The Potala Palace and The Norbulinka
I'll take on both institutions at one go for this entry.
Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, both are huge palaces. The Potala Palace boasts of a thousand rooms while the Norbulinka is 40 hectares in size.
In Potala, the walkways are a series of mazes and you'll take an eternity to get out of there. Mission Impossible 3 cannot be filmed there because there is no way anyone is going to be able to make it out of there with anything stolen from there. I think the Potala has done a great job to secure whatever there is and if you attempt to do anything funny, you'll see a part of the wall move - there're actually lamas all over and some of them are so versed in camouflage that they are able to blend into the red walls of the Potala. Most of us walk by or attempt to sit on the ledges, only to be shocked by a lama in some obscure corner.
The Potala is indeed something that prisons can learn from - you could literally imprison someone in the Potala because the person would never know where to find the way out.
The Norbulinka is quite the same, but it uses sheer size to tire you out. You know where the places are but the lack of thoroughfares impeded your finding shortcuts. It's a very nice place and everything is muted but luxurious. I've seen for the first time toilet fixings dated 1950s, TV and radio dated 1940s (which are still in working conditions!). The Dalai Lama was really technically advanced for his times. And his summer palace, the Norbulinka, shows it.
No comments:
Post a Comment