Making notes at the shipbreakers yard, Chittagong.
Footprint, Lonely Planet and Rough Guides were never far from my side, but Isobel Shaw's Pakistan Handbook, Michael Buckley's Bradt Guide to Tibet and Francoise Pommaret's Odyssey Guide to Bhutan were outstanding. The beautifully illustrated Insight Guides add a touch of local colour. I eagerly devoured Patrick French's three books on the history of the region: Younghusband, Tibet Tibet and Liberty or Death, whilst among other favourites were Kathleen Jamie's Among Muslims, Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard, Geoffrey Moorhouse's To The Frontier, Peter Hopkins' Trespassers on the Roof of the World, Sun Shuyun's Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud, Namu's enchanting Leaving Mother Lake and Romesh Bhattacharji's travels in Assam, Lands of Early Dawn.