20250922 Monday, September 22, 2025 Lhasa Potala Palace, Sera Monastery

Today was the big event, climbing the Potala Palace.  We had breakfast in the St. Regis Hotel buffet, and then headed off in our buses.  We were the second bus out of the hotel lot, but before long we saw the first bus making a U-Turn in front of us. Then Jimmy asked “Does Everyone have their passports?” and unfortunately there was one “Oh No, I forgot our passports!”  So now we know why the first bus turned around. We did the same thing and then headed off for real to the Potala Palace.  

There was a bit of a walk from the bus parking area to the lines for the first security and ticket check.  At the end of this walk, the morbidly obese gentleman in our group collapsed and our guides rushed over to render assistance.  He fortunately was conscious and breathing on his own.  There are at least 8 doctors and nurses in our tour group, but it’s unclear who would have taken the lead had he lost consciousness and required CPR.  I’m pretty sure one of the nurses would have taken the lead.  
A rumor had it that his oxygen saturation yesterday was in the mid 70’s, so the hotel doctor had prescribed and dispensed a supplemental oxygen tank, which he had been using.  Thanks to the heroic resuscitation efforts of our guides, the gentleman was soon back on his feet but would be escorted back to the hotel to be observed by the doctor after going inside the Palace front gate to have a group photo taken.  

Once inside the Palace gates, there are some gardens, but the Palace is the main attraction.  One guide was going to lead guests to the top, and through the Palace, which is a one way tour.  In Buddhist temples, you always have to move in a clockwise direction.  The second guide would walk with guests to the second gate, and then lead all those who did not wish to go further up the mountain into the park surrounding the Palace where the are extensive gardens and a large public plaza with public dancing.  Guests were welcome to turn around at any point and meet guide at the bottom.

  
The hike up was not technically difficult as it was paved the entire way, although the pavers were large and irregularly surfaced, not unlike the Great Wall of China, or cobblestone streets of Europe.  Some of the steps were irregular in height and length, but you simply had to take them one at a time. 

We found our Apple Watches to be very helpful in setting our climbing pace.  When our heart rates reached 90% of our maximums, we simply stopped and rested until our heart rated dropped back down to the 60-80% range.  This worked well, and it turned out that most of our group kept a similar pace.  This helped everyone with mutual encouragement and support.  Out of 24 in our tour group, 15 made it to the top.  

There were some nice views of the surrounding mountains and the city below from viewpoints along the way up, but about 75% of the way up, the pathway ducks inside the buildings and ascent continues mostly indoors and around courtyards.  There are many ladder-stairs as you get closer to the top which ascend at a greater than 75º angle from the horizontal.

Once at the top, we entered into the Palace, in which lie the throne for the Dalai Lama and tombs of prior Lamas.  Along with these are many shrines and chapels like what we saw at yesterday’s Tibetan Buddhist Temple.  However, there are breathtaking views out of all of the windows at the top of the Palace.  Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed anywhere inside the Palace grounds, indoors or outdoors.

This Palace had a huge gold and bejeweled structure within a glass case depicting heaven in the center, and the circle of hell around the base.  This particular one also has some astronomical significance and is used to establish official Buddhist dates.

There were many chapels and other rooms filled with priceless collections of Buddhas and Stuppas.  There are also many prayer spaces, residential spaces and other official rooms. 

 
Although there were a few areas that were crowded with pilgrims, it was not nearly as crowded or uncomfortable as yesterday’s temple was.

The descent from the Palace is certainly a lot easier than the ascent, and occurs on the backside of the mountain.  There is a very long row of prayer wheels that pilgrims spin as they walk by.  Others periodically prostrated themselves on the long downhill ramp. 

 
We returned to the Lhasa Tsedang hotel for a buffet lunch. This featured beef and potato curry, rice, bok choy, tomato and scrambled eggs, sweet and sour deep fried eggplant, a local spicy duck, pickled vegetables, soup and salad.  It was a decent lunch and nobody left hungry.  

The lunch did make staying awake during the second tour of the day, which was to the Sera Monastery a bit more difficult.  There was a little bit of a slope to ascend to get to the monastery, but as we approached it in the buses, we could see a temple way up high on the hillside. Most of us were relieved to learn that the monastery we were visiting was at the very bottom of that hill.  

The Sera Monastery is a huge Monastic complex that could be mistaken for a small city rather than a Monastery.  There are many dormitories, and temples spread out on the campus.  Wandering about through them was interesting.There were many beautifully decorated doors, and mysterious alleyways.

  
We stopped by the outside of a large classroom space decorated with the bhavachakra, or wheel of life.  This symbolically represents the cycle of existence.  It consists of four concentric circles held by Yama, Lord of Death.  At its center is a depiction of 3 animals representing the three poisons of ignorance (pig), attachment (snake) and aversion (bird). Our interactions with these poisons generates kharma represented in the next layer with half ascending and half descending. This leads to six paths (Gods, Demi-gods, Humans, Animals, Hungry Ghosts and Hell).  The outermost layer shows 12 Nidānas which show how kharma leads to the six realms.  Outside of the circles, there is an image of Buddha pointing to the moon which represents the possibility of liberation from the suffering of reincarnation.  
Our local guide Basang explained the concept of karma and reincarnation to us.  It was Buddhism for dummies.  One concept that was easier to grasp was that our soles are burdened with the deeds of our past (karma), but that is only about 50% weighted during the judgement.  The other 50% can be influenced by deeds in the current life, which inspire devotees to do good with their lives.  Every religion needs its sticks and carrots.  

From the Sera Monastery we headed back to the St. Regis hotel for well deserved and badly needed naps.  

In the evening, all the buses cleared out of the valet reception circle outside the hotel lobby and it filled with Bentleys of all different colors and styles.  There was a reception for a local Bentley club going on at the hotel in the evening while we were having our buffet dinner.  Ben was told by other Viking guests that there was another outside viewing deck on the 6th floor suitable for photography, but that access to it was limited because of the Bentley group, but Ben did manage to get up there after 9pm and get a nice nighttime exposure of the Potala Palace.  

Tomorrow, we check out of the St. Regis Hotel, tour a Nunnery, and they depart on flights to Xian.  This had been a whirlwind of a tour so far.  We spent some time repacking and reweighing our suitcases in the evening before going to bed.