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Lhasa
 Lhasa
(11,850 ft.) was and still is the religious, cultural and
economic center of Tibet. Places of interest include the Potala,
the 13 storey, 1000 room’s palace of the Dalai Lama; the
legendary Monasteries of Drepung and Sera, the summer palace of
the Dalai Lama, Norbulingka; and the Jokhang, the holiest shrine
of Tibet. The circular Barkhor Street with innumerable shops and
wayside peddlers intermingling with the devotees walking
clockwise around the Jokhang infuses the magic and experience of
Tibet!
Potala Palace
 Located on the hill, it was built in 640 A.D. during the reign
of Songtsan Gampo. The Palace is a centre of spiritual
pilgrimage and Tibetan architecture. The 15th Dalai Lama, Gyelwa
Ngapa began the construction of the present Potala Palace in
1645 and was completed in 1648. This 13 storied palace with
thousand rooms rising over 117 m served as the headquarter of
the former church state of Tibet and was home to successive
Dalai Lamas who used it as their winter Palace. The palace
contains invaluable murals, stupas, carvings, scultures,
cultural relics, thankas, scrolled texts and ancient chinaware.
Shegar
 Shegar (13,800 ft.) is a new Chinese commune built at the foot
of the ruins of Shegar Dzong, and is 7 km from the main road.
With a population of 3000, its importance lies in the fact that
it is the Center of this large and remote country and also
because it is the diversion point from where expeditions to Mt.
Kailash and other peaks are launched.
Shigatse
 Shigatse (12,600 ft.) is most famous for its Tashilhunpo
monastery - the seat of the Panchen Lama, who is regarded as the
reincarnation of the Buddha of endless enlightenment. Items of
interest inside this monastery built in 1447 by the first Dalai
Lama are the relics of Sakyamuni, the hall of Maitreya, and a
mind-boggling collection of thanks, frescoes and statues. There
is a bustling `free' market at the foot of the ruins of the
Shigatse fortress where one can buy local handicrafts embedded
with coral and turquoise, Tibetan daggers, Chinese porcelain and
yak butter.
Gyantse
 Gyantse (13,050 ft.) is a small agricultural town famous for its
wool carpets and the Palkhor Choide chorten. Amongst the ruins
of the lamasery and the fort, this unique structure built in
1414 Consists of five stories representing the five steps to
Enlightenment, topped by thirteen rings which symbolize the
stages of advancement toward Buddha hood. There are 108 halls
inside, each with frescoes and Buddha shrines, the frescoes
showing a strong Indian influence. Before 1959 traders coming
from Kalimpong and Gangtok (India) used to enter Tibet through
Yadong and then to Gyantse, enroute to Lhasa.
Zhangmu
 Zhangmu (11,000 ft) better known by its Tibetan name, Khasa, is
a small settlement clinging to a hill side 10-km inland from the
friendship bridge across the Bhote Koshi. After the closure of
the China / India border from Gangtok, Zhangmu has become the
major trading route between Tibet and Nepal. The climate is
quite different from the hinterland. The hills around Zhangmu
are heavily wooded with innumerable waterfalls in the summer and
frozen `icicles' during the winter. It has a bank, a post
office, a government stores, and is presently undergoing a
construction boom to meet the demands of trade and tourism |
