Today, we visited the Potala Palace and Summer Palace.

Our guide Sang Bo met us in the morning, and we took a cab to Potala. The trip costed 10 yuan ($1).

My first impression?

The Potala isn’t any particularly extraordinary building. But as we ascended the 1000+ steps (good thing we had a couple of days to acclimitize), the view of Lhasa was extraordinary.

The early morning sun heating the neatly aligned tiny houses and buildings across a peripheral landscape, interspersed between little lakes to a backdrop of mountains in the distance.

It was just phenomenal.

We went from room to room inside the palace. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos inside.

It was not much of a visual trip so to speak, as the actual palace itself was not particularly fancy, but it was still interesting to see some of the tombs and stories of various Dalai Lamas who lived and died there.

I was actually feeling a bit ill in the PM so skipped the Summer Palace (pic left), but heard it was cool as it was where the Dalai Lama was before he escaped. The clock on the wall was supposedly still at the time when he left.

I actually spent the PM in bed with some cipro. I did feel better after, and managed to munch down a yak pepper steak in the evening. It was delicious. I definitely will get another one of those if I am back.

I also did some final shopping and got hold of a bigger jacket for Mt Everest.

We spent the evening investigating further flights out. Looks I’ll be flying from Kathmandu to Calcutta (Kolkata) where flights back home work out cheaper.

I’m still a bit worried about the HDD, even though fingers crossed so far it’s been ok. I just have to minimize usage and since we’re off to 5k feet from tomorrow (Nam Tso Lake) then Everest BC. I doubt the equipment will hold up at that altitude.

Photos coming soon…

Related Posts:

• October 27, 2009 -- Tibet Day 2: Jokhang Temple, Sera Monastery, Interesting Food, and Blind Massage
• October 25, 2009 -- Hello from Tibet

Related posts:

1. Hello from Tibet
2. Tibet Day 2: Jokhang Temple, Sera Monastery, Interesting Food, and Blind Massage