Lhasa (3658m)
Lhasa rose to prominence as an administrative center in the C7th when Songtsen Gampo moved his capital there and built a palace o the site now occupied by the Potala. The temples of Ramoche and the Jokhang were also established at this time to house the Buddha images bought as dowries by Songtsen Gampo's Nepalese and Chinese wives. The rule of the Yarlung king from their new capital lasted some 250 years, but Buddhism did not really take hold until the rule of Trisong Detsen (755-97) when Samye was established. Following the breakup of the Lhasa regime the city became peripheraql to Tibetan history until Dalai Lama V (1617-82) defeated the Shigate Tsang king (with Mongol support)

The Jokhang:
This 1300-year–old, golden roofed building at the center of the Barkhor is the spiritual heart of the both the city and of the Tibetan world. The most sacred and active of Tibetan temples, it was founded by Brikuti, King Songtang Gompo's Nepalese bride, on a site chosen by his other wife (a Tang Dynasty Chinese princess, Wenchang) as the principal geomantic power-place in Tibet. The courtyard in front of the 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 treasure of Tibetan art inckuding a pure gold of Sakyamuni.

The Barkhor:
The holiest of Lhasa's koras (devotional circumambulation circuits) and its most fascinating market. All around are shops, stalls, teahouses and cafes; the streets are filled with monks, pilgrims, street performers and hawkers. The atmosphere is an intoxicating blend of the sacred, medieval, commercial and exotic. Many hours can be spent wandering here (always clockwise) shopping for prayer flags, block prints of the holy scriptures, Tibetan boots, yak butter, rice, tea, silk, incense. Stop in the cafe] and watch the many people-Khambas from eastern Tibet who braid their hair with red yarn and stride around with ornate swords or daggers; Goloks (nomads of the north) wear ragged sheepskin and their women display incredibility ornate hair bands.

4 stone incense burners mark the 4 extremities of the circuit. Behind the two in front of the Jokhang stand 2 enclosures; one housing the stump of an ancient willow allegedly planted by Songtsen Gampo's Chinese wife and stele inscribed with the terms of the Sino Tibetan treaty of 822 guaranteeing mutual respect for the boarder of the countries.

The Potala Palace:
The Potala towers over Lhasa and is an enduring landmark of Tibet. Little remains of the original structure of the original structure built by Songtsen Gampo other than its foundations. After Lhasa was reinstated as the capital of Tibet in the C17th the Great 5th Dalai Lama began construction of the White Palace (built 1645-53) employing 7000 workers and 1500 artisans. It functioned as the traditional seat of the Tibetan government and the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas. The red palace is attributed to the regent Desi Sangye Gyatso and was completed in 1693. Dalai Lama V died in 1682, his death, concealed by the regent, enabling completion of the construction without the distraction of political upheaval. Within this palace are numerous temples and the reliquary tombs of eight past Dalai Lamas. Altogether the palace is 13 storeys (among the world's tallest building until the C20th skyscrapers) and contains approximately 2000,000 images in 1,000 rooms.

Ramoche:
Second in importance only to the Jokhang, the Ramoche was built to house the Jowo Sakyamuni statue brought by Princess Wenchang as dowry in the C7th until it was later moved to the Jokhang after the latter's lengthy construction process. The imaged housed there today is claimed to be that brought to Lhasa by Songtsen Gampo's Nepalese wife, however the image was certainly missing fro  1960-83, although could have disappeared much earlier during the Mongol invasions. When rediscovered it was found in 2 pieces.

Norbulinkha:
This 40-hectare park to the west of town was built as a summer residence for the Dalai Lamas in the mid C18th; the site selected on account of its medicinal spring. It was here that monks protected Dalai Lama XIV from "invitations" from the Chinese military before he fled Tibet and began his government exile.

Tibetan Traditional Hospital:
Tibetan medicinal scientific theory is backed by Tantric texts and diagnosis is largely carried out by taking various pulses, an illness is thought to result from imbalances in the 'humors'. Surgery of any kind is never used. Tibetan doctors still train here and the teaching Thankas on the top floor are fascinating. Ask politely to be shown around and leave a small donation.

Deprung:
Pelden Deprung dates from the early C15th and, at its height, was the largest of Tibet's monastic towns, and possibly the largest monastery in the world (in 1641 it housed over 10,000 monks). Drepung also became an important center of political power and, before the construction of the Potala by Dalai Lama V; it was the principal seat of the Geluk School. There were originally 7 dratsangs (colleges), but were consolidated into 4, each with its own abbot and syllabus. The tantric college – Ngakpa Dratsang – was consecrated by Tsongkhapa himself and contains the most powerful of Deprung's images – Dorje Jigche/Chogyel Chaktakma (a Buffalo headed deity who is the Geluk's principal tutelary deity). Much of the complex is unscathed by the repeated war and plunder, many buildings dating from the C17th – C18th. It was reopened in 1980 with around 500 monks.

Sera:
About 4 kilometers north of Lhasa is Sera. It was founded in 1417 by a disciple of Tsongkhapa on a site where the teacher and his foremost student had established hermitages. In 1959 Sera housed 5-6000 monks, today there are only a few hundred. Much of the original complex was destroyed; however the chief colleges and Lhakanga along with their images and relics were preserved – amongst them a vajra believed to have arrived from India in a miraculous flight. One of the highlights of a visit to Sera s the mid-afternoon debating session attended by most of the monks and takes place inn an area specifically assigned for that purpose. The noise and fervor is exciting even if you can't understand a word they are saying.

* Sera means "Enclosure of Roses" but the name is often given as "Beneficent Hail", indicating the rivalry between Drepung and Sera as hail (ser) destroyed rice (der)