Spiritual spectacle

The debating rituals held in Sera Monastery every weekday offer a glimpse into the monks' spiritual lives.[Photo provided to China Daily]

We were hungry, thirsty and totally drained out of all energy - perhaps not surprising considering our tough physical exertion in a place where the air is thin with only 65 percent of oxygen.

A grand feast followed. Tibetan tea made with yak butter, tsampa (barley cakes), shab-tra (stir-fried yak meat), thukpa (meat noodle soup) and steamed momo (dumplings) - this sort of food continued for the rest of our stay during lunches and dinners.

Jokhang Temple was within a short distance from the restaurant. Full with good food, we enjoyed the walk. The temple square is brilliant and so was the devotion of the pilgrims. All of them carried a mat and prayed.

We walked past this ritual to enter the temple - one of the most sacred and important temples in Tibet. Once again, we saw many scriptures and statues but no photography is allowed there.

We had to reach Sera Monastery by 3:30 pm - that's when the famous debating ritual begins and continues until 5:30 pm every weekday.

Sera is one of the biggest monasteries in the city and has about 700 resident monks.

Every day these monks debate in a designated courtyard. It is interesting to watch how they clap or "high-five" to emphasize a point while talking about what they learned that day. The monastery has a beautiful assembly hall adorned by pillars in red and golden colors.

Interestingly, it was here that we found photography was actually allowed - for a price.

The one big thing we missed while in Lhasa was the newly opened yak museum.

Missing it during this trip only gives us yet another reason to return to this beautiful city.