On foot to Lhasa

Alexandra David-Néel · 1923 CE – 1924 CE · Earth

On foot to Lhasa — Alexandra David-Néel · 1923 CE – 1924 CE · Earth — Recorded expedition route · schematic map

Cross eastern Tibet disguised as pilgrims and enter Lhasa, closed to foreigners by both Lhasa and the British.

Historical context

Lhasa had been sealed twice over: by a Tibetan government that admitted no foreigners and by a British India that forbade its own subjects to go there after the 1904 invasion. Alexandra David-Néel had already been expelled once and had spent ten years in Asia learning the language, the liturgy and the road manners of a pilgrim. She and Yongden went in on foot, in winter, by the eastern passes nobody watched, carrying nothing that a beggar could not carry.

The voyage, step by step

  1. Setting out from Yunnan

    October 1923

    In October two pilgrims leave the Chinese border on foot, carrying nothing worth stealing.

  2. Over the frontier pass

    1923 CE

    Under the snow peak of Kawagarbo they cross into forbidden territory at night.

  3. The Salween gorges

    1923 CE

    They climb and drop three thousand metres at a time between one river and the next.

  4. Through Po-yul

    1924 CE

    They cross the province Tibetans themselves called a country of brigands, and are fed by it.

  5. Down to the Tsangpo

    1924 CE

    Out of the forests they come onto the great river road that leads west to the capital.

  6. Into Lhasa at Monlam

    February 1924

    In February they walk into the closed city among thousands of pilgrims, and nobody looks twice.

  7. Two months unrecognised

    1924 CE

    She climbs to the Potala with the crowds and lives in the city she was forbidden to see.

  8. Found out at Gyantse

    1924 CE

    On the way out she walks into the British trade agency and says who she is.

Outcome

Walked into Lhasa in February 1924 with Aphur Yongden, stayed two months unrecognised and left by Gyantse and Sikkim.

Alexandra David-Néel

French orientalist, opera singer and Buddhist who walked into Lhasa in 1924 disguised as a beggar-pilgrim, the first European woman to enter the forbidden city.

Read on Wikipedia

Sources

Continue exploring