Do some hiking in the mountains of the Lungjing tea plantations. Its behind the Westlake and easy to get there by public bus. In those small villages you can see the complete production line of the most famous green tea of China. On your hiking route you can get through Bamboo forests and climb up the paths along the mountain ridges covered by beautiful fresh green woods. Enjoy some sugar-cane on the way or take a break and taste the dragons well tea in a village of its origin.
I enjoyed it very much! The pic shows my friend Omed on the ridge of a tea plantation.

Within close distance around Lhasa you can find the major monasteries of the Gelugpa Order. Drepung is still the biggest one with round about 600 monks today. In the past it was the largest monastery of the world with more than 10.000 monks. Dont get lost in the narrow alleys embraced by beautiful decorated buildings because it got the size of a small city! But you can still see many ruins of destroyed buildings from the cultural revolution. The surrounding is also worth to take a look at. On the left side you can take a hike up to the pitoresque stone paintings. Behind the monastery on the ascent of the mountain you can see a rock plateau where the traditional sky burial took place.
In one sentence, Drepung is a MUST!

The Summer Palace inside the Norbulinka Park is more a disappointment. The park is in a bad condition, not worth the name of a park. There was a sad kind of zoo inside in a very poor condition. I wonder who wants to see a lion in Tibet??? The condition of the whole thing makes you feel sad! This could only be topped by a Sea World or a Disney Land in these Himalayan Mountains.
Anyway, the building of the Summer Palace itself was in a good condition and you get the feeling that there is still somebody living inside. You can see the furniture, radio and the modern bath the Dalai Lama used in these days.
But still my expectations of a summer palace were much higher.

The Potala Palace, maybe the most famous building in Tibet, known by every tourist, is still able to keep its promise, even if you have seen all the movies and reports you wont be disappointed, because it is incredible!
The Potala dominates the city from a hill right in the center of Lhasa.It is the highest building in town and can be seen from nearly every point of the city. Despite the fact that the days are gone when religious and political decisions for Tibet were made here, it is not a dead and dusty museum. There is a vivid life inside and around the building because of the huge number of pilgrims visiting it each day (at least during my stay).
The building consists of up to 13 storeys and can be devided into the Red and the White Palace. Walk all the way through mystic dark halls filled with incense, chapels and rooms up to the roof from where you have the best view over the city!
Around the Potala, especially in the back there is a narrow pilgrimage circuit with hundreds of prayer wheels and stone carvings and paintings.

This Pilgrimage Circuit around the Jokhang Temple is crowded with praying pilgrims and full of shops with pilgrim equipment. Prayer Flags, Prayer Wheels, everything a pilgrim needs. The assortment gets completed by a huge number of food stores (fresh meat and Yak butter most of the times) and delicious streetkitchens. The heart of the Barkhor Area is the Jokhang Temple.
You cannot get enough of the vivid Tibetan life in this part of the town!