Himalaya with Michael Palin

The program begins in the North-West Frontier section of Pakistan. Michael goes up the Kyber Pass Railway, visits the local gun industry and dentists, interviews a local prince, attends the bull races and then sets off by bus to Chitral high in the mountains. He visits the local Kalash people who are not Moslems and attends an annual Polo Match high in the Xandoor Pass near the Hindu Kush.

Goes up to 14500ft by Helicopter to get his first taste of high altitude, then has to detour back to Lahore to actually cross into India after observing some truly bizarre border rituals. He visits a huge Sikh temple at Amritsar and then takes the Himalayan Queen railway to Shimla the old capital of British India. Here he visits a local theatre stuck in a time warp and then goes on to beautiful but war torn Kashmir. Here he stays on one of the famous houseboats and then visits Srinigar where the Dalai Lama now lives. He gets his astrology chart done by the Buddhist monks and then has the chance to interview the Dalai Lama.

He now enters Nepal by air and hooks up with a British commander of the Gurkha regiment who is recruiting in the area. They trek to a remote village to hold a recruitment test but fall foul of the local Maoist Guerrillas. Next Michael treks up the mountains to Annapurna base camp with a sherpa and gets his first taste of high altitudes, which gives him some trouble. From there they move on to the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu, where he receives the King's blessing. Tibet is the next stop but they first must cross the border into China via road. He visits the highest monastery in the world and then climbs to Everest Base Camp assisted by some Yak.