Adventures Within Reach is offering two trips with archaeologist John Bellezza in 2009 — one to remote regions of Tibet in May and one to the forbidden kingdom of Mustang, Nepal in September.
John Vincent Bellezza is a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia where he specializes in the pre-Buddhist phase of Tibetan civilization. Bellezza, a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies and Explorer’s Club, has spent 25 years exploring the most remote parts of the Great Western Himalaya and Tibet. No ordinary academic, John is a great story teller and entertainer, skills he developed during his long years of wandering around the Himalaya. His latest book, “Zhang Zhung: Foundations of Civilization in Tibet”, provides comprehensive treatment of the pre-Buddhist civilization he discovered single-handedly.
View of Himalayas from Pokhara
The Tibet Looking Glass trip is a unique opportunity to see Tibetan civilization in all its splendor with John Vincent Bellezza, one of the world’s leading authorities. From Buddhist monasteries to Eurasian animal art, this journey reveals Tibet in all her depth.
The Mustang trip gives you the opportunity to go to the places where few have been before. Most of the trek keeps to arid, high deserts inhabited mostly by people of Tibetan stock. The men folk are either traders or farmers while the women mostly tend the fields. Along with insights into the everyday lives of the people of “Lo” you will have the opportunity to witness their vibrant culture and also a chance to get a look at Lamaistic Buddhism little changed by time.