Short Walks in Shangri-La

Isn't an earthly paradise what everyone's dreams are made of? Should such a utopia exist, surely it would be amongst the mountains of the Himalayas, the writer James Hilton reasoned, and in 1933 he wrote about such a place, the hidden valley of his novel, Lost Horizon. He called it Shangri-La. Clinging to the vague hope that he'd be able to heave his backpack up the mountains, let alone discover his personal Shangri-La, Peter Francis Browne decides to embark on the madness that is taking a stroll in the Himalayas. With his friend and guide, Iman, and visiting the places that tourists eschew, Browne discovers both the Nepal that the Nepalese government wants to promote and the Nepal it doesn't. Shangri-La? Not for most of the Nepalese. Isolated from the rest of the world for the past fifty years, a series of corrupt governments sees a country imposed upon, impoverished and corrupted. However, still finding its joys in its people, the stoic walker learns a lot about Nepal and a little more about himself. At once a personal tale of friendships, an amusing lesson in taking a long, hard look at oneself, and a passionate tale of a paradise lost, Short Walks in Shangri-La is a rich and very readable brew from a well-loved author.