World ExpeditionsBig Adventures. Small Footprint.https://assets.worldexpeditions.com/BlogA Tibetan Trek of Faith: Lhasa to Kathmanduhttps://assets.worldexpeditions.com/Blog/PostId/5005/a-tibetan-trek-of-faithActivities,Trekking/Walking,Community,Book Club,Traveller Stories,Destinations,Himalaya,TibetThu, 17 Mar 2022 02:48:50 GMT<p><em><strong>In 1992, Brandon Wilson and his wife Cheryl were the first Western couple to complete the 1100-kilometre pilgrim trail from Lhasa, Tibet to Kathmandu. Here is how it began.</strong></em></p> <p>Maybe we approached the journey all wrong from the very start, gulping in its challenge in one gigantic breath, like diving headfirst off a cliff into some mirrored pool of unknown depth.</p> <p>It was bound to be a great adventure, we argued, a chance to prove something to ourselves—especially to those who vowed it couldn’t be done. But any Western sense of toughing things out, of muscling our way across a land as complex as utter darkness, soon fell by the wayside like exhausted matchsticks.</p> <p>Survival has somehow become mysteriously linked with the uneasy idea of letting go. Perhaps it always has been. But leaps of faith have never given me much personal comfort. Still, this is Tibet; it’s unsettling, yet reassuring.</p> <p>When life is bleakest, magic appears, tenuous at first. It’s a strange, exhilarating force, a peace. Obstacles vanish and hurdles disappear. We find water where there is none. Someone arrives out of nowhere offering shelter. Another shares his meagre food. Another, his love.</p> <p>At those moments we have a gnawing suspicion that there is something more to our thousand-kilometre trek, something more than just two weary travellers tracing an ancient pilgrim’s path from Lhasa to Kathmandu across the Himalayas.</p> <p>And that sense of greater purpose, more than any personal tenacity or courage, ultimately keeps us moving.  </p> <h2>Never Say "Impossible"</h2> <p>It all started innocently enough. Sure, my wife Cheryl and I had heard about “Shangri-La,” that legendary Himalayan paradise. Who hadn’t grown up with the fable? Then, one snowy morning, snuggled deep in a cozy leather armchair beside a library’s crackling fire, I became intrigued while reading about an ancient trail once walked by pilgrims from Kathmandu, Nepal to Lhasa, Tibet, home of the Dalai Lamas.</p> <p>According to this account, no foreigners had seen the “forbidden” city until 1903. Borders were sealed after the 1950 Chinese invasion until 1979, only opening for brief periods since.</p> <p>At that time, only 1200 foreigners had ever seen Lhasa, let alone the rest of Tibet, and half of those were with an English army campaign. Most of the others were on more recent, tightly controlled Chinese propaganda tours. Considering all that, I thought that maybe no Westerner had ever trekked this unexplored path. This was the challenge that initially convinced me to write to the Chinese authorities.</p> <p>The same motivator that has sent other madmen traipsing off to some of the highest, least travelled, most remote corners of a shrinking planet.</p> <p>Other folks I guess might have been content to stay in Colorado, especially at that time of year. After all, it was a cloudless afternoon. The type of day where the spruce trees, God’s own sweet air fresheners, scent the rarefied air with a promise of perennial hope.</p> <p>Besides, who could have guessed such a simple action as opening a mailbox could change one’s life forever? Tearing open an envelope, not from the embassy but from China’s “authorized” travel agent, I eagerly read:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>It is impossible to independently travel from Kathmandu into Tibetan Province, nor from Lhasa into Nepal on foot. As far as we know, it is impossible to get the permit to stay in Tibet for 60 or 90 days on your own. It is impossible to buy local food or find simple guesthouses every 300 km., let alone 30-km. You could hardly come across a soul within a couple of days, if you go on foot… Conditions in those high and deep mountains of Tibet are beyond your imaginations.</em></p> </blockquote> <p>I was thrilled. Its string of impossibilities just made me more determined, especially their bullheaded insistence that it couldn’t be done. Still, we prepared for the worse.</p> <p>“Look, if the Chinese refuse to give us visas,” I cautioned Cheryl, my wife and naive accomplice, “we’ll be forced to sneak in or bribe our way across the border from Nepal. We’ll have to hide in the mountains and slip from village to village.” Plus, I neglected to add, rely on the kindness of strangers.</p> <p>By the time we’d committed to the challenge, there was so little time to prepare for something so unknown. We feverishly scoured bookshops and found a Lonely Planet Tibet Guide. But the book contained no topographical maps, no details on food or shelter, and it was anyone’s guess what the Communists would do if they caught us without papers. Then, unexpectedly, doors began to open.</p> <p>The chance to become among the first Westerners to capture a bit of history, while beating the Chinese at their own bureaucratic game, convinced us. We’d give it our best shot.</p> <p>Looking back, we should have taken a year to plan for our harrowing journey. There was equipment to buy, test and break-in; food and supplies to order; maps to study; lives to put in order; physical conditioning to achieve. But we knew if we were to complete our trek before the ominous November snows, we had only three months to prepare.</p> <p>If we wait until next year, I figured, good sense will probably prevail. Physically, we’re in good shape, but we’re far from being mountaineers, I thought.</p> <p>Still, when you get right down to it, there’s little we can do now to prepare for a 35-kilometre (22-mile) hike each day—which is exactly what we need to cover if we hope to make it to Kathmandu before the last 5182 metres (17,000 foot) pass is hopelessly blocked by a ton of snow and we’re stranded until May.</p> <h2>Kathmandu, Nepal: October 7-12</h2> <p>It’s easy to forget the subtleties of a place like Kathmandu. But, like meeting an old lover on the street, those exhilarating sensations and musky memories quickly stir and reawaken.</p> <p>It begins with an on-rush of a dozen desperate urchins with their frantic curbside hustle, screeching, “Taxi, Misstah! Taxi, Sir?” Then there’s the ritual cramming of two size ten bags into a size five trunk. Once loaded, those taxis take off and swarm with all the frenzy and heated determination of wasps in a jar. Incessant bleats, peals and joy buzzer rasps of ten thousand horns punctuate fits of starts, stops and swerves. It’s an intricate ballet.</p> <p>Motorized tuk-tuks, hand-pulled rickshaws and dilapidated heaps careen down crowded streets, blaring at gawking tourists, persistent hawkers and wayward cows. They follow a well-practised weave, fake and swerve through an orchestra of sheer chaos and overpowering odours. All that’s missing is a conductor’s baton to direct the symphony of shit.</p> <p>The official trekking season attracts those who dream of <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/Himalaya" target="_blank">Himalayan quests</a>, like vultures to African roadkill. The French roam murky alleys, narrowly skirting ambushes by mock-gracious merchants. Brits scour streets in search of legendary cakes, while Americans suck cold brews to tunes from pizza joint jukeboxes.</p> <p>Now, as if that wasn’t already enough to throw the typical traveller off balance, a two-week Nepalese religious festival added to the madness. Dasain, the most lavish of Hindu holidays, spilled frenzied throngs into already undulating streets.</p> <p>During our last visit after a month spent roasting in <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/advanced-search?searchKeywords=Rajasthan" target="_blank">Rajasthan</a>’s summer desert, Kathmandu was an oasis fulfilling fantasies of food, comfort and relaxation. Yet, even then she was enigmatic. Her face changed like masks in a Balinese barong: one moment beautiful and enchanting, the next bizarre and revolting.</p> <p>Unfortunately, since then, fame aged her more than centuries past, and her virginal innocence, an honest wanderer’s welcome, was deflowered. We were saddened by the loss, but this time Kathmandu was just a staging area. Its score of trekking supply shops, groceries, banks and one-star (or falling-star) hotels only promised to hasten our departure.</p> <p>We needed all the help we could get since everything was uncertain. All except our steadfast determination. All we can do is have faith, I kept reminding myself.</p> <p>Yet, at that point in my life, the concept of faith was abstract to me, ethereal, best relegated to love, religion and the life hereafter.</p> <p>The travel agency that was recommended was set among a hundred other one-person shops in Kathmandu’s teeming Thamel district. We approached it reluctantly since after flying halfway around the world we arrived to find our hotel hopelessly filled. He had never reserved our room. Still, he was our only contact. Perhaps our last hope.</p> <p>“Narayan suggested we see you when we arrived... We’re planning a special trip and your brother thought you could help.” N.D. grinned while his head bobbed back and forth in that unmistakable Nepalese wobble—like a plastic dog in the rear window of a ‘65 Chevy.</p> <p>“Not to worry,” he chirped, already mentally tallying commission from another lucrative Nepal trek. “I will try.”</p> <p>At this mere mention of business, our host sent the “boy” scurrying for more tea then leaned back with a confident smirk.</p> <p>“Can we speak frankly?” I whispered, after turning to confirm the door was closed. Our plans had been shrouded in secrecy since that first meeting. Narayan’s hushed tones and wary glances made it seem like Chinese spies lurked right beneath his desk. Since then, we were extremely cautious about sharing our plan with anyone for fear the Chinese would catch wind and refuse us entry.</p> <p>“Of c-c-course,” he stuttered, now becoming intrigued by his mysterious strangers. Exasperated by our laboured ritual, Cheryl impatiently blurted out, “We want to go to Tibet.” “We want to fly to Lhasa,” I added, “then, trek back to Kathmandu.”</p> <p>“Trek back?” he clucked, shaking his head. “Nooo… Impossible!” After travelling so far, I refused to accept impossible as an excuse anymore.</p> <p>“Why? Buddhist pilgrims have done it for centuries.” “But no Western couple ever has that I know of,” he replied, snickering at the prospect. “Do you know how far it is?”</p> <p>“Over a thousand kilometres (621 miles),” Cheryl deadpanned, used to that tired old argument.</p> <p>“Yes and it’s a long way between villages,” he reminded us, as cautious or frightened as his brother.</p> <p>“We know,” my partner assured him, “but we have plenty of dehydrated food.” I nodded in agreement, although plenty was certainly stretching it. Actually, hoping to lessen the weight in our packs, we had foil packets for ten meagre meals.</p> <p>“And we have maps, too,” I added, having picked up the 'very latest' showing the thin, ragged route from Kathmandu to Lhasa. Although the kid hawking them on the street promised it was “just five days old,” I had my doubts since travellers are expected to be mighty gullible in Kathmandu.</p> <p>“Hey, maybe we can buy a yak or burro in Lhasa,” Cheryl suggested, figuring that hiking that far was hard enough without lugging forty-pound packs. “Or we can even hire a guide to lead us from one village to the next.”</p> <p>Although N.D. was fascinated, his practical nature (or daily experience with the Chinese) warned him that our scheme was pure craziness. It took several glasses of creamy tea to finally convince him it was worth at least one phone call to China’s “official” travel agent.</p> <p>One call and he could prove us wrong, get rid of us, and get back to his newspaper. As he slowly dialled the number, I almost stopped him. Reluctant to reveal our plans, especially to the Chinese, I was afraid we’d never get in.</p> <p>“It’s still not too late to hop an organised tour,” I figured, “then disappear into the Himalayas.” But to be honest, I wasn’t anxious to run into some overzealous, pubescent Chinese soldier waving an Uzi, eager to shoot “spies.” While all those doubts crossed my mind, N.D. reached the airline office. Although neither of us speaks Nepali, it was easy to decipher his conversation with China South West Airlines.</p> <p>“I have a couple who want to trek from Lhasa to Kathmandu,” he started. Then in a patronizing tone, he snickered, “I told them it was impossible, but…” He suddenly stopped. Our hearts raced. Were we finished? Did they just flatly refuse? “Yes, they know they’ll have to book a Lhasa tour, but… What? You’ll consider it?” Stunned, he shot us a quizzical glance. Then he apologetically blubbered, “Why, yes, yes, I’ll send them over right away.”</p> <p>The staff at CSWA was surprisingly cooperative and more than surprised that two Americans were serious about trekking through Tibet. “Your timing is fortunate. Most fortunate,” the slight supervisor pronounced, sizing us up with wide-eyed curiosity. “You see, the border officially opened just yesterday... however,” he continued, “it is only open from the Tibetan side. You must first fly to Lhasa on our mandatory five-day tour.” Cheryl and I shot each other incredulous looks. Grins started to surface. “Afterwards, you can continue on your own.”</p> <p>On our own? We nearly leapt from his sofa. Then, reluctant to let him glimpse our explosive, hallelujah-excitement, we calmly asked that one question, one last time. “Has this ever been done before?”</p> <p>The pensive supervisor hesitated only a second, assuring us, “No. To my knowledge, no Western couple has ever walked Lhasa to Kathmandu.”</p> <p>There, we’ve heard it three times, I thought. It must be true. But does that only mean that no one’s been so mad?</p> <p>“It just hasn’t been possible,” he added, de-emphasising our luck. “The border’s been closed many years now.” Although he promised to send our request to the Chinese Embassy, we remained sceptical that they would issue visas for the sixty days we needed. Or that they’d allow two unsupervised Americans free rein to trek across “their” Tibet. That was unheard of.</p> <p>Then, as if to allay all those unspoken fears, a displaced Tibetan clerk secretively shared something with us, a truth which eased our minds. “Why worry?” he asked, with a cryptic smile. “If it is meant to be, if Lord Buddha wills it, it will be.”</p> <p>And so it was. One telephone call, a change in policy one day earlier, the unlikely consent of a few officials, and suddenly it was willed. It was pure synchronicity. If we had never stumbled into that Tibetan shop or had arrived in Kathmandu one week earlier, or never dared to chase our outlandish dream, our lives would be different now.</p> <p><em>This is an edited extract from 'Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith' by Brandon Wilson. His other books in this series include: 'Along the Templar Trail', a Lowell Thomas Gold Award-winner for Best Travel Book, 'Yak Butter Blues', an IPPY award-winner, and 'Dead Men Don’t Leave Tips: Adventures X Africa'. Purchase a copy on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Brandon-Wilson/e/B001JS4J0O?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1610446884&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><u>Amazon</u></a> or your favourite online seller or bookshop.</em></p> <hr /> <h3><strong>About the author</strong></h3> <p><em></em><a href="http://www.BrandonWilsonauthor.com" target="_blank">Brandon Wilson</a> is an author and photographer, explorer and adventure travel writer. Brandon has travelled to nearly one hundred countries and has trekked many long-distance trails, including the Camino de Santiago, Camino Catalan, Camino Aragones and Via de la Plata across Spain, and twice the St. Olav’s Way across Norway and Sweden.</p> <p>As well as being, the first Western couple to complete the 1100-kilometre pilgrim trail from Lhasa, Tibet to Kathmandu, Brandon was the first American to traverse the 1850-kilometre Via Francigena from England to Rome. In 2006, he and his French friend re-blazed the 4500-kilometre route of the First Crusades from France to Jerusalem, naming it the Templar Trail, to establish it as a path of peace. Follow his adventures on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BrandonWilsonauthorexplorer" target="_blank">facebook.com/BrandonWilsonauthorexplorer</a></p> <p><span style="color:#949e17;"><big><strong>Inspired to explore the Himalaya backed by 45+ years of experience pioneering treks? <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/Himalaya" target="_blank">View our range of Himalaya treks ></a></strong></big></span></p> 5005Best walking books for the outdoor travellerhttps://assets.worldexpeditions.com/Blog/PostId/3373/best-walking-books-to-inspire-your-next-adventureActivities,Trekking/Walking,Community,Book ClubMon, 06 Apr 2020 01:51:31 GMT<p>Walking is a transformative activity. It takes us places we never expect on the trail and in our minds. It’s what we’re made do and it’s one of the best mediums through which to understand who we are.</p> <p>Well travelled author and curator at the National Museum of Australia <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/Bhutan/Trekking-Hiking/Perfect-Motion-Tour-to-Bhutan-with-Jono-Lineen">Jono Lineen</a> shares four novels that will inspire your own walking journey, whisk you into the mountains and fuel your dose for adventure with a pair of hiking boots.</p> <p>None of these books are walking guides, they are stories of great personal change brought about by putting one foot in front of the other.</p> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper"> <h2>Wanderlust – Rebecca Solnit</h2> <p>Solnit’s masterpiece was the first book that made me realize that walking is much more than just about getting from A to B. In a way, it was the inspiration behind my last book <em>Perfect Motion: How Walking Makes Us Wiser</em>.</p> <blockquote> <p><span style="color:#666666;"><strong>Solnit reminds us that walking is a thoughtful, spiritual even a revolutionary activity that can become an empowering and creative act.</strong></span></p> </blockquote> <p>The book moves from thinking to gardens, urban design to creativity, romantic poets to women’s rights, the politics of trespass to the symbolism of mountains, all on two feet.</p> <p>Like a good long walk, it meanders and the fascination is in the details discovered on the way; at points, you wonder how you got there but you press on and on the next page, or the next, you see the destination.</p> <p>Solnit combines her walking journeys with deep research into the breadth of an activity that we all take for granted. As she says, ‘exploring the world is one of the best ways of exploring the mind, and walking travels both terrains.’</p> <p>Her love is with how walking makes us reconsider ourselves and our place in the world and this is the gift that readers can take away from the book.</p> <p>If you like to walk, read, create and want to feel like you have agency in the world then <em>Wanderlust</em> is the book for you. It will encourage you to walk not as a tool for transportation but as a medium to change the way you think and act.</p> <p>>>> Embark on your own personal journey of reflection as you walk a pilgrimage trail in Europe such as the <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/advanced-search?categories=ESP&searchKeywords=camino" target="_blank">Camino</a> in Spain or the <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/advanced-search?searchKeywords=francigena" target="_blank">Via Francigena</a> in Italy. </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 dynamicImageWrapper"><img alt="Rebecca Solnit: Wanderlust" class="responsiveImage" src="/croppedImages/Blogs/WEX/Rebecca-Solnit-_-Wanderlust-Book-Cover-644723-1100px.jpg" /></div> </div>   <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper"> <h2>The Salt Path – Raynor Win</h2> <p><em>The Salt Path</em> is an incredible story of how Raynor Win and her husband Moth lose the family farm, he gets diagnosed with a terminal illness and with their options radically constrained they decide the best thing to do is walk the South Coast Path in England.</p> <p>It’s a 630-mile trek, an admirable undertaking for any walker, but it turns out that Ray and Moth are in their mid-50s and haven’t done any serious walking in decades. They are completely broke and have to scrounge together the money to buy a second-hand tent and a sleeping bag. But somehow they do it and off they set.</p> <p>One line from early on in the book struck me. Raynor said right at the start of their journey: ‘Excited, afraid, homeless, fat, dying but at least we made that first step, we had somewhere to go, we had a purpose.’ I love that fact that walking became the vehicle for their purpose. They turned their lives around by putting one foot in front of the other. All of sudden from being casualties of a series of tragic events they took back control of their lives. They had a purpose, a goal, a path and two feet to get them there.</p> <blockquote> <p><span style="color:#666666;"><strong>This is a beautiful book that highlights that adventure is not just about Red Bull extremists jumping off cliffs it’s about the fact that everyone can make that leap into the unknown and in the chaos that ensues answers can evolve.</strong></span></p> </blockquote> <p>Daring to push ourselves to the limits. That’s what Raynor and Moth did and the results are a new life and a fantastic book.</p> <p>>>> Make every step and every encounter count as you walk a section of the <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/advanced-search?searchKeywords=%22south+west+coastal+path%22+cornwall" target="_blank">South West Coastal Path</a> in England.</p> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 dynamicImageWrapper"><img alt="Raynor Win: The Salt Path" class="responsiveImage" src="/croppedImages/Blogs/WEX/The-Salt-Path-_-Raynor-Win-Book-Cover-644724-1100px.jpg" /><br />  </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper"> <h2>Wild – Cheryl Strayed</h2> <p>In 1995, suffering from the loss of her beloved mother and the break up of her marriage and then a dangerous detour into heroin, Strayed hits rock bottom and decides she has to do something. The thing she decides to do is walk the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) from California to Washington State.</p> <p>Talk about turning your life around. Strayed is a woman of great fortitude because she had no hiking experience and starts the walk with a backpack that weighs about half her weight.</p> <p>Over the first few weeks, she spends her time learning through trial and error and suffering physically. As with so many great stories, it’s a tale of transformation and over those months on the trail, she takes control of her life.</p> <p>In one interview Strayed mentions that the most important line in the book for her is what her mother says: ‘I’ve never been in the driver seat of my own life, I’ve always been somebody’s daughter or mother, or wife.’</p> <blockquote> <p><span style="color:#666666;"><strong>For Strayed the walk becomes a vehicle, walking the PCT enables her to pull away all the masks that she had imposed on herself.</strong></span></p> </blockquote> <p>At one point late in the trek, she sees herself in a mirror for the first time in weeks and wonders ‘whether I was a babe or a gargoyle.’ Strayed had to throw herself into the deep end and learn to swim and when she rose from depths she reached the wonderfully named Bridge of the Gods that crosses the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington she was someone new. Walking can do that for you.</p> <p>>>> Retrace the footsteps of Cheryl Strayed through the California mountains as you walk the <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/advanced-search?categories=CAN%2CMEX%2CUSA&searchKeywords=john+muir+trail" target="_blank">John Muir Trail</a> to the Yosemite Valley.</p> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 dynamicImageWrapper"><img alt="Cheryl Strayed: Wild" class="responsiveImage" src="/croppedImages/Blogs/WEX/Cheryl-Strayed_-Wild-Book-Cover-644725-1100px.jpg" /><br />  </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper"> <h2>The Snow Leopard – Peter Matthiessen</h2> <p>This is one of my favourite books of all-time. I remember first reading it 30 years ago, it was one of the main reasons I went to the Himalayas and it became an inspiration for my book <em>Into the Heart of the Himalayas</em>.</p> <p>It’s the story of Matthiessen’s trek with wildlife biologist George Schaller to Crystal Mountain in the Dolpo region of Nepal. Matthiessen had recently lost his wife and had become deeply interested in Tibetan Buddhism. The trek was a chance for him to come to terms with the death and move more deeply into the practice of Buddhism.</p> <blockquote> <p><span style="color:#666666;"><strong>Matthiessen records in stunning and poetic detail the Himalayan flora and fauna, it is a masterpiece of nature writing, but as with all great pieces of nature writing is multilayered. </strong></span></p> </blockquote> <p>We learn about the history, religion and culture of the region and the book reaches a higher level when Matthiessen delves into his personal life and the growing catalogue of difficulties that had pushed him to join Schaller in a trip to the ends of the earth.</p> <p>The writing is beautiful, sparse and lucid which is exactly what you would expect from a noted practitioner of Zen Buddhism and when the party reaches the high valleys around Crystal Mountain, Matthiessen’s prose takes on the kind of clarity that those high, bright altitudes can induce.</p> <p>I’m forever in debt to Peter Matthiessen for writing this book. It set a high bar for my expectations around my first days in the Himalayas but I’m happy to say that the region and more importantly the people lived up to the writer’s description, and my time in those mountains pushed my life in a new and exciting trajectory.</p> <p>>>> Discover the natural beauty and authentic Tibetan culture with a <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/advanced-search?searchDurationTo=29&searchDurationMax=30&searchKeywords=dolpo" target="_blank">trek in Nepal’s remote Dolpo region</a>.</p> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 dynamicImageWrapper"><img alt="Peter Matthiessen: The Snow Leopard" class="responsiveImage" src="/croppedImages/Marketing-Images/World-Ex/the-snow-leopard-644719-1100px.jpg" /></div> </div>   <p><strong>About the writer</strong><br /> <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/Bhutan/Trekking-Hiking/Perfect-Motion-Tour-to-Bhutan-with-Jono-Lineen">Jono Lineen</a> has written three books focused on the Himalayas: <em>River Trilogy</em>, which looks at the Ganges, <em>Into the Heart of the Himalayas</em>, which recounts a 2700-kilometre solo trek he made from Pakistan to Nepal, and his latest bestseller <em>Perfect Motion,</em> which investigates the relationship between walking, creativity and human evolution.</p> <p><em>Have a great walking book you'd recommend? Let us know in the comments below.</em></p> 33735 classic Himalayan readshttps://assets.worldexpeditions.com/Blog/PostId/3371/5-classic-himalayan-readsCommunity,Book Club,Destinations,Himalaya,Indian Himalaya,NepalThu, 02 Apr 2020 04:43:45 GMT<p>The Himalaya have long been a source of inspiration for the armchair traveller. Whether undertaking a pilgrimage deep in the mountains of Kashmir, exploring high and remote passes beneath the mighty snow-capped peaks or wandering the borderlands of the vast Tibetan plateau in search of the elusive snow leopard, all were compelling reasons that drew our own Indian Himalaya expert and veteran trekker <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/Blog/trek-in-the-indian-himalaya" target="_blank">Garry Weare</a> to Kashmir nearly 50 years ago. <br /> <br /> Long before the National Geographic Channel and countless internet influencers, it was the inspiring narrative and vivid imagery of acclaimed authors that captured the imagination of the traveller. Below, Garry lists five of his favourite reads that led him to embark on a life of adventure.</p> <p> </p> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"> <h2>That Untravelled World - Eric Shipton </h2> <p>Huddersfield Public Library, Yorkshire, October 1973. Two months after returning from leading my first trek in Kashmir I was at a personal cross-roads. I was torn between a career as a third rate academic and finding the means (and confidence)  to forge a life organising treks in the Himalaya. </p> <p>Heading to the travel section of the public library a title caught my eye  That Untravelled World by Eric Shipton. What a pretentious title I thought, but as I flicked through the chapter headings I began to appreciate the wonder of a life devoted to adventure. His expeditions to East Africa, Patagonia, Kashgar, the Karakoram and the Garhwal Himalaya read like a boys own annual. While hailed as one of the world’s most accomplished mountaineers he takes his resignation of the joint leadership on the British Everest expedition in 1953 in his stride. </p> <p>While more than mindful of my limited experiences I made my mind up there and then that the teaching profession was not for me. </p> <p>In between leading treks I still flick through my well used copy of the book. It still brings back truly inspiring memories.</p> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 dynamicImageWrapper" switchsource="image1"><img alt="Eric Shipton: That Untravelled World" class="responsiveImage" cropdataid="644491" dynamiccroppedimage="1" largestloadedsize="200" src="/croppedImages/Marketing-Images/World-Ex/eric-shipton-that-untravelled-world-644491-1100px.jpg" variablesrc="/croppedImages/Marketing-Images/World-Ex/eric-shipton-that-untravelled-world-644491-###width###px.jpg" /></div> </div> <h2> </h2> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"> <h2>An Area of Darkness - V.S. Naipaul </h2> <p>When planning my first trip to India I made up my mind to visit Kashmir and join the 25,000 Hindu pilgrims trekking to the Amarnath Cave. The pilgrimage is undertaken during the July/August full moon when Lord Shiva is said to have related his theory of reincarnation to his consort Parvati. An Area of Darkness was my required reading for my indeed journey including the chapter where Naipaul describes the final approach to the Cave. He said later that this passage was  an example of his finest writing. Here was a mountain, there a valley and a river; the geography of these ranges was simple, easily grasped. But one had brought them to the scale of a smaller managed world, and it was only at times like these, seeing a line of men swiftly diminished within what seemed a small space that one realised what distances these Himalayas held. </p> <p>In the late 1970’s early 1980’s I regularly returned to the Cave. This time a group of Australian trekkers accompanied me. For the groups the pilgrimage offered an unrivalled opportunity to witness this sheer mass of humanity ascending trails leading deep into the Kashmir Himalaya. </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 dynamicImageWrapper" switchsource="image1"><img alt="V.S. Naipaul: An Area of Darkness" class="responsiveImage" cropdataid="644505" dynamiccroppedimage="1" largestloadedsize="200" src="/croppedImages/Marketing-Images/World-Ex/VS-Naipaul-An-Area-of-Darkness-644505-1100px.jpg" variablesrc="/croppedImages/Marketing-Images/World-Ex/VS-Naipaul-An-Area-of-Darkness-644505-###width###px.jpg" /></div> </div> <h2> </h2> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"> <h2>The Snow Leopard - Peter Matthiessen </h2> <p>The Trans Himalaya regions of Nepal and Ladakh have also held a special place for me. This includes the remote region of Dolpo that was only opened to trekkers in 1991. Peter Mathieson’s The Snow Leopard is far more than a travelogue. The author trekked to Dolpo with the renowned wildlife expert George Schaller. For Schaller it was a search for the elusive cat while for Mathieson it was a spiritual search undertaken shortly after his wife died of cancer. A journey that explored the profound teachings of an ancient Tibetan Buddhist culture that underpinned Dolpo’s cultural history.</p> <p>However Matthiessen did create an impression that the odds of seeing a snow leopard is on par with winning the lottery. This is not the case. In Ladakh which is often described as the snow leopard capital of the world there are regular sightings each year. I will be taking <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/India/Charity-Challenge/Snow-Leopard-Exploratory-Garry-Weare?utm_source=WE%20Blog&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=Books&utm_content=Snow%20Leopard" target="_blank">my next group to Ladakh</a> in February 2022. It’s a specially devised trip with a more than even chance of seeing a snow leopard while providing much needed  support to the snow leopard conservancy in Ladakh.</p> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 dynamicImageWrapper" switchsource="image1"><img alt="Peter Matthiessen: The Snow Leopard" class="responsiveImage" cropdataid="644501" dynamiccroppedimage="1" largestloadedsize="200" src="/croppedImages/Marketing-Images/World-Ex/the-snow-leopard-644501-1100px.jpg" variablesrc="/croppedImages/Marketing-Images/World-Ex/the-snow-leopard-644501-###width###px.jpg" /></div> </div>   <h2> </h2> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"> <h2>Where Men and Mountains Meet – John Keay</h2> <p>January 1981. I was flying to Hobart to give a talk on the delights of trekking in Kashmir and Ladakh. Each year I became more confident with my talks as I acquired greater insights into the rich cultural history that my treks offered. On the flight I settled into reading Where Men and Mountains Meet written by John Keay, a Scottish historian who set the benchmark on the exploration of the West Himalaya in the 19th century. </p> <p>To say I was impressed was an understatement. His writing reflected years of painstaking research that focused not just on the history but also on the remarkable personalities that made their mark on Himalayan exploration. John Keay’s books helped me immensely with my <em>Lonely Planet guide Trekking in the Indian Himalaya</em> as well as my <em>Long Walk in the Himalaya – from the Ganges to Kashmir</em>, and more recently my historical narrative <em>Kashmir: A Journey through History</em>. </p> <p> </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 dynamicImageWrapper" switchsource="image1"><img alt="John Keay: When Men & Mountains Meet" class="responsiveImage" cropdataid="644504" dynamiccroppedimage="1" largestloadedsize="200" src="/croppedImages/Marketing-Images/World-Ex/when-men-and-mountains-meet-2-644504-1100px.jpg" variablesrc="/croppedImages/Marketing-Images/World-Ex/when-men-and-mountains-meet-2-644504-###width###px.jpg" /></div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"> </div> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"> <h2>Wild Hearts, Wild Places – Allen Smutylo </h2> <p>The vast Tibetan borderlands are the home of the Changpa nomads, the original inhabitants of Ladakh who have roamed this wild and remote landscape for the best part of 2,000 years. Until a generation ago the Changpa’s lifestyle had not changed significantly. They still migrated across the vast windswept plateau following time honoured trails in search of grazing for their huge herds of goats which provide the fine wool for the famous pashmina shawls. It is a lifestyle that Allen Smutylo portrayed after many years accompanying the Changpa on their seasonal migration. Wild Hearts, Wild Places includes incredible images of the migration. Yet these are not photographic images. Smutylo is a highly regarded Canadian artist whose paintings capture the essence of this wild and remote region</p> <p>I have also regularly led treks that visit the Changpa nomads encamped in the vicinity of Tso Moriri, the high altitude lake on the borderlands of Tibet. No doubt, Wild Hearts, Wild Places will inspire you to visit their homeland too. </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 dynamicImageWrapper" switchsource="image1"><img alt="Allen Smutylo: Wild Places, Wild Hearts" class="responsiveImage" cropdataid="644503" dynamiccroppedimage="1" largestloadedsize="200" src="/croppedImages/Marketing-Images/World-Ex/wild-places-wild-hearts-644503-200px.jpg" variablesrc="/croppedImages/Marketing-Images/World-Ex/wild-places-wild-hearts-644503-###width###px.jpg" /></div> </div>   <p><em>What travel literature are you reading at the moment? Share your favourites below with our community.</em></p> <p> </p> 3371In Hillary’s footsteps: my Everest Base Camp journeyhttps://assets.worldexpeditions.com/Blog/PostId/3029/draftActivities,Trekking/Walking,Community,Book Club,Traveller Stories,Destinations,Himalaya,NepalTue, 16 Jul 2019 02:48:00 GMT<p>I look to the left and can just see the tip of Mount Everest peering over the frozen ridge, the familiar plumes of powdered snow escaping like smoke signals from her summit.</p> <p>From this direction she looks much more innocent than she really is. She’s just another mountain, but her intimidating allure draws hundreds of climbers worldwide every year.</p> <p>The upside-down rainbow above fascinates me and I stand here for almost too long until I need to leave it behind and move on. I'm not there yet.</p> <p>My booted feet move surely over the maze of boulders by the edge of the track; these flat feet that caused me no end of problems over the last sixty years have taken to hiking boots surprisingly well.</p> <p>We are walking very slowly, the altitude and exhaustion taking their toll but none of us are going to be stopped on this day.</p> <p>Every day I’ve been up here I’ve asked myself the same question: <em>how the hell did I get here?</em> When I would peer out of my little orange tent each morning and see the backdrop of mountains sparkling in the crisp morning air, when I looked down - admittedly rarely - from the swinging suspension bridges as we crossed deep river gorges, when I struggled to hold my breath and keep my trousers out of the quagmire that I've had to use as toilets, when I lay face down with my bloodied nose planted in the Himalayan dust, and when I congratulated myself each evening on making it through yet another day, I ask myself the same thing: <em>how the hell did I get here? </em></p> <p>Only a few minutes short of Base Camp I catch up with Meryl, one of the trekkers in my group who has been walking a little way in front of me all morning.</p> <p>"Are you okay?" I ask, she was sitting on a rock. There are tears in her eyes and exhaustion on her face, her body is crumbling.</p> <p>"Not really," she answers, "I can’t go any further. I just can’t." There isn’t much I can do for her. I am having enough trouble keeping my own spirits up.</p> <p>Yangjin, our guide, comes up to us, she takes Meryl’s water bottle from her pack and hands it to her. Meryl is in good hands now, so I move on.</p> <p><img alt="Admiring the Himalayan mountains towering over while on trek | <i>Pamela Lynch</i>" class="responsiveImage" cropdataid="501199" dynamiccroppedimage="1" largestloadedsize="1100" src="/croppedImages/Blogs/WEX/EBC-trek-2013-501199-1100px.jpg" variablesrc="/croppedImages/Blogs/WEX/EBC-trek-2013-501199-###width###px.jpg" /></p> <p>It is just after 11.00am when I reach the end of the ridge, it simply doesn’t go any further, and I follow the track as it veers to the right. My footsteps crunch across the last few metres, and to my left I hear another chunk of ice crack from its anchoring and hit the freezing water, its fate sealed. The mountains are silent around me, a few wispy clouds slide across their summits and pyramids of ice at their base stand sentinel.</p> <p>I walk slowly into the small clearing, its rough cairn of rocks indicating I can go no further. What little breath I have left is held, then slowly released; my mind empties and just for an instant I am sure there is nothing in there to impede this sensory concoction and feeling of elation.</p> <blockquote> <p><span style="color:#333333;">I made it. I have walked where Edmund Hillary walked sixty years ago on his way to the top of the world. </span></p> </blockquote> <p>The pile of prayer flags on the cairn, some rather tattered, others put there recently, mark the end of the line for us. In the distance, by the edge of the icefall, we can see a few remaining brightly coloured tents belonging to this season’s climbers. It's the end of the season and many have already left, the few remaining are in the process of packing up.</p> <p>We’ve been watching helicopters constantly flying backwards and forwards today ferrying those prepared to pay the money back to Lukla. There are many though who can’t afford the luxury and we’d been passing them on the track for the last few days, stopping them to ask how they’d gone.</p> <p>Most of them had made it to the top. Their sunken eyes told the story, they were weary, they wore the marks of the struggle they’d gone through, but their sense of achievement was evident. Without exception they were humble and, unless we asked, they weren’t about to shout about what they’d achieved.</p> <p>Our major hurdle today are the yaks, loaded with gas canisters, tents, refrigerators, and climbing equipment, taking the dismantled camp back down the mountains. We constantly stop and press ourselves into the rocks on the inside of the track to allow them to pass.</p> <p>Our ears are now attuned to the distant clang of the bells they wear around their necks and our eyes search for safe passing spots long before we meet them.</p> <blockquote> <p><span style="color:#333333;">From our vantage point here at Base Camp you can’t see Mount Everest, she’s hiding behind her neighbours, but there's the Khumbu Glacier that I’d come to know from watching many a documentary about Everest and those who attempt her daunting challenge. </span></p> </blockquote> <p>I'm sitting on a rock at <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/Nepal/Trekking-Hiking/Everest-Base-Camp-Kala-Pattar" target="_blank">Everest Base Camp</a> thinking about where I am and what I’ve just achieved, and tears start to prickle behind my eyes.</p> <p>In two months’ time I turn sixty, no doubt there will be celebrations with family and friends and there will be food and drink and general merry making, because that’s what my family does for birthdays. And I’d have a great time.</p> <blockquote> <p><span style="color:#333333;">But this moment encapsulates for me my journey through those sixty years. It shows me that whatever I’ve done and wherever I’ve been throughout my life has given me the desire, the strength, and the perseverance to succeed. </span></p> </blockquote> <p>Prasant, my trek leader, walks over, bends down and gives me a hug, he realises what this means to me.</p> <p>I look up from the hug and grin at Meryl who is just crossing the ridge to join the rest of us. She’s found something extra within herself, she’s grabbed onto that extra bit of strength and she’s made it.</p> <p>Time to leave my rock. The solitary bit is over, there are hugs and high fives all round as we celebrate.</p> <p>Jenny, my fellow trekker, clutches her mobile phone in her hand and dials the number that will connect her to her seriously ill father thousands of miles away in Scotland. She did this trek for both of them.</p> <p>Photographs in their dozens will remind us all in the years to come.</p> <p>We’ll close our eyes and we’ll be back here, on this sunny May morning standing here at Everest Base Camp in awe of what we’ve done.</p> <p><var><em></em></var></p> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-4 dynamicImageWrapper" switchsource="image1"><var><em><img alt="In this book, Pam shares her transformative journey through the Himalayas" class="responsiveImage" cropdataid="639835" dynamiccroppedimage="1" largestloadedsize="1100" src="/croppedImages/Blogs/WEX/In-this-book_-Pam-shares-her-transformative-journey-through-the-Himalayas-639835-1100px.jpg" variablesrc="/croppedImages/Blogs/WEX/In-this-book_-Pam-shares-her-transformative-journey-through-the-Himalayas-639835-###width###px.jpg" /></em></var></div> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"><var><em><var><em>This is an edited extract from </em><a href="http://www.pamlynch.com.au/the-book/" target="_blank">How The Hell Did I Get Here?</a> <em>by Pamela Lynch. Pamela’s memoir recounts her two treks through the green foothills of the Himalayas to the grey monotone moonscape of Everest Base Camp and the time when the major earthquake hit Nepal on April 25, 2015. Purchase a copy at <a href="http://www.pamlynch.com.au/the-book/" target="_blank"><u>www.pamlynch.com.au</u></a>. </em></var></em></var></div> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"><var><em><var><em></em></var></em></var></div> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"><var><em></em></var><em><em><strong></strong></em></em></div> <div class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"><em><em><strong></strong></em></em></div> <p class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"><strong><br /> About the author</strong><br /> <em></em>From her journeys in Nepal, Pamela Lynch transformed from the shy, young mother of years gone by, to the confident trekker, author and motivational speaker of today. Pamela trekked to <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/Nepal/Trekking-Hiking/Everest-Base-Camp-Kala-Pattar" target="_blank">Everest Base Camp</a> with World Expeditions in 2013 to celebrate her 60th birthday, a journey which became an impetus for change within herself and her outlook on life. Two years later she returned to take on a more challenging trek, heading over the <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/Nepal/Trekking-Hiking/Everest-Circuit-the-Cho-La" target="_blank">Cho La Pass to Everest Base Camp</a>.</p> <p class="col-sm-8 dynamicContentWrapper" switchsource="content1"> </p> </div> <p><span style="color:#949e17;"><big><strong></strong></big></span></p> <p><span style="color:#949e17;"><big><strong>Inspired to experience your own milestone adventure? <a href="https://worldexpeditions.com/Himalaya" target="_blank">View our range of <u>Himalayan treks</u> ></a></strong></big></span></p> 3029