Fourteen-year-old Debu sets off across the high mountain passes from Kumaon to Tibet to search for his father who got lost in a blizzard the year before. Adventures follow thick and fast—a forced stay in a monastery with a boy lama who takes a fancy to him, his capture by the cruel, enigmatic bandit Nangbo, who has magical powers, and a stay in the legendary goldfields of Thok Jalong. And finally—a heart-pounding, breathtaking horse race. Does Debu find his father. Does he win the race? Pick up this page-turner to find out!

Born into an eminent merchant family in Ladakh in 1918, Khwaja Abdul Wahid Radhu, often described as 'the last caravaneer of Tibet and Central Asia', led an unusual life of adventure, inspiration and enlightenment. His family, and later he, had the ancestral honour of leading the biannual caravan which carried the Ladakhi kings' tribute and homage to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government. Tibetan Caravans, his memoir, is an unparalleled narrative about trans-Himalayan trade--the riches, the politics and protocol, the challenging yet magnificent natural landscape, altitude sickness, snow storms, bandits and raiders, monks and soldiers. The book also contains rare and fascinating details about the close connections between Ladakh, Tibet and Kashmir, the centuries-old interplay between Buddhism and Islam in the region, the Chinese occupation of Tibet, and life in Lhasa before and after its takeover by China. In this rich and insightful memoir, Abdul Wahid Radhu reminisces about a bygone era when borders were fluid, and mutual respect formed the basis for trade relations across cultures and people. As his son, Siddiq Wahid, says in his introduction, Tibetan Caravans is a testimony to the organic relationships between 'societies who have learned how to hear each other out, argue, even do battle and yet remain hospitable to each other.'

Personal experiences of the author.

Puer tea has been grown for centuries in the “Six Great Tea Mountains” of Yunnan Province, and in imperial China it was a prized commodity, traded to Tibet by horse or mule caravan via the so-called Tea Horse Road and presented as tribute to the emperor in Beijing. In the 1990s, as the tea’s noble lineage and unique process of aging and fermentation were rediscovered, it achieved cult status both in China and internationally. The tea became a favorite among urban connoisseurs who analyzed it in language comparable to that used in wine appreciation and paid skyrocketing prices. In 2007, however, local events and the international economic crisis caused the Puer market to collapse. Puer Tea traces the rise, climax, and crash of this phenomenon. With ethnographic attention to the spaces in which Puer tea is harvested, processed, traded, and consumed, anthropologist Jinghong Zhang constructs a vivid account of the transformation of a cottage handicraft into a major industry—with predictable risks and unexpected consequences. Watch the associated videos at https://archive.org/details/PUERTEADVD1.

This first-hand account of Tibetan life within a sacred society prior to the Chinese invasion is the most complete and definitive work to date on the subject of Islam in Tibet. It reveals fascinating interplay between the traditional cultures of Islam and Buddhism; the spiritual lives of these very different traditions recognize one another at a level behind external forms.

Join the caravan for an exciting year-long trek along China's ancient Silk Road. Following the rhyming, treasure-filled story are informational endnotes about the history of the Silk Road, the story of silk, important cities of China, and a full-spread map. Ages: 4-10 Colour illustrations