There was a time when Nepal was called the Last Shangri-la. Now it is the Lost Shangri-la. For Europeans recovering from the after effects of catastrophic conflict, the promise of a trip to the heart of Buddhism appeared alluringly cathartic. But getting into Nepal itself was a challenging task, let alone getting around the country on foot. A few brave souls dared, wrote about their journey and helped open the floodgates for tourists that followed in their footsteps.

Among the pioneering travellers, Toni Hagen is better known by common Nepalis. But the cognoscenti respects the Italian traveller, Giuseppe Tucci. Italian backpackers used to be the most common tourists along the trails of central Nepal-mainly because of Tucci's accounts of his travels along the Kali Gandaki. His Journey to Mustang was one of them. Its English translation was published in Kathmandu in 1977, but it has been out of print for quite some time. A revised edition is now out.

Tucci writes with the enthusiasm of the explorer-you can feel his energy almost in every page of the book. When he puts himself in the 'hands of Moniram' in Kathmandu, when he is greeted by the Himalaya 'glistening in silent beauty' at Kakani and when he goes beyond Kagbeni 'dreamily into lunar landscape', we share Tucci's awe and wonder.

It is as a scholar, however, that Tucci suffers from the subjectivity of the pioneer explorer. He notes that Nepal recognised the sovereignty of China and promised to pay tribute every five years by an agreement signed at Sugauli in 1792. With blunders like that it is hard to believe that he was briefed by scholar-soldier Gen Kaiser Shumsher himself. But then he also says that even though the transfer of power was actually hereditary during the Rana Rule, "there were nominal elections every year". Not even a Rana would have suggested such a thing to him.

There was a time when Nepal was called the Last Shangri-la. Now it is the Lost Shangri-la. For Europeans recovering from the after effects of catastrophic conflict, the promise of a trip to the heart of Buddhism appeared alluringly cathartic. But getting into Nepal itself was a challenging task, let alone getting around the country on foot. A few brave souls dared, wrote about their journey and helped open the floodgates for tourists that followed in their footsteps.

Among the pioneering travellers, Toni Hagen is better known by common Nepalis. But the cognoscenti respects the Italian traveller, Giuseppe Tucci. Italian backpackers used to be the most common tourists along the trails of central Nepal-mainly because of Tucci's accounts of his travels along the Kali Gandaki. His Journey to Mustang was one of them. Its English translation was published in Kathmandu in 1977, but it has been out of print for quite some time. A revised edition is now out.

Tucci writes with the enthusiasm of the explorer-you can feel his energy almost in every page of the book. When he puts himself in the 'hands of Moniram' in Kathmandu, when he is greeted by the Himalaya 'glistening in silent beauty' at Kakani and when he goes beyond Kagbeni 'dreamily into lunar landscape', we share Tucci's awe and wonder.

It is as a scholar, however, that Tucci suffers from the subjectivity of the pioneer explorer. He notes that Nepal recognised the sovereignty of China and promised to pay tribute every five years by an agreement signed at Sugauli in 1792. With blunders like that it is hard to believe that he was briefed by scholar-soldier Gen Kaiser Shumsher himself. But then he also says that even though the transfer of power was actually hereditary during the Rana Rule, "there were nominal elections every year". Not even a Rana would have suggested such a thing to him.

There was a time when Nepal was called the Last Shangri-la. Now it is the Lost Shangri-la. For Europeans recovering from the after effects of catastrophic conflict, the promise of a trip to the heart of Buddhism appeared alluringly cathartic. But getting into Nepal itself was a challenging task, let alone getting around the country on foot. A few brave souls dared, wrote about their journey and helped open the floodgates for tourists that followed in their footsteps.

Among the pioneering travellers, Toni Hagen is better known by common Nepalis. But the cognoscenti respects the Italian traveller, Giuseppe Tucci. Italian backpackers used to be the most common tourists along the trails of central Nepal-mainly because of Tucci's accounts of his travels along the Kali Gandaki. His Journey to Mustang was one of them. Its English translation was published in Kathmandu in 1977, but it has been out of print for quite some time. A revised edition is now out.

Tucci writes with the enthusiasm of the explorer-you can feel his energy almost in every page of the book. When he puts himself in the 'hands of Moniram' in Kathmandu, when he is greeted by the Himalaya 'glistening in silent beauty' at Kakani and when he goes beyond Kagbeni 'dreamily into lunar landscape', we share Tucci's awe and wonder.

It is as a scholar, however, that Tucci suffers from the subjectivity of the pioneer explorer. He notes that Nepal recognised the sovereignty of China and promised to pay tribute every five years by an agreement signed at Sugauli in 1792. With blunders like that it is hard to believe that he was briefed by scholar-soldier Gen Kaiser Shumsher himself. But then he also says that even though the transfer of power was actually hereditary during the Rana Rule, "there were nominal elections every year". Not even a Rana would have suggested such a thing to him.

Aside from that, the prose is poetic, almost romantic, even in translation. The black-and-white plates look surreal and lend a touch of nostalgic missing in newer coffee table books of the Kingdom of Lo. The photograph of two travellers on their ponies conversing at the entrance to Tibet is enchanting, capturing the quiet dignity of members of a self-sufficient civilisation untouched by the outside world.
Bibliotheca Himalayica, a project initiated by late HK Kuloy published the book as part of its effort to "make available works on the civilisations and nature of Asia and the Himalaya". Maybe the revision should have corrected some of the factual errors without tampering with the authentic feel of these original publications.