2 comments about Out of this world; Across the Himalayas to forbidden Tibet.

1. A trip through Himalaya for Lowell Thomas Sr. and Jr. -the latter wrote this book of memories. They've reached the capital Lhasa, met His Holiness the Dalai Lama, but especially experienced and documented the tibetan life, before the Chinese invasion. Lowell jr. clearly has been forever marked by this priviledged experience. As well as by the meeting with Henrich Harrer, the man who spent Seven years on the roof of the world, tibetan among tibetans. Many pictures, diary-style. It's not a scientific book. However, not too brief explanations on tibetan life are given. I got the original version (early fifties) thanks to Amazon/Big Star Books. Fully satisfied for rapidity and quality of the item. I do suggest it for those who want to travel tasting the thrill of discovery. A taste of adventure, heroism, human solidariety. All things that made Thomas and Harrer never be the same again.



2. The nation of Tibet is an anomaly in the history of the world. No other country is so isolated, and so controversial in its quest for independence and existence. The nation on "the roof of the world" was independent for many years, became at least partly a vassal of China, then independent again with the fall of the emporer, and was finally invaded and assimilated by the Red Chinese after the fall of the Nationalist government in 1949. The Communists who now run Tibet insist that everyone in the country is happy that their nation is now a vassal of China, and most maps don't show Tibet as a separate country. Most Americans don't know who the Dalai Lama is, beyond that he's a holy man in the Buddhist pantheon.
   
   Lowell Thomas, the famous journalist, visited Lhasa (the capitol of Tibet) in 1949 with his son. This book is the son's account of their adventure into Tibet, their meeting with the Dalai Lama, and their impressions of Tibetan life, customs, food, culture, and society. It is, frankly fascinating. My book was the edition from the late 50s, and it contains numerous photographs (at times there's a picture every other page) and three sections of color photographs besides. The book is written from a late 40s perspective, so there are differences between it and the way a book like this would be written now, but those differences are easy to overlook: this is one of the few looks we have at pre-Communist Tibet, and you can't be a chooser when things are so scarce.
   
   I enjoyed this book a great deal. The story is interesting, and the people of Tibet appear to be an interesting race, with fascinating belliefs and customs. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the subject.

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1 comments about Islam in Tibet: Including Islam in the Tibetan Cultural Sphere; Buddhist and Islamic Viewpoints of Ultimate Reality; and The Illustrated Narrative: Tibetan Caravans.

1. The title of this book is deceptive. It comes off as a heavy academic treatment of the prescence of Islam in Tibet, which is presented in a couple of short opening essays. They are good essays, sufficiently anecdotal and eye-opening, dismissing the popular notion of Tibetan culture as homogenous. And the acceptance and even promotion of Islam is a testimony to the religious tolerance espoused by Tibetan Buddhism.
   
   But as I said, this is deceptive, because the segment that gets last billing in the title, that is "The Illustrated Narrative, Tibetan Caravans," is nearly the entire book. It's a lively first hand account of the last caravans to travel over the Himalayas, from Leh, the capital of the primarily Buddhist area of Ladakh in NW India, to Lhasa. One purpose of this caravan was to take tribute to the Dalai Lama, which was somewhat problematic since the route was operated primarily by Moslems. Why the publisher thought it was necessary to make this end-around in promoting the book I don't know. I think a lively account of the last Tibetan caravan would outsell an academic treatise on Islam any day.
   
   Still, it's a great adventure tale, expanded from the memoirs of the last old man to lead the excursion. The caravan, three months on the road to Lhasa, was the only contact with the outside world that many of the small villages on the route had. Then, three months in Lhasa before the return trip home. On the way they encounter bandits, war lords, hospitable villages, disease, hardship, and joy. It is revealing because it shows not only the positive aspects of Tibetan society that are exalted through the culture in exile, but its warts as well. If you want an entertaining, realistic historical account of life in the Himalayas, this is a good read.

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