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THE HIMALAYAS
The peaks of the cloud people that rise up from the
foothills of the Shivaliks, into the snow-clad peaks of
the inner Himalayas
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Himachal Pradesh,
a state that rides the summits, from the high
altitude tundra of the Tibetan Border, to the lush
fruit growing meadows of the Kulu Valley.
Ladakh and Zanskar. Beyond the passes, the
lands where Tibetans have preserved their culture
in exile, where isolated villages survive on
medieval subsistence farming and monasteries
continue to run as they once did in old Tibet.To
the roof of the world in the forbidden lands of
Spiti and Kinnaur, areas that have been shut
to the outside world since the Chinese invaded
Tibet in 1950, regions of soaring rock strata and
sweeping flood plains. |
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Down in the east,
the softer pine hillsides of Garwhal. Here villagers
spin bright woolens in the colours of the seasons,
the blood reds of the rhododendrons, the pale tints of
spring, the ochres of autumn forests.
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Trekking in these thin-aired border
microcosms of Tibet.
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In the lower walks through the spring
flowers or up to isolated lakes that mirror
the peaks. In the villages that have been
closed to outsiders for decades.
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In a rare place, among the running white
waters of the Shyiok River in secret
Ladakh's Nubra Valley.
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Where the sun falls out of the sky just
beyond where we pitch the tents.
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