Day 6 - Lhasa

Day 6 was our first full day in Lhasa so we started with the symbolic heart of the city, the Potala Palace. You have most likely already seen the Potala (in films such as Seven Years in Tibet) and it is obviously the old home of the Dalai Lama. With Lhasa sitting at 3650 meters (12,000 feet) above sea level, the walk up the stairs to the palace was exhausting. It also didn't help that Kathi continued to have some problems with altitude sickness but she proved her toughness and made it to the top.
The Potala was filled with many different rooms, steep staircases and an unlimited amount of incense (though no electricity or plumbing). The monks that work in the palace are not allowed to wear their robes so they instead where big brown trench coats, and the view looking over the city and its surrounding mountains is spectacular.
In the afternoon we visited the Jokhang and the surrounding Barkhor. The Jokhang Temple is the most holy temple in Tibet Buddhism, it even predates the Dalai Lamas. The Barkhor is an area of narrow streets around the Jokhang which is constantly being circled by Tibetan pilgrims for religious reasons, but it is better known by Western tourists as a huge street market. We didn't shop much in order to avoid some of the constant "looky looky" calls but I did make one stop to buy a little Buddha.