Photos

We saw this woman several times during our stay in Lhasa. She was walking the Kora around the Jokhang temple, prostating along the way. She looked like she had come a long way (we met people prostating their way towards Lhasa all the way up in Qinghai on the desolated and freezing 4500 m. Tibetan-Qinghai plateau on our way in the new railway from Xining). She also looked as it every devouring movement caused physical pain - but religion is strong in Tibet, and I guess the religious reward is beyond physical pain.
If you look closely, you can see a piece of black, hardened skin on her forehead, caused by the thousands of times her forehead has touched the ground. We saw this even more pronounced on other people walking the kora.
She left a strong impression on me...

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The other day, I posted a picture of this prostating woman. This post is from another perspective. As the background is included, another Lhasa is revealed; the city of tourists and of a large proportion of han-Chinese. As most of you will know, the Chinese government has offered favorable conditions to han-Chinese wishing to migrate to, and set up business in Lhasa, leading to Tibetans becoming minorities in their own country. It was the han-Chinese business-owners, who became the focus of the violent uprising in Lhasa last fall. I guess the picture in some way shows two widely different worlds colliding in this place.