To a Mountain in Tibet
by
Colin Thubron
Order:
USA
Can
Harper, 2011 (2011)
Hardcover
Read an Excerpt
Reviewed by Hilary Williamson
C
olin Thubron, author of
Shadow of the Silk Road
and
The Lost Heart of Asia
among others, now brings us a lyrical account of a trip to circle sacred Mount Kailas ('
holy to one fifth of the earth's people
') in
To a Mountain in Tibet
. A map at the beginning shows how the journey started in Simikot in the remote Humla area ('
a cruel region in a poverty-stricken land
') of Nepal, following the Karnali river into Tibet. Thubron tells us that '
These first hours have a raw exhileration. The track shimmers ahead with a hard brilliance. The earth is young again.
'
T
hubron undertook the trip '
on account of the dead
.' It was a response to the recent loss of his mother, the last of his family - his father died before her and his sister was tragically killed in an avalanche at age twenty-one. He says, '
I need to leave a sign of their passage.
' His story of the challenging Himalayan journey is interleaved with childhood memories, with descriptions of local people and monks encountered along the way, and with forays into Tibetan history, mystique and mysticism. As he climbs to Kailas, he reminds us how to many peoples around the world, '
The mountain path is the road of the dead.
'
A
ccompanying the author are a guide (Iswor) and cook (Ram) - '
Tamangs, sturdy people close to the Tibetans
'. Having trekked in Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Ladakh and Zanskar, I appreciated his descriptions and explanations, for example of the '
cairns of piled stones that mark the high passes
'. And I recognized in the author's reaction to Kali worship in Dakshinkali my similar response near Varanasi - where I too found it hard to reconcile a '
sea of blood and offal
' on marble temple floors with the high spirited family feasting on the sacrifices that went on in surrounding hills - I was similarly '
repelled by what Western abbatoirs conceal.
'
T
hubron shares his research into Tibetan history and beliefs. He takes us far back to Bon gods and practices, which '
Buddhism, in turn, imbibed.
' Of this people and '
land maimed since 1950 by Chinese occupation
', he tells us that '
Where Tibetans sense spirit, the Chinese see superstition
', a dichotomy hard to bridge. If you enjoy travel literature, then
To a Mountain in Tibet
is a
must read
. It has made me want to delve into the author's previous books, which I have inexplicably missed.
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