Nightlife

It's doubtful whether the tongue-in-cheek performance offered by the Shangrila Restaurant (Xianggelila Zangshi) inside the Kirey Hotel (tel. 0891/636-3880) qualifies as art, but it's certainly entertainment -- and kids love it. The campy pantomime is held nearly every night, and without giving away too much, watch out for the yak! The restaurant opens for its Tibetan buffet dinner (¥60) at 7pm, and the performance starts at 7:30pm. Reservations are recommended July to September.

The hottest nangma (Tibetan nightclub) around is Niuwei, Linkou Bei Lu 13 (tel. 0891/655-8383), where Tibetans down beers and groove to Tibetan singers on a stage with a picture backdrop of Potala Palace; get here by 10pm to ensure good seats. New bars are springing up all over Lhasa, but the best ones are to be found in the Tibetan quarter. The Dunya restaurant and bar (open until 2am) is a hub for expats, and the surrounding streets hold plenty of smaller, more intimate bars.