14 Days To Kailash Mansarovar is the story of a journey into one of the most holy and remote places on earth, through the experiences of the author, a close friend and two other co-travellers. The 'Yatra' starts from Kathmandu, in a large group of 36, and travels through the towns, people and the cultures of Nepal and Tibet. At the roof of the world, the Tibetan highlands open out into vast, empty landscapes that defy imagination. By Mansarovar, 15,000 feet high, two of the four friends find themselves in the scary grip of altitude sickness. One stays out in the freezing night, lost in a trance by the shores of the holy lake. Two go out in search, and have bone-chilling experiences. The altitude wreaks havoc with some of them. The holy lake's benign nature calms them for a while, but by the time they hit the Parikrama trail, the four are gripped in anxious excitement, their companionship, a safety rope through this scary journey. Judgements, reservations, ego, pride, all come crashing down. What follows is momentous. They live through one of the most difficult days of their lives, almost break, but somehow find hidden reserves of strength at their weakest moments. How? What happened?'14 Days To Kailash Mansarovar' features full colour photographs of the journey, along with the history, mythology and facts associated with this 'Yatra' and its significant places. But it is most importantly, a story of friendship, of self-realisation, of the paths we take, and where they lead.

Will we make it? That's the question Kavitha and her cousin, Pallu, ask themselves as they trek through Himalayan pine forests and unforgiving mountains in Nepal and Tibet. Their goal: to reach Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. The two women walk to ancient monasteries, meditate on freezing slopes, dance on the foothills of Kailash, and confront death in the thin mountain air. In Kailash and Manasarovar, the holiest of Hindu and Buddhist sites, they struggle to reconcile their rationalist views with faith and the beloved myths of their upbringing. Remarkably, it is this journey that helps them discover the meaning of friendship. Walking in Clouds is a beautifully crafted memoir of a journey to far-away places and to the places within. It mixes lyrical, descriptive storytelling with stunning photographs to bring to life a unique travelogue.

A runaway teenager from Bengal treks across Tibet with a group of lamas Bitten by wanderlust at a young age, Bimal Dey has travelled the world, including the Arctic and Antarctica. But it’s his journey across Tibet, from Gangtok to Lhasa and Mansarovar when he was a teenager, that holds a special place in his heart. The Last Time I Saw Tibet recounts his adventures during this trip in 1956: a time when Sikkim was not yet part of India, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama still ruled in Tibet although Chinese presence was marked, and Indians were not banned from travelling there. Ordained as a Buddhist monk by his Guruji just before the start of the journey (only lamas can stay in monasteries), posing as one who had taken a vow of silence (he did not know enough Tibetan to convince the Chinese authorities), Dey trekked across the Nathu La pass, Chumbi valley and the Sangpo river along with an intrepid band of lamas, before reaching Lhasa, or Hla-Sa (‘abode of the gods’), many months later. He visited the Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka, the summer palace, was witness to the grandeur of the Potala royal palace where the Dalai Lama resided, and even had an audience with His Holiness. From Lhasa, the author trekked on his own to Kailashnath and Mansarovar, the holiest of pilgrimages for any Hindu. During his journey, he encountered the deep generosity of the local people, made friends among ascetics and mendicants, and the awe-inspiring majesty of the Himalayas brought with it a true understanding of spirituality and faith. Many years later, in the eighties, the author would have the privilege of visiting Mansarovar twice, but he always hankered to travel alone across Tibet, a wish that was eventually granted by the Chinese authorities only at the cusp of the new millennium. This time he saw the ravages of the Chinese occupation in Lhasa, a slow decimation of the Tibetan culture across the countryside, which convinced him that ever more visitors is one way of keeping alive Tibet and its rich and unique traditions.

Hailed as a "wondrous book" by Gretel Ehrlich, and winner of the Kekoo Naoroji Book Award for Himalayan Literature—a journey of healing that becomes a pilgrimage for the soul. Stephen Alter was raised by American missionary parents in the hill station of Mussoorie, in the foothills of the Himalayas, where he and his wife, Ameeta, now live. Their idyllic existence was brutally interrupted when four armed intruders invaded their house and viciously attacked them, leaving them for dead. The violent assault and the trauma of almost dying left him questioning assumptions he had lived by since childhood. For the first time, he encountered the face of evil and the terror of the unknown. He felt like a foreigner in the land of his birth. This book is his account of a series of treks he took in the high Himalayas following his convalescence—to Bandar Punch (the monkey’s tail), Nanda Devi, the second highest mountain in India, and Mt. Kailash in Tibet. He set himself this goal to prove that he had healed mentally as well as physically and to re-knit his connection to his homeland. Undertaken out of sorrow, the treks become a moving soul journey, a way to rediscover mountains in his inner landscape. Weaving together observations of the natural world, Himalayan history, folklore and mythology, as well as encounters with other pilgrims along the way, Stephen Alter has given us a moving meditation on the solace of high places, and on the hidden meanings and enduring mystery of mountains.

Kailash is considered to be the center of our planet and is an attraction to many. It attracted me too for years, and I finally could make this journey only in 2015, traveling for 21 days, crossing the formidable Himalayas through the high Himalayan Lipulekh Pass into Tibet. The book is a compilation of my personal experiences in this journey through the classical route followed by a lot of pilgrims and holy men in the past. I have tried to capture the minute details of this life-changing journey as best as possible in the various chapters. A day-to-day account with illustrations provides the reader a flavor of this journey in great detail. A section of this book is devoted to help future travelers with the preparations they need to do, both physical and mental, and the safety aspects to be followed. It also has a few lines on High Altitude Illness. While preparing for this important pilgrimage, I could not find a lot of vital information and facts initially. I tried to collect this information from various sources, and after reading them and understanding them, I felt very confident to do this yatra.

The Mt. Kailash-Lake Manasarovar Region, In The West Of Himalayas, Is A Wonderful Place, Especially For Those Fascinated By The Stories And Tales Of Gods And Domons. Mt. Kailash Is The Only Place Of Pilgrimage In The World Where Four Mighty Religious Communities-Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, And Tibetan Bonpas Perform Their Religious Rites. For Shaivites, The Worshippers Of Lord Shiva, Kailash Is The Most Sacred Of All The Hindu Pilgrimages. Lake Manasarovar Was Formed From The Mind Of Lord Brahma, And Hence Called Manasa-Sarovar. The Holy Lake Manasarovar, Through Its Everlasting Enchantment, Washes Away The Sorrow Of All Mortal Beings Throughout The Ages. It Is Stipulated That Of Whatever Faith One Is, Since The Basic Faith Of Every Religion Is Humanity, He Will Be Touched By The Holy Vibrations Of This Kingdom Of Gods. With This Book An Attempt Has Been Made To Pay Regards To The Pictorial Beauty Of Kumaon Himalayas And That Of Kailash-Manasarovar Region In Ngari (Tibet).

Author's travel experience and description of places around Mount Kailas and Manasarowar Lake, from August 26 to September 27 in 2009; compiled from his diary.