Episode 4 The Mekong River with Sue Perkins

I'm not very good at steering.

OK, OK.

It's hard work.

This is the Mekong, the mother of water,

the greatest river in South East Asia.

It brings life to millions,

from the paddy fields of Vietnam

to the mountains of the Tibetan plateau.

(I think I might be engaged to be married now.)

I've travelled nearly 2,000 miles upstream,

exploring landscapes and lives on the point of profound change.

They might want to stick up a massive sign saying "For Sale".

When you think of a spiritual experience,

this is pretty much it, isn't it?

Finally, I've reached China and the source of this mighty river.

You get a real sense of it being the turbulent river now.

It carves its way through China's wildest

and most spectacular valleys,

home to some of the country's unique hill tribes...

Oh, this is sexy hands.

..but change is sweeping through these places

faster than any other Mekong nation...

My head is exploding already with questions.

..as China's economic miracle transforms this remote region.

It's £120 a kilo?

No wonder he's smiling.

And they say money doesn't grow on trees.

I want to understand how this new revolution

is changing ways of life here.

Oh! Oh, oh!

And, as China surges into a brand-new future,

what it will save of its past.

Oh, hello!

I have no idea who you are, but it's wonderful to be in a photo with you.

All of China's 1.3 billion people seem to be on the move,

charging forwards towards a shiny, new capitalist future.

In cities all across the land,

a new skyscraper is built every five days,

to house the rising middle class and reflect their soaring ambitions.

It's a far cry from Chairman Mao's communist dream.

And quite possibly a little different to my own blinkered ideas.

I'm very mindful that I've come to China

brimful of Western preconceptions,

namely that China is frightening and austere and...

impenetrable.

Preconceptions about its people, that they are phlegm-hawking,

soup-slurping, chain-smoking types who are extremely good at ping-pong.

And so I suppose China's the place along this journey

that I've been most frightened of coming to,

but most excited about visiting,

because I think that I'm going to get totally shaken up

and everything that I think is black will suddenly turn out to be white.

In China, this amazing river has saved its best till last.

For the next 1,500 miles, the Mekong plunges through deep gorges

and huge mountains, from its source high on the Tibetan Plateau.

But I'm starting here in Yunnan's tropical region of Xishuangbanna

and its capital, Jinghong,

the centre of a booming tourist industry.

So this party boat is heading towards

Xishuangbanna's number one tourist destination.

And this is a place that the majority of Chinese

flock to every single year.

And they're visiting a theme park

which doesn't have log fumes or roller coasters.

It has one thing...ethnic people.

This is the Dai Minority Park.

Just 20 years ago, there were five small traditional villages here,

home to the indigenous Dai people.

Then China's economy exploded.

Now, tour guides like Wendy and Echo

show visitors like me what their country used to be like.

So it's basically Universal Studios.

You've got the buggies, you've got the boulevards.

These tourists are Han Chinese.

They make up 92% of China's population

and want to spend their new money exploring the riches

of their vast country.

After decades of communism,

when the Chinese were unified under one dreary manifesto,

there's now renewed interest in the colourful melting pot

of peoples that actually make up modern China.

Groups like the Dai - people of the water.

Look at you, with your flash car.

That's one of the Dai people with that swanky car?

'It's not clear which bits of the park are authentically Dai

'and which have been fabricated for the tourist market.'

OK, now I'm clear.

So every year, the Dai stage a water festival,

which is incredible symbolic.

But here in the park,

tourists can't wait just for one festival once a year.

So they have regular water splashings at 2pm

and 4pm daily and that's what I'm going to get involved in.

I think it's fair to say this is the first outfit I've ever worn

that my mother would actually be happy with.

She is delighted right now, she's lit up Croydon.

So these are splashing implements.

I mean, it seems a shame to ruin such a nice outfit.

Originally, what is the significance of the water festival

for the Dai people?

It relates to a story -

in memory of the seven princesses in the past

who saved the Dai people from a very bad guy.

They chop off his head and is on fire.

I've very glad we don't do that at 2 o'clock and 4 o'clock,

cos then we'd really reduce visitor numbers massively with that.

I'm very glad.

When you think of a spiritual experience,

this is pretty much it, isn't it, really, when you just boil it down?

Just a man screaming on a public address system

and a chained elephant tottering around in the background.

Yeah, I feel relaxed, I feel good!

Whereas this is seen as a fun day out for the Han Chinese,

water is considered holy for the Dai people.

It is their source of life, spiritual and physical.

During their annual water festival,

blessed water is poured on family members to wash away

their dirt and sorrows, ensuring good luck in the coming year.

And I am about to get very lucky.

That was right up the...

I was properly blessed then.

Yeah, I was blessed where the sun doesn't shine.

Very complicated place, this park.

You've got a minority of people living in a very traditional way.

The Han Chinese have come along

and want to find out about the minority groups.

But in doing so, I think, it has sort of started to create

a slight change.

You can't come here on mass and not puncture the seal

and for things to suddenly alter.

Of course, they're going to want what the Han Chinese has got.

They're going to want fast cars

and they're going to want everything made of plastic.

And I wonder how long this community can remain.

It's in the interest of the Han Chinese that this way of life

is sort of preserved in aspic.

But their very venturing into this place

means that that's very unlikely to happen.

I'm leaving the theme park and moving north up the Mekong,

through fertile valleys and terraced fields.

The unique climate and soil here provide the perfect condition

for growing a Chinese delicacy...

pu-erh tea.

The Aini, keepers of this land, are animists.

At the heart of their ancient belief system is a harmony with nature.

They tend the pu-erh tea bushes with love and care and, in doing so,

keep their ancestral spirits happy.

It's just a thought,

but if the water people hooked up with the tea people

and they met up with the kettle tribe, they could rule the world.

This is Mr and Mrs Car.

Their families have been processing tea here for generations.

Ni hao!

-Ni hao, Mr Car.

-Ni hao!

Ni hao, good to see you.

Ni hao, ni hao.

Look, there it is!

-HE SPEAKS HIS OWN LANGUAGE

-Tea!

I am a frantic tea drinker and I love it

and the smell of that...

Sweet and woody, it's gorgeous.

Go and pick some?

Fabulous, I'd love to, I'd love to.

It's a perforated bag.

It could be nothing less, surely, for a tea picking excursion.

Look at this!

Somebody's making some money out of tea, eh?

Pu-erh tea's popularity is growing.

China's newly wealthy professionals

are eager to connect with their traditional past.

It's a far cry from your average breakfast cuppa.

It's the only brew in the world that's aged like fine wine

and, apparently, it's a marvel for weight loss and reducing stress.

Sounds like my cup of tea.

Yeah, up I come.

I was never any good at this as a kid

and suspect I'm going to be even worse as an adult.

How did you get up, Mr Car?

Nearly.

Hang on.

OK.

OK, no pressure...

(Don't break it!)

So for one kilo of tea from this bush,

how much yuan would you get for that?

So it £120 a kilo?

No wonder he's smiling.

And they say money doesn't grow on trees. Incredible.

I've seen a good one. I'm going to a higher elevation.

Don't you be rocking that tree now.

Ancient trees like these provide the very best pu-erh tea sold today.

It's got a bit of a cult status amongst the connoisseurs.

I will have a bit of you.

10p.

I'll have you.

30.

I find it really relaxing,

but, then, I'm not doing it for eight hours a day.

Oh, hello. He's on the move.

He's on the move.

That was pretty ungainly.

I'll lead the way with my rather lighter bag.

The process is all done by hand and takes a few weeks

to pick, roast and dry to aromatic perfection.

You are the master.

Constantly turning it - they are getting quite hot now.

When you started was there a lot of money in tea picking?

No? So only now.

Now. You lucked out, haven't you, sunshine?

The reason you are making so much money now

is because there is greater demand.

These roasted leaves will now be dried,

pressed and then drunk by some lucky person...

Oh, that'll be me, then.

If you sit in England and do this...

SHE SLURPS

..very bad manners.

So when did you build this house, this amazing house?

If it's not too rude a question,

how much did it cost your family to build?

So £75,000 from...

And the money came from tea.

So in the wrong game.

If I come back in five years' time,

I think that tea prices will have risen so much

that you will live in a palace and walk on a gold floor.

I think so.

Bracing. Quite astringent, quite bitter.

Oh, no, every time I put it down...

I'm not sure if my drinking is creating the urge to pour more or...

I don't know any more.

See, I don't know if it's rude to refuse.

I've now drank about four gallons.

Literally no moisture left in my mouth.

So much tongue.

Oh, there's more coming.

Thank you. I am now going to go and run a marathon.

That was my pleasure and my privilege to have a day with you.

I really loved it. Thank you.

Well, I'm not going to sleep for another six months, I'm that wired.

But that's been an extraordinary day,

in the sense that I've learned that a family can farm

the same tea bushes for 800 years, getting a steady low income

and then, suddenly, as the economic boom hits China and the rise

of the middle class, this huge spike in demand which means they can move

from that very modest house into this sort of

Grand Designs house behind me.

And to put it into context, the middle class, now,

in terms of numbers in China, is the same as the population

of the entirety of the United States.

Just think of that many people, sitting around, drinking tea, going,

"Of course, this is the 2007 Aini terroir."

So, yeah, very, very interesting.

As I head further up the valley,

China's transformation becomes further apparent.

This vast country is on course

to become the world's most powerful economy

and it's racing to modernity at an astonishing pace.

But for some people, this manic rush towards the future is threatening

what little is left of China's ancient traditions and beliefs.

This morning, Wendy is taking me to meet her friend from the Aini tribe,

Li Jin Mei, who is desperately trying to hold back the tide

of tarmac and preserve what is left of her culture.

So this is where Li Jin Mei lives.

she's got this little traditional house

right on this massive road.

It's like having Anne Hathaway's Cottage in the middle of the M1.

CAR HORNS HONK

It's a construction site.

Ni hao! Ni hao, Li Jin.

Ni hao.

The Aini are known for their hospitality

and beautiful embroidered clothes.

Oh, that smells good.

She is preparing a traditional feast

and what can only be described as a local delicacy.

Oh, God, what is that?

Is it there for luck or is it actually a food item?

Food.

You eat... Will you eat it?

-Chuan tong?

-Yeah.

So how many dishes are you doing today?

12?

-14.

-14!

It's always the women that cook in Aini culture?

What do the men do? Sit and smoke?

Hunting and bullshitting?!

Did she say hunting and bullshitting?

Tell her it's the same the world over.

And hunting is illegal, so it's just left them with bullshitting.

An hour later, lunch is served...

in what feels a bit like a motorway service station.

That is an awesome little buffet going on there.

Gosh, what is this? This looks ominous.

It is moonshine.

Lovely! Aini moonshine, this is what every meal needs.

Let's call it a digestive.

Ah, bless you.

Gibaduo, Sese, Sese.

-ALL:

-Sese!

Oh, down the hatch, there.

'I'm not sure if that face means it's a good batch or a bad batch.'

OK, so I eat this, then the pickles.

Where's the pickles?

Quite ritualised this -

I'm being pointed at and you have to eat things in a certain order.

She's secretly... She's constantly topping up.

OK, if this is being Aini, then respect.

-Gibaduo. ALL:

-Sese!

Oh, dear.

'Oh, that's definitely a bad batch.'

My liver is the size of a pistachio right now.

Oh, God, no.

OK.

Li Jin Mei's interest in her Aini culture began

when she was asked about it at a dinner party

and couldn't provide an answer.

Ashamed, she decided to dedicate her life there and then

to its preservation, through championing its cuisine

and, most importantly, its traditional embroidery.

So, for instance, explain to me the meaning of this pattern.

-Oh, this is the crab's eyes.

-Those are the crab's eyes?

-Crab's eyes.

That is, yeah...

That's very interesting for me.

It sort of shifts completely my view of culture.

It's been very enlightening for me to hear that.

SHE SINGS:

Gibaduo.

-ALL:

-Sese!

Well, I'm not surprised they need to embroider their history,

because if everyone round here drinks like Li Jin Mei,

no-one will remember a thing.

Sese!

Sese, Sese!

THEY SING TUNELESSLY

Incredibly, a good night's sleep and two paracetamol later,

I'm ready to hit the road and head north,

out of the smoggy city of Jinghong.

My head is exploding already with questions...

mainly regarding culture.

What is culture?

What's important about culture?

I know what we've kept in the UK.

We've kept Shakespeare and Dickens and Morris dancing.

But it begs the question, if you know what you've kept...

how do you know what you've lost?

And that's what China is facing at this precise moment in time.

It's trying to work out what is significant from the past

that it can take with into its busy and bustling future.

And it's looking and saying,

"Yeah, we can take the roofs from Dai culture,

"that's nice and that's traditional.

"We can take the water festivities.

"We can take pu-erh tea because it's commercially viable."

But just at the edge of that precipice

and the edge of everything interesting and diverse being lost,

you've got someone like Li Jin Mei who's going,

"I've got this, it's embroidery.

"I don't have script, I cannot write it down.

"And if you lose this or consign it to tourist tat,

"then my culture that's been going for hundreds of years is lost."

And all that is just blowing my mind!

I'm travelling 600 miles north

to the town of Baisha.

In this region, the Mekong has a new name,

the Lancang Jiang or "turbulent river".

And look, there's the Mekong, who'd have thought it?

I thought someone had drunk it, I haven't seen it for miles.

But there it is, burbling away.

Baisha nestles in the shadow of the Himalayas

and is home to the Naxi people.

Far from the concrete jaws of Jinghong,

it now feels I'm entering a China I didn't even know existed.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC PLAYS

I've just stumbled across this fantastic, colourful,

senior citizens line dance.

And what's magical about this is that it isn't a tourist show.

This something that these people do every Sunday

and have done for hundreds of years.

The fact that I'm here is totally immaterial to them

and it's just magical to behold.

Hey!

That was so - mwah! Beautiful.

This one was great, what is that?

Oh, you've got the...? Oh, hello!

Oh, there's some sexy hands.

I'm not good enough! You're too good.

-THEY SPEAK IN OWN LANGUAGE

-No, 72?!

You are...70?

71? No!

71!

-How old are you?

-One, two, three, four, five, six.

-60?

-Six.

You all look so young! You move...

I'm surrounded by the most excitable, brilliant,

robust pensioners.

I love them.

Baisha has been world famous for its botanists and herbalists,

ever since Victorian plant hunter Joseph Rock passed through here.

He became friends with renowned Chinese herbalist Dr Ho.

His son, Dr Ho II, now runs the clinic.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Ni hao.

-Nice to meet you.

-Very nice to meet you, Dr Ho.

-I am Dr Ho.

-So very nice to see you.

-Nice to meet you.

It's my pleasure to see you.

-How are you?

-Very well, thank you.

-Of course you're very well.

-All the friends...

-All the friends are here.

-Yeah, you all the friends.

So is this your garden?

-My wife.

-This is your wife? Of course this is your wife.

I'm 92, she is 91.

All strong.

You're 92 years old?!

Yeah, she's 91.

-You look very well. Very nice to see you.

-All strong.

-Ni hao.

-Ni hao.

-Ni hao.

Dr Ho has been practising herbal Chinese medicine

for over 70 years.

May I know your age?

44. 44.

-Good.

-Good?

You're the first person to say that's good.

Practitioners of Chinese medicine

believe that in order to heal a sick person,

you must treat the individual rather than their symptoms

and restore their natural balance.

It has long been a fascination of mine.

If you...very bad day, you have

a very bad day, massage here.

Lift!

Suddenly, you go there

and you, "Wah-hey!"

Here...

Oh! Oh!

Oh, what was that?!

Feels like being electrocuted.

-Very bad day.

-Yes.

Also made my lips bleed quite badly as well.

-HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

-Yeah, you're a genius.

You OK?

Yeah.

'Dr Ho has hit a pressure point that has immediately made me

'a little frightened of him, but it has given me mental alertness,

'which may come in handy when I'm up in the mountains.'

Now I'm going to go to the herb garden,

but I'm being taken by the third and fourth Dr Ho,

cos, as we know, Dr Ho does like to regenerate

so these are the next reincarnations.

-So will you take me to the...

-Please.

Yeah, I'm going to follow you, OK.

Look, you've got the white coats and everything.

60% of Yunnan's plants are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

The Ho family are masters and were collecting these powerful herbs

way before the Victorian plant hunters came trundling through.

-Ah!

-It's medicine.

I want to live here.

It's medicine. All medicine.

The Hos have over 1,000 plant species here...

and that is species, not individual plants!

What is this one good for?

It's good for the arthritis.

But it's the pollen...

The pollen is good.

The pollen is good, but some time pollen is, for some people, allergic.

If you have no allergy, the pollen is good for the energy.

Good for chi.

-Pollen.

-I shall bear that in mind.

Seeds, flower, root part.

Can I eat that?

Yes. Not poison.

But this you can eat, this is good for...

It's like cinnamon, it's actually really delicious.

It's really delicious.

This is more delicious.

What is this one?

More delicious, good for diabetes,

good for high sugar of the...

for goat.

-For GOUT?

-Goat, yeah. Big pain.

Big toe, yeah.

Henry VIII would have loved this. Oh, that's sweet.

This is our displaying plant species.

One, two, three, four -

is all one family, chrysanthemum.

-These are all chrysanthemum?

-Chrysanthemum family.

One, two, three, four.

So why are they good for health, chrysanthemums, what do they do?

Oh, chrysanthemum family.

The family of chrysanthemum, with chrysanthemums.

Different plants have different effects.

So what about this massive one here?

The Vladimiria beradioidea.

It's good for cancer, good for stomach-ache, for many things.

You've got more plants here

than anywhere else pretty much in the world?

I'm very sorry to say... I'm very sorry to tell you...

-Are you out of plants?

-Yeah.

Some plants is maybe lost plants.

Destroyed very fast.

Really fast.

Who's destroying it?

There are many, many people.

China's new money has increased demand for herbal medicine.

Now it's a 60 billion industry and still growing.

Businessman use machines!

They take everything.

HE IMITATES MACHINE

It's very easy to destroy, disappear. It's a pity.

It's a pity.

Ah, this makes me very sad. It's the same everywhere.

Very sad.

It's a highly competitive market and changing fast,

like everything else in China.

I'm leaving Baisha and heading north towards the source of the Mekong.

The landscape is getting wilder.

But its beauty is somewhat tainted by this brand spanking new road.

The river is wild here, too.

No good for transporting freight or even fishing.

But there are other uses for turbulent rivers.

Unfortunately, we can't stop here and shoot anything

because the government have expressly forbidden us from filming

any of the dams in China on the Mekong.

But you can see the devastation on the landscape.

That is a major blot,

the sort of thing that would give Prince Charles an embolism.

The six dams already in service here

generate approximately 15,000 megawatts.

That's enough to light up London for three years.

But power like this comes at a cost.

More than 100,000 ethnic people were displaced to make way for the dams.

And the ecological damage to people and habitats downstream

in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam has yet to be calculated.

The village of Cizhong is home to Tibetan people.

Over the centuries, they have come down from the plateau

along the ancient horse tea route

and settled in these Himalayan foothills.

Other travellers have arrived here, too, from further afield,

bringing different cultures and beliefs.

SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE

It's been a very long time since my last confession.

Slightly feeling it now, I feel bad.

Once they've got you, they've got you forever.

SINGING CONTINUES

French missionaries arrived in Yunnan in the 1850s,

bringing the Catholic gospel with them.

And, over time, 80% of this village converted to Catholicism.

HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

I was brought up a Catholic, but lost my faith a long time ago.

Maybe it's the altitude, but I rather like this fusion

between the Bible-bashers and the Buddhists.

Today, I'm visiting Mr Xaio,

a man I met in church last night with a truly humbling story to tell.

When the Communist Party came into power in 1949,

all foreign missionaries were expelled from China.

Catholicism, along with all other religions, was banned.

-Ni hao.

-Ni hao.

-Nice to see you, darling. Nice to see you.

Ah, look!

Look at these little beauties.

They're looking extremely plump.

Under Chairman Mao's regime,

Mr Xaio, along with 20 million other Chinese,

was imprisoned in one of the many "re-education" camps...

which is the party phrase meaning "hard labour".

The Bible teaches you to forgive.

Do you forgive the people involved in your re-education?

Do you forgive that period of history

and what it meant to you personally?

So this is the certificate that exonerates you from all...

Wow! That's some certificate.

"Thank you for all your hard labour in prison(!)"

That speaks volumes.

THEY SING TOGETHER

Mr Xaio's faith has carried him through dreadful hardship

and I'm glad he has finally found his peace.

HE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

HE COUGHS

Oh, dear! Please don't let us lose you.

As well as the Bible and church,

the missionaries left a very French legacy...

vineyards.

-Ni hao!

-Ni hao.

I'm not convinced that modern-day China's legacy

will be quite so palatable.

Five years ago, construction work along the banks of the Mekong

made this valley ridge unstable.

And what would your worst nightmare be?

Your worst vision of Cizhong in ten years' time,

what would be the most terrible thing that could happen to it?

Come on!

Just looking at this landscape tells the story itself.

Cos it's either terraced farms and vineyards

of the 19th century French missionaries...

You can see in the distance the sleek new concrete road

and the ensuing landslides of modern China.

And running through it all, despite the change in weather,

despite falling rocks, despite overfishing...

the Lancang Jiang, the Mekong River, it just flows timelessly

and quietly through it all.

-LITTLE GIRL GIGGLES

-Except for you!

You're not very quiet, you're actually really loud.

You're infernally loud.

They can hear you all the way to Cizhong.

Sometimes this journey up the Mekong

has felt like reading a book backwards.

I know how it ends 3,000 miles away in Vietnam,

but I've yet to experience the very first chapter.

We're climbing higher now, into the Himalayas,

where the Mekong starts its story.

That is an awesome drop.

That is one of the biggest gorges in the entire world

and that is stunning.

Look down there!

It is so spectacular.

Look at that.

And you can see an entirely new perspective on the river.

I've always sort of trundled along it,

and now, this amazing bird's- eye view.

-BREATHLESSLY:

-You can hear that the altitude

is just starting to bite now.

We're about 3,500 meters above sea level.

And my chest has gone a little Darth Vader.

But the good news is...

I've got Dr Ho's special acupressure point here.

So any point I'm feeling queasy...

bosh!

I get that electrocuted feeling.

Ooh, I am really feeling the nip of altitude.

Slight desire to run for no good reason,

or do a dance, or sing, or cry, or something.

I'm ready to go to the next level.

I want to go above 4,000.

See what happens then.

I reckon at 4,000, you could put a Jim Davidson DVD on

and I would cry with laughter.

Maybe 5,000.

As we approach Tibet, Buddhist prayer flags fly along every ridge.

The Tibetans believe they pacify the gods,

as the wind lifts their prayers to the heavens.

So, now I've arrived at the threshold, where China meets Tibet,

but, sadly, due to well-publicised political "differences",

I'm not allowed to go through.

It's incredibly frustrating, but I suppose the only good thing

is I get to see the Khawa Karpo mountains,

beautifully bathed in sunlight with snowy peaks,

that have such spiritual significance for Tibetans.

What do you mean - cloudy?

The ancient kingdom of Tibet came under Chinese rule in 1951

when the Communists marched in.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was forced into exile.

To this day, Tibetans are still persecuted,

as the Chinese seek to marginalise their unique culture.

As a result, Tibet is off-limits to foreign film crews.

So, instead of following the river,

I have to take three flights, manoeuvring around Tibet -

which is now officially part of China

and renamed the Tibet Autonomous Region.

These flights will take me to Qinghai province,

where I can rejoin the Mekong and get close to the source.

So, I heard that there are approximately twelve million yaks

in this area and six million Tibetans

-Twelve million!

-Twelve million yaks, six million people,

which means that if the yaks get together...

it's over for you guys.

I've come to China's north eastern part of the Tibetan plateau

and I'll be staying with a family

that lives by the banks of the river.

Like most Tibetans in this remote corner, they are yak herders.

During the winter, they graze their yaks here,

but in the warmer months, they're nomadic,

following their animals across the high plateau.

Will I be the first western face that this family has seen?

I think so, yeah.

I feel bad that it's me.

They could've...I don't know...

We could have found someone blonder or glossier, maybe.

Ah, tashi delek.

Ah, demo, demo.

Oh, that's quick. Gosh, hello. Nice to see you.

'This is Aba and his wife Ama,

'who live here with their extended family.'

Hello, darling. Hello.

Oh, thank you.

What were you expecting

when you knew somebody from the west was coming?

What did you expect?

What did you think? What did you imagine?

I think you're thinking of Bonnie Langford,

but I don't think she's due here for a while.

The yaks are already on the move.

They must be brought in for the night,

safe from the wolves and bears that prowl the mountains.

These gentle beasts are essential to life at this altitude.

Perfectly adapted to the thin air and biting cold,

they provide everything for the family -

from food and clothing to fuel for their fires.

Their butter is offered to the gods

and their wool is woven into the prayer flags.

Of all the experiences I've had,

this is the one which feels so timeless.

You come up this mountain and you immediately feel the rhythms

of thousands of years working through you.

Of course you'd believe in God.

Look at it! Look at your office!

Look at it!

I want to come and work with you.

THEY COAX YAK IN TIBETAN

Deftly done.

Come on. Oh, you are really strong.

It's not so bad.

Come on, it's better than being eaten by a wolf.

TIBETAN RECITAL

Every evening before bed, Ama and Aba recite their Buddhist mantras.

The hypnotic chanting reverberates through the room.

It's the perfect lullaby.

TIBETAN RECITAL CONTINUES

Oh, that's good.

A faint tang of yak on the mattress, if I'm honest, but...

I'm that tired, it doesn't matter. Plus, I love the yak.

This is comfortable. I'm living here, I'm moving here.

Good night, everyone.

Demo ni.

Demo ni, yaks.

-Demo ni.

-Demo ni, demo ni.

If this goes on all night, there will be no demo ni.

Believe it or not, this is the start of summer.

They just know.

Right.

I'm not going to be squeamish about this.

Ah, look!

Yeah. Victory.

I'm getting there.

It's a bit slow.

Oh, my knees went then. Oh.

Ooh.

There are very few things I'd enjoy getting up for,

but this would be one of them. Just...

..total sense of calm, nothing is rushed, the animals are at peace.

What an amazing way of life...

It's hard, though. It's very hard.

One mustn't romanticise.

Nothing wasted.

Oh, that's great. That's like a Frisbee, that one.

'That one needed Imodium, I tell you.'

Yak dung is the family's main source of fuel

and has to be spread out on the ground to dry.

Ama has been blessed with seven children,

but I wonder if they'll want to carry on

living this ancient way of life.

Do you think they'll want to be yak herders

when they finish school?

You look after them very beautifully.

Hai.

There's quite a lot of eyes on me for this moment.

This is a real east-west cultural handshake.

So, this is yak butter tea.

It's gravy and then you get the real dairy kick.

And a sort of faint Assam back note.

-It's very good. Ya buddha.

-Ya buddha.

Ya buddha, ya buddha, ya buddha.

The landscape here is sacred and revered.

Tibetan Buddhists, like Ama and Aba,

believe that everything is alive and has an immortal soul,

whether it be animals, the rocks, or the land itself.

The Mekong - now known as Dza Chu or Rocky Waters - is no exception.

There she is. She's never looked so good.

When collecting water,

three blessings must be given to the gods as thanks.

If you came out onto this river and it was two miles wide,

black with diesel fumes,

and everywhere you looked there were plastic bottles

and food cartons,

how would that make you feel?

So, on this trip, I've come down to the river a million times

and it's really painful to have done this journey this way round.

It's really painful to know the end before you know the beginning,

to slowly have that innocence drained from you,

and then to be confronted by somebody who only knows the start

and present to them the idea of this river as black and angry,

and polluted and corrupt.

There's something so profound about the husbandry of the environment

in its entirety here...

that get slowly lost the further you go downstream.

Wherever I go, it will never be as beautiful as this, in every way.

Thank you. Bless you.

I will come back here sometime.

-Tashi delek.

-Tashi delek. Tashi delek.

-Tashi delek.

-Tashi delek.

-Tashi delek.

Bless you.

My Mekong journey is very nearly at an end,

but I have one more place to visit before I head for home -

the river's spiritual source,

where the water first touches the lives of people.

As I push higher and higher into this sacred landscape,

I suddenly realise...

I've been on a pilgrimage.

This is Negyama Monastery,

a spiritual site close to the geographical source of the Mekong -

and my final destination.

Nuns, like these, have lived here for generations

under the shadow of these holy mountains,

chanting and meditating by the waters of this river.

GONG CRASHES

GONG CRASHES

If I say hello to the nuns, will they be able to say hello back?

Tashi delek. Hello.

I've never met an shyer group.

Hello, hello. How are you?

Hello. I'm good, how are you?

GONG CRASHES

Welcome to our monastery.

Thank you for having me in your monastery. Thank you very much.

I've arrived at a rather auspicious time.

The nuns are heading to the river to make an offering

to the water gods, or Nagas.

The Nagas are worshipped all along the Mekong,

but here they have a very special significance.

There's incredible wind.

If you are going to go all this way

and see all this magnificence,

and encounter these once-in-a-lifetime experiences,

one after another, after another,

this surely has to be the way

to end.

CHANTING IN TIBETAN

The Naga gods are powerful,

often depicted as wise and great serpents or dragons.

But they are also vulnerable to human stupidity and greed,

and are easily angered.

Offerings must be made to appease them.

And, in return, the people are given protection,

creating an eternal bond between humans, gods and the mighty river.

CHANTING IN TIBETAN CONTINUES

BELLS CHIME

HE CHANTS IN TIBETAN

This is genuinely one of the most

overwhelming experiences of my life, in every sense.

It feels like so many whirling questions I had about myself...

..don't matter any more.

It's about experience and joy and peace,

and community and landscape

and sky and whatever you perceive God to be

and that's all come together...

here with these total strangers.

My journey up the Mekong

has come to an end.

I've travelled more than 3,000 miles

through four countries

along a river that's on the point

of extraordinary change.

If I'm honest, I never expected to be so very moved by this trip...

which perhaps says more about me than I'd like.

But I feel blessed to have been so profoundly affected

by the Mekong and its people.

-Number one!

-No, you are number one.

You are the Queen.

Yeah. She's saying I'm weak.

Moy, moy, moy!

You could lose the entirety of your arm.

Hup. Oh, yeah!

CROWD CHEERS

-ALL:

-Whoo!

These people are so poor.

I just feel really torn!

She's saying someone has farted and they have.

I was too polite to say anything,

but she just went like that and was like, "Yeah."

I have not felt this profoundly peaceful in such a long time.

The Mekong is about to change for ever,

as the dams take hold and the wild river is tamed.

I'm a great fan of green energy,

but if it's at the expense

of nearly 50 million people,

you've got to wonder where the balance is.

If I've learned anything on this trip,

it's that the people of the Mekong are all in this together...

and it's their stories that bring this great river to life.

It's not just thanks to the Mekong

that I've had this extraordinary adventure,

but it's thanks to them, so thank you.

Tam biet, cam on, khop chai lai lai,

xie xie, gai daan jai...

..tashi delek.