Lhasa

Travellers may very well find themselves short of breath in Tibet’s ancient capital, and not just because of the city’s soaring, record-breaking altitude on the northern ridges of the mighty Himalayas. While the newer parts of the town reflect modern China fuelled growth, it’s the old quarter of the city that will take your breath away; a place laden with astonishing monasteries, prayer wheels and smoking incense. Crowning the cityscape is the mighty UNESCO-attested Potala Palace, the one-time home of the Dalai Lama (now in exile abroad). Then there’s the colossal Norbulingka, with its blooming gardens and gilded halls, and the vihara Jokhang Temple, the most sacred site in all of Tibet. But the formidable wealth of UNESCO sites and cultural musts aside here, visitors who walk the Koras around the streets of Barkhor with the devout locals and wander the Tromsikhang marketplace with their Lhasa tour guide are in line for one of the country’s most heady doses of authentic life. Here carpet weavers tout traditional Tibetan rugs, there whittlers dust off meticulously-carved Buddha statuettes, and all around the aromas of spices, noodle soups and steamed Tibetan breads twist and turn in the thin, thin air.