Firsthand accounts & spectacular photographs combine to form a fascinating portrait of the endangered Tibetan people, their plateau, & their cultural landscape. Known as the ”water tower of Asia, ” the Tibetan Plateau is heating up twice as fast as the global average. These rapidly melting glaciers-along with recent unprecedented development on the plateau-are quickly changing the lives of the deeply devotional nomads, monks, & farmers who have lived in this area for centuries. Photographer Phil Borges uses individual stories & portraits to illustrate how dramatic development, climate change, & the deep devotion of the Tibetan people are interacting to transform Tibetan culture. The portraits of the land & the people bring a powerful visual component as the reader meets & learns about Tibet firsthand through these storytellers. ...

Tibet is the Roof of the World, a place where you feel that you are in the sky just as much are you are on the earth. The intense blueness of space contrasts sharply with the deep green of eastern Tibets rolling grasslands & the mineral colours of the west with its expanses of barren rock. For over a thousand years, Buddhist culture has been at the heart of Tibetan society, & anyone who has travelled across these high plateaux will understand how this contemplative civilization flourished in a landscape of such vastness. This book seeks to bear witness to all that survives of that ancient world a world capable of making a valuable contribution to contemporary life. It also aims to provide a glimpse of a unique culture that is desperately trying to preserve its authenticity, despite the major upheavals that have shaken the land of its birth. May the images that follow serve as an homage to inner beauty Matthieu Ricard, from the Introduction. ...

Tibet`s enduring myth, animated by the tales of Himalayan adventurers, British military expeditions, & the novel, Lost Horizon, remains an inspirational fantasy, a modern morality play about the failure of brutality to subdue the human spirit. Tibet also exercises immense `soft power` as one of the lenses through which the world views China. This book traces the origins & manifestations of the Tibetan myth, as propagated by Younghusb&, Madam Blavatsky, Himmler, Acheson & Roosevelt. The authors discuss how, after WW2, Tibet
- isolated, misunderstood & with a tiny elite unschooled in political-military realities
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- misread the diplomacy between its two giant neighbours, India & China, forlornly hoping London or Washington might intervene. The PLA sought nothing less than to deconstruct traditional Tibet, unseat the Dalai Lama & `absorb` this vast region into the People`s Republic, & Lhasa succumbed to China`s invasion in 1950. Drawing on declassified CIA & Chinese documents, the authors reveal Mao`s collusion with Stalin to subdue Tibet, double-dealing by Nehru, the brilliant diplomacy of Chou en Lai & how Washington see-sawed between the China lobby, who insisted there be no backing for an independent Tibet, & Presidents Truman & later Eisenhower, who initiated a covert CIA programme to support the Dalai Lama & resist Chinese occupation. It is an ignoble saga with few, if any, heroes, other than ordinary Tibetans.


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Dervla Murphy`s first epic journey from Ireland to India by bicycle, ” Full Tilt”, is a complete adventure in itself. It is also the first volume of a trilogy of experience that continues with Tibetan Foothold. For the young Irish woman, once she had got herself to India by July 1963, immersed herself in the life of the sub-continent, working for six months in an orphanage for Tibetan children in the refugee camps of Northern India. Here, she fell in love with the ` Tiblets`
- the cheerful, tough, uncomplaining, independent & affectionate children of the new Tibet-in-exile. Dervla vividly describes day-to-day life in the camps where hundreds of children are living in squalor while a handful of dedicated volunteers do their best to feed & care for them, attempting to keep disease at bay with limited resources. She pitches in with a helping hand wherever it is needed & finds time to visit the Dalai Lama & his entourage. Dervla`s heart-rending account is interwoven with her own observations on the particular cultural & social problems associated with trying to help a people who have lived in isolation from the rest of the world & she becomes a perceptive witness to the inner realities & sometime inadequacies of aid-work. First published in 1966, ” Tibetan Foothold” not only confirmed Dervla`s status as a traveller, but also revealed her to be a truly independent voice & an acute observer of politics & society.
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The Lonely Planet Tibetan Phrasebook is not only an extensive list of useful phrases, but also an ideal tool to start getting to grips with a language & beginning two-way communication. Containing excellent sections on language basics such as numbers, question phrases, dates, phrase construction, grammar & pronunciation, as well as containing concise but well-rounded two-way dictionaries, Lonely Planet phrasebooks enable you to quickly & confidently construct your own phrases in addition to those given. The given phrases cover all the essential travel & tourism categories such as transport, communications, business meetings & accommodation, as well as in-depth categories such as health, food & social interaction. The phrasebooks are designed to enable more than just simple question-answer communication, allowing the start of two-way conversations ...

Topographic coverage of mainland Spain at 1:25, 000 published by the Centro Nacional de Información Geograficá, the country’s civilian survey organization. The maps have contours at 10m intervals & colouring and/or graphics to show different types of vegetation or land use. Boundaries of national parks & other protected areas are marked. In addition to all the usual information shown on topographic maps at this scale, detailed presentation of the road & rail networks, rural tracks & paths, etc, the maps also show campsites. The maps have a 1-km UTM grid, with margin ticks for latitude & longitude at 1` intervals. Map legend is in Spanish only.PLEASE NOTE: our grid for the whole of Spain is in preparation
- in the meantime, for areas other than those shown on the attached grid please use CNIG’s topographic survey at 1:50, 000 by searching for ‘SI00000832’. Each 25K map covers one quarter of the corresponding 50K map, with the numbering system: I = NW quarter, II = NE quarter, III = SW quarter & IV = SE quarter. CNIG maps in the Provincial Road Maps series at 1:200, 000 are overprinted with the grid for the 1:50, 000 survey & can be used to see the area covered by each 50K or 25K title in more detail. To see the list of titles in this series please click on the series grid
- for map numbers not yet listed on our website please contact us by email.

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Seventh title of a series of 8 DVDs covering the whole country. About this series: The Swiss Map 25 series covers the whole of the country at 1:25, 000,

Includes:: the complete official Swiss footpath network & it is compatible with both Swiss Map 50 & 100, & with the Dufour Map. There are 8 DVD titles in the series, each also including the Swiss Map 500 covering the whole country. The cartography of Swiss Map 25 is equivalent to that of the printed Swiss Survey maps & the individually selectable map extracts can be easily printed & exported. The diversity of the graphic tools makes it possible to show political & administrative boundaries (including municipalities, districts & cantons), highlight castles, heritage sites & other tourist information, & search for all displayed place names. It is also possible to calculate distances, hiking times & profiles' elevation, to enter individual routes or add personal data to a map. Up-to-date information from the Switzerland Tourism organisation about holiday destinations, hotels, events & excursions can also be accessed from the map via the Internet. Each DVD is compatible with Windows, Mac & GPS (NMEA, Garmin & Magellan). All data is available in English, German, French & Italian. System requirements:1 GB free hard disk space Screen 1024 x 768 pixels Thousands of colours (16 bits) Internet Browser 4.x (or higher) Windows
- 2000 or XP
- Pentium processor III
- 256 MB RAMMacintosh
- Mac OS X 10.1.5 (or higher)
- G3 500 MHz
- 256 MB RAM







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Beautiful panorama drawing, with each valley & mountain clearly visible. Name & altitude are given for numerous peaks. The map also shows the railway network, with towns & villages. Excellent for planning or retracing journeys across this wonderful landscape. ...

Northern part of Ticino at 1:60, 000 in Kümmerly + Frey’s hiking series of Switzerl&, with most titles now printed on light, waterproof & tear-resistant plastic paper. The series offers a popular alternative to Swiss survey maps & cartography which many walkers find easier to follow. Coverage of the whole country is designed so that each title presents a popular hiking area. The maps have contours at 50 or 25-metre intervals according to the terrain, enhanced by graphic relief & shading. An overprint distinguishes between sign-posted hiking paths, mountain path where proper walking shoes are necessary, & alpine paths requiring special equipment. Most titles now also indicate national & regional long-distance hiking routes, each annotated with its official number. Mountain huts are marked, plus various types of accommodation: campsites, youth hostels, “ Friends of Nature” houses, & secluded hotels & restaurants. Road network indicates local bus routes with stops. Railways, narrow gauge mountain railways, cable car lines, & chair lifts are shown, with various symbols highlighting places of interest, viewpoints, picnic sites, swimming pools, etc. Each title covers an area of Approx. 60 x 42 km (37 x 26 miles). The maps have a 1km Swiss national grid, plus latitude & longitude margin ticks at 5’ intervals. * Map legend

Includes:: English.* On the reverse, an index of towns & villages

Includes:: names of geographical features such as mountains, alpine passes, glaciers, lakes, rivers, as well as places of interest. Also provided is an overview road map of surrounding region.



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One of a series of spiral-bound atlases, each with 50 specially selected hiking tours shown with route profiles. Coverage in this title

Includes:: Locarno, Lugano, Bellinzona, Centovalli & Chiasso. The routes are graded according to the difficulty of the terrain, & clearly distinguished from other local hiking paths. The atlas is arranged so that each page of mapping is shown together with a page listing the routes with grading, total & intermediate times, & coordinates for special points. Route profiles also give intermediate times & indicate access to transport. The atlases include general information on emergency procedures & contact details for various services & facilities, including mountain huts. Cartography is from the K

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