After an early breakfast, we departed our hotel and motored to the Chengdu Airport for a morning flight of approximately 2 hours to Lhasa, Tibet.

For 350 years, Lhasa, the “City of the Sun” has been at the political and economic center of Tibet. The country itself has existed since the 7th century as a remote mountain theocracy based on the mystical tenets of Lamaism, a form of Tantric Indian Buddhism coupled with Tibetan shamanism. Here, feudal Lamas whose spiritual authority was matched by their complete control of internal affairs ruled the rural population. Some reigns were benevolent, others, ruthless.

The autonomy of the lamas waxed and waned during various Chinese dynasties, with almost complete independence enjoyed during the Republic period (1912-1949). Buth things changed with the revolution. In 1951, through military action and pressured negotiations, China reestablished its sovereignty. After years of steadily increasing oppression, a revolt broke out in 1959 and the Dalai Lama was forced to flee to India.

Widespread persecution of the Tibetan people continued, reaching a peak during the Cultural Revolution. Thousands of monks and nuns were sent to labor camps. Hundreds of ancient monasteries were destroyed wholesale. Arbitrary agricultural reforms, such as imposed planting of unfamiliar crops and the collectivization of yak and goat herds, undermined traditional Tibetan life. The population was further destabilized when the Chinese government encouraged non-Tibetan Han Chinese people to settle in Tibet, thereby weakening the cultural foundations of the region.

In spite of these hardships, Tibetal culture has continues to thrive under the stewardship of the exiled Dalai Lama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. A charismatic figure, he has been able to force the Chinese government into seeking normalized relations, restoring temples, allowing some religious freedoms, and permitting some degree of free enterprise. Attempts by the government to court the Dalai Lama back to China have been unsuccessful so far. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama, along with a growing coterie of international celebrities and activists, continues in the struggle to safeguard Tibetan human rights. And the world remains fascinated by the Tibetan mystique.

At the airport in Lhasa we boarded a bus for about an hour and a half drive to the downtown area where our hotel was located. The pictures shown below were taken on this trip to our hotel.

We stopped on the road at the site of a school for Tibetan children. A pickup truck was parked in front of us. That is a leather boat on top and under it is a yak that he had transported across the river that ran along the side of the road. Unfortunately, you can’t see the yak. I’m wearing a prayer scarf which is very popular and inexpensive in Tibet.

We stopped to see a Buddha that is carved in a rock cliff. It is brightly painted. You can see him in the lower right corner. Prayer flags which have Buddhist sutras written on them are very common at all the sacred places of Tibet. When the wind blows, the prayers are released to heaven.