Photo of the Day 322

Buddhist Temple, Lhasa, Tibet, 2003

Photograph by Galen Rowell

Pedestrians walk near a temple on the famed Barkhor promenade in Lhasa, Tibet, with the grandiose Potala Palace sprawled atop nearby Red Mountain. Once a spiritual epicenter, the Barkhor is in the midst of a Chinese government-led modernization effort that many believe has stripped the ancient neighborhood of much of its unique Tibetan culture.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "275 Miles on Foot Through the Remote Chang Tang," April 2003, National Geographic magazine)