In his most challenging journey to date, Palin tackles the Himalayas,
the greatest mountain range on earth. It is a virtually unbroken wall of
rock stretching 1,800 miles from the borders of Afghanistan to
south-west China. Penetrated but never conquered, it remains the world's
most majestic natural barrier, a magnificent wilderness that shapes the
history and politics of Asia to this day. Having previously risen to the
challenge of seas, poles, and deserts, the highest mountains in the
world were a natural target for Michael Palin.
In a journey rarely, if ever, attempted before, in six months of hard
traveling Palin takes on the full length of the Himalaya including the
Khyber Pass, the hidden valleys of the Hindu Kush, ancient cities like
Peshawar and Lahore, the mighty peaks of K2, Annapurna, and Everest, the
bleak and barren plateau of Tibet, the gorges of the Yangtze, the tribal
lands of the Indo-Burmese border, and the vast Brahmaputra delta in
Bangladesh. He also passes through political flashpoints including
Pakistan's remote north-west frontier, terrorist-torn Kashmir, and the
mountains of Nagaland.
