Everything happens in slow motion in Lhasa. 

At 12,000 feet altitude, you move at a lot slower pace and in a way, this helped me to explore this city in a different way. Instead of racing everywhere trying to see as much as I could before leaving for the countryside, I was forced to walk slower or my head was going to explode. That’s how, one morning I discovered Chakpori Hill on my second trip to Tibet. I had read that many of the sunrise shots of the Potala were taken from the top of this hill and I ventured one morning at 05:30 AM thanks to wonderful jet lag.

Chakpori means “medicine king” in Tibetan and a temple was once located at the top of the hill where lamas from all over Tibet came to study traditional medicine. By the 17th century, the temple had become a medical school but it was destroyed by the PLA during the 1959 Lhasa uprising and is now the site of radio and cell towers. Along the way up the hill path, you come across a rock wall where hundreds of painted rock carvings surround a large image of the Buddha of Longevity, Tsepakme. The photos you see were taken between 2003-2005 when very few tourists were around the city. I now see on the internet that a large structure and even a marble floor have been built to better protect the site. What has not changed are local artists working near the site who specialize in stone carving. They copy Buddhist mantras from religious text and carve them on slate slabs. I remember walking each morning listening to the “tap tap tap” of chisels on slate. I also remember how peaceful it was, just sitting there and trying to understand the meaning of all the paintings. What puzzled me is to see rounded bone carvings with holes in them hanging as necklaces or wedged in between the slate layers on the nearby tower…I suspect they were offerings?

LITTLE KNOWN FACT:

The railway linking Qinghai to Lhasa is the highest in the world.

BEST MONTH TO VISIT:

May or October

Longitude 80 can design a private Tibet itinerary based on many years guiding around the area. Most travellers are keen to explore Lhasa and the surrounding countryside but we can also push further at the western side of Tibet in more remote areas. Please contact us if you would like to plan a bespoke Tibet adventure for 2022/2023!