Himalaya - Michael Palin

Michael Palin has been galavanting round the world for the BBC for 10 years now having vistited the poles, the Pacific, The Sahara desert and Patagonia, but the best,m and most challenging comes with his new adventure to the Himalaya, the highest mountain range in the world. 8 of the worlds highest peaks are here nad Michael Palin gives a humerous guide to the spectacular scenery and culture.

Michael starts in the khyber pass on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and makes his way east through some war torn and risky areas such as the Pakistan/India border and Jammu and Kashmir. Palins notes of these places are incredibe. The areas are portrayed as incredibly beautful, but they are suceptable to terrorists and the frontir where the two countries armys are glaring at each other. Here he meets the Dalai Lama (who seems high on something, perhaps it's the altitude...) and the Tibetian government in exile, where he discovers that he used to be an Elephant. The journey continues to Nepal, where he gets altitude sickness at the base camp of Annapurna and sees Ghurkas being selected, which ends badly as the army official gets kidnapped for the day by the Maoists, the communist party in Nepal. Here Michael also receives a blessing from the king of Nepal. The adventure continues into Tibet, where he goes near to Everest (a few hundred meters from the base camp) and drives sccross the reigon seeing monastrys and swimming in lakes.
Also in China, Michael sails down the stunning tiger leap gorge and meets a celebrity In Bhutan sings the lumberjack song back in return for a traditional song, and sees one of the rarest birds in the world. He finishes his journey in Bangladesh at the mouth of the Ganges.

The book is very interesting, and is broken into small sections, so it is easy to read. With fanteastic photography by Basil Pao, this is a great accompniant to the show. The book will make you laugh in sections, but is always respectful to the other cultures.
A problem with it is the size. You have to read it at home because it's very heavy, and is not good for the train. If you have watched Himalaya on the TV, then you should definatley get the book.