| This is the
story of a journey made on foot across Tibet to Mount Kailash. Kailash
has been attracting pilgrims of all religions for thousands of years,
but until recently only a handful of Westerners had ever been there.
Tibet was officially closed to individual travellers in
1988. Unless one paid thousands of dollars to the Chinese government
and went in a jeep, it was completely forbidden to go to Mount Kailash.
Wendy Teasdill went, anyway. She hitch-hiked from Lhasa and walked the
last four hundred miles or so, taking the southern road, prohibited
both for political reasons, and also because the summer rains had
swollen the rivers so much that vehicles could not cross them. She
walked alone through the plains of the Brahmaputra, between the
Himalaya and the Trans Himalaya, living on hard-tack biscuits, noodles
and nettles. She survived, to tell the tale of the people, landscapes,
dangers, delights and thoughts that she encountered on the way.
Critics Comments
"Wendy Teasdill provides a
vivid personal account of how she was drawn to Mount Kailash. With the
resolution characteristic of a pilgrim she walked, and forded rivers.
Inspired by the beauty of the landscape and her admiration for the
Tibetan people she met, she reached her goal."
The Dalai
Lama
"The book starts by recounting how [Teasdill] turned
her back on suburban society, represented collectively by "Mrs Bloggs-Smiths",
to become a freelance writer, teacher and traveller. Since her
childhood she has been a prolific diarist and her book is based on the
vividly detailed notes she made every day during her 400-mile trek.
"The description of her journey in Tibet transcends
her prejudices towards those leading more ordinary lives, offering a
balanced, informative and enjoyable record of her adventure there.
"With her senses wide open, she entered into the
spirit of the pilgrimage as an intense experience of life. She marvels
at her surroundings and relishes finding joy in the simplest things.
"Her efforts reaped rewards throughout her journey.
She was welcomed by the nomads she met, winning their friendship and
hospitality by behaving sensitively in observing local customs and
sharing their reverence for Mount Kailash.
"She describes the spiritual importance of the
mountain to Buddhism and Hinduism, and describes from her own
reactions why this is so. Though not a Buddhist, she sensed the power
of Kailash, whose snowy peak rises alone from the Tibetan Plateau and
is the source of the four major rivers of south Asia.
"Teasdill does not set out
to judge the Chinese presence in Tibet, but she notes the repressed
hostility of the Tibetans towards the occupying force, and lack of
Chinese sensitivity towards them and their love of the Dalai Lama."
Katherine
Forestier, South China Morning Post
"Walking to the Mountain is Wendy Teasdill's
remarkable odyssey to Mount Kailash, a sublime, snowclad pyramid of
rock in a remote corner of Tibet, one of the holiest places on earth.
"The first woman to have
trekked alone to the "navel of the world" is no Tenzing Norgay. She is
a frail but unstoppable English backpacker: with fire in her belly,
iron in her soul, nerves of steel, and a vision charged by dreams of
the impossible."
Vernon Ram,
The Week (Kerala)
"A testament to [the
author's] courage and commitment. Its style is crisp, poignant and
quietly stirring. The narrative has the steady pounding beat of the
lone trekker with a mission.'
Asiaweek
Readers Comments
Extract
Copyright © Wendy
Teasdill
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