1 00:00:03,847 --> 00:00:05,644 Hm. 2 00:00:51,407 --> 00:00:55,195 At last - a taste of the world's third longest river. 3 00:00:56,207 --> 00:00:59,005 There we are - real Yangtze water. 4 00:01:00,407 --> 00:01:04,036 We're entering the gorge - Tiger Leaping Gorge. 5 00:01:10,007 --> 00:01:13,716 The combination of swollen rivers and towering mountains 6 00:01:13,887 --> 00:01:17,277 make the Himalayan gorges the deepest in the world. 7 00:01:22,807 --> 00:01:25,799 Tiger Leaping Gorge took its name from the legend 8 00:01:25,967 --> 00:01:29,084 that a hunted tiger escaped by leaping across it. 9 00:01:29,247 --> 00:01:35,083 The gorge rises nearly 2.5 miles from the river bed to the mountain summits above. 10 00:01:43,567 --> 00:01:47,560 My journey through the eastern Himalaya will take me to Lugu Lake, 11 00:01:47,727 --> 00:01:50,161 Lijiang and the city of Kunming 12 00:01:50,327 --> 00:01:52,887 before crossing into Nagaland and Assam 13 00:01:53,047 --> 00:01:57,757 to link up with another mountain river, the Brahmaputra. 14 00:01:57,927 --> 00:02:01,476 Though it looks remote, our path is well trodden. 15 00:02:01,647 --> 00:02:03,683 It was part of the Tea Horse route, 16 00:02:03,847 --> 00:02:08,238 along which tea from Yunnan in China was traded for horses from Tibet. 17 00:02:09,807 --> 00:02:13,004 My guide, Li Yuan, is from the Naxipeople. 18 00:02:23,247 --> 00:02:28,640 The Naxi, one of many ethnic minorities in Yunnan province, have a long history, 19 00:02:28,807 --> 00:02:34,279 a hieroglyphic language going back 1,000 years and are good at running guest-houses. 20 00:02:39,647 --> 00:02:42,445 (TINKLING BELLS) 21 00:02:44,927 --> 00:02:48,920 While they rest the horses, I head for the restroom. 22 00:02:50,447 --> 00:02:55,316 Going to the lavatory tends to be something you dread in places like this, 23 00:02:55,487 --> 00:03:01,437 but this is rather special - the sign says, "Number one toilet on heaven and earth." 24 00:03:01,607 --> 00:03:05,839 What a claim. Must be investigated. Can it live up to that? 25 00:03:06,007 --> 00:03:08,475 Here it is. Women... 26 00:03:10,327 --> 00:03:11,806 Men. 27 00:03:11,967 --> 00:03:15,323 A fairly normal kind of Chinese toilet. 28 00:03:15,487 --> 00:03:21,403 A little trench down here, beautifully tiled, and you sort of squat down. 29 00:03:21,567 --> 00:03:25,116 That's what makes it special. Look at the view. 30 00:03:25,287 --> 00:03:29,838 The Jade Snow mountains ranged above you. 31 00:03:31,047 --> 00:03:33,515 I'd happily be here for hours. 32 00:03:34,607 --> 00:03:36,598 I might have to be. 33 00:03:36,767 --> 00:03:38,883 (RINGING) 34 00:03:39,047 --> 00:03:44,405 0h-oh. It's the hotel switchboard again. You can't escape progress, even up here. 35 00:03:44,567 --> 00:03:48,355 That's the only place they can get reception. 36 00:03:52,007 --> 00:03:54,805 I think I'll go back to Number 0ne Toilet. 37 00:03:57,247 --> 00:03:59,841 Ah, look at that. 38 00:04:11,447 --> 00:04:16,726 We're only halfway along the gorge. There's another hard day's trekking ahead. 39 00:04:18,847 --> 00:04:24,399 0ur excellent hosts, Mr and Mrs Feng de Fang, bid us a personal farewell. 40 00:04:24,567 --> 00:04:27,127 See you next time. 41 00:04:34,087 --> 00:04:36,555 Whoa! It's amazing. 42 00:04:36,727 --> 00:04:41,596 We're about halfway along Tiger Leaping Gorge and that's the Yangtze River. 43 00:04:41,767 --> 00:04:47,319 The broad Yangtze squeezed into that white water pounding away down there. 44 00:04:47,487 --> 00:04:49,603 It really is extraordinary. 45 00:04:49,767 --> 00:04:53,043 I keep thinking we've seen all the mountain scenery, 46 00:04:53,207 --> 00:04:58,804 but here at the eastern end of the Himalaya, it just gets more spectacular. 47 00:05:00,127 --> 00:05:02,322 A tiger may be able to leap this 48 00:05:02,487 --> 00:05:08,676 but, for us, a trek is the only way to get to our destination - beyond these mountains. 49 00:05:11,847 --> 00:05:15,556 I've reached the easternmost point of my journey. 50 00:05:15,727 --> 00:05:19,720 This is Lugu Lake on the borders of Yunnan and Sichuan. 51 00:05:19,887 --> 00:05:24,915 The people who live around this lake are a matriarchal tribe called the Mosuo. 52 00:05:25,087 --> 00:05:29,558 To find out more about them, I'm going to meet their local hero - 53 00:05:29,727 --> 00:05:33,356 a showbiz superstar in China called Namu. 54 00:05:34,487 --> 00:05:40,517 Namu's sunny smile is in marked contrast with the out-of-season chill in this lakeside resort. 55 00:05:44,087 --> 00:05:49,559 But at last I find someone who's prepared to row me across the lake to Namu's village. 56 00:05:51,287 --> 00:05:54,723 (# WISTFUL PIPE) 57 00:06:32,407 --> 00:06:34,523 - Hey, Michael. - Hello. Namu. 58 00:06:34,687 --> 00:06:38,919 I recognise you, of course, because you're extremely famous. 59 00:06:39,087 --> 00:06:41,726 - Michael, tashi delek. - Tashi delek. 60 00:06:41,887 --> 00:06:44,765 - Welcome. - Thank you. 61 00:06:45,887 --> 00:06:48,720 Buddhist welcomes and showbiz kisses over, 62 00:06:48,887 --> 00:06:52,880 Namu whisks me off to see the house where she was brought up. 63 00:07:02,407 --> 00:07:07,959 Her people, the Mosuo, are renowned for their unusually open attitudes to sex, 64 00:07:08,127 --> 00:07:11,722 typified by what's known as the "walking marriage". 65 00:07:11,887 --> 00:07:17,041 Namu, can you describe what you mean by a walking marriage? 66 00:07:17,207 --> 00:07:21,837 It means that we don't get married. We don't have really a father. 67 00:07:22,007 --> 00:07:27,718 So you don't have a marriage ceremony and you don't have a marriage contract? 68 00:07:27,887 --> 00:07:31,675 - No. And no wedding rings. - No rings? 69 00:07:31,847 --> 00:07:33,883 No rings. 70 00:07:34,047 --> 00:07:37,244 - How does that work? - It works fine. 71 00:07:37,407 --> 00:07:43,482 I think it's healthy. I never see couples fight on the street, in the coffee shops. 72 00:07:43,647 --> 00:07:46,161 Couples never live together. 73 00:07:46,327 --> 00:07:50,240 For example, you and me, you walk to me, I have your baby, 74 00:07:50,407 --> 00:07:55,037 and my brother and my uncle will help me take care of my babies. 75 00:07:55,207 --> 00:07:59,564 Then for your sister, walking with some other man, she has kids 76 00:07:59,727 --> 00:08:01,763 and you help your sister. 77 00:08:01,927 --> 00:08:04,646 Uncles take the father's responsibility. 78 00:08:04,807 --> 00:08:09,198 A woman wants to have you, don't want to have you - it's their wish. 79 00:08:09,367 --> 00:08:13,565 She wants to open the flower chamber door for you or she doesn't. 80 00:08:13,727 --> 00:08:16,321 - The woman takes the initiative. - Yeah. 81 00:08:16,487 --> 00:08:19,240 Mostly we like dancing and singing. 82 00:08:19,407 --> 00:08:24,242 We have circle dancing. We have 71 different circle dances. 83 00:08:24,407 --> 00:08:27,843 When we're dancing, if I was interested in you, 84 00:08:28,007 --> 00:08:31,443 I would dance with you and do this to your hand. 85 00:08:31,607 --> 00:08:34,679 That means I'm very much interested in you. 86 00:08:34,847 --> 00:08:38,806 (# LIVELY PIPE) 87 00:08:38,967 --> 00:08:41,959 (LIVELY SINGING) 88 00:08:51,367 --> 00:08:56,680 Despite my deft footwork, I feel a distinct lack of pressure on the palms. 89 00:08:56,847 --> 00:09:00,237 But Namu hasn't given up on me. 90 00:09:00,407 --> 00:09:04,764 So what happens? This is what you call the flower room? 91 00:09:04,927 --> 00:09:08,681 This is our flower chamber. For girls. 92 00:09:08,847 --> 00:09:11,042 The girl would be 13 upwards? 93 00:09:11,207 --> 00:09:15,439 13 they have flower chamber, but they don't go with men. 94 00:09:15,607 --> 00:09:18,804 The mother have to train her in how to serve men. 95 00:09:18,967 --> 00:09:23,040 How you take care of men, receive men sexually. 96 00:09:23,207 --> 00:09:25,846 Not like the Han Chinese, secretive. We're open. 97 00:09:26,007 --> 00:09:30,842 - Your mother told you about sex? - She told me good sex is good for the skin. 98 00:09:31,007 --> 00:09:33,726 Very good for skin! 99 00:09:34,727 --> 00:09:39,323 Mmm. So I'm being sort of buttered up here... 100 00:09:39,487 --> 00:09:42,763 with my potato and my mandarin orange. 101 00:09:42,927 --> 00:09:46,920 I'm getting a bit overexcited. Have we run out of film? 102 00:09:47,087 --> 00:09:48,566 Oh, dear. 103 00:09:48,727 --> 00:09:52,925 - You're lucky to be in my flower chamber. - I'm privileged. 104 00:09:53,087 --> 00:09:56,238 If you want long relationship with this woman, 105 00:09:56,407 --> 00:10:00,639 you come to the girl's flower chamber when the mama sleep. 106 00:10:00,807 --> 00:10:07,724 That's why there are so many songs about, "Come on, Mother, go to sleep." 107 00:10:07,887 --> 00:10:11,800 (SINGS SWEETLY) 108 00:10:18,967 --> 00:10:22,323 There are so many songs about this... jokings. 109 00:10:22,487 --> 00:10:26,924 - Tell me about your flower chamber. - Myself, I don't have... 110 00:10:27,087 --> 00:10:30,397 You must have had men queuing round the block. 111 00:10:30,567 --> 00:10:35,846 Myself, I never had... This room is still virgin! 112 00:10:38,007 --> 00:10:43,684 Because right after I had my flower chamber, I went to the city. 113 00:10:45,687 --> 00:10:48,724 Namu calls herself a "five-star gypsy". 114 00:10:49,927 --> 00:10:55,559 The reason she deserted Lugu Lake for the wider world lies deep in her childhood. 115 00:10:55,727 --> 00:11:02,405 She tells me about it over cups of butter tea and crispy pork fat cooked by her aunt. 116 00:11:02,567 --> 00:11:09,405 My mother, to me, is in and out like a wind. I only remember her as her skirt. 117 00:11:09,567 --> 00:11:12,718 - I don't remember her. - Why did she send you away? 118 00:11:12,887 --> 00:11:16,243 I was her third daughter and my mother wanted boys, 119 00:11:16,407 --> 00:11:19,046 so she tried to give me away three times, 120 00:11:19,207 --> 00:11:23,120 but because I was a crying baby, everybody returned back. 121 00:11:23,287 --> 00:11:25,676 So she sent me to live with my uncle. 122 00:11:25,847 --> 00:11:30,796 My uncles never speak and yaks doesn't speak, 123 00:11:30,967 --> 00:11:37,600 so I was on the mountain for many years by myself just wandering, thinking. 124 00:11:37,767 --> 00:11:40,406 I can't imagine you without someone to talk to. 125 00:11:40,567 --> 00:11:44,958 Now I talk too much because nobody talk to me before! 126 00:11:45,127 --> 00:11:46,924 Why did you decide to leave? 127 00:11:47,087 --> 00:11:52,286 I wanted to go Beijing, wear high-heeled shoes and pink lipstick. 128 00:11:52,447 --> 00:11:54,642 But she doesn't want to be forgotten. 129 00:11:54,807 --> 00:11:58,322 So what's this going to be, this huge palace? 130 00:11:58,487 --> 00:12:01,081 - Castle! - Castle on the hill, yeah. 131 00:12:01,247 --> 00:12:05,923 Actually, this is a museum. A personal museum. 132 00:12:06,087 --> 00:12:09,966 - Oh, I see. - This is such a wonderful view. 133 00:12:10,127 --> 00:12:14,325 - It's the best place to see Lugu Lake. - (PALIN) It's a beautiful place. 134 00:12:14,487 --> 00:12:19,038 (PALIN) But it's only been discovered in the last ten years, really. 135 00:12:19,207 --> 00:12:22,483 - When you were here there were no tourists? - No. 136 00:12:22,647 --> 00:12:28,916 No tourists, no cars, no mobile phones... No electricity. 137 00:12:30,087 --> 00:12:32,965 But 60,000 tourists came last year. 138 00:12:33,127 --> 00:12:39,919 In the beginning, the idea for them to come over here was just looking for free sex. 139 00:12:40,087 --> 00:12:44,080 - They don't get it. - Do they ask for their money back? 140 00:12:44,247 --> 00:12:49,116 No. There is something else, like the views, good air 141 00:12:49,287 --> 00:12:55,362 and also they sort of come here and wash their heart. 142 00:12:55,527 --> 00:13:01,716 Having washed, or lightly sponged, my heart in the powerful atmosphere of Lugu Lake, 143 00:13:01,887 --> 00:13:05,357 I feel it's time to check the rest of my body. 144 00:13:06,367 --> 00:13:11,964 The foothills provide ideal ingredients for traditional Chinese medicine. 145 00:13:16,407 --> 00:13:22,118 Near the old city of Lijiang lives one of its most famous practitioners, Dr Ho. 146 00:13:24,647 --> 00:13:28,845 Branded a bourgeois and banned from medicine in the days of Mao, 147 00:13:29,007 --> 00:13:31,521 he's built up a worldwide reputation. 148 00:13:31,687 --> 00:13:34,645 I've been recommended to him by a Monty Python friend. 149 00:13:36,287 --> 00:13:42,237 Hello? Dr Ho? My name's Michael Palin. I'm from London. 150 00:13:42,407 --> 00:13:46,446 I'm a friend of Terry Jones who came here some time ago. 151 00:13:46,607 --> 00:13:49,599 - I remember you. - You remember me? Was I here? 152 00:13:49,767 --> 00:13:53,806 - I don't think I was. - Nice to meet you again. 153 00:13:53,967 --> 00:13:56,356 Thank you very much for visiting me again. 154 00:13:56,527 --> 00:13:58,563 Come, please. 155 00:13:58,727 --> 00:14:02,515 - Your chi seems weak. - My chi is weak? 156 00:14:02,687 --> 00:14:05,326 Chi means your energy. 157 00:14:05,487 --> 00:14:08,684 - Say "Aah". - Aah. 158 00:14:08,847 --> 00:14:13,125 - Your digestion seems weak. - Mm. 159 00:14:13,287 --> 00:14:17,678 - What should I eat or not eat? - Simple food. 160 00:14:17,847 --> 00:14:22,602 Simple food. I've been having... In Lijiang the pork is very good. 161 00:14:22,767 --> 00:14:26,043 - Is that good or not good? - Pork not so good. 162 00:14:26,207 --> 00:14:27,606 You mean... 163 00:14:27,767 --> 00:14:30,839 Then he compares me to other foreigners. 164 00:14:31,007 --> 00:14:34,716 Compared to foreigners, you are excellent. 165 00:14:34,887 --> 00:14:37,924 - Right. Thank you. - Yes. 166 00:14:38,087 --> 00:14:40,237 Do you understand me? You are good. 167 00:14:40,407 --> 00:14:44,719 Pulse, no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, 168 00:14:44,887 --> 00:14:49,244 no liver fat, no kidney stone, no gall bladder stone. 169 00:14:49,407 --> 00:14:53,480 Everything is OK. Only seems weak, your stomach. 170 00:14:53,647 --> 00:14:58,596 A little chi, a little weak. So don't worry, be happy. 171 00:14:58,767 --> 00:15:01,918 Happiness, it seems, is the best medicine. 172 00:15:02,087 --> 00:15:06,842 Second only to the cooking of Dr Ho's wife, sporting full Naxi costume. 173 00:15:07,007 --> 00:15:12,843 - Is this the simple food you talked about? - No, not really simple! 174 00:15:13,007 --> 00:15:17,717 She conjures up a gorgeous meal from hyacinth, water lily, anchovy, 175 00:15:17,887 --> 00:15:22,836 baby pig, Yunnan ham and everything her husband says I shouldn't touch. 176 00:15:25,087 --> 00:15:28,204 I think I'll settle for her prescription. 177 00:15:40,487 --> 00:15:46,278 The old town of Lijiang is a winning combination of cobbled streets and canals. 178 00:15:46,447 --> 00:15:50,520 Its squat buildings show little sign of the 50 major earthquakes 179 00:15:50,687 --> 00:15:54,475 that have shaken it in the space of 130 years. 180 00:15:57,287 --> 00:16:03,237 Today it faces a different kind of seismic threat - three million tourists a year. 181 00:16:11,407 --> 00:16:17,357 Many head for one of the biggest draws in Yunnan, the Naxi Classical Music 0rchestra. 182 00:16:17,527 --> 00:16:22,521 The case for the old music is defiantly made by their leader, Shuan Ker. 183 00:16:22,687 --> 00:16:28,319 They destroy the Chinese traditional music. The music, it is disappearing. 184 00:16:30,007 --> 00:16:33,761 It is disappearing in the shadow of the Himalaya. 185 00:16:33,927 --> 00:16:38,045 (BASS DRUMS) 186 00:16:38,207 --> 00:16:40,675 (CHINESE MUSIC PLAYS) 187 00:17:05,487 --> 00:17:09,446 During the Cultural Revolution, many instruments had to be hidden 188 00:17:09,607 --> 00:17:12,440 as the Red Guards set about destroying the past. 189 00:17:32,647 --> 00:17:36,401 Shuan Ker was seen as a dangerous intellectual 190 00:17:36,567 --> 00:17:41,322 and spent the prime of his life doing 20 years forced labour in a tin mine. 191 00:17:41,487 --> 00:17:43,478 Now he's a local hero. 192 00:17:43,647 --> 00:17:46,081 - How are you? - Fine. 193 00:17:46,247 --> 00:17:50,399 - How are you? - Very well. Very pleased to meet you. 194 00:17:50,567 --> 00:17:54,480 I'm with this famous man. He's a very famous man. 195 00:17:54,647 --> 00:17:57,207 - Have you been here before? - No. 196 00:17:57,367 --> 00:18:01,326 He's not one of your orchestra, is he? He is? 197 00:18:01,487 --> 00:18:05,196 Yeah, but now he retired from the orchestra. 198 00:18:05,367 --> 00:18:07,358 - Coffee? - Here? 199 00:18:07,527 --> 00:18:10,405 - Why not? - I've been a bit starved of coffee. 200 00:18:10,567 --> 00:18:13,320 So a proper espresso... Two cappuccinos? 201 00:18:13,487 --> 00:18:16,479 - Cappuccinos? - Yeah. Two. Lovely. 202 00:18:17,807 --> 00:18:22,244 How do you see the future? Do you think you will tour more, travel more? 203 00:18:22,407 --> 00:18:27,242 No choice. It's China in two ways. 204 00:18:27,407 --> 00:18:31,036 One is according to the Confucianism 205 00:18:31,207 --> 00:18:38,124 and added with Western capitalism... mixing together like in Singapore. 206 00:18:38,287 --> 00:18:41,324 What we are doing here, this orchestra... 207 00:18:41,487 --> 00:18:44,126 No coin from the government. 208 00:18:44,287 --> 00:18:47,404 We make ourselves, selling tickets. 209 00:18:47,567 --> 00:18:51,799 See, lots of audience, full of the concert hall, 210 00:18:51,967 --> 00:18:55,482 so it is said my pocket full. 211 00:18:55,647 --> 00:18:58,878 The old musicians, their pockets full. 212 00:18:59,047 --> 00:19:01,515 That's what capitalism makes. 213 00:19:01,687 --> 00:19:05,680 If all dancing and singing groups in China 214 00:19:05,847 --> 00:19:10,318 depends on the government - they give money... No good. 215 00:19:10,487 --> 00:19:16,756 - The people living a better life. - Yes. A higher standard of living. 216 00:19:16,927 --> 00:19:20,636 But culture lost. Culture lost. 217 00:19:20,807 --> 00:19:25,722 Even lost their language. Now they're speaking in Mandarin. 218 00:19:25,887 --> 00:19:30,756 The local old ladies... That's not our language. 219 00:19:30,927 --> 00:19:35,682 So they're not interested so much in the Naxi languages... 220 00:19:35,847 --> 00:19:40,967 The local government is trying to do something for preserving the culture, 221 00:19:41,127 --> 00:19:45,359 but, I think, too late. Too late. 222 00:19:45,527 --> 00:19:49,156 I've been working hard for preserving the music. 223 00:19:49,327 --> 00:19:52,683 Even that changed from original face. 224 00:19:52,847 --> 00:19:57,557 A little bit I catch, otherwise everything gone. 225 00:19:57,727 --> 00:19:59,524 You feel it slipping away. 226 00:20:27,887 --> 00:20:32,438 The new China appears bright, glossy and unsentimental. 227 00:20:35,527 --> 00:20:38,724 Her cities seem only concerned with the future. 228 00:20:38,887 --> 00:20:44,359 In trying to compete with corporate America, China is growing to look like it. 229 00:20:45,447 --> 00:20:48,086 This is Kunming, the capital of Yunnan. 230 00:20:48,247 --> 00:20:50,966 It's one end of what used to be the Burma Road - 231 00:20:51,127 --> 00:20:55,120 a supply line in World War Two that connected China with India. 232 00:20:55,287 --> 00:20:58,836 The Hump was the name given to the 500-mile wide, 233 00:20:59,007 --> 00:21:04,559 20,000-foot mass of the Himalaya over which, until the Burma Road was completed, 234 00:21:04,727 --> 00:21:08,163 lay the only supply route behind Japanese lines. 235 00:21:08,327 --> 00:21:10,158 Planes were pushed to their limit. 236 00:21:10,327 --> 00:21:15,765 0ver 600 were lost, many plunging into the jungle on the Indo-Burmese border - 237 00:21:15,927 --> 00:21:18,600 an area known to this day as Nagaland. 238 00:21:19,567 --> 00:21:22,718 (CHANTING) 239 00:21:22,887 --> 00:21:28,359 The Naga comprise a dozen different tribes of which these - the Konyak Nagas - 240 00:21:28,527 --> 00:21:32,998 were the last to give up the proud tradition of head-hunting. 241 00:21:35,327 --> 00:21:38,125 My friend, Shingwong, is a local official 242 00:21:38,287 --> 00:21:42,644 who's brought me to the border of India and Myanmar, formerly Burma. 243 00:21:42,807 --> 00:21:46,925 In the Second World War when they... 244 00:21:47,087 --> 00:21:52,445 A lot of the RAF pilots who had fallen behind the lines were rescued. 245 00:21:52,607 --> 00:21:55,758 - Would it have been by people like these? - Yes. 246 00:21:55,927 --> 00:21:59,636 My father had given information to all the villages 247 00:21:59,807 --> 00:22:02,799 to see that no white man is to be harmed. 248 00:22:02,967 --> 00:22:06,676 We still have a pilot's seat in the chief's house. 249 00:22:06,847 --> 00:22:09,486 A pilot's seat? That's great. 250 00:22:09,647 --> 00:22:15,085 So there are some pilots who owe their lives to the head-hunters. 251 00:22:15,247 --> 00:22:17,761 Yeah. Nine of them. 252 00:22:17,927 --> 00:22:20,395 So head-hunters with hearts of gold. 253 00:22:21,687 --> 00:22:24,520 This weekend, there's a cross-border market. 254 00:22:24,687 --> 00:22:28,680 0ne of the events is this re-enactment of a head-hunting raid. 255 00:22:28,847 --> 00:22:30,803 (GUNFIRE) 256 00:22:30,967 --> 00:22:34,118 - It's a war dance. - You're telling me. 257 00:22:35,167 --> 00:22:38,364 (ECHOING GUNFIRE) 258 00:22:48,047 --> 00:22:52,438 0n these necklaces, each brass face means a head taken. 259 00:23:22,127 --> 00:23:25,483 I see quite a lot of heads. 260 00:23:25,647 --> 00:23:29,606 The skulls - is that a trophy from the head-hunting days? 261 00:23:29,767 --> 00:23:32,679 - What's that? - Porcupine. 262 00:23:32,847 --> 00:23:36,760 Porcupine? Has he got a buyer? 263 00:23:36,927 --> 00:23:40,283 - Is it quite a delicacy, porcupine? - Yes. 264 00:23:40,447 --> 00:23:45,157 - It's quite nice. Somewhat like venison. - Venison? Ah, yes. 265 00:23:45,327 --> 00:23:48,399 Quite strong, quite gamey. Yeah. 266 00:23:48,567 --> 00:23:54,358 Is this a very distinguished man? He looks rather important. 267 00:23:54,527 --> 00:23:58,156 He might have been a warrior once. 268 00:23:58,327 --> 00:24:02,206 - Yeah. - You can see by the tattoo on the face. 269 00:24:02,367 --> 00:24:05,518 What's the largest number of heads anyone's taken? 270 00:24:05,687 --> 00:24:10,078 One I know from Mon who had got 66 heads. 271 00:24:10,247 --> 00:24:13,398 - Wow. - He's no more. 272 00:24:17,087 --> 00:24:19,840 Another ex-head-hunter, I think. 273 00:24:20,007 --> 00:24:23,795 One, two, three, four, five heads. Five heads he's taken. 274 00:24:23,967 --> 00:24:28,119 Does he remember the British here? Did they seem strange? 275 00:24:28,287 --> 00:24:31,165 (TRANSLATES) 276 00:24:37,847 --> 00:24:40,839 He was afraid - afraid to go near. 277 00:24:41,007 --> 00:24:44,682 And he thought the white man doesn't have any blood. 278 00:24:44,847 --> 00:24:46,485 (PALIN LAUGHS) 279 00:24:52,967 --> 00:24:56,596 - What's that? A tattoo? - A tattoo of the chest. 280 00:24:56,767 --> 00:25:00,555 What does that mean? Oh, it goes all the way down. 281 00:25:06,167 --> 00:25:10,399 There's a lot of history in there. My stomach's very boring. 282 00:25:10,567 --> 00:25:12,683 - Very boring. - Bloodless. 283 00:25:12,847 --> 00:25:15,486 Bloodless, yes. Not very nice at all. 284 00:25:15,647 --> 00:25:18,445 Oh, yes. There we are. 285 00:25:19,767 --> 00:25:23,157 I think you win on the decorative stakes. 286 00:25:24,687 --> 00:25:29,363 0ther traditional activities go on away from the market. 287 00:25:29,527 --> 00:25:32,166 So opium smoking still goes on? 288 00:25:32,327 --> 00:25:37,447 - Yes. Clandestinely, of course. - Do the authorities turn a blind eye? 289 00:25:37,607 --> 00:25:40,963 No. They're strict. There's a restriction. 290 00:25:42,567 --> 00:25:46,799 - So what happens if they're caught? - They may be imprisoned. 291 00:25:46,967 --> 00:25:53,122 Cultivation is also stopped but they, clandestinely, get it from Myanmar. 292 00:26:02,607 --> 00:26:05,883 So how many times a day do they smoke? 293 00:26:06,047 --> 00:26:08,322 Three to four times daily. 294 00:26:39,127 --> 00:26:43,917 Inside a longhouse, I find a pilot's seat from the Second World War 295 00:26:44,087 --> 00:26:48,842 and an old book offering clues as to why anthropologists liked it here. 296 00:26:54,687 --> 00:26:57,155 Perfect bedtime reading. 297 00:26:58,327 --> 00:27:02,718 Next morning, I'm invited to visit the Ang, the local headman, 298 00:27:02,887 --> 00:27:05,959 in a huge house made entirely of vegetation. 299 00:27:06,127 --> 00:27:11,281 I've come to see the chief. Hello, girls. There he is, watching television again. 300 00:27:12,447 --> 00:27:14,438 "EastEnders"? 301 00:27:16,047 --> 00:27:21,758 I ask Shingwong if the chief could tell me how the village had changed over the years. 302 00:27:22,927 --> 00:27:29,639 They lived in fear... of people coming from enemy villages attacking them. 303 00:27:30,887 --> 00:27:35,199 The moment the church was built, the moment religion came in... 304 00:27:36,527 --> 00:27:41,396 this has all been stopped and they have only one fear - that is fear of God. 305 00:27:41,567 --> 00:27:43,762 How many children does he have? 306 00:27:48,847 --> 00:27:54,843 Five from the actual queen... and two from the concubines, so seven. 307 00:27:55,007 --> 00:27:58,795 - And he has ten concubines. - Ten concubines. 308 00:27:59,967 --> 00:28:04,483 I was going to ask, do the concubines all live here with the king? 309 00:28:04,647 --> 00:28:08,322 They all live together in separate compartments. 310 00:28:08,487 --> 00:28:13,515 Is that still permitted to have ten concubines in this Christian time? 311 00:28:13,687 --> 00:28:19,842 - It's not allowed, but this carries on. - Oh. 312 00:28:20,007 --> 00:28:22,202 What other powers does he have? 313 00:28:22,367 --> 00:28:26,804 Giving out capital punishment or imprisoning. 314 00:28:27,887 --> 00:28:30,276 Everything will depend on him only. 315 00:28:30,447 --> 00:28:35,646 So he could decide on whether someone was executed or not? 316 00:28:40,327 --> 00:28:46,766 Capital punishment was given to a person who has spied against the village. 317 00:28:46,927 --> 00:28:49,361 - Spied against the village? - Yes. 318 00:28:49,527 --> 00:28:53,281 Passed some secret information to enemy villages, 319 00:28:53,447 --> 00:28:56,996 so they were bound up and thrown over a cliff. 320 00:28:57,167 --> 00:28:58,520 Wow. 321 00:29:03,487 --> 00:29:07,082 One of the great problems on this whole Himalayan journey 322 00:29:07,247 --> 00:29:11,718 has been international frontiers - it's always so difficult to get across. 323 00:29:11,887 --> 00:29:14,720 That's why it's lovely to be here in Myanmar 324 00:29:14,887 --> 00:29:18,243 and to know that to get into India, I just do that. 325 00:29:18,407 --> 00:29:21,683 The apex of the chief's hut goes along the border. 326 00:29:21,847 --> 00:29:27,365 So this leg is in Myanmar, this leg is in India - a truly international body. 327 00:29:27,527 --> 00:29:31,600 In India, I can hop into Myanmar, I can do my exercises... 328 00:29:31,767 --> 00:29:35,726 Ho! Chest in India, bottom in Myanmar. 329 00:29:36,727 --> 00:29:40,481 I can do international exercises. 330 00:29:40,647 --> 00:29:44,560 If only all the world's frontiers were like this! Ooh! 331 00:29:45,527 --> 00:29:47,643 (VEHICLE APPROACHES) 332 00:29:51,847 --> 00:29:53,838 We leave just in time. 333 00:29:54,007 --> 00:30:00,003 The rains are coming and they can completely cut off these remote hill villages. 334 00:30:00,167 --> 00:30:04,843 This road, will they eventually make this a hard-top road? 335 00:30:05,007 --> 00:30:10,161 - Yes. There's a plan, a six-year plan. - A six-year plan. 336 00:30:10,327 --> 00:30:13,922 It's pretty rough and ready at the moment. 337 00:30:14,087 --> 00:30:17,523 How strong is Christianity here now? 338 00:30:17,687 --> 00:30:20,520 99% of the population is now Christian. 339 00:30:20,687 --> 00:30:26,045 99% are Christian? Wow. Why have so many become Christian? 340 00:30:26,207 --> 00:30:29,916 - It's because of education. - Oh, right. 341 00:30:30,087 --> 00:30:33,238 They've come into contact with the outside world. 342 00:30:33,407 --> 00:30:36,717 - The Christian religion provides education? - Yes. 343 00:30:38,687 --> 00:30:44,205 At the Baptist Cathedral in Mon, 2,500 Naga voices are raised. 344 00:30:46,327 --> 00:30:54,166 (THEY SING "ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS" IN NATIVE DIALECT) 345 00:31:17,007 --> 00:31:19,885 (TRAIN WHISTLE TOOTS) 346 00:31:20,047 --> 00:31:24,040 Memories of home ambush you in the least likely places. 347 00:31:24,207 --> 00:31:26,516 The church hymns at Mon were one thing, 348 00:31:26,687 --> 00:31:30,805 but something even more poignant is awaiting me in Assam. 349 00:31:30,967 --> 00:31:36,599 Two powerful images from my northern boyhood - a steam engine... 350 00:31:36,767 --> 00:31:39,839 and a coal mine. 351 00:31:42,087 --> 00:31:45,762 Tipong mine has been in existence since the 1920s. 352 00:31:45,927 --> 00:31:50,284 As has this engine. Neither seems altogether real. 353 00:32:18,847 --> 00:32:23,477 It may look like a cross between "Apocalypse Now" and "Thomas the Tank Engine", 354 00:32:23,647 --> 00:32:28,801 but it's one of the mines that makes India the third biggest coal producer in the world. 355 00:32:28,967 --> 00:32:32,960 They even have priests on hand to bless the morning shift. 356 00:32:40,287 --> 00:32:46,362 I think I'm beginning to realise what being given the tika by the priest is all about 357 00:32:46,527 --> 00:32:52,045 because behind me is a temple, built over the entrance to the mine shaft. 358 00:32:52,207 --> 00:32:56,758 It's a temple to the Goddess Kali, who's the great destroyer. 359 00:32:56,927 --> 00:33:01,000 So I assume it's there and the blessings go on 360 00:33:01,167 --> 00:33:06,639 to propitiate the Goddess Kali on behalf of the people who are going under the earth. 361 00:33:06,807 --> 00:33:09,275 They do go down a long way. 362 00:33:09,447 --> 00:33:14,919 I'm told it extends down about 1,000 feet below the temple there, the mine shaft. 363 00:33:16,327 --> 00:33:21,845 Assam is very prone to earthquakes, a strong earthquake area, 364 00:33:22,007 --> 00:33:26,603 so I should think that a destroyer needs a bit of propitiating. 365 00:33:29,727 --> 00:33:33,402 As the miners head underground, I have an appointment with Mr Das, 366 00:33:33,567 --> 00:33:36,035 Tipong's chief engineer. 367 00:33:36,207 --> 00:33:38,323 Security patrols keep an eye on us. 368 00:33:38,487 --> 00:33:42,275 Security, like safety, is one of the buzzwords here. 369 00:33:42,447 --> 00:33:44,563 (SOFT MUSIC) 370 00:33:44,727 --> 00:33:48,037 Mr Das is keen that I hear a safety song. 371 00:33:48,207 --> 00:33:51,199 (SOFT SINGING) 372 00:34:31,567 --> 00:34:37,244 - It's great. Best safety song I've heard. - They have to sing a safety song... 373 00:34:37,407 --> 00:34:40,524 - About safety in the mines. - Safety in the mines. 374 00:34:40,687 --> 00:34:44,123 They are just going to say to everybody, in true music, 375 00:34:44,287 --> 00:34:46,517 one single message - safety first. 376 00:34:46,687 --> 00:34:52,398 - Safety not at the cost of production. - That could be a hit. Could win Eurovision! 377 00:34:52,567 --> 00:34:55,798 (# REPRISE OF SAFETY SONG) 378 00:34:55,967 --> 00:34:59,516 They were singing, "Safety first, safety first. 379 00:34:59,687 --> 00:35:04,477 "In every step of work, heed the rules. It's for us to remain awake. 380 00:35:04,647 --> 00:35:09,084 "There is danger in every move. If you obey the rules, there will be no sorrow. 381 00:35:09,247 --> 00:35:12,045 "Safety first, safety first." 382 00:35:12,207 --> 00:35:14,277 (TRAIN WHISTLE) 383 00:35:14,447 --> 00:35:19,646 What's the economic viability of keeping open a mine like this? Does it make a profit? 384 00:35:19,807 --> 00:35:24,198 Private industry - they are mostly profit oriented. 385 00:35:24,367 --> 00:35:28,758 We have some other duties also regarding coal conservation, 386 00:35:28,927 --> 00:35:32,920 service to the community, to the welfare of the community. 387 00:35:33,087 --> 00:35:36,397 So I do not think the way we are running here 388 00:35:36,567 --> 00:35:40,162 is the same way a private company would run this mine. 389 00:35:40,327 --> 00:35:44,605 Once the profit stops coming, they would have left this place, 390 00:35:44,767 --> 00:35:47,156 leaving the people here in the dark. 391 00:35:51,767 --> 00:35:54,361 There's oil as well as coal up here. 392 00:35:55,367 --> 00:36:00,043 Digboi not only produces oil, it has a museum dedicated to it. 393 00:36:02,727 --> 00:36:05,639 (WOMAN) This is the first oil well in Asia. 394 00:36:05,807 --> 00:36:09,686 This was drilled in 1889 around the same time... 395 00:36:09,847 --> 00:36:13,556 This derrick came up at the same time as the Eiffel Tower. 396 00:36:13,727 --> 00:36:19,757 So this area was one of the first oil fields to be discovered anywhere in the world? 397 00:36:19,927 --> 00:36:23,840 Yes. Coal had been discovered in Margherita just ahead 398 00:36:24,007 --> 00:36:26,123 and they were building the railway. 399 00:36:26,287 --> 00:36:28,755 They used to use elephants, 400 00:36:28,927 --> 00:36:33,682 so one evening one of the elephants came back with oil on its feet 401 00:36:33,847 --> 00:36:37,283 and that's how they discovered oil here. 402 00:36:37,447 --> 00:36:39,881 I see. Yes, it all figures. 403 00:36:40,047 --> 00:36:44,916 And once the drilling started, the Canadian engineers were so excited, 404 00:36:45,087 --> 00:36:48,875 they used to say, "Dig, boy!" because the wells were hand dug 405 00:36:49,047 --> 00:36:52,005 and that's how the name Digboi came into being. 406 00:36:52,167 --> 00:36:56,877 - Is that true or a well-established legend? - A well-established legend! 407 00:36:57,047 --> 00:37:01,120 - I think these are great. - This is a BOC petrol pump. 408 00:37:01,287 --> 00:37:04,120 - BOC? - Yeah. Burma Oil Company. 409 00:37:05,247 --> 00:37:08,080 A hot and heavy morning at Digboi station. 410 00:37:08,247 --> 00:37:12,843 Thanks to the coal and oil, there's been a railway line here for over 100 years. 411 00:37:13,007 --> 00:37:16,363 Morning. A single to Dibrugarh, please. 412 00:37:19,847 --> 00:37:24,079 Thank you. 18 rupees. That's very cheap. 413 00:37:25,207 --> 00:37:29,803 18 rupees. That's about... about 25 pence. 414 00:37:32,767 --> 00:37:35,565 (TRAIN HORN) 415 00:37:42,047 --> 00:37:44,038 Excuse me. 416 00:37:49,167 --> 00:37:53,080 The next big town is Dibrugarh on the fertile river plains 417 00:37:53,247 --> 00:37:58,685 where, in 1823, wild tea plants were discovered by Scotsman Robert Bruce. 418 00:37:58,847 --> 00:38:04,638 Now half of India's tea is produced in the carefully husbanded tea gardens of Assam. 419 00:38:09,887 --> 00:38:13,516 This was the first place in the world where elephant were trained to work. 420 00:38:13,687 --> 00:38:16,565 Now there's much less for them to do. 421 00:38:19,567 --> 00:38:23,879 The elephant minders, called mahouts, face a loss of livelihood 422 00:38:24,047 --> 00:38:26,322 and the elephants an uncertain future. 423 00:38:38,447 --> 00:38:42,326 Manosh Jalan is a plantation owner who loves elephants 424 00:38:42,487 --> 00:38:45,763 and insists they're the best way to see his property. 425 00:38:49,167 --> 00:38:54,287 What's happening now there's less logging and the elephants are not in demand? 426 00:38:54,447 --> 00:38:57,996 Can they get other jobs or are they out of work? 427 00:38:58,167 --> 00:39:02,240 Elephants are doing also a different type of work. 428 00:39:02,407 --> 00:39:07,765 They are pulling bamboo. They are not necessarily doing timber work. 429 00:39:07,927 --> 00:39:12,284 Do elephants like working? Do they adapt to a discipline? 430 00:39:12,447 --> 00:39:16,156 - Yes, they are very obedient. - Obedient, yeah. 431 00:39:16,327 --> 00:39:19,046 Very obedient. 432 00:39:19,207 --> 00:39:22,916 (HE SHOUTS ORDERS TO ELEPHANT) 433 00:39:23,087 --> 00:39:27,444 Sometimes it looks as though they're being disobedient! 434 00:39:27,607 --> 00:39:32,965 Like with all wild animals, there's always an element of uncertainty. 435 00:39:34,767 --> 00:39:40,160 Is there anything you can do? Of the 20 words you use to control an elephant, 436 00:39:40,327 --> 00:39:42,636 are any of them any good when it's bolting? 437 00:39:42,807 --> 00:39:47,119 No, nothing. You just have to say your prayers 438 00:39:47,287 --> 00:39:52,600 and hope you will survive this and the elephant stops on its own. 439 00:39:54,847 --> 00:39:58,522 0nce I get used to it, I almost forget I'm on an elephant. 440 00:39:58,687 --> 00:40:02,680 It feels more like being on board ship in a gentle swell. 441 00:40:05,447 --> 00:40:11,283 (MANOSH) Tea is more than a way of life in Assam now. It's absolutely traditional. 442 00:40:11,447 --> 00:40:15,122 The casual employment comes out of the same family. 443 00:40:15,287 --> 00:40:18,438 It's generally the husband and wife working 444 00:40:18,607 --> 00:40:23,442 and if one retires, the child gets the job and so the tradition carries on. 445 00:40:23,607 --> 00:40:27,600 Do you expect your son or daughter to go into this business? 446 00:40:27,767 --> 00:40:30,884 I think that they cannot escape from it! 447 00:40:33,807 --> 00:40:36,844 Ah. Very nice. OK. 448 00:40:39,887 --> 00:40:44,324 After two hours doing the splits, I'm quite glad to dismount. 449 00:40:44,487 --> 00:40:47,479 (PALIN) There's no graceful way of doing it! 450 00:40:50,727 --> 00:40:53,639 Clearly it's a relief for the elephant too. 451 00:41:00,487 --> 00:41:03,877 We're still terribly close to the Himalayas. 452 00:41:04,047 --> 00:41:08,404 Does that make Assam very different from the rest of India? 453 00:41:08,567 --> 00:41:11,923 If you look at north-east India as a whole, 454 00:41:12,087 --> 00:41:18,162 98% of our borders is with international countries. 455 00:41:18,327 --> 00:41:23,879 - Only 2% we are connected to India. - Yes. You've got a narrow little... 456 00:41:24,047 --> 00:41:31,727 So the entire immediate bordering areas of the north-east region are international. 457 00:41:31,887 --> 00:41:37,644 You have Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Tibet and so on. 458 00:41:37,807 --> 00:41:44,042 You've got two enormous countries separated by the Himalayas - China and India. 459 00:41:44,207 --> 00:41:46,721 Can there be a meeting of minds? 460 00:41:46,887 --> 00:41:50,846 The mountains are not the barriers, it's the mind-set. 461 00:41:52,327 --> 00:41:55,603 It's a mind-set which looks different from here in Assam - 462 00:41:55,767 --> 00:41:58,406 where Hong Kong is closer than Delhi 463 00:41:58,567 --> 00:42:03,880 and China is seen as less of a threat and more of a trading opportunity. 464 00:42:05,567 --> 00:42:09,162 The Brahmaputra, rising a thousand miles away in Tibet, 465 00:42:09,327 --> 00:42:14,924 pours out of the Himalaya, creating a fertile corridor that splits Assam in half. 466 00:42:16,367 --> 00:42:23,159 Makeshift ferries, packed tight, leave from makeshift jetties. Nothing is permanent. 467 00:42:23,327 --> 00:42:27,081 - The Brahmaputra is a mighty river. - Yes. 468 00:42:27,247 --> 00:42:29,920 - This is one little channel. - This is? 469 00:42:30,087 --> 00:42:32,885 - Yes. There are several channels. - A little channel? 470 00:42:33,047 --> 00:42:36,244 - Yes. One little channel. - Must be half a mile wide. 471 00:42:36,407 --> 00:42:40,764 In some places it's four, five kilometres wide. 472 00:42:40,927 --> 00:42:43,202 Where does "Brahmaputra" come from? 473 00:42:43,367 --> 00:42:47,918 Brahmaputra means "son of Brahma". Brahma is the creator. 474 00:42:48,087 --> 00:42:50,885 It's the only male river in India. 475 00:42:51,047 --> 00:42:56,041 It looks very calm and serene now, but in the monsoon it's a different mood. 476 00:42:56,207 --> 00:43:00,678 It's my good fortune to be riding the Brahmaputra with Maan Baruja - 477 00:43:00,847 --> 00:43:03,236 a 20-year-old walking encyclopedia. 478 00:43:03,407 --> 00:43:07,241 Can you tell me about Majuli, the island where we're going? 479 00:43:07,407 --> 00:43:13,676 The island has got a lot of these Vaishnav monasteries - what we call satras. 480 00:43:13,847 --> 00:43:18,443 These are great institutions now for Assam because they're 400 years old 481 00:43:18,607 --> 00:43:22,043 and they create institutions of art, culture, dance. 482 00:43:22,207 --> 00:43:24,801 Celibate monks live there. 483 00:43:26,807 --> 00:43:29,844 Majuli is the world's largest river island. 484 00:43:30,007 --> 00:43:34,398 250 square miles of flat, fertile mud. 485 00:43:34,567 --> 00:43:37,718 The arrival of a 16th-century saint, Sankardeva, 486 00:43:37,887 --> 00:43:41,766 left substantial religious deposits here as well. 487 00:43:41,927 --> 00:43:47,285 This monastery - dedicated to Vishnu - is renowned for its music and dance. 488 00:43:47,447 --> 00:43:50,564 (RHYTHMIC CHANTING AND MUSIC) 489 00:44:00,047 --> 00:44:02,720 Extraordinary fluid movements. 490 00:44:02,887 --> 00:44:05,447 How long does it take to learn that? 491 00:44:05,607 --> 00:44:07,916 - Five years... - At least five years. 492 00:44:08,087 --> 00:44:11,477 From the first time you come here? Yeah. 493 00:44:44,807 --> 00:44:50,165 From the age of five or six, boys begin the painstaking and sometimes painful process 494 00:44:50,327 --> 00:44:53,922 of learning the 64 positions of classical dance. 495 00:45:01,487 --> 00:45:06,117 I have five minutes to master the classical Assamese drum - the khol. 496 00:45:06,287 --> 00:45:10,917 My teacher, Dulala, is 41. He's been here for 35 years. 497 00:45:11,087 --> 00:45:15,717 And this is called "bayan". Bayan means "left side". 498 00:45:15,887 --> 00:45:19,323 There are three sounds at first. 499 00:45:19,487 --> 00:45:23,958 First is khol... down... down. 500 00:45:24,127 --> 00:45:28,166 - There is two different sounds. - I just can't get it. 501 00:45:28,327 --> 00:45:32,525 - This is "ta". T-A. Ta. - I seem to be all right on that one. 502 00:45:32,687 --> 00:45:37,522 And you will slowly give breath here and this will be ta. 503 00:45:37,687 --> 00:45:40,997 - OK? - (TAPS DRUM) 504 00:45:41,167 --> 00:45:43,362 I can't even get mine to resound. 505 00:45:45,807 --> 00:45:49,322 OK... Yeah. 506 00:46:17,007 --> 00:46:19,680 - So you play. - The concert already? 507 00:46:23,927 --> 00:46:25,918 It's getting that resonance. 508 00:46:31,367 --> 00:46:33,358 So you see... 509 00:46:48,647 --> 00:46:52,276 It's just... I haven't got the coordination. 510 00:46:52,447 --> 00:46:56,679 What do they give you when you're six? A small one of these? 511 00:46:56,847 --> 00:47:00,044 - No, this is same one. - Really? The same size? 512 00:47:06,047 --> 00:47:08,277 That's my entire repertoire. 513 00:47:09,967 --> 00:47:14,199 There's no electricity or running water at the satra. 514 00:47:14,367 --> 00:47:18,599 The vegetarian diet is prepared by tried and trusted methods. 515 00:47:19,767 --> 00:47:23,476 Everyday life here is resolutely pre-industrial. 516 00:47:23,647 --> 00:47:26,036 (SOFT CHANTING) 517 00:47:33,367 --> 00:47:36,916 The monks have taken strict vows of purity 518 00:47:37,087 --> 00:47:41,683 and even the simplest tasks are accompanied by thorough ablutions. 519 00:48:01,327 --> 00:48:03,887 You're washing your hands and the floor. 520 00:48:04,047 --> 00:48:08,996 This is very important, is it, the thing about purity? 521 00:48:09,167 --> 00:48:14,002 - Yes. - Because I'm impure and you're washed. 522 00:48:14,167 --> 00:48:18,922 So you can't touch me or touch anything that's impure. 523 00:48:19,087 --> 00:48:23,877 And if you do touch me now, you then have to go and wash again, do you? 524 00:48:24,047 --> 00:48:25,400 Yeah. 525 00:48:27,207 --> 00:48:33,237 - How long have you lived in the monastery? - Nine years I live in this monastery. 526 00:48:33,407 --> 00:48:36,877 - Nine years. And Lilaram? - 16, 17 years. 527 00:48:37,047 --> 00:48:41,199 Right. So he's been your guide. He's kind of helped you. 528 00:48:41,367 --> 00:48:45,042 I'm very happy here. And other monks I meet. 529 00:48:45,207 --> 00:48:50,600 - Other monks... Love, kisses. - Lots of love? 530 00:48:50,767 --> 00:48:53,281 - Yeah. - Kisses? 531 00:48:53,447 --> 00:48:57,759 Do you think that you will stay here for the rest of your life? 532 00:48:57,927 --> 00:49:01,806 - Yeah. I do, yeah. - How old are you now? 533 00:49:01,967 --> 00:49:05,880 - Now 17 years old. - 17? So you think you will stay here? 534 00:49:06,047 --> 00:49:08,163 Yeah. I think I stay here. 535 00:49:08,327 --> 00:49:10,716 - Really? - Really I think. 536 00:49:10,887 --> 00:49:13,560 Can you marry and stay in the monastery? 537 00:49:13,727 --> 00:49:19,324 I'll marry, I go to outside. No marry in a monastery. 538 00:49:19,487 --> 00:49:21,603 No, no. So you have to be celibate. 539 00:49:21,767 --> 00:49:25,157 - No sex, really. No sex we're monks. - No sex here. 540 00:49:27,607 --> 00:49:30,075 There are women on Majuli Island - 541 00:49:30,247 --> 00:49:33,717 some of them engaged in quite bizarre practices. 542 00:49:34,727 --> 00:49:38,879 These ladies are fishing, but not with conventional methods. 543 00:49:39,047 --> 00:49:42,437 Having trapped the fish with their wicker frames, 544 00:49:42,607 --> 00:49:45,405 they slip them down their cleavage. 545 00:49:52,927 --> 00:49:55,919 I've always said you see more on a bicycle. 546 00:50:03,687 --> 00:50:07,726 Next day at the satra, preparations are going on for a rare treat. 547 00:50:07,887 --> 00:50:11,323 The monks are showing us an extract from the "Rasa Lila" - 548 00:50:11,487 --> 00:50:14,797 a story they normally perform only once a year. 549 00:50:16,687 --> 00:50:22,762 The details of make-up and costume must be as precise as the performance. 550 00:50:26,727 --> 00:50:29,719 Most of the monks will be playing milkmaids. 551 00:50:34,167 --> 00:50:37,523 These two are clearly not regular transvestites. 552 00:50:55,887 --> 00:51:00,563 0ne of my hosts at tea yesterday will play the god Krishna. 553 00:51:03,247 --> 00:51:07,286 Krishna is Vishnu incarnated as a bit of a ladies' man. 554 00:51:07,447 --> 00:51:12,362 When he appears in the fields, all the milkmaids fall in love with him. 555 00:51:12,527 --> 00:51:15,087 (SOFT SINGING) 556 00:52:03,327 --> 00:52:07,639 This monastery really is a very special place. 557 00:52:07,807 --> 00:52:11,880 Partly because in this overgrown Oxbridge college atmosphere 558 00:52:12,047 --> 00:52:15,278 they produce work of great skill and beauty. 559 00:52:15,447 --> 00:52:20,441 And the people here are very friendly - as curious about us as we are about them. 560 00:52:20,607 --> 00:52:25,397 And also it's just such an oasis of serenity on a helter-skelter journey. 561 00:52:25,567 --> 00:52:29,765 It really brings the pace of life right down. 562 00:52:29,927 --> 00:52:32,964 I think I'll surrender to that for a minute. 563 00:52:33,127 --> 00:52:36,119 (SOFT CHANTING) 564 00:52:47,487 --> 00:52:51,480 Next day, Maan offers to take me to Kaziranga National Park, 565 00:52:51,647 --> 00:52:55,686 where he grew up and where he still lives with his father. 566 00:52:55,847 --> 00:52:59,123 Majuli certainly had quite an effect. 567 00:52:59,287 --> 00:53:01,755 - It calmed us all down. - It's very tranquil. 568 00:53:01,927 --> 00:53:04,361 Very tranquil, unrushed. 569 00:53:04,527 --> 00:53:09,920 And now we're going to Kaziranga, is that right? Is that very different? 570 00:53:10,087 --> 00:53:14,365 It's formed by the deposits of the Brahmaputra - alluvial deposits. 571 00:53:14,527 --> 00:53:18,805 100 years of conservation has led to a lot of regeneration of grassland 572 00:53:18,967 --> 00:53:23,677 and we now have the world's highest population of one-horned rhino, 573 00:53:23,847 --> 00:53:25,917 wild water buffalo and swamp deer. 574 00:53:26,087 --> 00:53:30,558 So how was it that you came to be brought up in Kaziranga? 575 00:53:30,727 --> 00:53:33,958 My father's always been interested in conservation, 576 00:53:34,127 --> 00:53:37,358 so he set up a small project in Kaziranga. 577 00:53:37,527 --> 00:53:43,443 He's very unconventional, so he thought he'd give me a better education than in a school. 578 00:53:45,567 --> 00:53:48,035 - It worked. - I don't know! 579 00:53:48,207 --> 00:53:54,555 Is there anything you don't know? Probably Petula Clark's middle period. 580 00:53:55,927 --> 00:53:59,806 Got him, you see, straight away. # Downtown... # 581 00:53:59,967 --> 00:54:04,757 0n arrival at Kaziranga, we strike gold on our first safari. 582 00:54:04,927 --> 00:54:09,682 A long-horned rhino, which this park saved from extinction. 583 00:54:09,847 --> 00:54:13,237 First close encounter with a rhino. 584 00:54:17,727 --> 00:54:25,042 Manju, your son has been a fount of learning and knowledge for us on this trip so far. 585 00:54:25,207 --> 00:54:27,960 What sort of education did he have? 586 00:54:28,127 --> 00:54:30,766 If he went to school, he'd waste time. 587 00:54:30,927 --> 00:54:35,364 In school you have about two hours of study, which he can do at home. 588 00:54:35,527 --> 00:54:41,045 But to do that two hours of study, it takes six hours to go to the school and back. 589 00:54:41,207 --> 00:54:45,439 Maan's father, Manju, runs Kaziranga's best hotel, 590 00:54:45,607 --> 00:54:48,997 but in the 1960s he was a radical Marxist. 591 00:54:49,167 --> 00:54:54,161 When you're young you start off thinking, "I'm going to change the world." 592 00:54:54,327 --> 00:54:58,320 Every young man - we'll have a revolution, change the world. 593 00:54:58,487 --> 00:55:02,924 After a while they get married and say, "Let me change my wife." 594 00:55:03,087 --> 00:55:06,363 Then you start thinking, "Let me change my son." 595 00:55:06,527 --> 00:55:09,439 Ultimately, you think, "Let me change myself." 596 00:55:09,607 --> 00:55:14,965 Your wife doesn't listen to you or your son, so you may as well change yourself! 597 00:55:16,087 --> 00:55:19,636 Manju has changed from communist to conservationist - 598 00:55:19,807 --> 00:55:22,799 organising an elephant festival, now in its second year. 599 00:55:26,407 --> 00:55:29,843 The organisers hope to dispel prejudice against elephants, 600 00:55:30,007 --> 00:55:34,080 who many see as a destructive threat to their livelihood. 601 00:55:49,647 --> 00:55:54,038 The message is that people should see elephants not as an enemy, 602 00:55:54,207 --> 00:55:57,882 but as fellow creatures we all have a duty to look after. 603 00:55:58,047 --> 00:56:00,925 Who could hate an animal that plays football? 604 00:56:15,687 --> 00:56:19,396 They're not natural footballers, elephants, really. 605 00:56:22,447 --> 00:56:24,324 More like a rugby scrum. 606 00:56:36,927 --> 00:56:40,237 (ROARING) 607 00:56:41,487 --> 00:56:45,275 Just in case there were any doubts as to who is the stronger, 608 00:56:45,447 --> 00:56:50,601 a long-suffering elephant takes on a team of tourists, trainers, local politicians 609 00:56:50,767 --> 00:56:53,406 and the entire organising committee. 610 00:56:53,567 --> 00:56:57,321 To applause and a roar of irritation from the elephant, 611 00:56:57,487 --> 00:57:00,763 he pulls the lot of us out of the arena. 612 00:57:03,727 --> 00:57:07,163 - He's weakening! - Oh, yes, come on! 613 00:57:13,607 --> 00:57:16,758 At the end of the day, when all the stunts are over, 614 00:57:16,927 --> 00:57:21,637 I have a rare chance to get close to the elephants - on their terms rather than ours. 615 00:57:21,807 --> 00:57:27,086 They have very few sweat glands, so they need to cool off. It's very important. 616 00:57:27,247 --> 00:57:30,319 So how often would they need to get into the water? 617 00:57:30,487 --> 00:57:34,526 - At least once a day. - I'm not sure about this. 618 00:57:37,047 --> 00:57:41,120 Underwater tusks. Fine, fine tusks. 619 00:57:41,287 --> 00:57:44,279 They don't need soap or anything like that? 620 00:57:44,447 --> 00:57:46,438 That's it. 621 00:57:49,007 --> 00:57:52,682 Takes a lot of washing, doesn't it? There you are. 622 00:57:52,847 --> 00:57:55,884 - 55 years old, this one. - How much? 623 00:57:56,047 --> 00:57:59,244 - 55. - 55? Younger than me, then. 624 00:57:59,407 --> 00:58:01,079 Ooh. 625 00:58:02,007 --> 00:58:06,797 It's a rare and wonderful privilege to be able to make an elephant happy. 626 00:58:06,967 --> 00:58:11,040 Who knows? He might be a television presenter in his next life. 627 00:58:11,207 --> 00:58:13,675 It's been nice washing you. 628 00:58:15,007 --> 00:58:16,884 Feel better? 629 00:58:17,047 --> 00:58:19,686 (GRUNTING) 630 00:58:20,687 --> 00:58:23,042 I'll take that as a yes. 631 00:58:24,447 --> 00:58:26,119 Next time on "Himalaya". 632 00:58:26,287 --> 00:58:30,041 I'm in the Kingdom of Bhutan - trekking up hidden valleys, 633 00:58:30,207 --> 00:58:32,880 meeting a high-altitude poet, 634 00:58:33,047 --> 00:58:38,121 sending prayers for safety and watching dancing like I've never seen it before. 635 00:58:38,287 --> 00:58:43,805 Seeing paintings the size of houses, and archery, Bhutanese-style. 636 00:58:43,967 --> 00:58:46,720 I cross the Bangladesh border, 637 00:58:46,887 --> 00:58:49,685 take on the traffic in Dhaka, 638 00:58:49,847 --> 00:58:55,319 meet friends on the ferry and follow the rivers till they reach the sea. 639 00:58:55,487 --> 00:58:58,285 "Himalaya" - the best way to get highl