Potala Palace

There was some confusion as to whether we would be able to enter the Potala Palace-the historical residence of the Dalai Lama. This was because there are now so many Chinese tourists visiting Lhasa due to the new railway, that there has been a new enforcement of numbers to the Palace. As long as two weeks ago we had to pay a deposit of $40 to hopefully have more of chance to get a place on the day n(basically a bribe!). We only got the go-ahead the night before yesterday that we had an hour's appointment at the palace at 12:30.

Ever since seeing "Seven years in Tibet" I have wanted to visit the Potala. It towers above the city and is mesmorising in it's individual archiecture style. Strangely although it is very expansive, over 1000 rooms, it looks quite miniscule at the same time. Our guided tour was a rushed hour through the rooms in the the monastery and Dalai Lama's private rooms. It was amzing inside, there were many golden budda statues and thrones that various previous Dalai Lama's have sat on. Three of the most impressive rooms were the tombs of the 5th, 8th and 13th Dalai Lamas; they were coated in copious amounts of gold and precious stones and were 10 meters high.

The Potala has been one of the highlights of this trip, just because of it's history and fame. I cant believe I've been there now!