Author(s): Claire Scobie

Politics

Some go to Tibet seeking epiphanies, others for adventure. The award-winning journalist, Claire Scobie, found both when she left her ordinary life in London and went to the Himalayas in search of a flower, a rare red lily. Her journey took her to Pemako, where few Westerners have set foot and where the myth of Shangri-la was born. It was here she became friends with Ani, a Tibetan nun with waist-length hair and rosy cheeks, a woman who was to change her life. Ani is a nomad who grew up during the Cultural Revolution and ran away from home to avoid an arranged marriage. She became an itinerant nun, meditating for years in caves.
Through seven journeys in Tibet, Claire chronicles a rapidly changing world - where monks talk on mobiles and Lhasa's sex industry thrives. There is a brief love affair with a Tibetan and Claire meets the Dalai Lama in exile. But it is Ani, a penniless wanderer with a rich heart, who leaves an indelible impression. Together, in a culture where freedom of expression is forbidden, they risk arrest. Yet they forge an abiding friendship, based on intuition and deep respect. Evoking the luminous landscape of snow peaks and wild alpine gardens, Claire Scobie captures the paradoxes of contemporary Tibet, a land steeped in religion, struggling against oppression and galloping towards modernity.

Touching and intimate, by turns tragic and humorous, Last Seen in Lhasa is a unique story of insight and adventure that can touch us all.