"This is the story of a journey made on foot across Tibet to Mount Kailash. The 'jewel of the snows' 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 hired 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 for political reasons, but 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 insights that she encountered on the way."--Publisher's description.