Himalaya with Michael Palin

Michael Palin takes a journey through the North-West Frontier province of Pakistan, starting on the Khyber Pass and ending five miles from K2 on the Pakistan/China border. He passes through Darra, where they make working facsimiles of every gun, visits a street dentist in Peshwar, goes bull racing with a Pakistani aristocrat and is almost trampled to death.

Michael Palin continues his Himalayan trek by travelling from K2 in Pakistan to Ladakh in India, a short distance as the crow flies, but, due to politics, a huge loop. He passes through the Sikh city of Amritsar, with its Golden Temple, and through Shimla with its Vice Regal Lodge, Gaiety Theatre and cosy half-timbered tea-houses and then he meets the 14th Dalai Lama.

During a Gurkha recruitment Palin is disturbed by Maoist insurgents, but survives to suffer as he climbs to 15,000 feet and sees the majesty of Annapurna Sanctuary. In Kathmandu he is blessed by the Nepalese king before meeting some holy men. Crossing into Tibet he meets his first yaks at the highest monastery in the world before heading up the Rongbuk glacier towards the summit of Everest.

Leaving Everest base camp to take the high road to Lhasa to see what the Chinese have done to Tibet, Michael sees that religion is once again tolerated, while the old Tibetan centre of the city is being replaced with modern Chinese shopping malls and nightclubs. Following the pilgrims to the holy Namtso Lake, he gets warm in a hot spring before learning how to milk a yak with a nomad family.

Following the Yangtze along Tiger Leaping Gorge into Yunnan in China, Palin reaches the easternmost end of the Himalayas. He gets a medical check-up before exploring medieval Lijiang with the director of the local orchestra. Heading over Myanmar to Nagaland in India he rides the steam train to Tipong Coalmine. In Assam he rides an elephant and then stays in a strange monastery.

In Bhutan, Palin finds himself back in the land of yaks for a last look at the high Himalaya. Trekking to Chomolhari base camp he meets a nomad with a penchant for yak songs before heading down to Paro to witness the Buddhist festival or Tsechu.