Shangri-la, the Land of Snows, the roof of the world. For centuries, the mysterious Buddhist kingdom of Tibet, locked away in the Himalayas, has exercised a unique hold on the imagination of the West. The Jesuits, hearing rumors of Tibet in faraway Goa, believed it to harbor a long-lost community of Christians, the kingdom of Prester John. For adventurers and traders, it was a land of treasure and riches. Those on a spiritual quest, whispered of a lost land steeped in magic and mystery.

As Tibetans woke to the sound of foreign travelers prying at the closed doors of their kingdom; they slipped the lock and threw away the keys. Lhasa, the ultimate prize for countless proselytizers, adventurers and dreamers, became the Forbidden City.

When the first tourists were allowed into Tibet in the mid-1980s, they came to a devastated country. Most of Tibet’s finest monasteries lay in ruins. The Spiritual Leader of Tibetan people along with 100,000 Tibetans were in exile. The Tibetan way of life, culture, religion and historical heritage was very much changed and tamed by Chinese rule. But, still, the quintessence of Tibet remains remarkably intact. Tibet is without doubt one of the most remarkable places to visit in Asia. It offers fabulous monastery sights, breathtaking high-altitude treks, stunning views of the world’s highest mountains and one of the most likeable peoples you will ever meet.

The Tibetan plateau is one of the most isolated regions in the world, bound to the south by the 2500km-long Himalaya, to the west by the Karakoram and to the north by the Kunlun and Altyn Tagh ranges. Four of the world's 10 highest mountains straddle its southern border.  The north-west in particular is bound by the most remote and least explored wilderness left on earth, outside the Polar Regions. With an average altitude of 4000m and large swathes of the country well above 5000m, the Tibetan plateau (nearly the size of Western Europe) deserves the title 'the roof of the world'.

The Tibetan Autonomous Region, with an area of 1.23 million sq. km., shares a 3482 km international border with India, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar (Burma). It is bordered to the north and east by the Chinese provinces of Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan. It encompasses the traditional Tibetan provinces of Ü (capital, Lhasa), Tsang (capital, Shigatse), Ngari and Kham.

Ütsang (the combined provinces of Ü and Tsang, which constitute central Tibet) is the political, historical and agricultural heartland of Tibet. Its relatively fertile valleys enjoy a mild climate and are irrigated by wide rivers such as the Yarlung Tsangpo and the Kyi Chu.

To the north of Ütsang are the harsh, high-altitude plains of the Changtang (northern plateau), the highest and largest plateau in the world, occupying an area of over one million sq. km. This area has no river systems and supports little in the way of life. Dead lakes on the plateau are the brackish remnants of the Tethys Sea that found no run-off when the plateau started its ascent skyward.

Ngari, or western Tibet, is similarly barren, although here river valleys provide grassy tracts that support nomads and their grazing animals. Indeed, the Kailash range in the far west of Tibet is the source of the subcontinent’s four greatest rivers: the Ganges, Indus, Sutlej and Brahmaputra. The Ganges, Indus and Sutlej Rivers all cascade out of Tibet in its far west, not far from Mt. Kailash itself. The Brahmaputra (known in Tibet as Yarlung Tsangpo), however, meanders along the northern spine of the Himalaya for 2000 km. searching for a way south, before coiling back on itself in a dramatic U-turn and draining into India not far from the border with Myanmar (Burma).

Kham, which encompasses the eastern Tibetan Autonomous Region, western Sichuan and north-west Yunnan, marks a tempestuous drop in elevations down to the Sichuan plain. The concertina landscape produces some of the most spectacular roller-coaster roads in Asia as Himalayan extensions such as the Hengduan Mountains are sliced by the deep gorges of the Ynagzi (Jinsha), Salween (Nu Jiang) and Mekong (Lancang) headwaters. The Yarlung Tsangpo itself crashes through a 5 km-deep gorge here as it swings around 7756 m-high Namche Barwa. Many parts of this alpine region are lushly forested and support abundant wildlife, largely thanks to the lower altitudes and effects of the Indian monsoon.