1 00:00:12,404 --> 00:00:16,556 0f all the world's great myths, the oldest and the most enduring 2 00:00:16,724 --> 00:00:20,273 is the tale of an earthly paradise. 3 00:00:22,444 --> 00:00:27,154 A place beyond the clouds, untouched by time and death, 4 00:00:27,324 --> 00:00:30,634 where the ancient wisdom still lives on. 5 00:00:34,044 --> 00:00:36,797 The land has many names. 6 00:00:36,964 --> 00:00:40,400 0ne of them is Shangri-La. 7 00:01:20,244 --> 00:01:23,042 (PROPELLER STUTTERS) 8 00:01:23,204 --> 00:01:25,957 - What's happening? - We're out of fuel! 9 00:01:26,124 --> 00:01:31,073 The story of Shangri-La begins with a plane crash in the wilds of Tibet. 10 00:01:39,564 --> 00:01:43,842 The hero, Conway, is rescued by mysterious strangers 11 00:01:44,004 --> 00:01:47,076 who take him to a valley unmarked on any map... 12 00:01:51,604 --> 00:01:54,960 ..a place where time has stood still. 13 00:02:01,924 --> 00:02:03,642 Welcome to Shangri-La. 14 00:02:36,004 --> 00:02:38,279 In our congested and material age, 15 00:02:38,444 --> 00:02:42,960 we humans still dream of a world beyond the here and now, 16 00:02:43,124 --> 00:02:46,355 in another time zone than our own. 17 00:02:46,524 --> 00:02:51,552 The very name Shangri-La has come to mean a paradise on earth. 18 00:02:51,724 --> 00:02:57,959 But could Shangri-La have been a real place? Where did the story come from? 19 00:02:59,244 --> 00:03:03,954 The story of Shangri-La was invented in the 1930s by James Hilton 20 00:03:04,124 --> 00:03:06,718 in his novel ''Lost Horizon''. 21 00:03:06,884 --> 00:03:12,641 The tale of a hidden valley where wisdom was preserved to save us from self-destruction 22 00:03:12,804 --> 00:03:17,480 struck a deep chord in the pessimistic years between the two world wars. 23 00:03:17,644 --> 00:03:22,081 But like all good stories, Shangri-La wasn't plucked out of the sky. 24 00:03:22,244 --> 00:03:28,035 Its roots lie in an ancient legend and in a tantalising cluster of rumours 25 00:03:28,204 --> 00:03:30,638 which surfaced in the 16th century. 26 00:03:30,804 --> 00:03:32,874 (HORNS HONK) 27 00:03:37,284 --> 00:03:40,003 The rumours surfaced here in India. 28 00:03:40,164 --> 00:03:45,363 The path which leads to Shangri-La begins in the north Indian city of Agra, 29 00:03:45,524 --> 00:03:49,358 in the 16th century, the capital of the Mogul empire. 30 00:03:57,924 --> 00:04:01,678 In those days, India was the centre of the world, 31 00:04:01,844 --> 00:04:08,033 the emperor, Akbar the Great, as powerful as any king on earth. 32 00:04:11,964 --> 00:04:14,319 A Muslim who ruled a Hindu empire, 33 00:04:14,484 --> 00:04:19,080 Akbar was fascinated by the ancient myths of Hindu India. 34 00:04:21,564 --> 00:04:26,035 He sent an expedition to find the source of the sacred River Ganges, 35 00:04:26,204 --> 00:04:28,843 which legend said fell from heaven. 36 00:04:31,404 --> 00:04:36,524 When the expedition returned to Agra, Akbar's court heard fantastic tales 37 00:04:36,684 --> 00:04:40,040 of an unknown land beyond the Himalayas. 38 00:04:43,124 --> 00:04:47,117 His Christian guests were astonished to hear about a kingdom 39 00:04:47,284 --> 00:04:52,517 where the people worshipped a saviour and had monks and monasteries, like them. 40 00:04:52,684 --> 00:04:55,642 It was nothing less than a lost world. 41 00:04:59,284 --> 00:05:04,404 And there was more. A Muslim merchant stood up here in the royal audience hall 42 00:05:04,564 --> 00:05:08,352 and said he knew more about this unknown kingdom. 43 00:05:08,524 --> 00:05:11,084 It had cities and thousands of people 44 00:05:11,244 --> 00:05:15,999 and its religious rituals were uncannily similar to the Christians'. 45 00:05:16,164 --> 00:05:19,554 And it had a name: Shambala. 46 00:05:19,724 --> 00:05:22,557 (BIRDS CALLING) 47 00:05:23,724 --> 00:05:27,034 And on Shambala there hangs quite a tale. 48 00:05:30,604 --> 00:05:35,724 For centuries, the story had been told of a magic land north of the Himalayas, 49 00:05:35,884 --> 00:05:39,081 a land of peace and plenty, 50 00:05:39,244 --> 00:05:41,553 a paradise on earth. 51 00:05:41,724 --> 00:05:43,760 The tale is still told today. 52 00:05:45,284 --> 00:05:50,961 There is a legend that far away, beyond the Himalayas, lies a secret valley 53 00:05:51,124 --> 00:05:54,639 hidden by a ring of snow-covered peaks. 54 00:05:54,804 --> 00:05:58,763 At its centre is a beautiful crystal mountain. 55 00:05:58,924 --> 00:06:02,553 This is the gateway to the kingdom of Shambala. 56 00:06:03,164 --> 00:06:06,156 Here, the people live in peace and harmony. 57 00:06:06,324 --> 00:06:11,352 There is no hunger or sickness, they live long and happy lives. 58 00:06:11,524 --> 00:06:15,119 Now, the task for the rulers of Shambala 59 00:06:15,284 --> 00:06:18,720 is to guard the treasures of human knowledge, 60 00:06:18,884 --> 00:06:25,039 ready for the time, which will come, when the world will be ruined by war, violence 61 00:06:25,204 --> 00:06:27,320 and greed. 62 00:06:27,484 --> 00:06:33,161 Of course, some say Shambala is purely an imaginary land... 63 00:06:34,324 --> 00:06:37,282 ..but others say it is a real place 64 00:06:37,444 --> 00:06:40,356 and it can still be found, 65 00:06:40,524 --> 00:06:44,802 if only the seeker knows where and how to look. 66 00:07:02,644 --> 00:07:07,479 Tricky things, myths, aren't they, especially here in India. 67 00:07:07,644 --> 00:07:12,354 Nowhere else is the line so bewitchingly blurred between the real world 68 00:07:12,524 --> 00:07:14,480 and the land of dreams. 69 00:07:14,644 --> 00:07:17,033 (BELL TINKLING) 70 00:07:19,124 --> 00:07:22,753 The entire notion of this mythical kingdom is... 71 00:07:23,964 --> 00:07:27,036 ..that it's somehow a better world. 72 00:07:27,204 --> 00:07:30,355 It's a better existence, it's a better reality. 73 00:07:30,524 --> 00:07:34,153 - Kings live forever, hundreds of years. - Yeah, yeah. 74 00:07:34,324 --> 00:07:39,956 There's no hunger and that's important because this is a culture where hunger exists. 75 00:07:40,124 --> 00:07:43,082 But is there any sense, in the legend, 76 00:07:43,244 --> 00:07:49,717 that it's actually possible to go, physically, to journey to Shambala, on this earth? 77 00:07:49,884 --> 00:07:54,435 Or does the physical journey become a purely spiritual one? 78 00:07:54,604 --> 00:07:57,994 Does the tradition have anything to say on that? 79 00:07:58,164 --> 00:08:03,636 I think it's not geography, Michael, and I don't think it was intended to be. 80 00:08:03,804 --> 00:08:05,954 I think, Michael... 81 00:08:07,164 --> 00:08:12,636 ..journeys that don't end are so much more exciting. 82 00:08:12,804 --> 00:08:14,840 (MICHAEL LAUGHING) 83 00:08:22,124 --> 00:08:27,881 And so I set off on a journey which might not end to a place which might not exist. 84 00:08:31,444 --> 00:08:36,234 My plan was to follow the route of the first explorers of Tibet, 85 00:08:36,404 --> 00:08:39,043 who tried to find the land of Shambala. 86 00:08:42,764 --> 00:08:48,157 Because the legend of Shambala, I think, holds the key to the tale of Shangri-La. 87 00:08:49,524 --> 00:08:52,914 (ANNOUNCEMENT ON PA SYSTEM) 88 00:08:54,084 --> 00:08:56,200 I wasn't the first, of course. 89 00:08:56,364 --> 00:09:01,518 Ever since the 16th century, a stream of Westerners, driven by the legend, 90 00:09:01,684 --> 00:09:04,244 has tried to find the magic kingdom, 91 00:09:04,404 --> 00:09:07,635 each believing in his own Shangri-La. 92 00:09:18,084 --> 00:09:21,281 In those days, there were three ways to go. 93 00:09:21,444 --> 00:09:24,402 A great circle, east through Sikkim 94 00:09:24,564 --> 00:09:27,715 or west, through the closed land of Ladakh, 95 00:09:27,884 --> 00:09:31,593 or straight over the greatest wall of peaks on earth. 96 00:09:31,764 --> 00:09:38,112 This was the route of the first seeker, a young Portuguese Jesuit, Antonio Andrade. 97 00:09:40,124 --> 00:09:44,117 Andrade's adventure would have been completely forgotten 98 00:09:44,284 --> 00:09:48,243 but for the survival of the account he wrote at the time. 99 00:09:48,404 --> 00:09:53,000 This is it: ''O Descobrimento Do Tibet'', ''The Discovery of Tibet''. 100 00:09:53,164 --> 00:09:57,715 It describes one of the most fascinating journeys in history. 101 00:10:00,004 --> 00:10:01,995 (VENDOR CALLING OUT) 102 00:10:02,164 --> 00:10:06,123 Seeking what he thought might be a lost Christian kingdom, 103 00:10:06,284 --> 00:10:11,312 Andrade and his friend Marquez set off disguised as Hindu pilgrims. 104 00:10:15,404 --> 00:10:19,556 (CROWD TALKING AND CHANTING) 105 00:10:19,724 --> 00:10:22,557 (RELIGIOUS SINGING) 106 00:10:26,044 --> 00:10:30,003 Their first stop was Haridwar on the River Ganges. 107 00:10:37,604 --> 00:10:41,199 Haridwar is particularly sacred to Indian people 108 00:10:41,364 --> 00:10:45,482 because this is the point where the Ganges rushes down 109 00:10:45,644 --> 00:10:49,398 between two great rocky hills from the Himalayan foothills 110 00:10:49,564 --> 00:10:52,237 and meets the plains of India. 111 00:10:52,404 --> 00:10:58,513 It's one of the stages on its journey from heaven to the sea, as the Indians say. 112 00:11:03,964 --> 00:11:07,877 And I suppose that's what paradises are about. 113 00:11:08,044 --> 00:11:11,798 It's a perennial urge in human nature to seek them... 114 00:11:13,804 --> 00:11:17,638 ..to step out of our time zone into another. 115 00:11:20,084 --> 00:11:23,042 (SHELLS TRUMPETING) 116 00:11:23,204 --> 00:11:27,994 And sacred places like this are where the contact is sharpest... 117 00:11:30,044 --> 00:11:34,754 ..where for a moment you can actually cross over into another world. 118 00:11:36,444 --> 00:11:39,277 (BELLS AND GONGS SOUNDING) 119 00:12:09,084 --> 00:12:14,363 From Haridwar, the path to the mysterious 16th-century land of Shambala 120 00:12:14,524 --> 00:12:16,913 led into the Himalayan foothills. 121 00:12:18,804 --> 00:12:24,197 Like Akbar's expedition and the Jesuit Andrade, I followed the sacred Ganges... 122 00:12:26,724 --> 00:12:29,397 ..up and up. 123 00:12:39,364 --> 00:12:44,313 (MICHAEL) That's the highest mountain in India. No, no, no. Just the... 124 00:12:44,484 --> 00:12:47,794 what look like canyons and river valleys. 125 00:12:48,644 --> 00:12:51,078 Because this is the... 126 00:12:52,204 --> 00:12:55,435 So we've roughly sorted out where we're going! 127 00:13:09,884 --> 00:13:13,274 - What are you doing? - We are blasting. 128 00:13:13,444 --> 00:13:15,674 Blasting, morning, today? 129 00:13:16,564 --> 00:13:19,795 - So we have to wait. Road is closed. - Closed. 130 00:13:19,964 --> 00:13:21,522 Right. 131 00:13:22,524 --> 00:13:24,162 Well, that's irritating. 132 00:13:25,484 --> 00:13:31,320 Another seeker, the British explorer William Moorcroft, was stopped here in 1812. 133 00:13:31,484 --> 00:13:37,036 Shaking with fear, he had to crawl along the 100-foot precipice 134 00:13:37,204 --> 00:13:41,163 disguised in the turban and pantaloons of a Persian merchant. 135 00:13:49,524 --> 00:13:52,243 (HUGE BLAST) 136 00:13:52,404 --> 00:13:55,521 Just look at that cloud of dust! 137 00:14:15,924 --> 00:14:18,563 Of course, in the story of Shangri-La, 138 00:14:18,724 --> 00:14:22,160 and in the ancient legend of Shambala, 139 00:14:22,324 --> 00:14:26,112 getting to the magic kingdom is a great feat in itself. 140 00:14:26,284 --> 00:14:28,673 And it still is today, in a sense. 141 00:14:28,844 --> 00:14:32,962 This road was only blasted through in the late 20th century. 142 00:14:33,124 --> 00:14:38,323 Until then, the only way was to follow up these gorges on a narrow footpath. 143 00:14:38,484 --> 00:14:44,400 For centuries, the only people to do that were the holy men, the sadhus and the pilgrims 144 00:14:44,564 --> 00:14:48,113 who made their way up into those remote wastes. 145 00:14:52,724 --> 00:14:58,276 Beyond the gorges, Andrade entered a landscape no outsider had ever seen before... 146 00:14:59,444 --> 00:15:04,154 ..a world where gods manifested themselves in snow peaks and ice caves 147 00:15:04,324 --> 00:15:06,474 and the lips of glaciers. 148 00:15:10,844 --> 00:15:12,914 They were heading for Badrinath, 149 00:15:13,084 --> 00:15:17,521 the shrine of the great god Vishnu, the preserver of the universe. 150 00:15:20,244 --> 00:15:25,272 And at Badrinath, we entered the military zone bordering China. 151 00:15:25,444 --> 00:15:28,322 (SPEAKING OWN LANGUAGE) 152 00:15:30,444 --> 00:15:33,800 (MICHAEL) Do we need our piece of paper back? 153 00:15:33,964 --> 00:15:37,115 - Take care. - Thank you. Thank you. 154 00:15:42,684 --> 00:15:45,039 ''Ahead, now, ''Andrade wrote, 155 00:15:45,204 --> 00:15:51,837 ''I saw the highest and most terrible mountains that could possibly be imagined on this earth. '' 156 00:15:54,364 --> 00:15:59,279 His guides were leading him to the 20,000-foot Mana Pass into Tibet. 157 00:16:08,644 --> 00:16:10,316 So here we are. 158 00:16:10,484 --> 00:16:13,476 This is Mana, the last village in India. 159 00:16:15,404 --> 00:16:21,479 This is where a British expedition to find the source of the Ganges turned back in 1808. 160 00:16:21,644 --> 00:16:25,398 ''It was a sight of majestic splendour, '' one of them wrote, 161 00:16:25,564 --> 00:16:28,362 ''but it filled our minds with dread. 162 00:16:31,644 --> 00:16:36,923 ''The locals told us that beyond these peaks lay an ancient city built by the gods, 163 00:16:37,084 --> 00:16:39,314 ''but our guides refused to go on, 164 00:16:39,484 --> 00:16:45,798 ''saying we could make the attempt ourselves if we wished to be turned into stone. '' 165 00:16:52,604 --> 00:16:55,880 A young Indian prince, brave and strong, 166 00:16:56,044 --> 00:16:59,195 set off in search of Shambala. 167 00:16:59,364 --> 00:17:01,480 After crossing many mountains 168 00:17:01,644 --> 00:17:06,957 and facing snow leopards and winged lions with turquoise manes, 169 00:17:07,124 --> 00:17:09,957 he came to the cave of an old hermit 170 00:17:10,124 --> 00:17:16,643 who asked him, ''Where on earth are you going across these wastes of snow and ice?'' 171 00:17:17,484 --> 00:17:21,159 ''To find Shambala,'' the youth replied. 172 00:17:21,324 --> 00:17:24,077 ''Aha!'' said the old man. 173 00:17:24,244 --> 00:17:26,804 ''Then I can help you. 174 00:17:27,964 --> 00:17:33,675 ''When you reach Copper Mountain, your path will blocked by an impassable river. 175 00:17:33,844 --> 00:17:38,838 ''There you will meet a terrifying demon called Flashing Lightning. 176 00:17:39,004 --> 00:17:44,954 ''She will ask, 'Why have you come and what do you desire?' 177 00:17:46,844 --> 00:17:50,678 ''If you answer with a true heart, she will freeze the river 178 00:17:50,844 --> 00:17:54,393 ''and allow you to cross and continue your journey. 179 00:17:55,004 --> 00:17:59,555 ''But if you are unworthy, ''you will go no further.'' 180 00:18:07,444 --> 00:18:11,039 It was no supernatural power that blocked our way. 181 00:18:11,204 --> 00:18:14,355 Since the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s, 182 00:18:14,524 --> 00:18:18,233 the Mana Pass, which Andrade took, has been closed 183 00:18:18,404 --> 00:18:20,998 and we were forbidden to cross. 184 00:18:23,364 --> 00:18:29,075 And so, to continue our journey, we were forced to make a great detour, through Nepal. 185 00:18:52,004 --> 00:18:53,437 (SHEPHERD SHOUTING) 186 00:18:53,604 --> 00:18:58,280 Nearly 300 miles west of Kathmandu lies the village of Simikot. 187 00:19:00,684 --> 00:19:05,633 It's a tiny government outpost in a land in the grip of civil war. 188 00:19:05,804 --> 00:19:10,036 In the mountains all around us were Maoist guerrillas. 189 00:19:11,124 --> 00:19:15,959 0ur plan now was to slip into Tibet through the back door as tourists. 190 00:19:23,484 --> 00:19:27,318 And here in Simikot, we found our means of transport. 191 00:19:28,324 --> 00:19:30,554 And we found our guide. 192 00:19:40,764 --> 00:19:45,884 Descended from a long line of Tibetan lamas, the grandson of a great magician, 193 00:19:46,044 --> 00:19:49,753 Tsewang is a man adept at crossing between worlds. 194 00:20:04,844 --> 00:20:10,794 The old track ways through western Nepal into Tibet are all blocked by Maoist guerrillas. 195 00:20:10,964 --> 00:20:14,400 So we're hitching a lift with a medical foundation 196 00:20:14,564 --> 00:20:19,797 who are taking medicines and supplies over the mountains into the Limi valley. 197 00:20:19,964 --> 00:20:22,398 We'll walk into Tibet from there. 198 00:20:26,444 --> 00:20:29,402 It sounds easy when you put it like that. 199 00:20:29,564 --> 00:20:33,796 0n paper, our detour through Nepal looked long, hard and risky. 200 00:20:35,524 --> 00:20:40,882 But better than we could have ever planned, it proved the right path to take. 201 00:20:46,404 --> 00:20:51,956 Tsewang had been right. There were no guerrillas down there in the Limi valley. 202 00:20:58,644 --> 00:21:02,159 0ur Russian pilots, though, weren't taking any chances 203 00:21:02,324 --> 00:21:05,873 and left the engine running as they threw our bags out. 204 00:21:10,044 --> 00:21:12,478 There they go. 205 00:21:29,324 --> 00:21:31,394 Phwoar! How about that? 206 00:21:35,084 --> 00:21:39,635 So this is Limi valley, the last valley before Tibet. 207 00:21:42,084 --> 00:21:44,359 (BELLS JINGLING) 208 00:21:51,004 --> 00:21:53,199 (DRUM BEATING QUICK RHYTHM) 209 00:21:58,964 --> 00:22:01,319 We're inside Nepal here, 210 00:22:01,484 --> 00:22:06,274 but the people belong to the ancient culture of western Tibet, 211 00:22:06,444 --> 00:22:10,357 an unbroken link with the time, 1,000 years ago, 212 00:22:10,524 --> 00:22:14,312 when the legend of the Himalayan paradise first appeared. 213 00:22:26,884 --> 00:22:32,242 Here in Limi, I felt as if I'd dropped through a trapdoor into another time, 214 00:22:32,404 --> 00:22:37,558 into a place where the world of Tibetan myth was still alive. 215 00:22:52,924 --> 00:22:56,837 That night in the monastery, they summoned the spirits 216 00:22:57,004 --> 00:22:59,279 with drums and trumpets. 217 00:23:00,204 --> 00:23:03,594 (DEEP, RESONATING NOTES) 218 00:23:03,764 --> 00:23:06,073 And Death himself appeared. 219 00:23:06,244 --> 00:23:09,361 Not an abstraction but a black-faced demon 220 00:23:09,524 --> 00:23:13,756 who showed me my destiny on a piece of human skull. 221 00:23:32,404 --> 00:23:35,521 The great hero and magician Padma the Wise 222 00:23:35,684 --> 00:23:39,597 chose 21 secret valleys in the Himalayas 223 00:23:39,764 --> 00:23:44,884 and in them he hid the most precious treasures known to man. 224 00:23:45,364 --> 00:23:49,403 He made these valleys invisible, so the story goes, 225 00:23:49,564 --> 00:23:53,637 intending that they shall only reappear in times of trouble. 226 00:23:56,124 --> 00:24:00,083 Now, some say this is just a fairy story. 227 00:24:01,004 --> 00:24:06,840 But others say that the treasures Padma hid were wisdom and knowledge 228 00:24:07,004 --> 00:24:12,124 and when the time comes, the enlightened will be guided to these valleys, 229 00:24:12,284 --> 00:24:16,277 where they will rediscover the sacred objects and texts 230 00:24:16,444 --> 00:24:20,198 that will be needed to rebuild the world. 231 00:24:28,244 --> 00:24:30,633 Amazing houses, aren't they? 232 00:24:30,804 --> 00:24:37,642 The next day, as custom demands, we paid a visit to the keeper of the secret valley, 233 00:24:37,804 --> 00:24:40,921 the lama of the monastery of Jhang. 234 00:24:44,684 --> 00:24:46,720 Wow! What an amazing place. 235 00:24:49,244 --> 00:24:51,314 God, this is astonishing, isn't it? 236 00:24:51,484 --> 00:24:55,443 (SPEAKING OWN LANGUAGE) 237 00:24:57,084 --> 00:25:01,760 Toling? So this came after the Chinese invasion? 238 00:25:01,924 --> 00:25:06,361 - How old is this? This is an ancient piece? - Very ancient. 239 00:25:06,524 --> 00:25:09,516 - From 1,000 years, maybe. - More than that. 240 00:25:09,684 --> 00:25:15,077 This is from Toling monastery, the greatest monastery of all in western Tibet. 241 00:25:15,244 --> 00:25:18,361 - Yes, yes. - They brought it over the mountains 242 00:25:18,524 --> 00:25:22,199 after the destruction during the Cultural Revolution. 243 00:25:22,364 --> 00:25:24,514 It's very heavy. 244 00:25:24,684 --> 00:25:28,802 Wow! It's absolutely amazing. Just look at that. 245 00:25:28,964 --> 00:25:33,162 So this has been deliberately smashed, deliberately broken. 246 00:25:33,324 --> 00:25:36,999 - Can the lama tell us what the image is? - (SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE) 247 00:25:41,364 --> 00:25:45,323 - It is a Bodhisattva. - A Bodhisattva. 248 00:25:46,444 --> 00:25:51,518 It seemed that every nook and cranny was crammed with books and works of art 249 00:25:51,684 --> 00:25:55,233 saved from the Chinese destruction of old Tibet. 250 00:25:59,284 --> 00:26:01,673 (MICHAEL) 900 years old? 251 00:26:04,284 --> 00:26:09,483 You come to a place like this and it's the reality of the legend. 252 00:26:09,644 --> 00:26:14,718 It's an amazing... This is like a cultural rescue operation, isn't it? 253 00:26:14,884 --> 00:26:19,719 (TSEWANG) Exactly. The Tibetan culture, it is living here. 254 00:26:19,884 --> 00:26:23,559 (MICHAEL) It's living here! Just amazing, isn't it? 255 00:26:33,724 --> 00:26:37,717 The lama then took me to see more secrets of the monastery. 256 00:26:40,284 --> 00:26:44,323 So we're going to go into the monastic bit of these buildings. 257 00:26:44,484 --> 00:26:47,601 This is a communal area where the dramas are done 258 00:26:47,764 --> 00:26:51,757 but this is the prayer hall of the monastery. 259 00:26:51,924 --> 00:26:57,556 For me, it was all uncannily like a scene in Hilton's tale of Shangri-La... 260 00:26:59,684 --> 00:27:05,554 ..when the lama shows Conway the library where the wisdom of the world is preserved. 261 00:27:05,724 --> 00:27:08,238 (MICHAEL) So these are the old sutras? 262 00:27:08,404 --> 00:27:11,202 And then the lama reveals his vision, 263 00:27:11,364 --> 00:27:14,879 to save the treasures of humanity for future generations. 264 00:27:15,044 --> 00:27:18,320 This, he says, is why Shangri-La is here. 265 00:27:20,844 --> 00:27:23,483 (MICHAEL) Wow! God, this is amazing. 266 00:27:23,644 --> 00:27:26,602 (SPEAKING OWN LANGUAGE) 267 00:27:33,084 --> 00:27:35,359 He has heard about Shambala, 268 00:27:35,524 --> 00:27:40,757 - that it exists in a remote area, people living... - Yeah. 269 00:27:40,924 --> 00:27:42,994 He has heard about this. 270 00:27:43,164 --> 00:27:48,192 So does he think Shambala is a real place or is it place of the spirit? 271 00:28:00,924 --> 00:28:03,882 - It really exists. - It really exists! 272 00:28:04,044 --> 00:28:08,276 - There is a text that describes it. - Fantastic. It really exists. 273 00:28:30,404 --> 00:28:36,036 From Jhang, we joined a caravan of yak herders heading towards Tibet, 274 00:28:36,204 --> 00:28:40,436 hoping that we'd get through before the snows came. 275 00:28:44,964 --> 00:28:46,682 (WOMAN SHOUTING) 276 00:28:48,164 --> 00:28:54,558 And I found myself musing on how the visions of myth find their echoes in history, 277 00:28:54,724 --> 00:29:00,037 how ancient stories can still shadow our modern hopes and dreams. 278 00:29:09,444 --> 00:29:14,234 Later that day, we were met by an honour guard sent by the next village. 279 00:29:18,004 --> 00:29:20,802 - Hello! - (DRUMS BANG) 280 00:29:28,644 --> 00:29:31,204 Very nice to meet you! Hello! 281 00:29:39,804 --> 00:29:42,318 (HARNESS BELLS JINGLE) 282 00:29:56,604 --> 00:29:58,754 (DRUM BEATING) 283 00:30:09,044 --> 00:30:12,161 Well, just look at that. Isn't that stupendous? 284 00:30:12,324 --> 00:30:16,112 It's completely... A hidden valley. Look at it. 285 00:30:41,164 --> 00:30:42,483 Hello. 286 00:30:42,644 --> 00:30:45,841 And so we arrived at the monastery of Halji. 287 00:30:47,564 --> 00:30:52,684 Halji was founded from Toling, the mother monastery, in the 10th century, 288 00:30:52,844 --> 00:30:56,041 the very time when the legend first appears. 289 00:30:56,924 --> 00:31:01,076 - Welcome to you! - (DRUMS AND CYMBALS BEAT) 290 00:31:04,284 --> 00:31:10,234 So if there was a real Shangri-La, this place is its living descendant. 291 00:31:27,004 --> 00:31:33,716 You can't believe that things like this still survive in the 21st century. It's unbelievable. 292 00:31:33,884 --> 00:31:38,719 It can only have survived because of its total isolation, can't it? 293 00:31:41,844 --> 00:31:44,074 (CHANTING) 294 00:32:01,444 --> 00:32:06,677 In the past, different worlds, different conceptions of time and space, 295 00:32:06,844 --> 00:32:09,995 could live side by side on our earth. 296 00:32:10,164 --> 00:32:12,439 But not any more. 297 00:32:12,604 --> 00:32:17,359 We're modern people now, we've had our revolutions and our reformations 298 00:32:17,524 --> 00:32:21,915 and now time races in one line, headlong forward, 299 00:32:22,084 --> 00:32:25,554 past recedes from us ever faster 300 00:32:25,724 --> 00:32:30,240 and we think we've freed ourselves from the great circle of time. 301 00:32:34,764 --> 00:32:37,642 We're one world now, even here. 302 00:32:37,804 --> 00:32:40,637 (MEN CONVERSING IN OWN LANGUAGE) 303 00:32:50,044 --> 00:32:53,753 They are demanding electricity, micro-hydro, phone... 304 00:32:53,924 --> 00:32:58,122 We will take the message back, yeah? Yeah. Yeah. 305 00:32:58,284 --> 00:33:01,003 It's really interesting, isn't it? 306 00:33:01,164 --> 00:33:04,998 They absolutely want electricity and the micro-hydro... 307 00:33:05,164 --> 00:33:08,236 - And telephone. - And telephone. 308 00:33:20,524 --> 00:33:24,483 0ur journey led us higher now, into a cold, bleak zone, 309 00:33:24,644 --> 00:33:27,920 where even in the sun we were chilled to the bone. 310 00:33:31,284 --> 00:33:33,434 (MAN SHOUTING ENCOURAGEMENT) 311 00:33:39,204 --> 00:33:43,880 These are valleys where hermits come to commune with the spirits 312 00:33:44,044 --> 00:33:47,400 and to seek their own kind of immortality. 313 00:34:01,284 --> 00:34:03,752 (PLAINTIVE CRY) 314 00:34:11,284 --> 00:34:13,957 Hello. Thank you. 315 00:34:14,124 --> 00:34:16,877 Hello. 316 00:34:17,044 --> 00:34:19,035 (MICHAEL) God! 317 00:34:20,484 --> 00:34:22,202 What an incredible place! 318 00:34:22,364 --> 00:34:24,355 Absolutely amazing place. 319 00:34:25,444 --> 00:34:28,641 We're more than 4,000 metres here and look at... 320 00:34:28,804 --> 00:34:34,436 You're into this border zone of the sacred geography of the subcontinent of India. 321 00:34:34,604 --> 00:34:37,164 There's monks in these caves out there! 322 00:34:37,324 --> 00:34:42,352 This is where their gurus come out to the wildest caves in the Himalayas. 323 00:34:42,524 --> 00:34:48,042 And there, if you look over there at these great, black teeth, 324 00:34:48,204 --> 00:34:51,037 6,500 metres, more than 21,000 feet, those, 325 00:34:51,204 --> 00:34:55,243 and behind them, Gurla Mandhata, 25,000 feet, 326 00:34:55,404 --> 00:34:58,874 and Kailash just beyond there, that's Tibet there. 327 00:34:59,044 --> 00:35:04,676 We're right on the very edge of the zone where human beings have ever lived. 328 00:35:09,244 --> 00:35:12,042 - What's this? - Chang. You want to take? 329 00:35:12,204 --> 00:35:15,480 - Will it be good? - If you have the stomach... 330 00:35:15,644 --> 00:35:19,034 - The water is very pure. - The water will be good. 331 00:35:19,204 --> 00:35:22,833 - Your good health. Holy water. - Manasarovar water. 332 00:35:25,284 --> 00:35:31,120 Chang is home-made barley beer. It's served cold out of old plastic jerry cans. 333 00:35:31,284 --> 00:35:37,996 It's not very appetising on a chill grey afternoon and it's not a very good idea at this altitude. 334 00:35:49,124 --> 00:35:53,720 Til is the village at the end of world, desperately poor and isolated. 335 00:35:53,884 --> 00:35:59,880 But its people still see hospitality as a sacred duty and a real pleasure. 336 00:36:06,324 --> 00:36:10,715 (GREETINGS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE) 337 00:36:16,964 --> 00:36:18,875 Ah! 338 00:36:20,844 --> 00:36:23,233 Ah, fantastic. Thank you very much. 339 00:36:23,404 --> 00:36:25,520 - (MAN) Ah! - Thank you. 340 00:36:40,884 --> 00:36:42,840 We'd got here just in time. 341 00:36:43,004 --> 00:36:48,761 In a few days, the snow will fall and Til will be cut off for the next five months. 342 00:36:58,764 --> 00:37:04,361 That evening, we paid our respects to the legendary abbot of Til. 343 00:37:08,284 --> 00:37:13,995 He's famous for having practised incredible austerities, meditating for years on end. 344 00:37:14,164 --> 00:37:17,236 That's why he's so revered, he's like a saint. 345 00:37:17,404 --> 00:37:19,281 Thank you very much. 346 00:37:19,444 --> 00:37:23,357 (LAUGHTER AND CHATTER) 347 00:37:23,524 --> 00:37:26,436 (SHRILL SINGING) 348 00:37:26,604 --> 00:37:31,394 Duty done, it was drinks all round and time for party games. 349 00:37:34,004 --> 00:37:37,155 And in Til, that means tug of war. 350 00:37:38,764 --> 00:37:41,232 Am I all right with my woolly hat? 351 00:37:42,004 --> 00:37:46,316 The girls challenge the boys, guests included, of course. 352 00:37:48,684 --> 00:37:52,723 All under the eye of the great lama himself. 353 00:37:52,884 --> 00:37:54,920 (DRUM BEATING) 354 00:37:57,444 --> 00:37:59,594 (CROWD CHEERING) 355 00:38:02,444 --> 00:38:04,958 I didn't think I was going to do that! 356 00:38:07,444 --> 00:38:11,517 - (MICHAEL) Come on, next challenger! - (CHEERING) 357 00:38:11,684 --> 00:38:15,393 - (VOICES ECHO AND DISTORT) - Thank you, thank you. 358 00:38:20,204 --> 00:38:25,676 By now, with the altitude and all that chang, my mind was swimming. 359 00:38:28,284 --> 00:38:32,914 But the abbot's serene consciousness never wavered. 360 00:38:33,764 --> 00:38:36,995 (DRUM BEATS OUT RHYTHM) 361 00:38:53,524 --> 00:38:57,153 Next morning, while the men slept off their hangovers, 362 00:38:57,324 --> 00:39:01,954 the women saddled up our horses and sent us on our way. 363 00:39:09,044 --> 00:39:13,515 'Just follow the path all the way to China, '' they said. 364 00:39:14,884 --> 00:39:16,875 ''You can't miss it. '' 365 00:39:23,964 --> 00:39:28,116 All day the path went up and down and up and down. 366 00:39:28,284 --> 00:39:31,242 Soon every step was an effort. 367 00:39:34,804 --> 00:39:39,798 But it must've been much worse for the first seeker, the Jesuit Andrade, 368 00:39:39,964 --> 00:39:43,923 sick and snow-blind, in agonies of frostbite. 369 00:39:45,724 --> 00:39:48,716 ''It took us 20 days to get into Tibet,'' he says, 370 00:39:48,884 --> 00:39:53,480 ''because ranges of terrible mountains blocked the way. 371 00:39:53,644 --> 00:39:58,672 ''Every day around four o'clock, the snow came in,'' he says, 372 00:39:58,844 --> 00:40:01,995 ''and we lost all feeling in our hands and feet. 373 00:40:02,164 --> 00:40:08,034 ''There was no firewood and worst of all,'' Andrade writes, ''was the biting wind.'' 374 00:40:45,484 --> 00:40:50,956 The only food they got in the mountains, he says, was roast barley meal, 375 00:40:51,124 --> 00:40:53,001 which they mixed with water. 376 00:40:53,164 --> 00:40:56,952 That was all they had, just like the Tibetan nomads. 377 00:40:57,124 --> 00:41:02,915 We're a bit like that ourselves tonight because our horses have not caught up with us 378 00:41:03,084 --> 00:41:05,120 and it's already quite late. 379 00:41:05,284 --> 00:41:10,119 Our sleeping bags and our food and pretty much everything is with them, 380 00:41:10,284 --> 00:41:13,833 so we're going to have a cold and hungry night. 381 00:41:24,564 --> 00:41:26,680 It's sort of chewy and tasteless 382 00:41:26,844 --> 00:41:32,714 but if you're stuck on the edge of Tibet, it's subzero and the snow's starting... 383 00:41:33,684 --> 00:41:35,037 it's OK. 384 00:41:40,004 --> 00:41:45,522 One day, greed and ignorance will lay waste to the earth itself 385 00:41:45,684 --> 00:41:52,362 and an evil king will triumph and spread his power over all human kind. 386 00:41:52,524 --> 00:41:56,403 But just when it seems there is nothing left to conquer, 387 00:41:56,564 --> 00:42:02,514 the mists will lift to reveal the icy mountains of Shambala. 388 00:42:02,684 --> 00:42:08,395 Then the king of Shambala will ride out and overthrow the forces of evil... 389 00:42:08,884 --> 00:42:13,275 ..and wisdom will at last be enthroned on earth. 390 00:42:30,884 --> 00:42:32,522 (MAN) Heh! 391 00:42:32,684 --> 00:42:37,121 But after a bitter night came an ethereal dawn. 392 00:42:44,564 --> 00:42:48,523 And what a feeling it was to be on top of the world. 393 00:43:18,124 --> 00:43:23,437 At last, we saw what must be one of the loneliest border posts in the world, 394 00:43:23,604 --> 00:43:26,721 the crossing into western Tibet. 395 00:43:29,244 --> 00:43:31,235 (INAUDIBLE) 396 00:43:34,244 --> 00:43:36,758 ..most wonderful, wonderful... 397 00:43:37,844 --> 00:43:42,520 0ur plan was to cross the high plateau of Tibet behind the Himalayas, 398 00:43:42,684 --> 00:43:47,553 to rejoin the route taken by Andrade on his journey from India. 399 00:43:47,724 --> 00:43:53,594 (MICHAEL) It feels even better when you've nearly killed yourself climbing those passes! 400 00:44:02,884 --> 00:44:07,514 And now we entered the most mythic landscape on earth. 401 00:44:09,204 --> 00:44:13,720 A world teeming with sacred peaks, lakes and rivers. 402 00:44:19,084 --> 00:44:24,681 At its centre, the eerie white pyramid of the holy mountain, Kailash. 403 00:44:29,044 --> 00:44:35,153 A mirror of the crystal peak in the ancient legends and the tale of Shangri-La. 404 00:44:49,004 --> 00:44:52,440 But for us, paradise was here and now, 405 00:44:52,604 --> 00:44:56,483 a real bed for the night. 406 00:44:56,644 --> 00:44:58,521 Oh, really? (LAUGHS) 407 00:45:19,604 --> 00:45:22,562 This is Lake Manasarovar. 408 00:45:26,804 --> 00:45:32,003 In Indian myth, along with Kailash, the lake is the centre of the world. 409 00:45:34,284 --> 00:45:38,641 According to Tibetan legend, the lake is a gateway of the spirits. 410 00:45:40,364 --> 00:45:43,242 The sound of the ice squeaking and breaking 411 00:45:43,404 --> 00:45:47,238 is the noise of demons rising from the underworld. 412 00:46:15,804 --> 00:46:19,240 As night fell, the myth became real for me. 413 00:46:19,404 --> 00:46:24,319 It may be freezing and barren here, not paradise as you might imagine it, 414 00:46:24,484 --> 00:46:26,839 but it is heaven on earth. 415 00:46:40,804 --> 00:46:46,481 When the god Siva married his great love Parvati, daughter of the snows, 416 00:46:46,644 --> 00:46:51,672 he said to her, ''Where shall we fly to enjoy our wedding night? 417 00:46:51,844 --> 00:46:56,554 ''I can take you wherever you desire, anywhere in the universe.'' 418 00:46:57,644 --> 00:47:02,843 And Parvati replied, ''Thank you for your generosity, my lord. 419 00:47:03,004 --> 00:47:06,440 ''Your power and wisdom are known to everyone. 420 00:47:06,604 --> 00:47:11,598 ''But if you come with me, I can take you to paradise.'' 421 00:47:12,404 --> 00:47:17,797 And that night, she took him to the crystal mountain by the sacred lake, 422 00:47:17,964 --> 00:47:23,038 where wild animals are tame in the presence of holy saints and sages. 423 00:47:23,204 --> 00:47:30,474 She took him to Mount Kailash, saying, ''This is the only true paradise on earth.'' 424 00:47:30,644 --> 00:47:34,273 And there, they first made love. 425 00:47:52,604 --> 00:47:56,882 In the West, we've completely lost the idea of a sacred landscape, 426 00:47:57,044 --> 00:48:02,164 but across Asia it's one of the most important religious ideas. 427 00:48:02,324 --> 00:48:05,714 And we're about to reach the holiest place of all. 428 00:48:08,964 --> 00:48:15,312 Everest may be higher, but in the mythic stakes Kailash reigns supreme. 429 00:48:19,084 --> 00:48:22,042 To climb it would be sacrilege. 430 00:48:22,204 --> 00:48:26,994 You set off from the great flagpole and you walk 30 miles round its base, 431 00:48:27,164 --> 00:48:29,917 prostrating yourself as you go. 432 00:48:32,364 --> 00:48:37,597 This is set up on the full moon of each May/June to begin the pilgrimage season 433 00:48:37,764 --> 00:48:41,313 when thousands of people do the circuit of the mountain 434 00:48:41,484 --> 00:48:45,079 in the belief that this is the axis of the universe. 435 00:48:45,244 --> 00:48:50,159 And it's not such a crazy idea because in this tiny area of western Tibet 436 00:48:50,324 --> 00:48:55,956 four of the great rivers of Asia rise: the Indus, the Brahmaputra, the Sutlej 437 00:48:56,124 --> 00:49:00,561 and the Karnali, which feeds the Ganges, the holiest river of India. 438 00:49:00,724 --> 00:49:05,354 If anywhere's a sacred place on this earth, then this surely is. 439 00:49:16,724 --> 00:49:22,003 The pilgrims' reward is a bath in the hot springs of Tirthapuri. 440 00:49:27,124 --> 00:49:29,035 Ah! 441 00:49:30,204 --> 00:49:32,115 (LAUGHS) 442 00:49:32,284 --> 00:49:35,242 This is what I call pilgrimage! 443 00:49:36,164 --> 00:49:38,439 Bloody hell. (SIGHS) 444 00:49:40,884 --> 00:49:42,442 (LAUGHTER) 445 00:49:45,844 --> 00:49:51,760 After 250 miles on dirt tracks, we finally came out behind the Himalayas 446 00:49:51,924 --> 00:49:56,873 at the point where Andrade crossed into Tibet nearly 400 years ago. 447 00:49:59,044 --> 00:50:03,993 That's India over there. In the middle, the great pyramid of Nanda Devi 448 00:50:04,164 --> 00:50:08,396 and just to the right, the cluster of Indian sacred peaks, 449 00:50:08,564 --> 00:50:11,397 Joshimath, Badrinath, Gangotri 450 00:50:11,564 --> 00:50:14,317 and the Mana Pass, just there. 451 00:50:18,484 --> 00:50:23,319 Andrade was met by mysterious ambassadors, who gave him horses 452 00:50:23,484 --> 00:50:28,842 and led him down into a vast labyrinth of canyons. 453 00:50:33,204 --> 00:50:37,755 And for us, now, there was an almost electric feeling of anticipation. 454 00:50:37,924 --> 00:50:44,602 0nly a handful of outsiders have seen this since Andrade arrived here in 1624. 455 00:50:45,684 --> 00:50:48,642 A city, literally built out of a mountain. 456 00:50:59,124 --> 00:51:03,356 ''The people came into the streets and women crowded the balconies 457 00:51:03,524 --> 00:51:08,279 ''to see us strange creatures, like people from another world.'' 458 00:51:08,444 --> 00:51:13,154 They were the first Europeans to cross the Himalayas and make contact 459 00:51:13,324 --> 00:51:15,633 with the ancient civilization of Tibet. 460 00:51:22,884 --> 00:51:26,513 So these are the two monasteries, the white and the red? 461 00:51:26,684 --> 00:51:29,482 The white temple and the red temple. 462 00:51:29,644 --> 00:51:35,719 But this wasn't the lost Christian civilization the Europeans had expected to find. 463 00:51:35,884 --> 00:51:41,117 What they discovered was Tsaparang, the capital of the Buddhist kingdom of Guge, 464 00:51:41,284 --> 00:51:47,632 founded in the 9th century, just before the legend of Shambala first appears. 465 00:51:52,604 --> 00:51:55,880 As you climb and you look at this hidden valley, 466 00:51:56,044 --> 00:51:59,719 hidden from the rest of the world until the 17th century, 467 00:51:59,884 --> 00:52:06,198 you really begin to understand how a legend could've arisen. 468 00:52:12,764 --> 00:52:18,521 From the beginning, the city had been intended by its builders to be a hidden place. 469 00:52:20,884 --> 00:52:26,083 1,000 years ago, when Tibet was torn apart by civil war, 470 00:52:26,244 --> 00:52:31,079 the city was created by a branch of the Tibetan royal family as a refuge, 471 00:52:31,244 --> 00:52:37,353 set apart from the outside world, where its Buddhist rulers could follow the Wheel of Law 472 00:52:37,524 --> 00:52:40,357 unharmed by the revolutions of history. 473 00:52:46,084 --> 00:52:48,723 God! Have you seen this? 474 00:52:57,204 --> 00:53:01,914 So this is the King of Guge's private chambers. 475 00:53:03,084 --> 00:53:06,679 And er...just come and have a look at the view 476 00:53:06,844 --> 00:53:09,119 that the king enjoyed. 477 00:53:10,484 --> 00:53:12,281 How about that? 478 00:53:18,924 --> 00:53:26,239 In 1624, this was a network of sparkling canals between green fields and fruit orchards, 479 00:53:26,404 --> 00:53:28,554 a garden in the desert, 480 00:53:28,724 --> 00:53:30,237 paradise. 481 00:53:31,484 --> 00:53:38,401 Its rulers so open to the newcomers that they let them build a church and preach Christianity. 482 00:53:40,604 --> 00:53:46,554 But as so often in history, the arrival of the Europeans was the beginning of the end. 483 00:53:47,964 --> 00:53:52,480 The neighbouring rulers of Ladakh were angry that the Christians had been let in 484 00:53:52,644 --> 00:53:55,602 and they made war on the King of Tsaparang. 485 00:53:57,484 --> 00:54:01,796 In 1685, the city was finally sieged and destroyed. 486 00:54:03,444 --> 00:54:05,036 (STRAINING) 487 00:54:05,204 --> 00:54:09,402 Its royal family, men, women and children, were beheaded. 488 00:54:14,604 --> 00:54:17,243 Their bodies were dumped in this cave. 489 00:54:17,404 --> 00:54:19,599 There's a chamber here 490 00:54:19,764 --> 00:54:22,324 and there's an inner chamber. 491 00:54:22,484 --> 00:54:25,476 Bones, cloth... 492 00:54:25,644 --> 00:54:28,636 Preserved in the dry air, they're still here 493 00:54:28,804 --> 00:54:30,954 and still smell. 494 00:54:33,564 --> 00:54:37,193 These are the remains of the bodies of the royal family, 495 00:54:37,364 --> 00:54:43,712 the king and queen and the children, ministers and generals of the last king of the Guge. 496 00:54:50,644 --> 00:54:54,080 But that's not the end of the story. 497 00:54:54,244 --> 00:54:59,477 Tsaparang's temples, among the most beautiful in all of Asia, weren't destroyed. 498 00:55:00,524 --> 00:55:04,642 A handful of local families and monks continued to tend them 499 00:55:04,804 --> 00:55:07,921 and they lasted almost to our own time. 500 00:55:10,644 --> 00:55:15,843 So all these figures survived until the 1960s, then, did they? 501 00:55:16,004 --> 00:55:21,124 - Destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. - It's heartbreaking, isn't it? 502 00:55:21,284 --> 00:55:23,798 Er... 503 00:55:23,964 --> 00:55:27,843 - You're not allowed inside, I'm afraid, Sean. - OK. 504 00:55:28,004 --> 00:55:31,440 - Sorry. - Is this OK? 505 00:55:32,164 --> 00:55:36,680 In the Chinese Cultural Revolution, with its rage against religion, 506 00:55:36,844 --> 00:55:39,517 these wonderful things were smashed. 507 00:55:39,684 --> 00:55:46,442 The Chinese regret it now but what remains is just a fleeting glimpse of a lost world. 508 00:55:49,044 --> 00:55:52,241 (MICHAEL) And date of temple? What, 15th century? 509 00:55:52,404 --> 00:55:54,793 And the meaning of the myth? 510 00:55:54,964 --> 00:55:58,673 The Tibetans say that each of us can live in Shangri-La 511 00:55:58,844 --> 00:56:01,642 if we can only conquer the restless need 512 00:56:01,804 --> 00:56:05,877 that makes us dream of paradise in worlds other than our own. 513 00:56:07,764 --> 00:56:10,881 James Hilton imagined Shangri-La here in Tibet 514 00:56:11,044 --> 00:56:16,994 but if you ask me, paradise can be found anywhere on this earth 515 00:56:17,164 --> 00:56:19,473 but only on this earth. 516 00:56:19,644 --> 00:56:24,035 And it's in our hands whether we make it or destroy it. 517 00:56:35,324 --> 00:56:40,318 When he left Shangri-La, Conway felt the surge of darkness around him, 518 00:56:40,484 --> 00:56:45,000 as if the world outside were already brewing for the storm. 519 00:56:45,604 --> 00:56:48,323 ''We have a dream, '' the lama had told him. 520 00:56:48,484 --> 00:56:52,602 ''Even the most beautiful things are transient and perishable. 521 00:56:52,764 --> 00:56:57,758 ''War, lust and brutality will crush them till nothing is left. 522 00:56:57,924 --> 00:57:00,836 ''That is why Shangri-La is here. 523 00:57:01,004 --> 00:57:06,715 ''To preserve the wisdom men will need when their violent passions are spent. '' 524 00:57:41,204 --> 00:57:44,401 0ur journey was over. 525 00:57:44,564 --> 00:57:48,193 A few days later, we crossed from Tibet into Nepal 526 00:57:48,364 --> 00:57:52,118 and were taken back...to our world.