The Land of Flying Lamas & Other Real Travel Stories From the Indian Himalaya

It's fantastic and so encouraging. Very beautiful and down-to-earth description of the creation of the Himalayas. Each and every chapter is described in the most simple and beautiful manner.Hat's off Gaurav Punj, just travelled the magnificent Himalayas through your eyes.

Written in a style that makes you feel like you were there while reading. Also, many new trek routes. Loved the chapter on what to eat. And the info that you can continue trekking even as you age ( was wondering if I should stop soon), though don't quite agree with the vanaprastha analogy, I do want to come back! Enjoyed reading the book and bought several copies for my co-trekker friends.

Having read his second book 'Land of moonlit snow' first, my review and rating can be biased,as I loved his second book more than the first one. Experience matters. Purely from the perspective of the narrative and the structure of the book. Second one is better than this. However the writing is simple, visual, and invoked similar emotions of euphoria albeit only in a few of the stories.. Especially the Nanda Devi story. All in all Gaurav Punj invokes or rather stirs a deep longing to go to himalayas for a trek.

It was reverse, after reading second book first and first book later, and this one is better of the other in comparison because it gives tips and generally educates you in simpler terms of what is needed of a straight simple trek and of the lifestyle and behaviour of the people. Additionally good agreeable tips by Rujuta. Simple flowing description of seemingly simple treks, short, engrossing and making you to research it in maps, photos and google.

This book is a must read for any mountain lover or for that matter even someone who doesn't know anything about the mountains or say trekking. Its simple yet enchanting narrative is the real strength of this book. While reading this book you desperately want to be a person in Punj's group going on that trek. The stories about the locals, the guides, the village women, the temples are so mesmerizing that they just bind you to them. Warning: Start reading this book only if its a weekend because if you pick it up, you won't leave it until its done. That's what I did.

I really enjoyed reading the book. It has simple writing describing interesting adventures. The book does inspire you to travel more and explore the mighty Himalayas. Not to mention to travel sustainably the very principle of the author and his company.The only thing I disliked in the kindle version was to look at the pictures/photographs while reading the stories. There is constant mention of the 'check out the picture in the inserts' while describing the a location or an experience in the stories. This I found difficult to do while reading it on kindle as the page number varies according to the font size in which you are reading. And it difficult to go back and forth so frequently. I don't know if it is a kindle problem or the problem of the kindle version of this book.I did enjoy reading the book though after I finally gave up looking for the photograph every time and depended wholly on the author's description of it. Maybe going back to the good old fashion paper back version would be more rewarding in this case.

I would highly recommend this book to all nature-lovers & "walkers"...Simple and easy to read...thoroughly enjoyed reading it....Particularly liked the flow of the book including the attention to detail, references and "Raju Guide"...." speaking one-on-one style of writing"..Looking forward to your next book, Gaurav..

Could have been 3.5 Stars as it lies just between good and Okay; nothing outstanding for me. Having read travel memoirs from other people, who have been to Himalayas and Silk, this one leaves much to be desired.Major problem for me is the brief manner treks are covered, by the end a story or reader’s interest develops, the journey ends. The chapter on Arunachal, Darjeeling, and Sikkim were way too short and much better and detailed travelogues are available for free on Indiamike or BCMtouring, etc.Nevertheless the chapter on Nubra Valley and Spiti was good, same was Kashmir and Darma Valley, but rest of the chapters are just too short or reveal very less about the place.

I haven't actually read any books on trekking or for that matter on travel so cannot say how this rates in comparison. All I can say is it kept me interested and wanting to read the next story. I am not a big stickler for writing form, structure and narrative as long as the material makes overall sense to me. From that perspective the book is well written. Definitely don't look for lyrical beauty. But the author has a good intent and manages to convey his passion for trekking in the Himalayas.