kora | Blue Lapis Road

DAY 10 (2/2): LAST DAY IN LHASA (ལྷ་ས་ 拉薩), Tibet (བོད་ 西藏), 2017.09.25

Our driver Sangzhu dropped us near our hotel Trichang Labrang (赤江拉讓藏式賓館) in Barkhor Old Town. After dropping off our bags, we stopped by the eatery beside the hotel for a quick bite. The friendly eatery owners, a talkative young couple, were excited to welcome us and chatted with us. We ordered a Nepali platter, fried momo and two cans of local beer to celebrate the completion of our road trip. The momos were quite delicious, and went well with the beer made with Highland Barley. It was the last full day of the trip. After filling our stomach, we didn’t want to visit any attractions, but spent time wandering in Barkhor Old Town, checking out souvenirs, watching people, and photographing anything that interested us, until the dinner time. For dinner, we decided to try the Tibetan hotpot at “Our Tibetan Restaurant” (咱们的藏餐馆).

After returning to Lhasa, we stopped by the small local eatery next door from Trichang Labrang Hotel. The young owners were friendly and talkative.

To celebrate the completion of our 6-day road trip, we ordered some local beer and highland barley wine.

The most delicious snack we ordered was the fried momo (Tibetan dumplings).

For dinner, we revisited the “Our Tibetan Restaurant” (咱们的藏餐馆), the atmospheric courtyard restaurant nearby.

Again we ordered the highland barley wine (青稞酒). The wine came in an interesting bird-like pottery jar.

The main dish of the meal was the Tibetan hotpot. It came with vegetables, melons, beef, ham and yak meat.

We wanted to linger around Barkhor Old Town for a little longer after dinner.

In front of Jokhang Monastery (གཙུག་ལག་ཁང༌། 大昭寺), pilgrims, worshiped on the stone pavers as usual.

Other than pilgrims, tourists also gathered at the Jokhang forecourt.

In front of Jokhang main entrance, more pilgrims gathered to worship, including some Buddhist monks.

The sky was getting dark but the Jokhang forecourt was getting even more crowded.

Some pilgrims preferred to stay near the large flag pole in front of the Jokhang.

Around Jokhang, groups after groups of pilgrims and tourists walked the kora in clockwise direction around Lhasa’s most sacred site.

The kora route was flanked one side by souvenir shops and the other by the majestic facade of the Jokhang.

Along the kora route, many pilgrims were performing prostration the entire way.

Some tourists treated the pilgrimage forecourt as a public plaza and sat on the pavers to chill out among the pilgrims.

Among pilgrims and tourists, chilling out in the Jokhang forecourt included this large and gorgeous husky.

We would certainly miss the spiritual atmosphere of the Jokhang forecourt.

On our way back to Trichang Labrang Hotel, we passed by one last time the store where we bought our bottled water everyday of our Lhasa stay. The next morning, we would take the airport shuttle bus near the Potala and fly back to Hong Kong via Chengdu. Although short, it was a delightful experience for the three of us on the unique Tibetan culture and magnificent Himalayan landscape. Hopefully next time we could have more time and travel further to the western corner of Tibet.

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More blog posts on Tibet 2017:
JOURNEY ABOVE THE CLOUDS, Tibet 2017 (西藏之旅2017)
DAY 1: TOUCHDOWN ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD, Lhasa
DAY 1: TRICHANG LABRANG HOTEL (赤江拉讓藏式賓館), Lhasa
DAY 1: KORA AT BARKHOR STREET (八廓街), Lhasa
DAY 2: FIRST GLIMPSE OF POTALA (布達拉宮), Lhasa
DAY 2: KORA OF DREPUNG MONASTERY (哲蚌寺), Lhasa
DAY 2: DREPUNG MONASTERY (哲蚌寺), Lhasa
DAY 2: JOKHANG MONASTERY (大昭寺), Lhasa
DAY 2 : SPINN CAFE (風轉咖啡館), Lhasa
DAY 2: NIGHT VIEW OF POTALA (布達拉宮), Lhasa
DAY 3: POTALA PALACE (布達拉宮), Lhasa
DAY 3: SERA MONASTERY (色拉寺), Lhasa
Day 4: KORA OF GANDEN MONASTERY (甘丹寺), Lhasa
Day 4: GANDEN MONASTERY (甘丹寺), Lhasa
DAY 4: TEA HOUSE AND FAMILY RESTAURANT, Lhasa
DAY 5: ON THE ROAD IN TIBET
DAY 5: MORNING IN SHANNAN (山南)
DAY 5: SAMYE MONASTERY (桑耶寺), Shannan
DAY 5: SAMYE TOWN (桑耶鎮), Shannan
DAY 6: YAMDROK LAKE (羊卓雍錯)
DAY 6: PALCHO MONASTERY (白居寺), Gyantse
DAY 6: WORDO COURTYARD (吾爾朵大宅院), Shigatse
DAY 7: ROAD TO EVEREST BASE CAMP (珠峰大本營)
DAY 7: EVEREST BASE CAMP (珠峰大本營)
DAY 7: STARRY NIGHT, Everest Base Camp
DAY 8: PANG LA PASS (加烏拉山口), Mount Everest Road
DAY 8: SAKYA MONASTERY (薩迦寺)
DAY 9: TASHI LHUNPO MONASTERY, (扎什倫布寺) Shigatse
DAY 9: ROAD TO NAMTSO LAKE (納木錯)
DAY 9: EVENING AT NAMTSO LAKE (納木錯)
DAY 10: SUNRISE AT NAMTSO LAKE (納木錯)
DAY 10: LAST DAY IN LHASA, Tibet
EPILOGUE: FACES OF LHASA, Tibet

February 3, 2018 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: གཙུག་ལག་ཁང༌།, བོད་, ལྷ་ས་, Barkhor, barley, beer, Buddhism, 西藏, food, highland, Jokhang, kora, Lhasa, momo, monastery, pilgrim, pilgrimage, restaurant, Tibet, Tibetan, 咱们的藏餐馆, 大昭寺, 拉薩 | Leave a comment

DAY 9 (1/3): TASHI LHUNPO MONASTERY (བཀྲ་ཤིས་ལྷུན་པོ་ 扎什倫布寺), Shigatse (日喀則), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.24

Before leaving Shigatse for Namtso Lake, we spent the morning at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery (བཀྲ་ཤིས་ལྷུན་པོ་ 扎什倫布寺). Probably the most influential monastery in the Shigatse area, Tashi Lhunpo Monastery is very popular with local pilgrims. Founded by the 1st Dalai Lama in 1447, the 70,000 sq.m monastery remains as the largest functioning monastery in Tibet. In the past five centuries, Tashi Lhunpo has been the traditional seat of Panchen Lama (པན་ཆེན་བླ་མ 班禪喇嘛), the second highest tulku (སྤྲུལ་སྐུ 活佛) in the Gelug school, just after the Dalai Lama. During the turbulence years of the Cultural Revolution, buildings and relics of the monastery had been damaged. Fortunately, damages of the Tashi Lhunpo was relatively small compared to most other monasteries in Tibet.

Walking in the labyrinth of cobblestone lanes of the enormous monastery ground, visitors can absorb the spiritual air and wander through prayer halls, chapels, chortens and courtyards, admire beautiful Buddhist artworks including the 26m statue of Jampa (Maitreya) Future Buddha, and pay respect to the tombs of the past Panchen Lamas. Other than the gold gilded statues and architectural features, what interested us during our visit of Tashi Lhunpo were the pilgrims who came from all over Tibet and China. From teenagers to elderly, the pilgrims’ gratifying expression and devoted prayers demonstrated to us how Buddhist traditions still remained strong in today’s Tibet.

All visitors to Tashi Lhunpo Monastery would pass through the lingkhor (sacred path) along the external enclosure wall.

The 70,000 sq.m Tashi Lhunpo Monastery sits on the mountain slope west of Shigatse city.

Inside the monastery ground, a network of flagstone paths led us to a village of chapels, chortens and prayer wheels.

The first objects captured our eyes as we entered to the core area of the monastery were the three large chortens.

At 9:30am the sun of the highland was already scorching hot.

Pilgrims and monks in the vivid setting of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery provided us the best subject for photos.

Many lamas we saw at Tashi Lhunpo were actually visitors from other areas of Tibet.

Jamba Chyenmu or Maitreya Temple (强巴佛殿) is the tallest building in Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. Erected in 1914 by the ninth Panchen Lama, it houses the 26.2m statue of Maitreya Buddha. The enormous statue contains 279kg of gold and 150,000kg of copper and brass.

The chorten of the Tenth Panchen Lama is one of the most popular pilgrimage spot in the monastery. The three-tiered chorten is decorated with large amount of gold, silver and gemstones.

Semi-precious stones were used to decorated the entrance vestibule of chapels (in this case the Buddhist swastika was created on the floor). Many pilgrims would knee down and touch the decoration before entering the building.

Other than statues and chortens, a number of architectural features such as a building column could also become a subject of worship for worshipers.

Outside of the monastery, we could see the beautiful mountains across the city of Shigatse.

After visiting a number of the chorten halls (chapels housing the tombs of Panchen Lamas), we arrived at the upper court of the Gyeni Chanting Hall. The gilded roofs and turrets of the Gyeni Chanting Hall can be seen from far away.

As we walked down the ramp near the Gyeni Chanting Hall, we could see right behind us the Thangka Wall used for unfolding the gigantic thangka during festivals.

Below the Gyeni Chanting Hall, we arrived at the Chuajing Duogang, the great courtyard paved with flagstones.

The Chuajing Duogang was another popular spot for pilgrims.

Surrounding the cloister of Chuajing Duogang, we could admire the fresco depicting over 1000 images of Sakyamuni (Buddha).

The Sakyamuni were drawn with hands gesturing the five symbolic poses (mudras).

Looking up from the colonnade of Chuajing Duogang, the splendid Gyeni Chanting Hall looked grand and magnificent.

Beautiful fresco could be seen all over Tashi Lhunpo, including the wall at the lower exit of Chuajing Duogang.

After a 2.5 hour visit of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, it was time for us to find our way to the exit and departed from Shigatse.

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January 27, 2018 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: བཀྲ་ཤིས་ལྷུན་པོ་, Buddha, Buddhism, chanting, chorten, Chuajing Duogang, 西藏, Gyeni, Jamba Chyenmu, kora, lama, lingkhor, Maitreya, monastery, Panchen, pilgrim, pilgrimage, prayer, Sakyamuni, Shigatse, stupa, Tashi Lhunpo, Tibet, 强巴佛殿, 扎什倫布寺, 日喀則 | Leave a comment

DAY 6 (1/3): YAMDROK LAKE (ཡར་འབྲོག་གཡུ་མཚོ་ 羊卓雍錯), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.21

At 4441m above sea level, Yamdrok Lake is one of the three sacred lakes in Tibet. This was where Tibetans came to search for the reincarnated soul of the Dalai Lama through chatting, praying, and throwing holy items into the water to get a reflecting hint on the location of Dalai Lama’s soul. Devoted Tibetans come to do the kora around the lake to pray for good luck and happiness in the following year. For tourists, Yamdrok is famous for its stunning scenery with its coiling scorpion shape, pristine turquoise water and surrounding snow-capped mountains. Located in Shannan along Road S307, between Lhasa and Shigatse, Yamdrok Lake is pretty much on everyone’s travel itinerary who ventures beyond Lhasa.

We knew this would be a long day on the road. We needed to travel for about 380km from Samye Town to Shigatse via Yamdrok and Gyantse.

We left Samye at about 9am and reached Yamdrok Lake slightly after noontime. We first stopped by a lookout along Road S307 to enjoy the overview of Yamdrok Lake from a high level.

Some travelers would just stop by the road to take in the scenery.

If the sky was clear, we would see the distant snow-capped mountains.

Along the balustrade visitors crowded at the best spots to photograph the turquoise lake.

Eateries and souvenir vendors surrounded the parking lot.

Dozens unfortunate Tibetan mastiffs dressed in funny outfits or had their hair dyed in vivid colours stood by the balustrade for everyone who was willing to spend 10 yuan for a souvenir photo.

Partly due to the strong and chilly wind at the 4441m altitude, and partly due to the noisy and overly energetic tourist crowds, we didn’t stay for long at the upper lookout.

Next Sangzhu drove us down to another lookout by the water, where we final got a close encounter with the sacred turquoise water of Yamdrok. Souvenir vendors set up their stalls along the steps down to the shore. By the waterfront, Tibetan mastiffs were replaced with Tibetan yaks posing for souvenir photos.

By the time we reached the water, the sky seemed to a little clearer than when we were on the upper lookout.

Local tourists gathered at the signage that said “Yamdrok, Three Great Sacred Lakes, 4441m.”

After Yamdrok, our journey continued to head west. The blue sky was well hidden.

Soon we saw an open area along the highway with a lookout to the Korola Glacier (卡若拉冰川). The sky was grey and we were a little behind schedule, so we chose to stay in the car and take photos of the glacier from the road.

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January 12, 2018 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: ཡར་འབྲོག་གཡུ་མཚོ་, 羊卓雍錯, 西藏, highland, kora, lake, Sacred, scenery, Tibet, Tibetan, turquoise, Yamdrok | Leave a comment

Day 4 (1/3): KORA OF GANDEN MONASTERY (དགའ་ལྡན་ 甘丹寺), Lhasa (拉薩), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.19

The closest thing to Tibetan pilgrimage that we experienced in Lhasa was our visit to Ganden Monastery (དགའ་ལྡན་ 甘丹寺). Slightly after 5am, we left the hotel and walked to the street intersection of Yutuo Road and Duosenge Road near the Jokhang Monastery. Several locals had already gathered at the street corner waiting for the public buses designated for different monasteries around the city. The bus for Ganden Monastery soon arrived and we were told to get on with the pilgrims. Foreign tourists were not permitted to take these pilgrim buses. As visitors from Hong Kong we were allowed to join the locals. Before departure, a vendor get on the bus to sell prayer flags. We picked a five-coloured one that costed 50 RMB. Before leaving Lhasa, the bus stopped by a security checkpoint where all passengers were required to register with our identity cards, and a local bakery where the majority of the passengers including us went down to get some bread for breakfast. Soon our bus left Lhasa into the countryside northeast of the city. After a two-hour bus ride, our bus finally arrived at Ganden Monastery on Wangbur Mountain at about 8am.

Just like our Drepung visit, we decided to walk the kora pilgrim route around the monastery before visiting the actual buildings. From the parking lot, we followed a sloped path heading up the hill behind the monastery. After making a turn in front of a small security station, we soon arrived at the hilltop overlooking the monastery. A pilgrim stood by an incense burner surrounded by myriad of prayer flags. We took out our 5-colour prayer flags, tied it to the flag cluster, and made a wish for a smooth journey ahead of us. We continued onto the winding kora path along the slope. The path soon split into two: the upper and lower. We followed the upper path and passed by a number of small shrines. We took out the bread we bought and sat down beside the path for a brief rest. Beyond the scenic valley of Lhasa River, layers of mountains extended as far as the eye could see. Further down the slope there were more prayer flags, small shrines and probably a small platform for sky burials. We followed several local pilgrims to finish the latter half of the kora and arrived at the monastery at its far end.

We passed by the forecourt of Jokhang Monastery at around 5:30am. Pilgrims were burning some sort of plants at the incense burners.

After arriving at the parking lot Ganden Monastery, we walked uphill along a path heading to the trailhead of the kora pilgrim route.

At the hilltop, the view of Ganden Monastery was spectacular.

A local dog followed us from the parking lot all the way up to the hilltop.

At the hilltop, a local pilgrim was preparing offerings at the incense burner.

We tied our 5-coloured prayer flags at the hilltop overlooking Ganden Monastery.

The kora path continues beyond the prayer flags to the backside of the hill.

We soon reached the first shrines along the kora path.

Below the kora path, the Lhasa River passed through the valley behind the Ganden Monastery.

Also known as Kyi River, Lhasa River is a tributary of Yarlung Tsangpo River.

Farming terraces occupy a valley below the Ganden Monastery.

The kora path split into a few footpaths along the slope, connecting a series of pilgrim shrines.

The kora offered us a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains.

There were many violet wild flowers on the green slope along the path.

Some pilgrims took the lower kora route along the green slope.

Towards the end of the kora path, we once again passed under a series of prayer flags.

After the prayer flags, a few more Buddhist shrines came to sight, as we approached the Ganden Monastery at its far side.

At the incense burner near the end of the kora path, we could see the winding vehicular road that our bus first arrived.

The winding road where our bus zigzagged up earlier in the morning looked wonderful from a distance.

We entered the monastery compound from its far end.

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December 28, 2017 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: Buddhism, Buddhist, Ganden, hike, kora, lamasery, Lhasa, monastery, mountain, mountains, religion, scenery, Tibet, Tibetan, valley, Wangbur | Leave a comment

DAY 2 (2/6): KORA OF DREPUNG MONASTERY (འབྲས་སྤུངས་/ 哲蚌寺), Lhasa (拉薩), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.17

Ganden (དགའ་ལྡན་/甘丹寺), Sera (སེ་ར་དགོན་པ/色拉寺) and Drepung (འབྲས་སྤུངས་/哲蚌寺) Monastery are considered to be the three great Gelug (格魯派) or “Yellow Hat Sect” university monasteries of Tibet. Established in 1416 and held 7700 monks in its heyday, Drepung Monastery was one of the largest monasteries in the world. The taxi ride from the Potala to Drepung Monastery in the outskirt of Lhasa took about 15 minutes. Upon exiting the main road, our taxi passed through a busy street with religious shops and stopped at the outer entrance of Drepung Monastery. We were told that a minibus could take us up to the monastery at the lower slope of Mount Gephel (更丕烏孜山). After a ten minute wait, a minibus arrived. We were lucky to squeeze in the bus along with a full load of pilgrims. After only a few minutes, our minibus arrived at the monastery’s main parking lot.

Before the sun get too hot, we decided to walk up the mount behind Drepung Monastery on the kora trail. We followed the pilgrim path west of the compound towards a large platform several storey high. The large platform was the Thangka Exhibition Platform used during the Shoton or Sho Dun Festival (雪頓節) to display the 40m wide x 80m long Buddha tapestry. To witness the fantastic ceremonies of Shoton Festival, we came a month too late. To do the hour-long kora trail around the monastery, we came just at the right time of the day with the perfect weather. We were a little worry on whether we would be affected by altitude sickness during the hike. The actual kora trail began in a woods beyond the Thangka Exhibition Platform. We followed several Tibetan pilgrims to enter the ascending trail. The trail winded up the slope of Mount Gephel behind the monastery, and led us to a number of colourful prayer rocks. At the trail’s highest point, we were captivated by the singing of a group of women who were busy fixing the flat roof of a monastery building, and by the view of the distant mountains. We walked on the trail for roughly an hour before descending to the other end of the monastery.

After a brief taxi ride, we were dropped off at the main gateway of Drepung Monastery at the foot of Mount Gephel.

A minibus took us from the main gateway up to the parking lot in front of the monastery complex. Instead of visiting the monastery buildings right away, we ventured to the path left of Ganden Podrang towards a cluster of rock paintings and the huge Thangka Exhibition Platform.

Along the path there were many prayer wheels for pilgrims to circumambulate around the complex.

Lots of small offerings were left below the prayer wheels.

For pilgrims of all ages, interacting with the prayer wheels is a popular must-do to begin a monastery visit.

We could clearly see rock paintings above us, as well as the uncounted paintings of “ladder to the paradise”.

The Thangka Exhibition Platform looked gigantic as we walked past it. Too bad we were not here for the Sho Dun Festival.

The kora trail began at a prayer wheel adjacent to a small creek.

There are many small shrines and rock paintings along the kora trail.

The vivid colours of the prayer rocks allow visitors to see from afar.

Half way up the trail we had a close encounter with a yak/cow.

A bird landed on a prayer rock at the high point of the trail.

With the occasional pilgrims on the kora, it was not easy for us to get lost.

Small shrines were constructed at certain locations along the kora path.

A group of women staff were fixing the roof at Ganden Podrang.

Beyond the last prayer rock on the trail, we began to descend back to the monastery level.

We entered the monastery complex from the side. It was good to enjoy Drepung Monastery when not many tourists were around.

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October 24, 2017 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: འབྲས་སྤུངས་, Drepung, Gelug, Gephel, kora, lamasery, Lhasa, monastery, Tibet, Tibetan, 哲蚌寺, 拉薩, 更丕烏孜山, 格魯派 | Leave a comment

DAY 2 (1/6): FIRST GLIMPSE OF POTALA (ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་ 布達拉宮), Lhasa (拉薩), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.17

A fine night of rest had rejuvenated our bodies. Angela decided to rest a little longer at the hotel to tackle her altitude reactions. Maggie and I headed out at around 6:45am for a special mission. We walked to the nearby main street Jiangsu Road and hopped on a shared taxi (all taxis in Lhasa are shared taxis, meaning that the driver can take other customers along the way as long as everyone are heading for the similar direction). We got off near the west gate of the Potala Palace. Our mission was simply to queue for a time slot of our visit at the next day. Apparently during the high season (May to October), visitors of the Potala can only line up for a time slot a day in advance. On the actual day of visit, one would then need to arrive at a specific checkpoint at the given time slot, in order to get onto the main path that goes up to the ticket office high up in the palace.

We were told that even obtaining a time slot the day before would involve considerable amount of queuing time. Luckily we were not visiting Lhasa during the hottest time of the year, namely in August or the October 1st golden week of the Chinese National Day, when visitors would arrive at Potala’s west gate before 5:30am to guarantee a visiting time slot for the next day (according to bloggers online). It was mid September and we were told to come at around 7:30am for the queue. We arrived at around 7:20am and there were about 40 people standing in front of us. Every individual visitor must have an ID in order to obtain a single time slot ticket for the next day.

The sun wasn’t entirely up yet at 7:20. The sky was getting brighter by the minute. We stood at the parking lot in front of the reservation office, and admired the majestic Potala under the morning sun. At around 8:40am, Maggie decided to get some takeout for breakfast. She set off to a small eatery over at another parking lot nearby. Two minutes after she walked away, the queue began to move. I had no choice but to follow. Fortunately I had the ID of my two travel buddies with me, so had no problem reserving a 9:20am time slot for everyone of us in the next morning. Time was still early after we got our reservation tickets. Maggie and I decided to hop on a taxi to visit Drepung Monastery in the western suburb of Lhasa.

We arrived at the time reservation office at 7:20am.

There were about 40 people standing in front of us.

While we stood at the queue, the sky to the east was getting brighter.

Most shops near the reservation office were tourist related such as travel agents.

At around 8am, the morning sun began to cast a golden glow onto the sacred palace of Potala.

The golden glow on the Potala lasted for about 10 minutes. The splendid architecture of the red and white palaces created a perfect harmony in a majestic manner.

At around 8:15am, there was no sign that the reservation office would open any time soon. We watched the golden glow gradually disappeared on the Potala.

After we got the reservations for the next day, we walked over to the main street in front of Potala. The street was full of pilgrims walking the kora around the palace, which takes appropriate half an hour to complete.

Devoted pilgrims stopped in front of the Potala to read prayers and spin their ritual wheels.

As we walked east along Beijing Road in front of the Potala, we passed by the central gate of the palace where we would return the next day for our visit.

Looking from the southeast, the Potala looks as if surrounded by rows of young evergreen.

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October 19, 2017 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་, 西藏, kora, lama, Lhasa, palace, pilgrimage, Potala, Tibet, Tibetan, 布達拉宮, 拉薩 | Leave a comment

DAY 1 (3/3): KORA AT BARKHOR STREET (八廓街), Lhasa (拉薩), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.16

After we put down our bags into the hotel room, we couldn’t wait but to venture out into the alleyways of Barkhor Old Town. Soon we arrived at a security checkpoint where we needed to show our ID and put our bags through the x-ray. A little further beyond the checkpoint was a much wider stone paved street where almost all pedestrians moved in one direction. We knew we had arrived at the famous Barkhor Street (八廓街). We were all sleepy from the red eye flight. Angela got a bad headache from the high altitude. We had no particular itinerary for the day. We took our time to walk around the Barkhor Street, taking in the energy and Tibetan atmosphere of the ancient street, and dropping by the nearby Summit Cafe and Spinn Cafe for brief breaks.

Kora (སྐོར་ར) is the term for a pilgrimage circumambulation for Tibetan Buddhism around a sacred site or object in the clockwise direction. In Lhasa, if not the entire Tibet, the most popular kora route is undoubtedly the Barkhor Street (八廓街), the pedestrian circuit around the Jokhang Monastery (大昭寺). For over 1300 years the stone paved circuit was the most sacred pilgrim route for Tibetan Buddhists. Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo erected the Jokhang Monastery in 647, and the pilgrim path around the temple soon followed and had since then evolved into Barkhor Street. On the hand-polished stone pavers, uncounted pilgrims stepped on the Barkhor everyday, some would even perform prostration while moving clockwise along the Barkhor. Apart from prostrating, some pilgrims also spin their prayer wheels, chant mantra, or count their rosary beads.

Nowadays, other than its spiritual identity, Barkhor Street has also become a prime tourist destination of Lhasa. Souvenir shops have lined up along both sides of the famous street. For tourists, following the local pilgrims to stroll along Barkhor Street is compulsory. Beyond souvenir stores and gemstone shops, visitors may find religious shops selling all kinds of items for the pilgrims. For us, the Barkhor Street was the place that we walked by several times each day during our stay in Lhasa.

The route from our hotel opens to the Barkhor Street at the south side of the Jokhang Monastery, near a colourful flag post.

Many locals were dressed in traditional clothing while walking the kora on the Barkhor.

A turn near the colourful flag post led us to the square in front of Jokhang Monastery, where a group of pilgrims and tourists congregated.

At the Jokhang Square, local pilgrims passed by another colourful flag post.

There were constantly pilgrims prostrating in front of the Jokhang Monastery.

Visitors can no longer get in the original main entrance of Jokhang Monastery.

The original main entrance of Jokhang Monastery has become a small plaza for prostrating pilgrims and spectating tourists.

Going north from the Jokhang Square, the Barkhor Street gets narrow again into a retail street.

The Barkhor Street is flanked both sides by traditional Tibetan houses.

Along the Barkhor, there are quite a number of benches and seating areas for the pilgrims.

Makye Ame is a famous restaurant bar at the southeast corner of the Barkhor. Legend has it that Tsangyang Gyatso, the 6th Dalai Lama, met the girl he loved at this bar in the 17th century.

There are also hidden courtyards behind the traditional Tibetan houses on the Barkhor, where young artists and artisans gather to promote a new generation of Tibetan culture, as well as cool cafes and interesting bookstores targeted at the local youngsters.

Late afternoon is a popular time to walk the Barkhor, when the fierce highland sun becomes a more bearable.

Apart from Jokhang Monastery, there are a number of historical buildings at Barkhor, including this former office of the Qing government representatives.

Smaller in scale than the famous monasteries, local Buddhist temples such as this one on the Barkhor Street is equally interesting with vibrant worshiping scenes.

Both pilgrims and tourists love to interact with the Buddhist prayer wheels.

Inside the small temple there is a much bigger prayer wheel where pilgrims move clockwise with the turning wheel inside.

Police has a strong presence at Barkhor Street, with security stations set up at certain spots.

Tea shops and shopping centre of gemstone shops dotted around the Barkhor Street.

Before sunset, Barkhor Street can get pretty crowded with pilgrims and tourists.

Among all the pilgrims and tourists that we had seen on the Barkhor Street, probably this old man and his seven dogs had captured the most attention.

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October 17, 2017 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: སྐོར་ར, Barkhor, Buddhism, Buddhist, circumambulation, 西藏, Jokhang, kora, Lhasa, pilgrim, pilgrimage, prostration, Tibet, Tibetan, 八廓, 大昭寺, 拉薩 | Leave a comment

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Posts tagged “kora”

DAY 10 (2/2): LAST DAY IN LHASA (ལྷ་ས་ 拉薩), Tibet (བོད་ 西藏), 2017.09.25

DAY 9 (1/3): TASHI LHUNPO MONASTERY (བཀྲ་ཤིས་ལྷུན་པོ་ 扎什倫布寺), Shigatse (日喀則), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.24

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Day 4 (1/3): KORA OF GANDEN MONASTERY (དགའ་ལྡན་ 甘丹寺), Lhasa (拉薩), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.19

DAY 2 (2/6): KORA OF DREPUNG MONASTERY (འབྲས་སྤུངས་/ 哲蚌寺), Lhasa (拉薩), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.17

DAY 2 (1/6): FIRST GLIMPSE OF POTALA (ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་ 布達拉宮), Lhasa (拉薩), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.17

DAY 1 (3/3): KORA AT BARKHOR STREET (八廓街), Lhasa (拉薩), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.16