Tashi delek

Palcho Monastery, Gyantse, Tibet - October 2007

When you are traveling through Tibet, you will find that you may or may not be allowed to take any photography inside temples. The holiest of Tibetan Buddhist temples, the Jokhang, does not permit photography inside the building, although you may take pictures on the roof or outside.

In other temples and monuments, visitors are frequently charged for the rights to take photographs - with rates for a single room or chamber starting as low as RMB 50-75 (about $6-10) and up to over RMB 150 ($20) or more for some rooms - and flash photography is almost never allowed. The really sacred rooms/statues are generally not allowed to be photographed. (Plus, the Chinese government does not allow photography inside the Potala Palace, which it now controls.) If you want to take video footage of these places, expect to pay more than 10 times that price. Once you've chosen to pay, you're given a small slip of paper which indicates you've paid; and you often will be expected to show that paper if they see you raising your camera.

It is difficult to convey the atmosphere within these temples with a few fleeting photographs: the rich, unmistakable scent of yak butter lamps; the constant low chanting of the faithful; the sense of history and devotion that fills every room. It truly is something to be experienced, and which will affect you.