Author: Scott Berry
Publisher: HarperCollins/Indus
Year: 1995
Language: English
Pages: 309
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0006544517
Description
A most unusual book that brings to light this almost unbelievably intrepid adventurer and anyone interested in Asia, in exploration, or simply in human nature should read it.
On 4 July, 1900, a young Japanese ,monk named Kawaguchi Ekai crossed the border from Nepal to Tibet. Already the first of his race to enter that isolated. Mysterious country, he went on to become the first outsider to reach the forbidden city of Lhasa.
Though he has mastered the Tibetan language and was able to travel in disguise, this unlikely and highly idiosyncratic explorer was otherwise woefully ill-equipped, yet somehow he over came robbery, starvation, freezing conditions, illness and an appalling sense of direction. By the end of his remarkable journey..
COMMENTS:
Fascinating, reads like an adventure story.
- - Times Literary Supplement
An extraordinary story, wittily told.
- - New Statesman & Society
Berry's technique is flawless and his book a feat of biographical travel.
- - Sunday Times
Contents
The Inspiration
Darjeeling
Of Demons and Mystics
Kathmandu
The Lands Between
The Road North
Snow for My Bed and Rock for My Pillow
Confrontation with Tibet
The Treasures of Tsang
The Doctor of Sera
Notoriety and Discovery
Escape
Back to Nepal
Interlude in Japan
The Quiet Years
Sentimental Journey
The Twilight Years
Appendix: 'Three Years in Tibet'
Select Bibliography