Following in the footsteps of an extraordinary explorer, two writers reached the top of the world...
"In 1924, the orientalist Alexandra David-N el (1868-1969) slipped secretly out of China in the hopes of reaching Lhasa, the Tibetan capital which was closed to foreigners at the time. Aged 56 and accompanied by her adopted son, she walked for four months, dressed as a Tibetan beggar. She covered 1,800 km of forests, rivers, deep valleys and high peaks to get to Lhasa, where she spent two months. This momentous exploit made the reputation of the explorer who had been scouring the Far East since her youth. Almost a century later, we followed in her footsteps. The Tibetan civilisation is in the throes of economic change, globalisation and increased tourism, and could well be vanishing. And yet there are still traces of the Tibet of 1924 in the ubiquitous Buddhism, and the religious fervour of a population whose Tibetan identity is under threat. These complex realities are what we hoped to convey alongside our account of our journey and our evocations of Alexandra David-N el."
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