Beyond the hill stations, the mall roads and the 'points' is the 'other Himalaya'. A Himalaya where flowers bloom in the green rolling meadows, the streams are bubbly, no pedal boats ply in the lakes, the glaciers can be felt and the passes crossed to more magical lands (where you might find flying lamas too). It's the real Himalaya and it's the real stories from the travels of people like you and me in this Himalaya that make this book. The grand plan is that the next time you are looking for a family vacation or an adventure trek or a soul-searching solo trip, these stories from different regions of Indian Himalaya will provide you a few more options to choose from. There is also a special chapter by Rujuta Diwekar, India's top fitness professional, on why you must trek, the physiological benefits for your body and what to eat to get the best out of your Himalayan trek.

The soaring peaks of the greatest mountain range on Earth have long drawn visitors from around the globe, and one of the most famous of the 19th century was British adventurer and scholar Laurence Waddell, who spent most of a decade and a half exploring the nations that cling to the sides of the mighty mountains, learning the ways of their peoples, and sharing his experiences with Western readers. Here, in this 1899 classic of Himalayan travel, Waddell introduces us to the challenges of traveling in the region, takes us on visits to Nepalese and Tibetan tea gardens, journeys to monasteries, palaces, and temples, and much more. Beautiful photos and drawings complement Waddell's exciting and gripping tales-he offers some of the first "evidence" for the mysterious creatures known as "yeti," for instance-and make this an essential work for anyone drawn to the dangerous beauty of the Himalayas. British archaeologist and Orientalist LAURENCE AUSTINE WADDELL (1854-1938) also wrote The Buddhism of Tibet or Lamaism (1894) and Lhasa and Its Mysteries (1905).

Nicholas Roerich's classic 1929 mystic travel book is back in print! He kept a diary of his travels by yak and camel through a remote region still largely unknown today. An intellectual as well as an adventurer, he chronicles his expedition through Sinkiang, Altai-Mongolia and Tibet from 1924 to 1928 in twelve exciting chapters detailing his encounters along the parched byways of Central Asia. With a special interest in geographical mysteries and arcane and mystical arts, he searches for the hidden cities of Shambala and Agartha. Roerich's original drawings, as well as reproductions of his inspiring paintings illustrate this unique travel book.

Award-winning writer Priyanka Pradhan takes you on a journey into the Himalayas through its stories. You'll find tales of snow leopards and mountain ghouls, bagpiping girls and itchy herbs, and stories even as old as 500 years! See the beautiful state of Uttarakhand, resplendent in its colourful customs and traditional costumes, taste the sweet-sour wild berries, feel the chilly autumn wind on your skin and smell the musky pine forests, in seventeen stories. Welcome to the mountains.

I was lately reading the Holy Text of the Saḍḍharma-Puṇdarīka (the Aphorisms of the White Lotus of the Wonderful or True Law) in a Samskṛṭ manuscript under a Boḍhi-tree near Mṛga-Ḍāva (Sāranāṭh), Benares. Here our Blessed Lord Buḍḍha Shākya-Muni taught His Holy Ḍharma just after the accomplishment of His Buḍḍhahood at Buḍḍhagayā. Whilst doing so, I was reminded of the time, eighteen years ago, when I had read the same text in Chinese at a great Monastery named Ohbakusang at Kyoto in Japan, a reading which determined me to undertake a visit to Tibet. It was in March, 1891, that I gave up the Rectorship of the Monastery of Gohyakurakan in Tokyo, and left for Kyoto, where I remained living as a hermit for about three years, totally absorbed in the study of a large collection of Buḍḍhist books in the Chinese language. My object in doing so was to fulfil a long-felt desire to translate the texts into Japanese in an easy style from the difficult and unintelligible Chinese. But I afterwards found that it was not a wise thing to rely upon the Chinese texts alone, without comparing them with Tibetan translations as well as with the original Samskṛṭ texts which are contained in Mahāyāna Buḍḍhism. The Buḍḍhist Samskṛṭ texts were to be found in Tibet and Nepāl. Of course, many of them had been discovered by European Orientalists in Nepāl and a few in other parts of India and Japan. But those texts had not yet been found which included the most important manuscripts of which Buḍḍhist scholars were in great want. Then again, the Tibetan texts were famous for being[vi] more accurate translations than the Chinese. Now I do not say that the Tibetan translations are superior to the Chinese. As literal translations, I think that they are superior; but, for their general meaning, the Chinese are far better than the Tibetan.