A picture taken in front of the door of Potala Palace on May 16, 2012.[Photo/China Tibet Online]

Local Tibetans take their ritual walk around the Potala Palace. [Photo/China Tibet Online]

Lhasa is dubbed as the City of Sunlight, but for me, the smiles of the people living there are much brighter, prettier and warmer than the sunshine.

Our first day in Lhasa started with an early rise because we were so excited to visit the Potala Palace.

We passed by a distinctive shop decorated with a Tibetan-style door on our way to the Potala Palace. How can I miss such a good background for photos?

I tried to pose in front of the door and let my colleague make her best to shoot. At that moment, a young Tibetan couple was walking towards the shop, and then, they stopped and motioned to us to continue with big smiles. We responded with smile too, politely making way for them.

The moment when smile faced with smile, a lot more was conveyed though we spoke different languages. A smile is enough when we say nothing at all.

At noon, we walked into a porridge restaurant, ushered by a beautiful Tibetan waitress. After seated, my colleague quickly took out the solid butter she just bought to find out how butter would taste. Seeing this, the waitress giggled and told us warmly that it would taste good only after we put the butter in water and drink until it melted.

We felt confused until the girl did everything for us. She picked two pieces of butter into our cups and said, "It will taste better if you put some salt in your butter tea". She quickly fetched a handful of salt and proficiently put another piece of butter in my cup.

"Have a taste right now", said the girl with a satisfied smile on her face.

Being so thirsty,  I was about to drink up the cup of butter tea. But the girl stopped me again and told me to disperse the floating oil first. The butter tea tasted very good like a cup of refreshing wine.

The first day ended with the savor of butter tea lingering at the tip of my tongue. And the smiles of Tibetan people impressed me deeply, which i believe won't be erased by time.