"An enormous paved square has for many years now replaced the meadows in front of the ramparts of the Potala Palace. The palace is a riot of colours: ochre, white and deep red, perched atop a hillock in the midst of the flat Kyi chu Valley. Tourist buses and vans were parked in the square under a sky overcast with a flurry of cotton wool. The steps leading up to the fortress-palace were lined with stalls selling tankhas, books, metalware and T-shirts. Rock bought a couple of beautiful paintings of Green and White Tara, the two protector deities of Tibetans, born of the tears of the compassionate Buddha. Salesmen enticed us with singing bowls made of five metals that reverberated with a low droning sound well after being struck with a wooden stick."

--from Here Be Yaks by Manosi Lahiri

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