In 1923, a fifty-five-year-old Frenchwoman named Madame Alexandra David-Neel disguised herself as a male pilgrim and ascended to the ancient Tibetan city of Lhasa. David-Neel''s recounting of her journey is one of the great travelogues of the twentieth century, filled with adventure and danger and set against the spectacular backdrop of one of the world''s most remarkable cultures. Tibet was still forbidden to Westerners when David-Neel, accompanied by her adopted son Yongden and aided by her fluent knowledge of Tibetan dialects, made the dangerous journey into its spiritual and cultural heart. En route, she faced rugged terrain, outbreaks of disease, and the constant threat of expulsion; she also became the first Western woman to be received by the Dalai Lama, as well as a recognized expert on Tibetan religion and culture. Alexandra David-Neel was born in Paris in 1868. After studying eastern religions in Paris, she toured the Far and Middle East and North Africa as an opera singer. In 1904 she married Philippe Francois Neel in Tunis: they separated almost immediately, but he financed many of her later travels and they regularly wrote to each other up to the time of his death in 1941. David-Neel spent years traveling throughout Asia, where she studied Buddhism and became a Lama. She wrote several books about her travels, including My Journey to Lhasa and Magic and Mystery in Tibet. She was awarded many honors, including the Grande Medaille d''Or of La Societe de Geographie. She died just before her 101st birthday, in 1969. ''Frenchwoman Alexandra David-Neel was exceptional.'' - His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“My Journey to Lhasa . . . involves us intensely. . . . [David-Neel’s] descriptions of the landscape are fervent and her understanding of the Tibetans admirably unsentimental. Her Tibet is not at all the philosophers’ kingdom of Lost Horizon; it is a fierce, filthy, frequently dangerous place, where she had to exercise the utmost ingenuity to survive.”

Autorentext

An indomitable traveler, singer, journalist, and religious adept, Alexandra David-Neel (18681969) was awarded a Gold Medal by the Geographical Society of Paris and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor.

Klappentext

*An exemplary travelogue of danger and achievement by the Frenchwoman Madame Alexandra David–Neel of her 1923 expedition to Tibet, the fifth in her series of Asian travels, and her personal recounting of her journey to Lhasa, Tibet's forbidden city.

*** In order to penetrate Tibet and reach Lhasa, she used her fluency of Tibetan dialects and culture, disguised herself as a beggar with yak hair extensions and inked skin and tackled some of the roughest terrain and climate in the World. With the help of her young companion, Yongden, she willingly suffered the primitive travel conditions, frequent outbreaks of disease, the ever–present danger of border control and the military to reach her goal.

The determination and sheer physical fortitude it took for this woman, delicately reared in Paris and Brussels, is inspiration for men and women alike.

David–Neel is famous for being the first Western woman to have been received by any Dalai Lama and as a passionate scholar and explorer of Asia, hers is one of the most remarkable of all travellersߴales.

Zusammenfassung

“Involves us intensely in a world that no longer exists—that of free Tibet. . . . Fervent and admirably unsentimental . . . [David-Neel] had to exercise the utmost ingenuity to survive.”— New York Times Book Review

Originally published in 1927, My Journey to Lhasa is a powerful, entertaining record of danger and achievement that has become one of the most remarkable and inspirational of all travelers’ tales. Disguised as a beggar, Alexandra David-Neel tackled some of the roughest terrain and climate, suffered primitive travel conditions, frequent outbreaks of disease, the ever-present danger of border control, and the military to become the first woman to penetrate Tibet and reach Lhasa—and the first Western woman to have been received by any Dalai Lama.