My Precious Life in Nepal - The Tibetans

Juliette's love of Tibetan dog breeds began in 1979, in the UK, when she chose Lhasa Apsos to join her Afghan Hounds. She soon became very involved with the breed and was desperate to learn more about them with their Tibetan owners. It was not easy to go into Tibet, so she chose what she considered the next best place, McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, in northern India, this being where His Holiness The Dalai Lama had settled after fleeing from Tibet in 1959. It is often called 'Little Tibet in India'. The Tibetan Government in Exile was set up there and its inhabitants are almost exclusively Tibetan.

In the first chapter of this book she takes readers briefly to Dharamsala, where she learned much from the Tibetans, including the fact that there were more Tibetans with their dogs in refugee camps in Nepal. At that time the dogs were coming directly out of Tibet, over the passes, with their owners. From Chapter 2 onwards she introduces her readers to the Tibetan people and their dogs living in Nepal, giving absorbing insights into their lives and the many interesting and happy experiences she has shared with them, especially since moving to live in Nepal in 2009.

The book is packed with many wonderful photographs and here is a very short extract from one of the chapters:

"Here I was for the first time in Pokhara, the city which had captured my interest since reading Dervla Murphy's book 'Tibetan Foothold', published in 1966. She had spent time at Tashi Palkhiel Tibetan camp at Hyengja which is about 12 kilometres outside the city, the first Tibetan settlement to have been set up here in Pokhara. On the first occasion I didn't make it there, but I did hire a bicycle and ride out to Tashi Ling Tibetan Refugee camp, which is about 5 kilometres in the other direction.

I went armed with photos of my own Lhasa Apsos to show people the kind of dogs I was interested in looking at. I had to assure them that it was certainly not my intention to buy one and very quickly they warmed to me and welcomed me into their gardens to see their pets. At that time there were lots of dogs in the camp, including some good Lhasa Apsos, with a few Tibetan Terriers mingled in. There was one black Lhasa Apso I particularly loved, very much like one of the bitches I was showing in the UK at that time, Modhish Blackberry Krumble. This bitch in Nepal, though, had a better coat texture; Krumble's coat was good and hard, but she lacked undercoat, whereas this girl's coat was perfect. I liked the texture so much that I asked if I could have a lock of it to take home to remind me of her and this is still in a locket in my jewellery box to this day.

As it turned out, that lock of hair is one of the few things I have to remember that visit. This was the pre-digital era and when travelling I usually took films home to be developed, but I was so anxious to see the Pokhara photos that I stupidly attempted to have them developed in Kathmandu. Out of several films I had taken in they only managed to develop a couple, the rest having been 'lost', including the one that contained that lovely black Lhasa Apso, but I can still see her in my mind's eye."