For no country has ever challenged man's imagination quite like this mysterious kingdom locked away in the heart of Central Asia. Inhabited by a people whose only wheel was the prayer-wheel, and ruled over by a God-king, Tibet has always been the stuff of travellers' dreams. In a world with few secrets left, here almost anything still seemed possible.

 

This is the story of the forcible opening up of a land which only ever wanted to be left in peace - it is the narratives of gatecrashers, concludes the author in his Prologue. He writes: "This book is not a catalogue of every traveller who set out for Tibet from the 1860s onwards. However, I have included all those seriously intent on reaching Lhasa, as well as every trespasser of interest and importance. To avoid monotony, itineraries have had to be greatly compressed at times, while for the same reason I have given more space to some characters than others. But these travellers had one thing in common. All were unwelcome to the Tibetans. Even today, the package tourist is really a trespasser, for it is not the Tibetans but the Chinese who have invited him there."  Hardcover, DJ, Near Fine-Fine.