another two hours.

Finally, we did manage to visit a couple of travel agencies and work out our road trip. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning for Yamdrok-tso (a lake) on the way to Gyantse. The next days we will spend driving and sightseeing our way to the main goal: Everest Base Camp. Depending on how we feel (which has equal potential to be either really, really awful or just fine), we may actually spend the night in the tents just below the mountain. When I say tents, I don't mean the nylon ones where you can only fit you and your sleeping bag... these are apparently massive canvas ones with real beds, heaters and loads of blankets. The travel guy (a native of the Everest area with two years of work/life at E.B.C. under his belt) assured us that each of us could take, "like, 6 blankets!" and that if anything went wrong his friend would take care of us. Cool! There's no doubt that I would *love* to freeze my arse up there for the view and bragging rights... but I have no idea how I'll react to the substantial increase in altitude. We're also planning to hike the last 8k up (more like over, thankfully) to Base Camp. Regardless, it should be a really cool challenge. That all starts tomorrow.

Today, I was hoping to motivate myself to Ganden Monastery on the 6:30am bus (the only option, basically), but the folks sharing my room last night were extraordinarly late and loud last night and early and loud this morning. So now I'm tired again and need to rest up for the trip. I'd like to head out to Drepung Monastery this afternoon if I'm up to it, but will play it by ear.

The only thing that's for sure is that I'll be purchasing a really warm sweater and some mittens and that there will definitely be a teahouse on the itinerary today.