Barkhor Street

Traditional lifestyles are maintained in Lhasa's old city center - Barkhor Street.

Rich and colorful ethnic handicraf are available that you won't find anywhere else.

The Barkhor near Jokhang is almost as important to Lhasa as the Jokhang itself. It is crowded with shoppers (Tibetan, Han Chinese, and foreign) and pilgrimers all day long.

A lot of vendors in the area are Khamba Tibetans. Khambas are very fierce, like to fight, and have retained many of the traditional ways. Khamba women wear beautiful turqoise headdresses and the men braid their hair with a long red string tassel and wind it around their head. Both the men and the women wear knives daily, especially outside of cities.

A Tibetan Monk at Barkhor market.