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Arrival in Lhasa
I visited India and Nepal for the first time on a Buddhist pilgrimage led by Shantum Seth in 2007. The following is from my 2008 trip to India, Nepal, and Tibet.
A few yards past the big Buddha painted on the mountain on the way to Lhasa — the capital of Tibet — the driver took my tour guide, Gyantzing, and I past newly built summer houses. Although the houses have Tibetan-style murals, the walls are filled with capacious greenish glass windows; they are deserted little vacation houses presumably for Han Chinese. The architecture is contemporary despite the murals, and the architect doesn’t resemble traditional Tibetan style. The little houses look like they might only have one room, maybe a little more than that, and they have peaked roofs. Considering the climate, I doubt people would stay in them for more than a couple months.
Modern Tibetan houses faced the street. I guess it’s a Lhasa suburb; they’re several yards apart and almost identical, like a suburb. I didn’t see a castle where Edward Scissorhands lives, though. The houses feature garage doors like Indian and Nepalese buildings but also traditional ornate red Tibetan doors. They have grey walls made of what looks like cement blocks. Some have large front picture windows, probably for the living room, and they also have plenty of other windows, with glass.