This is the account of a journey to the holiest mountain on earth the solitary peak of Kailas in Tibet sacred to one-fifth of humankind To both Buddhists and Hindus it is the mystic heart of the world and an ancient site of pilgrimage It has never been climbed Even today under Chinese domination the people of four religions circle the mountain in devotion to different gods Colin Thubron reached it by foot along the Karnali River the highest source of the Ganges His journey is an entry into the culture of todays Tibet and a pilgrimage in the wake his mothers death and the loss of his family He undertakes it in order to mark the event to leave a sign of their passage He also explores his own need for solitude which has shaped his career as a writerone who travels to places beyond his own history and culture writing about them and about the journey To a Mountain in Tibet is at once a powerful travelogue a fascinated encounter with alien faith and an intimate personal voyage It is a haunting and beautiful book a rare mix of discovery and loss In its evocation of landscape and variety of exotic peoples of mythic and spiritual traditions foreign to our own it is a spectacular achievement from our greatest living travel writer an artist of formidable literary gifts uncanny intuition and wondrous insight.
