A 20-day Journey by Ride--Witness to Potala, the King City on the Plateau

Speaking of Paris, we will think of Eiffel, who symbolizes love; when it comes to New York, the goddess of liberty will first appear; the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Oriental Pearl in Shanghai, and the West Lake in Hangzhou. So, when it comes to the highlands, what do you think of, mysterious? Tibet? Lhasa? Either way, it should be the lofty palace at the top of the mountain, the city-Potala, which holds Lhasa, Tibet and the whole plateau.
After more than 1400 years of wind and rain, the king city on the Lhasa River has withstood the accumulation of culture from different times. With it as the core, more than 30,000 square kilometers of mountains and rivers have gathered the history of Tibet for 4,000 years. This city represents the plateau.

I'll never forget the feeling of seeing Potala for the first time. Xiaobian rode his bicycle to the legendary Lhasa, and after more than twenty days of wind and rain, he met countless pilgrims, mani heaps, and banners, as if all this was for the city. I probably started out with the same concept of this city as all my buddies who have not yet entered Tibet: the holy city of Lhasa, a great building built on the mountain. But when you come near, it turns out that he is not only a city, but also a kind of faith, a belief that I, an outsider, has a hard time understanding but real existence. The closer you get to the truth, the more you can't help but make a wish and worship. You'll find it's so easy to crawl on your legs. Just get close to it. Xiaobian went to Linzhi Road to meet a husband and wife who had made a pilgrimage. The man was kowtowing his long head and the woman was pulling her belongings along the way. It had been more than six months since she started from Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province. He was expected to arrive in Potala for nine months. When we asked him how he had overcome the mountain road along the way, he said that he could walk all the way towards Budapest, his face brimming with joy and pride, and I couldn't understand how to admire it. Riding a bicycle had already had hardships I could not imagine. How hard it was to pull these horseless carriages that had been centuries before, I didn't know. From that moment on, I knew This Potala, really sacred, I am proud that I can walk along this road.

The first sight of Potala was on the Lhasa Bridge, standing on the bridge. A huge palace with pure white and golden color stood quietly in front of it, far ahead, but Potala was close, riveting and riding hard. As I turned the postal service, a huge and sacred palace suddenly appeared, and I was struck by the sudden sense of solemnity who told me that Potala was big but not as big as we thought. This Potala is perfectly in line with my imagination of the Holy City, sitting on the top of the mountain like the king of the gods, examining this plateau, great and clean. Every day after that, I'm going to see this holy city, to see what's outside the holy city. Believers, they prostrate, they are devout, they do not hesitate to worship. Potala is made up of three colors: White, red and yellow. You can't imagine what these three colors are. I was surprised when I first heard them. The white ones were milk and Tibetan medicine, the red ones were brown sugar and Tibetan medicine, and the yellow ones were honey and Tibetan medicine. Every year there are countless devout Tibetans willing to take dye to add color to Potala, so that it will remain high and clean, for such a Potala, I only shock worship.

Potala, the royal city on the plateau, is the proud king of this plateau.