Norbulingka
Norbulingka, commonly known as the Summer Palace in Lhasa and means the “baby park” in Tibetan language, is the Summer Palace of the Dalai and Lama in all ages. When summer comes, the Dalai and Lama are shifting from the Potala Palace to the Norbulingka for office. Featuring 374 rooms, the Norbulingka is the largest-scale garden with the best scenery and most historical sites among the artificial gardens in Tibet. It has also been called the People’s Park.
There are three zones in the Norbulingka: The area before the eastern palace includes entrance and the front garden before the three cabinets; the middle area is central part of the palace area; the west area is golden forest featuring natural delight in jungle. Every area can be the deep courtyard with the ancient trees or the open forest with the various blooming flowers according to the functional requirements and combining with the natural environment to constitute a different landscape. Garden layout of the Norbulingka features the characteristics of the Tibetan plateau and absorbs the traditional technique of the mainland Chinese gardens, using buildings, rocks, water and trees group to create a different artistic conception, such as the design of the central palace has the trace of the “One Pool and Three Mountains” of the ancient Chinese gardening art in Han nationality area.
Norbulingka
There is a Sho Dun Festival there holding from 23rd to 29th August, which is a festival in Tibetan language meaning a holiday eating yoghourt. Do not forget to taste the authentic yogurt there. During that time, you can also walk along the temples nearby in Lhasa and appreciate the Tibetan opera
Travel information: 1) Ticket price: 60 Yuan/adult; 2) Opening time: 9:30 a.m. – 18:00 p.m. 3) Best time to visit: summer time when the climate is warm and wet, the whole city is lush, and you can meet the Sho Dun Festival there.