The Third Pole of the World: Pain and Pleasure (Part I) – First Encounter with the Sunlight City

📍 Lhasa · 👁 1 reads · ❤️ 65 likes

The Earth has three poles: the South Pole, the North Pole, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In people's eyes, Tibet is a land of rolling mountains, towering snow peaks, fluttering prayer flags, and herds of yaks—a pure land that nurtures the most devout people.

This year, with international travel out of the question due to the pandemic, our long-haul travel plans zeroed in on the western regions. Our original plan was Gansu, and we had even mapped out the itinerary. Then, one night in July, we managed to snag a flash-deal package for a two-night suite with afternoon tea at the St. Regis Lhasa. After assessing the feasibility, we decided to head to Tibet—a place I once thought was only a distant dream, admired from afar but never attainable.

Traveling to Tibet isn't easy. We started taking Rhodiola capsules half a month in advance and meticulously listed all the items we might need, especially medications, and packed clothes for spring, autumn, and winter. The day of our departure was my birthday. After nearly nine hours of connecting flights, we finally arrived in the Sunlight City—Lhasa.

Gonggar Airport is a dual-use military and civilian airport, so photography is not allowed. Exiting the airport, the terminus of the airport shuttle bus is right at the door, offering a direct ride to downtown Lhasa. The 60 km journey is all via expressway, with one seat per person, at a very reasonable fare of 30 yuan per person. This ride gave me my first impressions of Tibet and Lhasa.

Everywhere you look is a view. Blue sky, white clouds, green trees, and open fields instantly crank the color saturation to the max. A casual snapshot could be a masterpiece.

Unlike the ubiquitous commercial ads back in our big cosmopolitan city, here it's all positive, uplifting slogans. It seems patriotic education is going quite well~.

As I mentioned at the start, this trip to Tibet was mainly because we snagged that St. Regis Lhasa two-night suite with afternoon tea package. So we arrived full of anticipation to check out this hotel, which boasts the highest vegetation coverage in Lhasa.

Climbing a steep slope that was enough to trigger altitude sickness, and after glimpsing the row of Shanghai-plated luxury cars lined up at the entrance, we finally reached the hotel lobby. The overall décor definitely has a Tibetan flair—serene and dignified. From the lobby, you can gaze at the Potala Palace in the distance. The hotel is laid out like a courtyard, with buildings scattered at varying heights. There's also a Thangka exhibition behind the lobby. Speaking of Thangkas, the craftsmanship is exquisite, and the prices are truly steep =.= Also, unfortunately, the building housing the golden swimming pool was undergoing overall maintenance, so we couldn't see it.

The butler service at the St. Regis was decent. A handsome Tibetan young man escorted us directly to our room.

Our room was an 85 m² classic suite~ It was really spacious—the bathroom must be at least a dozen or even twenty square meters??… I uploaded a video; not sure if it can be played normally.

For those who can't watch the video, here are some photos~ The guest room and the 360° rotating TV:

The view from the window:

Reading reviews, I saw that some rooms have Dyson hair dryers. Why didn't ours???

The complimentary minibar had five cans of beverages, plus unlimited bottled water. I was particularly curious about the highland barley wine. Although drinking on the plateau isn't advisable, I still took a few sips. The taste wasn't particularly special—kind of like a slightly milky beer.

In the room, I saw the service menu. My goodness... a slice of cake for 138 yuan, a vegetable dish for 128 yuan, a bowl of vegetable soup for 98 yuan, and various spa services starting at four-digit prices for an hour. I didn't dare try them...

But luckily, breakfast and afternoon tea were included in the suite package. For breakfast, there were Tibetan, Chinese, and Western options. Delicious? Not really, but filling enough—you can always grab a bowl of zhajiang noodles. I tried a small portion of tsampa and butter tea. Couldn't get used to them at all, so from then on, when eating out, I could happily save that money on such dishes.

Since the sixth-floor restaurant was also under renovation, our afternoon tea was served in the first-floor restaurant. We chose a table with a view. Sitting with my beloved in the quiet hotel restaurant, watching the sun-kissed golden mountains, eating overly sweet cakes, sipping barely drinkable cocktails, and downing bitter coffee—so delightful~ Such an exquisite afternoon tea, a feast for the eyes but not for the palate…

It seemed we'd have to go out for proper food.

Although I had been taking Rhodiola for quite a while beforehand and was careful to move slowly in Lhasa, by late afternoon on the first day, my head was throbbing unbearably. The pressure spread from the back of my head to my temples, then to my forehead, feeling as if it were about to explode. But luckily, after only 20 minutes of agony, I encountered a life-saving cup of sweet tea. Lhasa has a big temperature difference between day and night. Shivering in the evening chill, this altitude-sickness sufferer rushed into Barkhor Street and stumbled into a Tibetan restaurant. It was warm and steamy inside, and one cup of hot sweet tea brought half my life back! Later I learned that hunger triggers altitude sickness. Unlike the odd taste of butter tea, sweet tea is like a creamier, upgraded version of regular milk tea—much more to my liking. So sweet tea became a must-order for me in Tibetan restaurants.

During those days on the plateau, I always carried high-calorie snacks. Because as soon as I got hungry, a headache would start. Snickers, Assam milk tea, chocolate pies—those calorie bombs I wouldn't touch on the plains became my lifesavers on the plateau.

Yangqingcang Tibetan Restaurant was a good find. Maybe because it gets dark late in Tibetan areas, dinnertime is about 2.5 to 3 hours later than for us coastal folks. So when we arrived at 7:20 pm, there was no waiting; but by 8 pm, a long queue had formed.

This was our first meal in Tibet. We ordered hand-grabbed yak meat, yak tongue, yak yogurt, and grilled mushrooms. A friend asked if we could stomach the food. Apart from the Tibetan chili sauce, which was a bit weird, everything else was totally fine. Yak meat is naturally tough, so it's pressure-cooked before serving, making it tender and delicious~ The only shortcoming of this place was the floor—sticky and slippery, you could almost slide just by standing... haha...

Beyond these, during our days in Lhasa, we sampled all the foods we wanted to try~

Stone pot chicken, yak hotpot, and Siwei dry pot.

Lhasa is probably the most developed city in Tibet, and Beijing Road in front of the Potala Palace is its busiest street. But even so, on Beijing Road we could still see shops with décor from decades ago, old and nostalgic, their signs evoking the 1980s.

But more striking were the windowsills adorned with flowers. Walking through the downtown area, you could casually see flowers and plants tastefully arranged on almost every windowsill.

Along the way, we heard many stories about Tibetan pilgrims devoutly making their way to temples and prostrating themselves all the way there. I was deeply moved by their piety and perseverance. Though I can't fully understand it, I am full of respect. On the roadsides in Tibet, you often see Tibetans performing full-body prostrations, especially around the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple. "Full-body prostration" means stretching the entire body flat on the ground, arms extended forward. Wearing worn-out protective gear, these pilgrims, dusty and travel-worn, trek mountains and rivers, journeying from their hometowns, taking a prostration every three steps, all the way to Jokhang Temple. No matter how harsh the conditions, their resolve never wavers.

What is most admirable is that they spend all their wealth and endure such hardship not to pray for their own gains, promotions, or fortunes, but to wish for the happiness and health of all they have met, and for peace and auspiciousness for all living beings in the world. Such great love, isn't it~!

(I found a few images online showing the prostration.)

In Tibet, especially along the roads from Lhasa to various scenic spots, you often see hand-painted grayish-white ladder patterns on rock cliffs. Even at the foot of Chakpori Hill opposite the Potala Palace, there are some. We asked a local and learned they are called "sky ladders"—ladders to heaven. They are prepared by relatives and friends for those who have passed away in disasters, hoping to help them ascend to paradise. For men, the ladder has an odd number of rungs; for women, an even number. Drawing a ladder to heaven is a wish for them to reach bliss soon. I heard such ladders are usually painted near water, but many we saw were no longer near water. I guess it's because decades of road building turned the original "water" into "road."

As for city sightseeing, maybe "Lhasa sightseeing" is more accurate. Counting on my fingers, it basically boils down to visiting the Potala Palace, strolling along Barkhor Street, sipping sweet tea, and enjoying the romance of the Sunlight City. If you have nowhere else to go, a wander around Norbulingka will do. In the evening, watch the grand live performance of "Princess Wencheng."

If you only visit one attraction in Lhasa, it must be the Potala Palace. For tourists like us, it's the icon of Tibet, but for Tibetans, it carries special meaning. This "pearl on the roof of the world" was originally built by Songtsen Gampo, the Tibetan king, to welcome Princess Wencheng, and later served as the administrative seat of successive rulers. The main structure is divided into the White Palace and the Red Palace. After enduring the passage of time and changes of the world, this solemn and sacred snowland palace still stands halfway up Red Hill. In many parts of downtown Lhasa, you can gaze at its towering buildings from a distance—after all, at an elevation of 3,700 meters, it's hard to miss. Watching it from afar, the layered, meandering palace merges with the mountain, magnificent and majestic.

We booked our visit for noon the day before through the official WeChat account (very important!). Some minor mishaps on the way made us late, so we had to skip the Treasure House Museum below, and the Snow City was already closed and we couldn't see it either. We rented an electronic audio guide and started our climb at an altitude of 3,700 meters. The main building has 13 floors; it truly half killed us... to the point that when we came down, I had low blood sugar mixed with altitude sickness.

Huffing and puffing, we barely made it to the ticket checkpoint halfway up the hill before noon.

Past the checkpoint, you can see the world's deepest toilet, with a drop of about 60 meters—equivalent to a nearly 20-story building. This toilet is fenced off, so the chance to experience a one-shot drop is probably gone, haha~.

Inside the Potala Palace, hats and sunglasses are not allowed, and photography is prohibited, so no photos~ Inside, the national treasures were introduced by the audio guide, but honestly we didn't understand much. Suffice it to say that the metalwork, murals, painted decorations, and wood carvings in the Potala Palace are all world-renowned rare treasures, showcasing the superb skills and artistic achievements of craftsmen from Tibetan, Han, Mongol, and Manchu backgrounds. All we could do was admire, admire, and admire.

As visitors, we could only follow a fixed route without staying too long in one place. The official requirement is to complete the visit within one hour, which is mainly a rule for tour guides; independent travelers like us weren't bound by it. But we strolled through, listening to all the audio guide explanations, and still finished all the open areas in just 50 minutes. This shows that one hour is indeed enough. Many rooms are closed, and in the open areas you often see monks chanting sutras. Inside their enclosures, leaning by windows or sitting before Buddhas, they are completely unbothered by the bustling tourists.

After the visit, on the way down we had ample time for photos. Snapping all kinds of shots~ The view overlooking Lhasa was quite nice~ but unfortunately the weather was overcast. That's how the weather in Tibet is—gloomy in the morning, and only around 3 or 4 pm does the sun start shining brightly with blue sky and white clouds finally showing up.

TIP: Definitely rent an audio guide, the single-earpiece kind that can't be shared. Visiting without an audio guide means you're just seeing things in a daze. Although even with one you might still feel clueless... haha...

Renting is very convenient—rent it right at the entrance, it plays automatically at each point, and return it at the exit to get your deposit back. Remember to rent the audio guide at the entrance, not halfway up the hill—right at the entrance!

Zongjiao Lukang Park:

After coming down from Red Hill, we circled a long way through the back gate to reach Zongjiao Lukang Park. Travel guides say it's a great spot to view the Potala Palace from afar.

↑ Viewing the Potala Palace from Zongjiao Lukang Park

Chakpori Observation Deck:

Another Instagram-famous spot for viewing the Potala Palace is the Chakpori Observation Deck at the southwest corner of the Potala Palace's main gate—this is where the 50-yuan note scene is taken. There were so many people on the observation deck that, thoroughly exhausted, we decided not to join the crowd. A photo by the side of Beijing Road was good enough.

↑ Crowded Chakpori Observation Deck ↓ Empty streetside

But I think the best photo spot is still the Potala Palace Square. The grand palace walls in red and white, the gleaming gilded roofs—the interplay of red, white, and gold is stunning. Whether by day or night, you can capture the most perfect and beautiful Potala Palace. Inside the square, there's also a park with red flowers, green willows, pavilions, and terraces. The angle for a photo with the Potala Palace there is also awesome~

Jokhang Temple is not far from our hotel, within walking distance. Over 1,300 years old, Jokhang Temple holds supreme status in Tibetan Buddhism. Inside, incense smoke curls all day long, and thousands of butter lamps burn eternally, bearing the marks of time and pilgrims. The most famous national treasure here is the life-size statue of Sakyamuni at age 12, said to have come from ancient India and later brought to Tibet by Princess Wencheng.

When visiting the main hall, you must walk clockwise according to Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Inside, I felt suffocated... umm, it's dense and dim, with an indescribable solemnity or eeriness. In Tibetan Buddhist temples, photography is prohibited wherever the sky isn't visible, and Jokhang Temple is no exception. That oppressive atmosphere meant an ordinary tourist like me had no desire to take photos anyway. So, a few shots outside and by the doorway will do~

Exterior of Jokhang Temple~ You can still photograph the murals outside the main hall.

Taking a photo with the golden roof on the second-floor terrace is a must-do for visitors to Jokhang Temple. Blue sky, white clouds, red flowers, golden roof—so beautiful. I heard that the third floor offers a distant view of the Potala Palace, but it was closed the day we visited, leaving us with a tiny bit of regret.

At 1 pm it was still overcast, but less than an hour later, the entire sky seemed to be splashed with bright colors.

The circle of streets around Jokhang Temple is Barkhor Street, also known as Bajiao Street. It's said to have been the most bustling commercial street in ancient times and remains well-preserved to this day. Residential buildings are scattered along both sides, and windowsills are still dotted with flowers.

The most famous Tibetan restaurant, Makye Ame, is at the southeast corner of Barkhor Street. "Makye Ame" means "unmarried maiden" in Tibetan. Legend has it she was the lover of the sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, and the widely circulated tragic romance keeps the restaurant bustling from morning till night.

Norbulingka means "Treasure Garden" in Tibetan, essentially a "royal" garden~ In September in Lhasa, it's not the flower season, only a few scattered spots were in bloom, and you need to use camera angles to make it look like there are plenty of flowers... Sigh, this Norbulingka can't really be called just an ordinary park—it literally is an ordinary park... Several "photrang" (meaning palaces or Buddhist halls) were closed, and I really don't know what the 80-yuan entrance fee covers. Summary: Walked half to death, occasional nice views, but hard to hide its dullness.

The only somewhat nice thing was probably this patch of wisteria (I'm not sure if that's what it's called).

I watched "Impression Lijiang" in Lijiang and "Impression Wulong" in Chongqing. I quite like this kind of live-action performance—grandiose and soul-stirring. Lhasa has such a show too: "Princess Wencheng." It tells the story of Princess Wencheng's marriage to Songtsen Gampo, from her departure to her homesickness, and finally the cultural blending and harmony between Han and Tibetan. The performance is set halfway up a mountain on the south bank of the Lhasa River, with no public transport. After weighing our options, we decided to book a sightseeing tour with round-trip transfer. The car picked us up right at the hotel at 7:30 pm for the 9 pm show, and dropped us back after. The 30 yuan per person for the transfer was quite acceptable. This turned out to be a very wise decision—many tourists who took taxis from downtown struggled massively to get a ride back after the show and were stranded.

As for the show itself, regular tickets were 228 yuan per person. The roughly 100-minute performance uses the starry sky as its canopy and the mountains as its backdrop, creating a spectacular scene. Massive set pieces, hundreds of actors, and all kinds of real horses, carts, cattle, and sheep are used. Subtitles in Chinese, Tibetan, and English are displayed on both sides of the stage to help the audience follow along. In my opinion, the show is worth watching.

But there are a few tricks~ In Lhasa in September, it drizzles almost every night. Even if it doesn't rain, there are artificial snow scenes during the show, so if you don't want to get wet, choosing a seat with a canopy is crucial. The covered seats are in the VIP section, which had a high vacancy rate. If you don't want to pay extra for VIP tickets, you need to be quick-witted and nimble, seizing the right moment to move over. If you wait until the second half when it rains or snows, there won't be any seats left.

Also, for large-scale performances, seats further back actually provide a clearer view. That's why the VIP area is in the rear, and the VVIP section is in the very back.

Outside the theater, you can gaze at the Potala Palace and the night view of the Lhasa River—don't miss that~

We stayed in downtown Lhasa for three days, but actually two days would have been enough. The third day felt a bit idle—sipping tea, basking in the sun, strolling around aimlessly. We were longing to venture into the wider land and see Tibet's natural beauty.

(To be continued…)

Travelogue Contents:

1. First Impressions

2. First Impressions of the Scenery

3. First Impressions of the Culture

4. First Impressions of the Hotel

5. First Impressions of Altitude Sickness

6. First Impressions of the Streets

7. First Impressions of the Tibetan People

8. City Sightseeing

9. Potala Palace

10. Panoramic Photo Spots of the Potala Palace