24 Hours in China's Most Restricted City (Lhasa)
Tashi Delek Hello This this you wife wife Yeah This Okay Give me give me this Ah it's okay Thank you I have no money So we have no money Sorry Thank you Tashi Delek From the heart of the Himalayas This is Lhasa the cultural and spiritual capital of Tibet And today we're going to be doing our best to show you the reality of what Tibet looks like what Lhasa looks like today 2025 We're starting our day off here at the Potala Palace one of the most significant landmarks that overlooks Lhasa City We're currently more than 3500 m up Roughly about 3,700 up So the air is thin We're going to do our best to explore this city today So join us on a bit of an adventure around a very very fascinating and ancient part of the world From down here you can beautifully see the three colors of Potala Palace itself The white one stands for compassion The yellow one that you can see down here and also up here stands for wisdom and then the red one on the top stands for energy and power tourists crowds and crowds and crowds of tourists It's the first thing that you're met with Obviously this is the number one place I guess to come in Tibet The architecture of this building is fascinating because you have like a blend of Indian Chinese and Nepalese architecture and that kind of symbolizes Tibetan architecture and Patala Palace I think is like a perfect example of that architecture Okay Okay Kaleshu Kaleshu the Tibetan people Well there's quite a lot of Tibetans in here that are coming here and obviously doing the kora the meditation all the way around on the outside as well Tibetan people are just some of the most like heartwarming people that we've ever met And we're constantly getting asked for photos Obviously I think it's pretty rare for Europeans and um Westerners We don't we don't see many We only saw like maybe one or two other Western tourists scattered here and there So I'm excited to go in and check out this um palace apparently has like more than a thousand rooms on the inside And this was the winter palace of the Dalai Lama Now the summer palace is what's known as Norbulingka and that is relatively close by but they often get confused This is the winter palace and the summer one is Norbulingka We just got our tickets to enter Potala Palace Uh just be aware that these tickets have to be booked online in advance a few days During the winter time they're 100 RMB and I believe you have to book them in advance like maybe four or five days In the summertime they're 200 RMB and you have to book them like well in advance Pasang just said about like 15 days or so in advance just to be on the safe side So be aware So Patala Palace was built or the construction was started by King Songsten in the 7th century and then built was continued or it was renovated and expanded in the 17th century by the fifth Dalai Lama Currently making our way up The air is thin here Very thin This lady's doing a better job than I am Hello Getting better and better views as well as we go up Tashi Delek Hello Tashi Delek If you are you call it pema I don't know how to say in English but in Tibetan we call it pema Okay Uh so this is uh only monastery we use this kind of grass here which is uh you know it can make uh more light of the structure Yeah structures one thing and the second thing it can make warm in the winter inside of the house and uh can keep cold in inside of the in summer time It's like isolation Yeah It's a kind of many many grass they fix together and then just put in here It's the red part of the wall Yeah Yeah Red part of the walls They have a many many like this kind of grass they fix together And also you know like this kind of high building if they have a such strong wind the wind is just going to not going to hurt the walls Yeah Oh okay Okay It's like aerodynamic isolation Yeah Yeah Yeah Oh just off here in the distance down at the bottom towards the main road there's two stupas and in old times in old Tibet and in old Lhasa that signify the two stupas Once you enter those two stupas in this direction it meant that you had entered Lhasa city It's fascinating Very very beautiful And so they must have those two stupas must have been there and are there for a very very long time So Potala Palace is repainted once a year or let's say all of the Tibetans repaint all of their houses once a year but so is Potala Palace and uh it's actually done by hand So these walls here for example are whitewashed with different minerals and it's done by hand So people will come and volunteer once per year and then um kind of throw buckets of whitewash against the wall in order to repaint it And they will usually do this um shortly before the day that the gods are coming back hold here Is the horse walking up all of the stairs yeah Yeah But only the special people who can take horse from down to here Ah okay I means like for example the Dalai Lama or some other holy they can use the horse especially when they age get more over then it's hard to walk to here Mhm So the horse is just fixed here this is made from yak wool and it's a incredible material to make something like this out of A lot of the nomadic herders will use this yak wool to make their tents because it's water repellent waterproof and incredible for keeping heat inside as well From here you can see the depth of the wall This is not the thickest part but uh it also is in some parts of the palace there are thicker parts of the wall And as you can see it's very very thick It's like maybe I don't know I would estimate 2 and 1/2 mters maybe 3 m in depth It's crazy all of the door handles here are very very special And also at a crazy height Like I'm 178 See how high the the door handles are And then you have the beautiful attachment to it to knock on the door Wow Every flight of stairs that you go up it just gets more and more beautiful It's interesting as well to notice like Tibetan monks casually walking through the hordes of tourists This is a fascinating place The energy feels feels different It's the only way to describe it It's very hard to do like proper talking tracks here for this video because of the altitude but wow I'm really enjoying just taking in the beauty of this palace All right we are nearly on the top of the palace We are currently in this beautiful square here and uh I believe once we enter these wooden stairs here we are not allowed to film anymore and we're going to respect that But uh we're going to let you guys know what we saw just in a few short moments We made it out on the other side of Potala Palace We're now on looking onto the northern part of Lhasa And uh well if you want to know what is on the inside I believe you will have to go for yourself Um no words can really put together what uh what you will be able to experience and see inside of Potala Palace Difficult to explain what it's like We're going to make our way down now back towards the the street level This palace is absolutely massive sheer scale and size and sort of intricity It's so intricate and it's so well designed It's almost like almost like a perfect maze when you go in And I'm pretty sure if it if people weren't being led around by by uh tours and stuff like that people would get lost very easily in there Hello You can't film on the inside because there's monks practicing Resting places of uh previous Dalai Lamas are in there as well So it's a very sacred place to be A lot of emotions are going on in my chest Tashi Delek Thank you It's okay Thank you so much One two three four All good Thank you Very cheap Sorry You be nice Four for 100 she's saying Yeah Four bracelets This is nice This is nice Sorry I don't have Okay This This you wife wife Yeah This Okay Give me give me this request only Ah it's okay Thank you I have no money So you have no money So we thank you this place You look one two You look Look here I don't have cash Two Yeah Only 100 Only give me 100 It's okay It's okay Don't have cash Only 100 Thank you Only give me 100 So thank you Yeah Just outside of Potala but still sort of on the premises they have this beautiful market where you can buy sort of different things such Um the prayer wheels you can see here in different sizes There's saffron Hello These are dried yak yak jerky Very tasty And uh of course the beads for meditation and chanting This is a very cool place You can see that they have the yak milk My yakyak milk Tasty Where's she going she going to get more different types Oh she's weighing it Oh okay Oh for trying Oh to try I will try Thank you Okay Expiry day Oh nice Very tasty No they're like milk tablets They're like milk tablets Yeah Tashi delek That's very good M So this is like the specialty around Tibet is the yak milk Obviously this has so many yaks around here What is this one it looks like it's coated in sugar It's more fluffy one I think It's Oh it's this one I can try Okay Good saleswoman I'm going to try this one too [Music] The other one is not going anywhere That's my favorite one That's very good Oh that's a crispy one I have a good one I have a chewy one Do we get the chewy one m It's very good This one is also very good This is delicious Oh to cook What is this one i don't know We're going to try everything Oh is it good cuz it tastes like a cereal Cereal Like that would be good with some yak milk Some yak milk Yeah We're going to buy this one Okay Each one How much is it very tasty We have all the samples It's 25 RMB Yeah But where do I pay what do I scan 25 pieces Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay Ah nice one Okay Okay Okay Okay Thank you Oh the tea The tea All good Thank you so much Thank you Thank you Bye-bye [Music] Tashi Delek Okay So we got ourselves some yak milk treats That's like the thing that you have to get here So and it feels nice because the market in there is like 99% uh local Tibetan people So that's where you need to spend your money when you're in Tibet right it's with the local people It's the same if you go to Jiangxi or to Shanghai you got to spend with the local people anywhere you go But this milk tablet that she gave us is not going anywhere It's not going anywhere You still have it oh wow You can chew it I chewed it Yeah Oh I thought it was something that you had to like dissolve in your mouth slowly Yeah Yeah Yeah It's a cool market though It's just outside of the the palace itself So we have a big day in front of us This is going to be probably a pretty long video but we're going to be exploring LHasa We're going to get some lunch Feels very very nice to be standing here just existing here It feels like a like a privilege I guess We made it to a restaurant called Lhasa Kitchen and they have Nepali food So of course we ordered Nepali food I myself got the Nepali set and Luke got what is it called the shalama bread we think it's called So it's like a blend of uh this restaurant here It has a blend of like Nepali cuisine and Tibetan cuisine blended together There's like even a little bit of European cuisine in there but we're not going to try that when we're in Tibet But yeah this is like a fried yak meat bread We actually tried this when we first arrived in Lhasa but I haven't tried it fried So this is like a crispy fried yak bread ASMR You hear that crunch oh the yak meat is extremely juicy delicate tender All of the other buzzwords that I can use to describe this Thank you We ordered a small pot of sweet tea as well Of course Give this a shot It's so good Yeah After hearing that ASMR you don't have to tell me twice to try this food Oh it tastes very different to the one that we tried before Sorry I have to try It took a really big bite It's a bit oily crispy It's so good It has a lot more spices in there as well Yeah Kind of tastes like there might be some curcuma or something like that in there Very very good Very tasty That is special And now you have this giant tray This almost looks like um a thali when when we were traveling in South India Actually all over India they have the thali and the a whole assortment of different things But this is a Nepali version I didn't think that it was going to be this big I mean I saw a picture of it but I wasn't expecting it to be like this big you know i kind of want to I think this might be a dessert Oh take take I think this might be a dessert No it looks like yogurt It looks like yogurt in there It's like a marachino cherry in the middle It's like yogurt Yogurt Yeah A lot of times though they mix the yogurt with the curries Yeah Cuz it makes it more creamy and rich Makes it more creamy Wait how do I eat this do I just take a little bit of rice and then dip it into this or yeah I think you just mix and match as you go Mix and match Yellow curry Beautiful Yeah Spicy at all no No Mild Tastes like um lentils Oh nice What was that dish called with the lentils no idea Oh yeah That tastes healthy for you actually very very rich flavor of it We've never visited Nepal Um so this is our first time trying Nepali food I didn't think that it would be in Tibet where we first tried Nepali food That yellow curry is delicious That yellow curry is very good We also have some cauliflower Oh nice Beautiful Oh that's spicy That's spicy Take your yogurt Alarm Alarm Alarm The yogurt saves you Oh that's actually a lot more spicy than I had anticipated Yeah Oh you need to give it a try You're going to give it to me now so I can suffer yeah go suffer It's good That's so good It has a strong kick to it that's for sure Oh wow It's so rich though in flavor I think I got like a potato That wasn't cauliflower That was a potato Yeah that was fantastic It kind of has like a milky chili kick to it That's amazing I thought you wouldn't appreciate a cauliflower That's why I gave you a potato I'm more of a potato fan And meat as well I ordered it with a beef You can also order it with vegetables or chicken I believe Wait do I put the entire thing in my mouth i'm not sure Yeah just take a bite as you go This is beautiful Beautiful kind of roasted curry flavor What type of meat is it is it beef it's beef Beef or maybe yak I don't know But I order beef I assume it's kind of like a mix Um very sort of buttery dark curry Um like roasted curry type of flavors A little bit on the oily side Um but very very tasty I'm super happy with this You're going to give me some I'm going to get more You don't have food yet You need to try everything Oh yeah Really really really juicy Oh and that curry So I think this is a yellow and this one is a red curry Little bit more of a kick than the yellow curry Much more flavorful Red curry is a winner I'm very happy with all of this This is very good food I kind of feel the need to eat it with my hands but I don't know if people here would appreciate me eating with my hands Yeah true Cuz I'm kind of used to you know from from South Asia to mix and match with your hands but I don't think people would appreciate it I'm going to absolutely devour this And I still have a serving of Momos that I'm waiting for So I can't wait to try that The beef is so good I'm still chewing from my bread I can't stop eating My momos are here So the momos very very big in Nepal Like I said we've never been to Nepal We tried momos though when we were in Mumbai So that's north India relatively north close enough to Nepal I guess you could say But we're going to try them again here in Tibet Let's give it a go I'm going to use a fork just in case I'm sure that they're very hot These actually kind of look like an elongated version of a Khinkali like a from Georgia In Georgia they have these things called Khinkali And in Poland they have the pierogi There's loads of countries that do different types of this style of dumplings And even here as well if you take a train a couple hours away and you end up in let's just say Xi'An or somewhere like that you're going to get similar but like pot sticker variety and it's going to look something like this as well I think it comes with like some sort of a butter butter curry or something like this I'm going to give it a shot Oh my god That is a lot better than the momos that we tried in India Let's just put it like that That is phenomenal Meaty rich beautiful texture Barely even have to chew This is perfect Absolute feast You need to try this I do have to say I am a dumpling person Dumpling lover person Let's say it like that You're going to love this But I was not a fan of the momos in India I hope these are going to be a lot nicer On the verdict they are amazing And that curry as well Yeah it's so good It's kind of like a buttery curry little bit um on the spicy side but you can taste like bell peppers or something like that in there I feel like it has a bell peppery taste So good Literally it doesn't get better than this I want to just sit here and keep ordering this and this and this and never leave ever again I'm just going to roll back down to our hotel or something like that Of course we already ordered sweet tea We also ordered sweet tea That's what I wanted to say And it's as beautiful and tasty as can be I think whenever we will leave Tibet we will miss the sweet tea a lot I saw that you can buy like an instant version of it but I'm not quite sure I'm pretty sure it's not going to taste the exact same as this one But apparently there's like a large process that goes into creating these sweet teas So we might have to learn maybe watch one or two videos about how to make Tibetan sweet tea and then maybe we can recreate it as well It's like a if you want to try and imagine a flavor it's like a less intense version of the masala chai that you can find in the north of India the chai walas that you'll get on the side of the road in north of India If you've ever tried that that's what it tastes like Just a little bit less sweet and a little bit less spicy So they don't add as much stuff into it It's a much more simple version of that It's so good
2025-04-27 18:12
