Rising up and putting her hands together, then prostrating on the ground, the 72-year-old senior Nyidron, a pious believer, is making a full prayer prostration with her mouth reciting the Six-Syllable Charm Prayers in front of the Jokhang Temple, a center of pilgrimage in Lhasa on the early morning of April 8, 2013.

Nyidron is just one of the pilgrims coming from far and near, who have enveloped themselves in the burning incense in front of the Jokhang Temple just after day break, when Nyidron has already made 300 times kowtows.

The physically arduous ritual of full-body kowtow made Nyidron exude sweat, after which her granddaughter, DormaYangzom, helped her to pack up the pad. Then Nyidron began to make a circuit of the Jokhang Temple with a prayer wheel in her hand. "It's better to make three circuits,"said Nyidron.

Lhasa, which famous for its world cultural heritages, such as the Potala Palace and, the Jokhang Temple,, is an ancient city with a history of over 1,300 years.

For thousands of years, Tibetan Buddhism followers pilgrim and pray here, forming the three major praying paths of Lhasa, including the "Nangkuo" Street surrounding the audience hall of the Jokhang Temple, the "Bakuo" Street encircles the Jokhang Temple, and the "Linkuo" Street around Lhasa.

Situated in the old town of Lhasa, the "Barkhor Street" is a famous praying path and business center. In the 7th century AD King Songtsan Gampo built the Jokhang Temple in the Wotang Lale. The temple attracted numerous pilgrims, who, as time passes, "walked out" a path, known as the initial "Barkhor Street".

The "Barkhor Street" mirrors the historical development of Tibet since ancient times, as it has combined religion, culture and tourism with business together.

"Pilgrims have gradually come since about five o'clock every morning, and the praying ritual won't stop until noon. Taking ritual walks is a kind of Tibetan culture, and without it the Tibetan flavor would be lost," said Min Long, a businessman from Sichuan Province, who has been engaged in business in the "Barkhor Street" for ten years.

As the holiest shrine for Buddhism believers, the Jokhang Temple receives 30,000 pilgrims every day, and the number of visitors could reach about 100,000 person-times on a major religious holiday.

Every morning, Dondrup prays for a moment after adding ghee and changing water in his worshipping hall. Then he goes outside to take ritual walks for three to four hours, during when the period he meets old friends in the tea house for drinking and chatting. Such kind of life has lasted about seven to eight years for the 60-year-old Tibetan man.

No one could tell the exactly number of pilgrims walking around on Lhasa streets every day. However, one thing is clear that the leisurely pace of life pilgrims have presented over the past thousands of years has never changed.

Xu Wei, a painter from Beijing, is very excited about his first trip to Lhasa. Early in the morning, he went to the east side of the Potala Palace to record visit the temple.