7. Enjoy Shambhala Café and yogurt cake

Undated photo shows two Tibetans play chess in a cafe near the Potala Palace in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. [Xinhua Photo]

In the heat of the day, customers of the Tibet Summit Fine Art Café of the House of Shambhala sit behind shady windows hiding themselves from the scorching sun. The café sells a variety of coffees and it also has a coffee of the day. Cappuccinos and Lattes give off an inviting smell and have an authentic taste. It is really enjoyable to drink a cup of coffee during the noon break.

The owner of the Xueyu Restaurant across the street is Nepalese. I can always see him standing at the corner of the counter with a smile on his face watching the western customers fill his old western-style restaurant to the extent that there are no empty seats.

To the foreign visitors of this place, the yogurt cakes have a unique flavor, and the chocolate cakes are also among the very best in Lhasa.

8. Mansion Hotel: a private courtyard

Several years ago, Luo Hui came to Lhasa from Beijing and began to run a distinctive "Tibet Mansion" Hotel along Barkhor Street. According to her judgment, in recent years, many businessmen have come to invest in Tibet, so we can find many luxurious or Tibetan-style hotels in Lhasa, as well as youth hostels and guest houses, but we can rarely find a courtyard-style hotel with a private space with sunshine.

This kind of hotel can meet travelers' demands for living environments during their travel, and it also provides an interpretation of the temporary stay in Lhasa. The big walnut tree shields the courtyard from part of the sunshine. An old French man has stayed in the "Mansion" for three months.

That is what Lhasa is. It provides different people with various ways of hospitality, and the way of hospitality actually depends on the people's understanding of this city. Some people are captivated with the atmosphere of youth hostels; some prefer a quiet environment, reading a book or sitting in a daze in the sun; some are unwilling to leave the boisterous parties; others may have already departed before they take a fancy to this place.