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Where time stands still: a Himalayan pilgrimage

7 November 2020

9:00 AM

7 November 2020

9:00 AM

Without Ever Reaching the Summit: A Himalayan Journey Paolo Cognetti, translated by Stash Luczkiw

Harvill Secker, pp.160, 10.99

The region of Dolpo in Nepal forms part of a border zone between that country and China in the central Himalayas. It is essentially a high-altitude desert encircled by towering snow-capped peaks and has long been celebrated in the West as a real-life version of Shangri-La.

Part of the image flows from the restricted access permitted to outsiders, and also from the lives of its inhabitants, who might belong politically to Nepal but culturally show allegiance to the former theocracy presided over by the Dalai Lama.

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