High

Third catch up review.

Norwegian social anthropologist and addicted traveller Erika Fatland provides another enthralling read here (the other of her books I have read is The Border), this time focussing on the countries of the Himalaya.

We get the same mix as her previous book - principally travel, but heavy with interviews and delving into culture. While the Border had the common thread of the influence of Russia on the countries that Fatland visited, High is slightly different. She continues her theme on borders, and in this case the permeability of borders, or perhaps the lack of relevance of a border when culture crosses it. However it is a less tight theme than previously.

Published in 2020 (2022 in English) the travels Fatland describes the travels she undertook in two stages, July to September 2018 then April to July 2019

It was fitting that the telling or her journey began in China's Xinjiang province, and ended in Chinese Tibet. There was a full circle and returning to the start situation set up here, with many of the same issues in both - the human rights abuses, the importation of Han Chinese to swell the population and sway control over language and culture. The Chinese are rightly portrayed here as the oppressor and their attempts and limiting access to people and places through bureaucratic and political controls were exposed fairly easily.

Assisted by a guide/fixer in most locations, enabling her better ability with organisation of logistics and interviewing formal figures, China was one place where they were also a barrier to her freedom. Regularly Fatland was told she was unable to visit certain places and was actively steered away from certain people. This as much as people being unwilling to (openly) talk with her, knowing the consequences with the Chinese Communism Party seeing all. Clandestine meetings were plenty, and those she met would pass on names of other people to interview (names and details were disguised). In this way Fatland was able to deliver a narrative with depth across various aspects of society.

After Xinjiang, the author crosses into Pakistan and through those fascinating areas from the Khunjerab Pass through Gilgit, Hunza and Chitral. After Islamabad and Lahore where she was unable to cross at the Wagah Border with India. Her only option was a flight from Lahore to Delhi, then back to Amritsar just across the border!

India concentrated (obviously) on the Himalaya, so Fatland flew from Amritsar to Sringar, from where she made her way through Kashmir (Gulmarg) and Ladakh (Drass, Kargil, Leh, Turtuk) then to Himachal Pradesh (various places including Shimla and McLeod Ganj (Dharamsala)) with a side trip to Uttarakhand.

Fatland's writing was excellent, mixing it up well for a linear travel narrative. For me one of the impressive things was what she left out. She interviewed loads of people, and replicated only the parts of interest. She was able to edit out the repetition (but alluded to common themes) and stripped the interviews right back to the pertinent information. Some interviews consisted basically of one or two questions. Her execution of this was first rate.

Next the author made a thorough journey through Bhutan travelling the length of the country by vehicle before flying back to Thimphu. Bhutan, locked away from the world, but beginning to change with outside influences holds it own fascinations. Amongst interesting topics there was plenty of discussion about Yeti, but most of her guides and people she met focused on the need for her to visit the fertility temple in Punakha (given she is”so old” and doesn't have children)! The first leg of her journey ended with another visit to northern India - Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

The second leg of Fatland's journey commences in Kathmandu (Nepal) where she travels all over, to many of the interesting locations after a through look at, and various interviews with former Kumari Devi or living goddesses. This chain of child goddesses (they retain their position until puberty) stretches far back (1922 in the case of Kathmandu), and the girls retain some of their fame after their time. As well as visiting Mustang, Simikot and less well known places like Surkhet, Tumarkhad and Lumbini, the author visits Pokhara and Lukla, from where she visits the Everest Base Camp and examines the climber culture of both westerners and Sherpa. Back in the capital she covers off the demise of the Nepalese Royal family, and the change from a Constitutional Monarchy to a Federal Democratic Republic. The Nepalese section is the longest, and most in depth - well deserved for this relatively small country which literally resides on the Himalaya and is such an interesting and welcoming country.

Finishing off back in China, as noted above, Fatland is immediately thrust back into a bureaucratic battle to secure the correct paperwork before being made to stick rigorously to the approved itinerary, ruling out any spur of the moment visits (except those beyond the eyes of her ‘guides' (minders)). She visits Mt Kalilash, the Chinese side of Everest, and Tibet. After her time in Tibet, the very last visit the author makes is to Shangri-La, the town that China renamed to cash into the buzz around that name, formerly known by the less appealing Zhongdian, in northern Yunnan. She accessed Shangri-La via Tiger Leaping Gorge, which tied this book up nicely for me, as I visited there about 2006. When I was there a road was being formed which was opening up access to what was once a trekking-only destination, to a quaint little spot made popular in the late 1980s and 1990s. Although the road was operating when I was there is was fairly limited and subject to slips and delays and required 4WD. Just over 10 years later it was operating in force and the gorge is a confirmed tourist destination, complete with giant tiger statue for selfies!

Once again Fatland has really delivered on a fantastic book with a journey of epic proportions. I will be seeking out her first book translated into English (Sovietstan), and hoping she has another lined up soon. A shout-out also to Kari Dickson who fact-checked and translated all three of Fatland's books into English. Perhaps slightly less strong than The Border but still excellent.

5 stars