Potala Palace, the winter home for the Dali Lama, before he was exiled to India in 1959.

The original palace was built beginning in the 7th century and finished in the 16th century or so. It is big, old, and beautiful and smells like yak butter, which is burnt in all of the temples, palaces, and monasteries. Buddhist pilgrims bring yak butter as a donation to be burned to keep the temples lit and smelling like yak.

These ladies dressed in traditional Tibetan clothing are related to our tour guides girlfriend. The family was visiting Lhasa on a pilgrimage to the temples.