LHASA

The capital of Tibet, Lhasa is the spiritual haven for much of the Buddhist world. It has encountered a period of difficulty since Mao Zedong's Red Guards "liberated" the country by force and forced the Dalai Lama (Buddhism's spiritual leader) into exile. Nevertheless, pilgrims still come once in their lives and display a devotion I have never seen with any other religion. I saw pilgrims completing the process of prostrating themselves in a prone position over fifty miles outside Lhasa. The city felt like it was on top of the world and that I could reach up and touch the sky.