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Twin ramps and flights of steps brought us to the entrances. We arrived at exactly the time on our tickets. Numbers are now strictly limited to 50 visitors every twenty minutes between 9.00am and 1.00pm and 50 visitors ever thirty minutes for a further 2 .5 hours in the afternoon. For a maximum of 850 per day

View from our entrance point

Deyang Shar entrance to the Dali Lama apartments

Tibetans waiting to ascend to the private quarters of their Dalai Lama

There are three sets of stairs the central one blocked off, it hasn't been used since the Dalai Lama left and won't be used again until his return

From the roof we accessed the Dalai Lamas former home culminating in his bedroom. It was hard to imagine a bright lively young boy closeted in these cold unheated and often dark rooms. The ornamentation was heavy and the furnishings not made for comfort but he did have a marvellous view over the city

As photography was not allowed inside the Potala (2007) this red walled street is my last photo

From the White Palace we moved to the Red, the religious heart of the Potala. It is a treasure trove of Buddhist art and artefacts

Here we saw the tombs of 8 Dalai Lamas including the 5th whose pyramid above his final resting place is decorated with 20.000 diamonds and pearls

With over 1000 rooms we could only see a fraction of them in the allotted time. It was awesome to be there

to give a glimpse of what there is to see inside I include here a photo of the bedroom of the Dalai Lama for which I thank and credit Luca Galuzzi

Luca Galuzzi [CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org)

Barbara, Raine and Ngodup

Coming down from on high, literally and metaphorically we saw these young women painting the tops of the walls. What caught our eye was the safety equipment or lack thereof

Surely in the event of a fall the tether held by her co worker would hardly save her and it was still a long way down

Long before we heard of the Bucket List, this was on ours

Pilgrims making the Potala Kora, round and round Marpo Ri they go, men, women, old and young, even the dog

Along with many other photographers, I like to pretend the road doesn't exist but sadly it does. This was taken from beside the old city gate

By Night

Imposing by day the Palace is stunning by night when it is illuminated for several hours

The fountains dance for two hours every day from early April when the weather warms up until the National Day Holiday in October. We almost missed them

Raine and I chose to spend our last evening here. It was unforgettable

Centered opposite the Potala is a flag platform, a replica of the one in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. We arrived just as the flag was being lowered, the Chinese flag that is. We asked where we could see the Tibetan flag and were told to ask when we got to Kathmandu, likewise photos of the Dalhi Llama. The fully armed Chinese army marched away and we turned our attention back to the fountains in the square

They may be monks but they are still boys who couldn't resist frolicking in the fountains, undaunted by the cold

The soldiers and marching band came and went several times after the flag ceremony.
Don't know why or whether this was a regular occurrence or a special occasion