Précis

There aren't many cities on Earth that can only be reached by foot or on horseback.
But until recently, a trickle of curious, in-the-know visitors had to ride or walk for days to get to a legendary Nepalese city called Lo Manthang.

Now a road is being built to the city and many are worried it's going to ruin the majestic capital and the surrounding, cloistered kingdom of Upper Mustang, forever.

"That will probably change the whole region. How will the living traditions be kept alive? "Tenzin Choegyal, Tibetan-Australian

Tenzin Choegyal has come to Mustang to fulfil some dreams. The globally renowned musician has been invited to take part in a kind of Nepalese Royal Command Performance, the first time he's ever performed with his traditional Tibetan lute before an audience of authentic traditionalists.

Then there's his dream to see his homeland Tibet. His family fled Tibet forty years ago. He admits his memories are vague and unreliable but something in his soul is insisting on this adventure. 

Despite the laying of a new road to the capital and a little way beyond, it's no sure thing that Tenzin will fulfil that latter ambition. It's a winding, precipitous track plagued by shifting, uneven ground and surging river crossings. He commences his journey on horseback and aims to complete it, along with a team from Foreign Correspondent, by four-wheel drive. But China patrols a heavily fortified border and it's not easy to reach.

Reporter Eric Campbell aims to road test Mustang's new Highway 1 to test fears that it will only serve to erase a colourful and enduring culture and its practices. Cut off from the outside world and snap frozen in time, much of Mustang is like a time capsule of how Tibet was before China invaded.

People speak Tibetan, practice Buddhism freely and live not unlike their ancestors did in the Middle Ages.

But there's also desperate poverty and so many - including the now ceremonial Crown Prince, hope the road will bring much-needed trade and prosperity that evaporated when China asserted control over Tibet.

This is an eye-watering edition of Foreign Correspondent, featuring spectacular and largely unseen people, places and practices. And it's a moving document of one man's mission to rediscover his roots.

Campbell in car bumping along road

00:00

CAMPBELL: We're heading across the Tibetan plateau to one of the most remote places on earth, the restricted frontier between Nepal and China.

"So this is...

00:07

Inside car. Indra driving

I'm showing four and a half thousand metres here. This is the highest pass is it?"

INDRA BISTA: "Yeah".

00:19

CAMPBELL: "How close to Tibet are we now?"

00:22

INDRA BISTA: "Yeah... maybe 20 minutes".

00:24

CAMPBELL: It's taken us more than a week of hard driving to get here.

00:27

Chinese border patrol

We're still on the Nepal side, but we run straight into a Chinese border patrol. Our Nepalese guide, Indra Bista, does some fast talking and we move on.

00:36

"What are the Chinese border guards doing this side?"

INDRA BISTA: "Oh they are with the Nepali police, they are a small meeting on the border".

CAMPBELL: "Okay... just liaising".

INDRA BISTA: "Yeah".

00:48

Car bumping along road

01:00

View of Tibet. Nomads' tents

CAMPBELL: At the top of the hill we get our first view of Chinese Tibet.

01:05

It's a sight that most Tibetan refugees can only dream of. We're going to try to share this view with one refugee who made a new life in Australia. His greatest wish is to see his homeland again, but getting in here won't be easy.

01:10

CAMPBELL: "Hello China!"

INDRA BISTA: Hello China. Hello Tibet!

CAMPBELL: "Wow, it's amazing."

01:36

Aeroplane

Music

01:45

Aerials. Jomsom

CAMPBELL: Our journey begins days earlier in the Nepali frontier town of Jomsom.

01:52

Music

01:57

Upper Mustang GVs

CAMPBELL: It's the gateway to a land of kings and palaces called Upper Mustang. Many see it as the last true outpost of Tibetan culture.

02:02

Plane landing. Tenzin disembarks

02:15

We've come here with Tenzin Choegyal, a Tibetan Australian musician who lived in Mustang as a small boy. His parents carried him across the mountains from neighbouring Tibet to escape the Chinese occupation.

02:23

Tenzin interview

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "I'm trying to reconnect with the land that I haven't seen for the last forty years.

02:47

At the same time, I'm look forward to touching my own land because it borders Tibet".

02:57

Prayer wheels

CAMPBELL: Tibetan refugees have a strong regard for the old kingdom of Mustang. It kept Tibetan traditions alive as China tried to destroy them.

03:05

Tenzin plays lute

Music

03:16

CAMPBELL: Tenzin plays the traditional three-stringed Tibetan lute, infusing it with Western melodies.

03:23

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "So it's like raising awareness of Tibet, at the same time enjoying the music".

03:29

Tenzin plays and sings

Music

03:35

CAMPBELL: Until now, his career highlight was performing for the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

03:39

"But you've played in Carnegie Hall, isn't that better than playing for the Dalai Lama?"

03:47

Tenzin interview

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "No I don't think so. I didn't know what Carnegie Hall was until I got there".

03:53

Tenzin plays lute

Music

03:58

CAMPBELL: Now he's travelling to Upper Mustang's capital, Lo Manthang, to play for its king. After that he'll try to reach the Tibetan border.

04:00

Trekking horses

It will take him six days to get to Lo Manthang, riding up with an Australian trekking group. Until recently, the only way to travel here was on horseback,

04:16

Bus on road out of Jomsom

but we'll be taking a new route - one that has Tibetans like Tenzin worried. For the first time ever, a road is being built right across Mustang.

04:30

Jomsom GVs

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "That will totally change the whole region. How will the living traditions

04:43

Tenzin interview

will be kept alive, so that's the fear of the road from the China side".

04:49

Map showing trade route new road

CAMPBELL: It follows an old trade route from Jomsom to Lo Manthang, 3,800 metres above sea level. From there it's just 20 km into the border crossing into China.

04:57

Campbell helps load bus

Music

05:13

CAMPBELL: The road will increase prosperity, but some fear it could also bring Chinese influence by stealth.

05:16

Into bus

Music

05:23

Bus departs

CAMPBELL: We're planning to drive the entire way to see for ourselves. It's only 71 km to Lo Manthang, so we're expecting a quick journey.

05:26

Travelling along road

Music

05:38

CAMPBELL: But we soon find this is not so much a fast track as a dirt track.

05:53

Most of the time you're travelling slower than the pony trains.

06:03

Music

06:06

Change of vehicles at river

CAMPBELL: Barely an hour after we leave, we start having to change vehicles.

06:12

Crossing river

Music

06:15

CAMPBELL: "The road's not quite finished!".

06:21

Travelling GVs

Music

06:24

Kagbeni

CAMPBELL: It takes us most of the day to reach the first town, Kagbeni. This used to be as far as tourists were allowed to go.

06:29

Family work in paddy fields/Women talk

Because of its proximity to Tibet, Nepal regarded Upper Mustang as too strategically sensitive for outsiders. Since 1992 it's given limited entry permits for guided trips.

06:37

Cars stopped on road. Mountain in b/g. Campbell talking with Indra

"Okay so we're now going to Upper Mustang? The restricted area... Okay. Cool. Let's go!"

06:56

Music

07:08

Road/valley shots

CAMPBELL: For centuries, traders on horseback used this valley to bring salt from Tibet through Mustang to Nepal and India.

07:16

Music

07:23

CAMPBELL: That all ended in the 1950s when China sealed the Tibetan border.

07:29

Music

07:34

CAMPBELL: Mustang's economy was choked, but its Tibetan Buddhist culture was preserved.

07:51

Music

07:57

Abandoned equipment

CAMPBELL: Now there are hopes this could be a major trade route again, but from our experience, that doesn't look likely any time soon.

08:01

Car sliding around on muddy road

Music

08:09

Campbell to camera in front of bogged car

CAMPBELL: "Well I think it's safe to say that Mustang's not going to be swamped with traffic. Even when they join up the road it's going to be closed for five months of the year by snow or whenever it rains. Not quite sure how we're going to get past this bit today.

08:23

When you're driving around these passes at nearly 4,000 metres, it's actually a bit hairy. If you ever do come to visit, I recommend you walk".

08:40

Unloading gear from car

Just don't bring what we have - 200 kilograms of food, drink and camera gear.

"Okay, so now we walk.

08:53

Campbell walking with Indra

How far?"

INDRA: "Oh, one hour."

CAMPBELL: "One hour. "

09:02

Campbell and crew set off on foot

This is the first of many walks between the road sections. The plan is to eventually build enough bridges and causeways for an uninterrupted drive. Some bitumen might be helpful too.

09:09

Tenzin and trekkers on horses

It's not long before the horses catch up with us. Tenzin Choegyal clearly prefers it to bouncing around in a car.

"Namaste! How's it going?"

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: [on horseback] "Namaste".

09:32

Tenzin on horse

CAMPBELL: "How's it going? How are your feelings going through the country like this?"

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "Ah it's amazing and feeling, feeling at home".

CAMPBELL: "At home?"

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "Yeah".

CAMPBELL: "Are you remembering things?"

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "Not anything but it just feels really, feels like I'm home... yeah".

09:41

Trek porters

10:06

Temple

CAMPBELL: Tenzin was too young to remember Mustang.

10:11

Photo. Tenzin and mother

This photo of him with his mother and little brother is the only record he has of his childhood. Soon after his father died and Tenzin was sent to school in India.

10:14

Photos. Tenzin and Bronwyn

He eventually met his Australian wife Bronwyn and they moved to Brisbane to start their own family.

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "I think Tibetans around the world

10:25

Tenzin interview. Super:
Tenzin Choegyal
Musician

have been quite strong in adapting to where they are replaced. I mean from a displaced place you, you have another place to start over

10:37

Photo. Tenzin and family

and I think Tibetans have been really good at adapting".

10:49

Archival. Chinese invasion of Tibet

CAMPBELL: China called its invasion 'the peaceful liberation of Tibet'. The communists destroyed monasteries and tried to ban the Tibetan language. As Chinese settlers flooded the region, its unique culture was overwhelmed.

10:57

11:19

Thousands of Tibetan families escaped over the mountains to freedom.

11:28

Tibetan monastery in Upper Mustang

The land Tenzin's parents fled to, Upper Mustang, remained a time capsule of Tibetan tradition.

11:32

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "It's kind of like a

11:40

Tenzin interview

little Tibet in itself and like a.... it's cocooned by all this".

11:42

Pilgrims on road in tractor

11:49

CAMPBELL: But many of the locals are impatient for modernity.

11:53

Pilgrims on motorbikes

We come across a group of pilgrims taking advantage of the new road. They've hired a tractor to visit the region's many monasteries. It seems drink driving rules are yet to be enforced. Many are riding cheap Chinese motorbikes, kitted out like horses.

11:59

It is a shocking road by Western standards, but it's liberated them from the tyranny of distance. Before it would take five days to get to the nearest hospital or school - now it can take less than one day. They can even travel for pleasure.

12:26

Campbell with Karsang

"What is your name?"

KARSANG SANGCHO: "My name is Karsang Sangcho".

CAMPBELL: "I love your hat. I want your hat. I'll swap you".

KARSANG SANGCHO: "Yeah, yeah, okay".

"You trade this one as a hat? [pointing to microphone furry black cover] Just this bit".

KARSANG SANGCHO: [laughs getting the joke]

12:46

Long shot, pilgrims on tractor to village

Music

12:58

Woman cooking

13:09

CAMPBELL: They invite us back to their village for a special meal, a freshly slaughtered yak.

13:12

Campbell eats with family

INDRA BISTA: "You try?"

CAMPBELL: "I've never tried yak. I've eaten lots of things but never yak. That looks good. When was the yak butchered?"

13:19

MAN: "Tuesday morning, fresh meat".

CAMPBELL: "Fresh meat. Very good".

13:27

Music

13:30

CAMPBELL: It's a rare treat.

13:34

Yaks grazing/Meat hanging

Yaks are the most valuable property in the village and can feed a family for ten days -

13:35

Campbell eats with family

although I suspect this yak might have died of old age.

"That's nice. It's like cow and.... chicken".

13:41

The hospitality masks a deep poverty. Cut off from outside trade, families like this never had a chance to get ahead. Not a single one of them went to high school.

13:50

Karsang

KARSANG SANGCHO: "I went to the high school but not to study, just to have a look. I really want to study, but haven't had the opportunity".

14:04

Car on road

14:17

Tsarang GVs

CAMPBELL: The next day we reach the town of Tsarang, one of the royal cities of Upper Mustang. Mustang was formerly the kingdom of Lo, founded by a Tibetan warlord in 1380. Many here still see themselves as 'Lobas', meaning subjects of the Lo king. The authenticity appeals to foreigners looking for undiscovered places, but the Lobas pay a price for their isolation.

14:41

Most people have to leave during winter and find work in Kathmandu or India. Only the old people stay, to look after the animals. Our guide Indra believes there can be a balance between tradition and modernity.

15:12

Indra interview

INDRA BISTA: "All people deserve the opportunity of modern development... like cars, electricity, internet, computers. These should be developed

15:33

Tenzin's trekking group

while also preserving the local culture".

15:51

CAMPBELL: After another two days of riding, Tenzin Choegyal's group has almost reached its destination. They stop on a pass just short of the old royal capital, Lo Manthang.

16:07

Puja ceremony

[Tenzin chants]

16:21

CAMPBELL: The altitude is taking a toll on the trekkers. The air is clear but thin.

16:34

Tenzin leads the group in a Buddhist devotion called a Puja.

16:42

[Group chant]

16:47

CAMPBELL: Tibet lies just over the ridge, it's a bittersweet moment.

16:51

Tenzin

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "My real destination is beyond Lo Manthang, where Tibet is".

CAMPBELL: "You want to see Tibet?"

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "Yes.

17:04

Mountains

My parents came through here. I was probably a toddler here.

17:11

Tenzin

This space around here, it feels like I'm back in Tibet but yeah the real destination is beyond Lo Manthang".

CAMPBELL: "Beyond where you can go".

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "Yeah".

17:18

Tenzin plays lute and sings

Music

17:33

View of Lo Manthang GVs

CAMPBELL: The irony is that when they enter Lo Manthang, it's more like the Tibet Tenzin was born in than Tibet is today.

17:44

Music

17:51

CAMPBELL: A wall still surrounds the mud-brick houses and alleyways. The inhabitants all speak Tibetan and practise their religion freely. They live as people might have in the Middle Ages.

17:58

Without internet or television, they have to entertain themselves.

18:16

Campbell walks with Indra in alleyway to palace

And the palace still has a king. At 83, the king no longer entertains visitors but we've been invited to meet his heir, the Crown Prince.

18:25

In 2008 Nepal's Maoist Government stripped Mustang's royal family of its powers,

18:44

Campbell greets Prince

but the Maoists never asked the Lobas who still revere their royalty.

18:55

The Crown Prince is philosophical about the end of more than six centuries of absolute rule.

19:19

Jigme interview

JIGME BISTA: [Crown Prince, Mustang] "No formal power now".

CAMPBELL: "Yes but when we talk to people they still think of you very much as the..."

JIGME BISTA: "Yes still our local people they respect my father as a cultural king.

19:23

Photo of king and queen

We still have very good relationship with each other".

19:33

Lo Manthang GVs

CAMPBELL: He's optimistic about Mustang's future, especially now it's getting a road.

19:36

JIGME BISTA: "It will bring a big change. Actually you know this road we built in the demand of the local people. Before having the road we had a lot of problem. For example,

19:42

Prince Jigme. Super:
Jigme Bista
Crown Prince, Mustang

we get our supplies in very expensive you know, we have to bring it man's back, mule's back - that costs a lot of money. Now with the road we get all our supplies at a cheaper price".

19:54

Night sky

20:06

Villagers gathered for performance

CAMPBELL: It's the night of Tenzin's royal command performance. Everyone's here including the prince and princess, along with the royal lap dog. As the local school children warm up the crowd, Tenzin waits anxiously for his call. He's worried how his fusion music will go down

20:15

Campbell with Tenzin

with such a traditional crowd.

20:36

Tenzin

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "I'm very, very nervous and I'm particularly nervous because I'm playing to a crowd that I'm not used to. Even though I come from here, but I don't know, it's kind of unknown zone. Yeah".

CAMPBELL: "How does it compare to playing Carnegie Hall? Which makes you more nervous?"

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "This one I guess!" [laughing]

20:39

Man introduces Tenzin

21:11

CAMPBELL: He needn't have worried.

21:17

Tenzin performs with Indra

Music

21:20

CAMPBELL: From the moment he starts playing, with Indra helping out on drums, the Lobas are rapt.

21:29

Tenzin plays lute and sings

Music

21:34

Window of palace

CAMPBELL: Even the king makes an appearance, peering down from a palace window.

21:44

Tenzin plays lute and sings

Music

21:50

Morning at monastery

22:11

Car on road

CAMPBELL: The next morning Tenzin is on a high. After the triumph of his performance, he's finally setting out with us to try to reach the border.

22:23

Tenzin in car

He's due back in Lo Manthang in a few hours to play another concert in the town's main monastery, but he's happy to risk that for a glimpse of his homeland.

22:32

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "As a child I always wanted to see Tibet growing up. And also my parents, they came out there.... always wanted to go back to Tibet. So I'm hoping that through my eyes, in my heart I'm taking them back home".

22:45

Car crossing bridge/Fording river. Car stops

CAMPBELL: But today we've got a much bigger problem than Chinese patrols. As we enter the last river crossing before the border, the jeep scrapes to a grinding halt.

23:11

Campbell and Tenzin push jeep

We climb out in the freezing water to push the vehicle back. Nothing we do has any effect. Not even jacking the wheels can free them from the rocks' grip.

23:44

Campbell with Tenzin

(TO TENZIN) I think these guys can get it out.

24:02

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: I hope so. I think they'll get us out.

CAMPBELL: If it's meant to be, it'll happen.

24:05

Indra smoking cigarette

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: Yes.

24:10

Pushing jeep back to bank

24:13

Campbell and Tenzin

CAMPBELL: So do we risk coming over again?

24:31

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: I don't know. If we put some rocks....

CAMPBELL: Yeah... we can try. It's risky though, we might not get back. What's more important, the Tibetan border or your concert?

CAMPBELL: The Tibetan border. We'll give it a go.

24:35

Car attempts river crossing, with success

[cheering]

"Okay Tibet here we come!"

24:51

Car on road, passes under gate

From here on, it's a straight drive to the frontier. Today there are no guards and no checkpoints. We pass the ceremonial gate just two kilometres from the border

24:05

Tenzin out of car

and for the first time Tenzin sees the land where he was born.

"That's Tibet".

25:21

Tenzin looks over to Tibet

25:41

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "Thank you".

CAMPBELL: "What are your feelings now?"

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "I can't describe it".

CAMPBELL: "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "Yeah. My parents must have come through..."

CAMPBELL: "So long ago".

25:56

[shot continuous]

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "So many Tibetans want to see this land.... and... my mum passed away wanting to see Tibet, her land..... and I can't even go there. Just see from a distance." [crying]

26:27

Chinese fortifications across border

CAMPBELL: We look down on the fortifications China has built. There's an army base, a wire fence and endless surveillance cameras. Nobody else is crossing here now.

26:54

TENZIN CHOEGYAL: "I'm keeping my.... in my heart, I'm keeping my parents. Hopefully they are running around there, because I believe in reincarnation. And hopefully they are born within Tibet. Thank you... [hugs Eric]. So many Tibetans there".

27:09

GVs

CAMPBELL: More than 60 years have passed since China occupied Tibet. Generations continue to mourn the land they lost.

27:50

Temzin plays and sings at border

Music

28:04

Reporter: Eric Campbell
Producer: Marianne Leitch
Camera: David Martin
Editor: Nicholas Brenner

Executive producer: Steve Taylor
Music: Tenzin Choegyal (licensed)

28:42