Tashilempo Monastery, Shigatse: boys are sent away to monasteries from the age of six, emulating the traditional English boarding-school approach to education.
The magnificent Potala Palace in Lhasa.
Walking with Migmar in the Barkor, one of the few areas of Lhasa where the traditional Tibetan houses are still preserved. In the foreground, a prostrating pilgrim.
Am I right? Monk makes his point in ritual debating at the Sera monastery.
Images of the gatekeepers, and other treasures, behind the altar in the Drepung Monastery, outside Lhasa.
Makeshift lutes.
The essence of bleakness. The grey, windswept waters of holy Namtso Lake, 15,500 feet (4570 m) above sea level. Prayer flags show that pilgrims come from all over Tibet to make the 18-day walk around it, or shorter walks around these towering rocks at Tashidor.
Yak herding on the summer pastures of Qinghai province.
Yak husbandry continued.
Sonam the yak farmer prepares a calf for shearing.
Meeting monks at the Festival. Later they inveigled me into a game of football.
Well-restored chortens at Gyanak Mani. They are symbolic of steps to enlightenment.
Tall in the saddle. Feet of horsemanship by the Kampas.
YUNNAN, CHINA
In Tiger Leaping Gorge. Behind me, Li Yuan, who we christened Mr Nice Man on account of his ineffable patience, leads the donkeys, keeps an eye on me and carries the sound boom.
Message in a bottle. Mr Feng’s connection with the outside world.
The end of Tiger Leaping Gorge. The Yangtze below me has fallen 700 feet (213 m) in a series of 21 lethal rapids. I’ve walked 20 miles along the edge of a cliff and I’m going to bed.
Luoshi, Sichuan. The jetty of Namu’s hotel.
Namu’s aunt is more concerned with hospitality than the interview.
Namu, the nicest narcissist.
Auto-rickshaw delivers me to Dr Ho’s clinic.
The Famous Dr Ho in trademark white coat.
Mrs Ho in the traditional costume of the Naxi, a minority people of Yunnan.
Xuan Ke, Lijiang’s local hero, takes his place in the front row of the Naxi Music Orchestra.
Sweet, beautifully played flute solo brings the concert to an end. Painted on the wall behind are black-necked cranes, a rare and sacred Himalayan bird.
Trainee snake charmer? No, local man shopping for walking stick.
Dongba checks the instructions during purification ritual.
Kunming, China. Girls in tribal costumes compare umbrella-opening techniques at the Yunnan Nationalities Villages.
Elephant basketball at the Nationalities Villages.
Nagaland. An old warrior, with fern accoutrements.
NAGALAND AND ASSAM
Belly up. Konyak Naga head-hunter outdoes me in stomach decoration. Nor are my Paul Smith belt and Craghopper trousers any match for his hornbill feather, wild boar’s teeth and neck-chain showing he’s taken five heads.
Shingwong translates the words of the chief of Longwa Village, on my right, as we talk to him in his hut. This picture has a distinctly period flavour. Hard to believe from the look of the place that most of them here are baptized Christians.
With the morning shift at Tipong Mine, near Digboi, Assam.
Safety is the big issue at Tipong. I suppose they could start by giving them overalls.
With Manoj Jalan (on leading elephant) in his Mancotta Estate.
Never saw anything like this on my bike rides in Sheffield. Mishing fisherwomen put their catch down their cleavage.
The monastery (satra) on Majuli Island.With Jadab Burah (right) and his older roommate Lila Ram. Because of vows of purity they would have to wash themselves completely after touching anything in the room that I’d touched.
Jumbo football at the 2nd Kaziranga Elephant Festival.
One of the great experiences of my travelling life.Washing an elephant at Kaziranga National Park. I’d never made an elephant rumble with pleasure before.
BHUTAN
Gantey village.With Dasho Benji, wearing traditional kho, on the lookout for elusive black-necked cranes.
Successful sighting. Rare black-necked cranes on the wing.
Evidence of the cult of Drupka Kunley, the ‘divine madman’, on a house in Gantey village. Painted penises are believed to ward off evil spirits.
Workmen take a teabreak at the Gantey gompa (monastery), which is being refitted. Quite slowly.
The extraordinary precipice on which Takstang is perched.
Doje and I visit Choni Dorje, poet and yak farmer, who has lived up here for 82 years. He sings me his ode to the yak, which made him a national celebrity.
The pageantry of the Paro tsechu. Opening day dances in the courtyard of the dzong.
BANGLADESH
The gravel banks of the Pijain River.
The engaging Abdul Rahman, who became a poultry magnate in the Midlands before returning to Bangladesh to build homes for his family.
Toilets that have travelled the world. Nothing is wasted at the ship-breaking yards near Chittagong.
The bane and bounty of Bangladesh. Millions of tonnes of Himalayan water combine with the heaviest monsoons in the world to make the landscape both fertile and fragile.
A very few of the estimated 700,000 bicycle rickshaws in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital.
In downtown Dhaka it’s quicker to deliver by hand, or shoulder, or head.
Mission accomplished.With the help of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra I’m swept out into the Bay of Bengal, along with millions of tonnes of mud that was once Himalaya.
Saga Platoon (with apologies to young Peter Meakin) meets the Dalai Lama. (left to right) Roger Mills, Thingy, DL, Nigel Meakin, Peter Meakin, Vanessa Courtney, Basil Pao, John Pritchard.
With (right to left) John-Paul Davidson, Nawang Dorjee Sherpa and son, and Wongchu Sherpa, at the Yak and Yeti Hotel, Kathmandu.