About a year after he got to Lhasa his mother gave birth to another daughter, named Jetsun Pema, and then another son, named Tenzin Choegyal. He got a special apartment to himself while his family had to share one on the palace grounds. Right after his enthroning ceremony his hair was cut and he was dressed in the robes the monks wore. Then they changed his name to Janphel Ngawag Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso. He had many short names, such as Gywalwa Renponche, Yeshi Norbi, and Kundum. After living in Potola he said, "The Potola Palace was not a nice place to live."

    When he was bored he played a game with his attendants. They would take barley dough and made airplanes and tanks. Whoever had the better army won. As a child, Lhamo was very curious about city life. In fact, one of his favorite things to do was to look at life in the city with his telescope. Lhamo followed a routine every day and only got one hour of free time per day.

    As a teenager he learned more about the outside world. When he was 14, two men came from Austria and taught him English. They also taught him many other things about the western world. One day he fixed an old movie projector and told the Austrians to make him a movie about the modern city life in Tibet.

    Kundum had an interest in cars. One night, he found an old car in the palace garage and drove it slowly around the garden. For all his life in Potola Palace, he wasn’t allowed to leave the palace, ever. But when he was almost 15, he was allowed to walk around the city with his attendants.