Cultural shows in the capital of the Tibet autonomous region fill a tourist's evenings with delight while roadside shops serve up some delicious and inexpensive local delicacies. Bidisha Bagchi explores.
Upon landing at Lhasa's Gonggar airport on a full-moon night, we were greeted by our local tour guide with a hada - a white silk scarf that signifies goodwill, purity and good fortune.
It was quite late when we reached our hotel, conveniently located near Barkhor Street, which felt like the hub of activities in the city. I thought I would see a Lhasa that is fast asleep. Well, I was wrong. The entire place was alive with people's chatter, well-lit shops and roadside stalls selling local delicacies.
I instantly knew that evenings in the capital city of the Tibet autonomous region were delightful.
We spent our days visiting the city's various tourist spots, and once back at the hotel, took a shower and went out for walks. Our hotel was within walking distance from Potala Square, the city's main public space. The awaiting rickshaws tempted me, but I preferred to walk. A cool breeze forced us to wear light jackets.
The Potala Palace and the stupa in front are both lit up in the evenings. The sight is gorgeous. We spent a lot of time just walking around the square, which is opposite the palace. Musical fountains entertained tourists and local people alike.
Hundreds of people were there at the square. Many of them strolled. Some just sat around. And others leisurely talked to their friends.
On our way back, we took a rickshaw. Although this environmentally friendly, simple vehicle is commonly seen across Asia, and is of little novelty value to me, I still loved the ride back to the hotel.
On the second night of our stay, we went out again. Even though we were told that the Tianhai night market had better options for street food and shops, we preferred Barkhor Street, mainly because it was closer to our hotel.
There were rows of makeshift stalls offering a variety of things from prayer beads to traditional jewelry and from embroidered handbags to skirts and scarves.
Bargaining was easy, too. I bought a handbag for 20 yuan ($3) when the female vendor had asked for 35 yuan. Both of us - the buyer and the seller - looked happy at the end.
Vegetables and meat that were skewered and cooked in front of us at roadside shops were delicious and unexpectedly cheap. The only problem was the language. As English isn't spoken or understood by the local people, it was difficult to hold conversations except for exchanging a few pleasantries.
But even then, we relied on guessing the meaning of Tibetan words and enjoyed the food.
The roadside eateries did brisk business by offering not just local food but Nepalese and Korean barbecue as well. Blissful indeed!
The best part of evenings in Lhasa was perhaps going to the cultural shows. Himalaya - a daily exhibition of Tibetan culture through songs and dances - was held at the Lhasa People's Cultural and Art Museum. A similar show titled Happiness on the Way also ran for about 100 minutes every evening at the Tibet Drama Theater.
For one such show, we reached the theater a little ahead of show time so as to avoid rush hour. With tickets for the fourth row, we had seats with a full view of the stage in front of us. Two screens on either side of the stage explained every scene in Mandarin and English. That made it easy for us to follow onstage performances.
The show opened with a ceremony, and went on to depict Tibetan culture through five themes and five different colors, based on the Tibetan philosophy of five elements of nature - water, earth, wind, fire and sky (space).
We were mesmerized for about 100 minutes as we watched the well-choreographed dances, the beautiful play of lights, vibrant sets and colorful costumes of the dancers. The reba drum dance, lama dance, wheat cultivation, making wine from barley and wedding scenes were all explained through the performances.
The show ended with a song that everyone in the audience ended up singing, including me. Music truly does not have any borders, be they cultural or religious. We all sang aloud and sometimes hummed, even though we did not know the meaning of the words or how to pronounce them correctly.
Our evenings in Lhasa were packed with shopping, eating and watching cultural shows. It was money well-spent. We definitely need to plan another trip - soon.
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