The enigmatic Potala Palace, Lhasa

Locations: Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet, China (29° 39′ 28″ N, 91° 7′ 1″ E)
Date: 18 May 2005; 5.50pm
Camera: Canon IXUS IZoom

Potala Palace is one of the most enigmatic and recognisable building in the world. It was the principal residence of the Dalai Lama until he fled Tibet after the Tibetan uprising. Today the Palace is a museum and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Lhasa- it has limited the number of entrants a day and its entrance tickets are sold out every day. The hordes of tourists are apparently causing concern of stress to its structure. The palace sits atop the Potala Peak. Its surroundings used to be rather rural in nature- I remembered how rural the surroundings was when I saw the "Rainbow over Potala Palace" photo by Galen Rowell many years ago. It is now totally different. The Chinese government had spent a lot of money transforming the surrounds of the Palace into just like any other Chinese cities; including building the immense Potala Palace Square or People's Park in front of the Palace. Well, I guess that's developments in the eyes of the Chinese government.