Shopping in Lhasa is the Barkhor — the kora circuit doubles as a market for everything from prayer flags to antique daggers. Plan time for at least one slow lap with the explicit aim of looking, not buying, before you start serious bargaining.
Look for: prayer flags by the metre, brass and copper butter lamps, hand-printed prayer-book folios from the small monastery printing houses, single-strand turquoise necklaces, woollen blankets and shawls (yak wool is heavy and warm; sheep's wool lighter), and Tibetan rugs. Tibetan knives — the patterned dagger-style men's knives — are sold widely but cannot be carried onto onward flights, so buy only if you are continuing overland. Avoid coral, ivory and anything bone unless you know exactly what you are buying.