Tibet Sightseeing Places

Tibet Lhasa Factory
The factory lies south of the city government and west of Tibet University . The factory enjoys high reputation in producing traditional Tibetan carpets, which sell well home and abroad. Its products are all hand made. Weavers still use old-styled vertical looms to produce carpets in traditional processes. The products are usually small, with delicate, bold designs in bright colors.

Xegar
Xegar ,13800 ft is a new Chinese commune built 7 km off the highway, at the food of the ruins of Xegar Dzong . With a population of barely 3000, it is the centre of a large and remote country and also the base from where expeditions to Mt. Everest and other peaks are launched. Zhangmu, 7000 ft better known by its Tibetan name, Khasa , is a small settlement climbing to a hillside 10 km inland from the Friendship Bridge across the Bhotekosi . After closure of the China-India border from Gangtok ( Sikkim ), Zhangmu has become the major trading route between Tibet and Nepal . The hills around Zhangmu are heavily wooded with innumerable waterfalls in the summer and frozen 'icicles' during winter.

Lhasa
Lhasa , 11,850 ft) was and still is the religious, cultural and economic centre of Tibet . The famous Potala Palace, the 13 storey, 1000 rooms palace of the Dalai Lama; the monasteries of Drepung and Sera; the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lama- Norbulingka ; the Jokhang - the holiest shrine in Tibet are some of the places of interest. The circular Barkhor Street has innumerable shops and wayside peddlers, who inter-mingle with devotees, walking clockwise around the Jokhang .

Barkhor Street
Located in the center of old Lhasa , Barkhor Street is the oldest street in Lhasa , as well as the most representative. Being a circular street, Barkhor is the road that pilgrims either walk or crawl around the Jokhang Temple since its construction in the seventh century. With more than 6,000 people living here, Barkhor Street is about 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) long. Traditional Tibetan houses and narrow lanes in and around the street whisper the stories of old Lhasa .

Barkhor Street is also a marketplace in which visitors can buy many beautiful souvenirs. Religious objects such as prayer flags, prayer wheels, thangkas (a kind of paintings on silk, cloth, and so on), sutras, prayer beads, etc. as well as jewelry, Tibetan knives, food, costume, and so on are easily found in this ancient street. Restaurants including Huiren Bar, Barkhor Cafe, Makye Ame Restaurant serve high quality local and western foods which will satisfy every visitor.

Ganden Monsatery
Ganden Monastery is 47 kilometers (29 miles) from Lhasa and is situated on Wangbur Mountain at an altitude of 3,800 meters (12,467 ft). As one of the 'Three Great Monasteries' of the Gelugpa Sect, Ganden Monastery is one of the largest and earliest monasteries in Tibet . Originally constructed in 1409 by the founder of the Gelugpa Sect, Tsong Khapa , is held in high esteem among the Gelugpa Sect. Tsong Kapa became the head of the Ganden Monastery (known as Ganden Tripa in Tibetan) until his death in 1419. In its heyday, Ganden Monastery covered an area of some 150,000 sq meters (about 37 acres) and mainly comprised of the Coqen Hall, Tri Thok Khang , Serdhung , Zhacangs , Khangtsens and Myicuns .

Xigatse
Xigatse lies 274 km to the west of Lhasa . It is Tibet 's second largest city and has a 500-year old history. The highway runs alongside the YARLUNG TSANGPO ( Brahmaputra ) river passing through narrow gorges and broad river valleys. The TASHILHUNPO Manastery , build in 1447, houses a 26-meter high statue of MAITREYA (the Buddha to come). Other buildings contain images of SAKYAMUNI (the Buddha of our times) and embalmed bodies of lamas.

Mt. Kailash and Lake Manasarovar
Mt. kailash and Lake Manasarovar in western Tibet are intensely sacred pilgrimage sites for the Hindu, Buddhist, Janis and Bon faithful-besides presenting an entrancing natural sight. Kailash is 1257 km over a mountain highway from Lhasa .

Tashilhunpo Manastery

Gyantse
Gyantse is located 260 km to the southwest of Lhasa . This trading town was a major stop on the legendary India-Tibet caravan route. Gyantse's centerpiece is the KUMBUM Stupa which is 32 m. high and contains 77 rooms and 100000 images of the Buddha. PELKOR CHODE Monastery and Gyantse Fort (built atop a massive rock) are other major sights here.

Phalkor Monastery
Palkhor Monastery is a kind of typical Tibetan Buddhism monastery architecture combined stupa and temple, with temples in the stupa , stupas in the temple. The stupas and temples stay harmoniously and bring out the best in each other. Its architecture fully represents a typical style of monasteries from thirteenth century to fifteenth century in Later Tibetan area, which is also the unique monasteries with both the temple and stupa being kept well today. So it is reputed as a monument of architecture period. The Palkhor Monastery (meaning lucky and happy monastery) has a Chinese name Baiju Monastery.

Yamadroke Lake- The Sacred Lake
Yamadroke Lake is one of the biggest and beautiful lakes in Tibet . We pass by this lake with about 2 hours drive along its bank. Yamadroke means torquise in Tibetan language. In fact, the lake looks exactly as beautiful as torquise blue during the good weather days. This freshwater lake, unlike other Tibetan lakes, is sweet and non-saline, extending for 624 sq. km., in the shape of two pincers of a large scorpion. You can have a short stop on its bank and enjoy photography here.

Sera Monastery
Sera, one of the three largest monasteries of Gelugpa , sits at the foothills of Tatipu . It is as prestigious as Drepung and Ganden , which both have longer histories. Sera, in Tibetan, means "Wild Rose Garden" since opulent wild rose woods once grew around it. A legend says that Tsong Khapa and his two disciples traveled in the area, spreading their religion. One day, they heard a horse whinnying underground when they were taking a walk in the rose woods. They dug up a statue of Hynagriva (a horse-headed demon-god) and Tsong Khapa began construction of a monastery to enshrine Hynagriva . However, the truth is that in 1414, Jamchen Chojey (or Sakya Yeshe ), one of Tsong Khapa's disciples, visited Emperor Chengzu as Tsong Khapa's emissary. The Emperor Chengzu granted him a title of Dharma King of Great Mercy, sutras, and a set of sandalwood Arhats . In order to preserve them, Tsong Khapa instructed Jamchen Chojey to build a monastery to house the treasures. The Sera monastery was completed in 1419.

Jokhang Temple
This 1300-year-old, golden-roofed building at the center of the Barkhor is the spiritual heart of both the city and of the Tibetan world. The most sacred and active of Tibetan temples, it was founded by Queen Bhrikuti , King Songtsen Gampo's Nepalese wife, on a site chosen by one of his other wives (a Tang dynasty Chinese princess, Wenchang ) as the principal geomantic power-place in Tibet. The courtyard in front of the Jokhang entrance is almost constantly filled with prostrating pilgrims – inside the labyrinth of shrines, halls and galleries are dimly lit by butter lamps and filled with pilgrims and incense and house some of the finest treasures of Tibetan art including a pure gold statue of Shakyamuni – the Jowo Buddha brought by Queen Wencheng – one of the most sacred images in Tibet.