We start our Himalayan journey in the Hunza Valley, also known as "Shangri La" from James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizons", an area of stunning natural beauty. Down in the valley the Hunza River thunders along; rising above that are endless terraces of orchards irrigated by the water from the glaciers nestled in Pakistan's huge Karakoram Mountains.

The Mughals aptly called Kashmir ‘Paradise on Earth’ where they journeyed across the hot plains of India, to the valley’s cool environs in summer. Here they laid, with great love and care, Srinagar’s many formal, waterfront gardens, now collectively known as the Mughal Gardens.

Himachal Pradesh takes in the transition zone form the plains to the high Himalayas and in the Trans-Himalayan region of Lahaul & Spiti actually crosses that mighty barrier to the Tibetan plateau. This is the enchantment of nature generous bounty. Himachal is integral to the Indian Himalayas and offers a unique blend of temple architecture, a rich legacy of the Buddha and on the other hand nostalgia of the recent British Raj.

India is also home to Ladakh, a land like no other. Bounded by two of the world's mightiest mountain ranges, the Great Himalayas and the Karakoram, it lies athwart two other, the Ladakh range and the Zanskar range. Here we will see major Buddhist gompas (monasteries) dotted along the Indus Valley,

Nepal spans terrain from subtropical jungle to the icy Himalayas and contains or shares eight of the world's ten highest mountains. Its cultural landscape is every bit as diverse: Nepal has a dozen major ethnic groups and two of the world's great religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, overlap and mingle with older tribal traditions, testimony to the Nepalis' great tolerance and good sense of humour. In the Kathmandu Valley there are 7 UNESCO World Heritage Sites alone!

The "Roof of the World", has exerted a pull of almost supernatural proportions over travellers for many centuries. Tibet offers some of the most awe-inspiring scenery in the world, and the sheer scale of the high-altitude valleys, mountains and lakes in which human habitation is but a speck on the landscape is humbling. Lhasa, Shigatse and Gyantse offer the most amazing monasteries and temples. The Potala Palace in Lhasa remains an enduring image of Tibet in the Western mind and should on no account be missed. Tibetans have never had it easy, as they live in a harsh environment, yet they are very welcoming and wonderful

Sikkim was an isolated, independent Buddhist kingdom until it joined India in 1975. Culturally, historically and spiritually, Sikkim's strongest links are with Tibet, who gave the state its name - sukh-im, "happy homeland". The landscape ranges from sweltering deep valleys a mere 300m above sea level to lofty snow peaks such as Kanchenjunga, the third-highest mountain in the world. The capital city, Gangtok at 1870m follows the extreme contours of the land and all roads snake around its precarious slopes. There are over two hundred monasteries, mostly belonging to the ancient Nyingmapa sect. Pemayangtse in west Sikkim is the most important historically;

Bhutan, also known locally as Drukyul (Land of Thunder Dragon), is the last surviving Mahayana Buddhist Kingdom, with a breathtaking Himalayan landscape as a backdrop. The country was never colonized, and thus survived the influences of accelerated and thoughtless modernization; which makes it one of the rarest and most unique of travel destinations. Bhutan has maintained a very traditional culture, yet has adapted what it needs from the modern world. Thus you will find monks saving their text in a computer and traditionally dressed archers using the most modern high-tech bows and arrows in their archery tournament. The size of Switzerland, it is a country of rolling hills and towering crags, with only small patches of cultivation and very little deforestation, rich in flora and fauna.