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.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title
Copyright
About the Author
Map
Introduction
Postscript
P AKISTAN
I NDIA
N EPAL
P LATES
T IBET
Y UNNAN , C HINA
N AGALAND AND A SSAM
B HUTAN
B ANGLADESH
Acknowledgements