0:00:03 > 0:00:05Hmm.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54At last, a taste of the world's third longest river.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57There we are, real Yangtze water.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02So, the gorge, we're entering the gorge - Tiger Leaping Gorge.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12The combination of swollen rivers and towering mountains
0:01:12 > 0:01:16makes the Himalayan gorges the deepest in the world.
0:01:21 > 0:01:27Tiger Leaping Gorge took its name from the legend that a hunted tiger escaped by leaping across it.
0:01:27 > 0:01:33The gorge rises nearly two and a half miles from the river bed to the mountain summits above.
0:01:42 > 0:01:49My journey through the Eastern Himalaya will take me to Lugu Lake, Lijiang and the city of Kunming
0:01:49 > 0:01:54before crossing into Nagaland and Assam to link up with another great mountain river -
0:01:54 > 0:01:56the Brahmaputra.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Though it looks remote, our path is well-trodden.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02It was once part of the tea-horse route
0:02:02 > 0:02:07along which tea from Yunnan in China was traded for horses from Tibet.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11My guide, Li Yuan is from the Nahi people.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27The Nahi, one of many ethnic minorities in Yunnan Province, have a long history,
0:02:27 > 0:02:30a hieroglyphic language going back a thousand years
0:02:30 > 0:02:32and are very good at running guest houses.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40COW BELLS RING
0:02:43 > 0:02:47While they rest the horses, I head for the rest-room.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53Going to the lavatory tends to be one of the experiences you dread in places like this,
0:02:53 > 0:03:00but this is rather special, the sign says "Number One Toilet on Heaven and Earth".
0:03:00 > 0:03:02What a claim, must be investigated.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04Can it live up to that?
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Here it is...
0:03:06 > 0:03:08"Women...
0:03:08 > 0:03:10"Men."
0:03:10 > 0:03:15Oh, it's a fairly normal kind of Chinese toilet, a little trench down here,
0:03:15 > 0:03:22beautifully tiled though and, er, you sort of squat down and that's what makes it special!
0:03:22 > 0:03:23Look at the view!
0:03:23 > 0:03:28There's Jade Snow Mountain ranged above you!
0:03:29 > 0:03:31I'd happily be here for hours.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Might have to be!
0:03:35 > 0:03:37MOBILE PHONE RINGS
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Uh-oh, it's the hotel switchboard again.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43You can't escape progress, even up here.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Apparently that's the only place they can get reception.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53I think I'll go back to Number One toilet.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Ah, look at that!
0:04:10 > 0:04:12We're still only halfway along the gorge.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15There's another hard day's trekking ahead of us.
0:04:17 > 0:04:22Our excellent hosts, Mr and Mrs Feng de Fang bid us a personal farewell.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Oh!
0:04:34 > 0:04:39It's amazing. We're about half way along Tiger Leaping Gorge now and that's the...
0:04:39 > 0:04:46the Yangtze River, the great broad Yangtze squeezed into that white water, pounding away down there.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48It really is extraordinary.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52I keep thinking we've seen all the mountain scenery we'll ever see, but here,
0:04:52 > 0:04:58right at the eastern end of the...the Himalaya, it just, um... it just gets more spectacular.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03A tiger may be able to leap this lot, but for us a long trek is the only way
0:05:03 > 0:05:07to get to our next destination on the other side of these mountains.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14Well, I've reached the easternmost point of my journey.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18This is Lugu Lake on the borders of Yunnan and Sichuan.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23And the people who live around this lake are a matriarchal tribe called the Mosuo.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27To find out more about them, I'm going to meet their local hero,
0:05:27 > 0:05:33a showbiz superstar in China, called Namu.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38Namu's sunny smile is in marked contrast with the out of season chill in this lakeside resort.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47But at last I find someone who's prepared to row me across the lake to Namu's village.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33- Hey, hey!- Hello, Namu.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38I'd recognise you, of course, because you're extremely lovely and famous. I'm Michael.
0:06:38 > 0:06:39- Michael.- Thank you.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Welcome. Welcome.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43- Welcome.- Thank you.
0:06:44 > 0:06:51Buddhist welcomes and showbiz kisses over, Namu whisks me off to see the house where she was brought up.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Her people, the Mosuo, are renowned in China
0:07:03 > 0:07:10for their unusually open attitudes to sex, typified by what's known as the "walking marriage".
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Namu, can you describe, um...
0:07:13 > 0:07:15what you mean by a "walking marriage"?
0:07:15 > 0:07:20It sort of means that we don't get married, we don't have really a father...
0:07:20 > 0:07:27- So you don't have a marriage ceremony and you don't have a marriage contract.- No, no.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29And no wedding rings, you know.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33- No rings! - No rings, no rings, yeah. And, um...
0:07:33 > 0:07:37- How does that work? So it just, um...- Oh, it works fine, you know. I think it's very healthy.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42I never really see how the couple fight on the street, fight in the...coffee shops.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45So, like a couple is never living together.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49For example, you and me, you walk to me, I have your baby and my brother,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52will take care, my uncle will help me
0:07:52 > 0:07:55take care of my babies and then if we, your sister,
0:07:55 > 0:08:00walking out with another man, she have the kids and you have to help your sister take care of the kids.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03Uncles take the father's responsibility.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07A woman wants to have you, or don't wants to have you, it's their wish.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12She opens the flower chamber door for you if she wants to do. If she doesn't, she closes it.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15- So it's the woman who takes the initiative?- Yeah, yeah.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17We have... We like dancing and we like singing,
0:08:17 > 0:08:23so we have like a... We have like a circle dancing, we have 71 different circle dances.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27And then if we were dancing, if I was interested in you, I were dancing with you,
0:08:27 > 0:08:33and then I would do this to your hand, do this to your hand, that means I'm very much interested.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37TRADITIONAL FLUTE MUSIC, SINGING
0:08:50 > 0:08:55Despite my deft footwork, I feel a distinct lack of pressure on the palms.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58But Namu hasn't given up on me.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03So, what happens? This is what you call the...the flower room?
0:09:03 > 0:09:07- This is our flower chamber.- Yes. - Flower room for girls.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09The girl would be, what, thirteen upwards?
0:09:09 > 0:09:14At thirteen, usually they have flower chamber, but they don't immediately go with men.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19The mother have to training her, how do you serve a man, how do you serve a man, you know,
0:09:19 > 0:09:23receive man, sexually, you know, not like the Han Chinese - very secret - we're open in this.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Ah, so is that what your, your mother told you?
0:09:26 > 0:09:30- My mother told me, good sex is very good for the skin. - Yeah. Very good for the skin!
0:09:35 > 0:09:38I'm being sort of buttered up here by a...
0:09:38 > 0:09:42potato and by a mandarin orange, I'm getting a bit over excited.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47Have we run out of film, Mike? I think we've just run out of film, haven't we? Oh, dear!
0:09:47 > 0:09:51- You're lucky to be in my room - my flower chamber!- I'm very privileged!
0:09:51 > 0:09:57If you have a long, long relationship with this woman, you have to come to the girl's flower chamber.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02After, when the mama sleep, that's why there are so many songs about,
0:10:02 > 0:10:07"Come on, Mother, you go to sleep, the mosquito bites me so much". You know, they...
0:10:07 > 0:10:09NAMU SINGS TRADITIONAL SONG
0:10:17 > 0:10:21So there are so many songs about this joke.
0:10:21 > 0:10:26- Tell me about your flower chamber that you set up, I mean, did you have...- I, myself, I'd no...
0:10:26 > 0:10:30- You must have had lots of men queuing round the block, I'd imagine.- Actually, I never had a...
0:10:30 > 0:10:35- I never... My flower room, this room is still virgin!- Really?
0:10:36 > 0:10:42Because, um, I've, um... Right after I had my flower chamber I went to city.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Namu calls herself "a five-star gypsy".
0:10:48 > 0:10:53The reason she deserted Lugu Lake for the wider world lies deep in her childhood.
0:10:54 > 0:11:01She tells me about it over cups of butter tea and crispy pork fat cooked by her aunt.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03My mother to me is...
0:11:03 > 0:11:05in and out like a wind.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08I only remember her is her skirt.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11- I don't remember her.- Why did she send you away, do you think?
0:11:11 > 0:11:18I was a third daughter and my mother wanted to have boys, so she tried to give me away, three times, but...
0:11:18 > 0:11:24because I was a crying baby, they returned me. So she sent me to live in the mountain with my uncle.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29My uncles never speak and, um, yaks doesn't speak,
0:11:29 > 0:11:36so I was in mountain for many years by myself, just, you know, wonder, thinking, um, that's why...
0:11:36 > 0:11:39I can't imagine you without someone to talk to.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42No, I talk too much, that's why nobody talk to me before!
0:11:42 > 0:11:45And why did you decide to leave?
0:11:45 > 0:11:51I wanted to go to Beijing, wear high heeled shoes and pink lipstick, you know, that's how I thinking.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53But she doesn't want to be forgotten.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57So what's this going to be, Namu, this huge palace?
0:11:57 > 0:11:59- Castle!- Castle on the hill, yeah.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03- Actually, this is a museum.- It's a museum of...- It's a museum for my...
0:12:03 > 0:12:06- personal museum.- Oh, I see.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11Because this is such a wonderful view. It's the best place to see Lugu Lake.
0:12:11 > 0:12:17It's a beautiful place, but it's only been discovered in the last ten years, right, Lugu Lake, really?
0:12:17 > 0:12:21- When you were growing up here, there were no tourists.- No.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25No, tourists and no cars, no mobile phones, and no...
0:12:25 > 0:12:27electricity, you know.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31But 60,000 tourists came last year.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37In the beginning they... The idea... The idea for them to come over here, it's just one of...
0:12:37 > 0:12:40looking for free sex... They don't get it!
0:12:40 > 0:12:42Did they ask for their money back?
0:12:42 > 0:12:47No, they get some other things, like the views, good air,
0:12:47 > 0:12:49and also...
0:12:49 > 0:12:54they sort of like come here and they'd like, they'd wash their heart.
0:12:54 > 0:13:00Having washed, or at least lightly sponged my heart in the powerful atmosphere of Lugu Lake,
0:13:00 > 0:13:04I feel it's perhaps time to take a check on the rest of my body.
0:13:04 > 0:13:10The fertile Himalayan foothills provide ideal ingredients for traditional Chinese medicine.
0:13:15 > 0:13:21Near the old city of Lijiang lives one of its most famous practitioners, Dr Ho.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26Branded a bourgeois and banned from medicine
0:13:26 > 0:13:30in the days of Chairman Mao, he's now built up a worldwide reputation.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33I've been recommended to him by a Monty Python friend of mine.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Hello, Doctor Ho?
0:13:37 > 0:13:41My name's Michael Palin, I'm from London.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45I'm a friend of Terry Jones, who I think came here some time ago.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48- I remember you, you... - You remember me, was I here?
0:13:48 > 0:13:50I don't think I was.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55Nice to meet you again. Thank you very much for visiting me again.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57You're welcome. Please.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01- Your chi seems weak.- My chi is weak. - You know chi?
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Chi means...your energy.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07- Say, "Ah".- Ahhhh!
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Your digestion seems weak.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14What should I eat or not eat?
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Um, simple food.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Simple food. I've been having...
0:14:19 > 0:14:22here in Lijiang the pork is very good. Is that good or not good?
0:14:22 > 0:14:24I don't think so, pork not so good.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29You mean the food in China... The good news comes when he compares me to other foreigners.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34- Compare foreigners, you are excellent.- Oh, right!
0:14:34 > 0:14:36- Yes.- Thank you.
0:14:36 > 0:14:44You listen to me. You are good - your pulse, no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, no liver fat...
0:14:44 > 0:14:46no kidney stone, no gall stone...
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Everything's OK, only...
0:14:49 > 0:14:55Your stomach's weak. Your stomach - a little chi, a little weak.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57- Yes.- So, don't worry, be happy.
0:14:57 > 0:15:03Happiness, it seems, is the best medicine, second only to the cooking of Dr Ho's handsome wife,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05sporting full Nahi costume.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07Simple food that you were talking about?
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Not really simple, not really simple.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16She conjures up a gorgeous meal from hyacinth, water lily, anchovy,
0:15:16 > 0:15:21baby pig, Yunnan ham and everything her husband says I shouldn't touch.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25I think I'll settle for her prescription.
0:15:38 > 0:15:45The old town of Lijiang is a winning combination of cobbled streets and sparkling canals.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49Its strong, squat buildings show little sign of the 50 major earthquakes
0:15:49 > 0:15:52that have shaken it in the space of 130 years.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Today it faces a different kind of seismic threat -
0:15:59 > 0:16:02three million tourists a year.
0:16:10 > 0:16:16Many of them head for one of the biggest draws in Yunnan - the Nahi Classical Music Orchestra.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21The case for the old music is defiantly made by their leader, Shuan Ker.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24They destroy the Chinese traditional music.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27The music, it is disappearing.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32It is disappearing in the shadow of the Himalaya.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34ORCHESTRA BEGINS PLAYING
0:17:04 > 0:17:06During the Cultural Revolution,
0:17:06 > 0:17:11many instruments had to be hidden away as the Red Guards set about destroying the past.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Shuan Ker himself was seen as a dangerous intellectual
0:17:34 > 0:17:40and spent the prime of his life doing 20 years forced labour in a tin mine.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42Now, he's a local hero.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46- How are you?- Fine.- How are you?
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Very well indeed, thank you, very pleased to meet you.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53I'm with this famous man, isn't he, a very famous man?
0:17:53 > 0:17:56- Have you been here before?- No.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58He's not one of your orchestra, is he?
0:17:58 > 0:18:00- Yeah, yeah. Yeah. - He is one of your team?
0:18:00 > 0:18:04But now he retired from the orchestra.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06- Coffee?- Coffee here?
0:18:06 > 0:18:11- Why not?- I've been a bit starved of coffee for a while, so proper espresso or something...
0:18:11 > 0:18:13- Two cappuccinos.- Thank you. - Yeah. Two, lovely.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21How do you see the future? Do you think you will tour more, travel more?
0:18:21 > 0:18:26I think the future, no choice, it's, um, China in two ways.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30One, it's according to the Confucian-ism and...
0:18:30 > 0:18:36then added with Western capitalism, mixed together like Singapore...
0:18:36 > 0:18:42Now what we were doing here, this orchestra, no coin from the government.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46We made ourselves, selling tickets.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50Now, see, lots of audience. Full of the concert hall.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54So it is said, my pocket full.
0:18:54 > 0:19:00The old musicians, their pockets full. That's the capitalism make.
0:19:00 > 0:19:06If all dancing and singing groups in the China depend on the government,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09they gave money - no good.
0:19:09 > 0:19:14- The people living a better... a better life.- Yes.- That's...
0:19:14 > 0:19:18- Higher standard of living...- Yeah. But culture lost.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22- Yeah?- Culture lost. Even lost their language.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27- Now they're speaking in Mandarin. - Right.- The local old ladies, "Ni hau."
0:19:27 > 0:19:29That's not our language.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34So they're not interested so much in the Nahi languages, as such. They want...
0:19:34 > 0:19:42The local government is trying to do something for preserving the culture, but I think too late.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47- Too late. I've been working hard for preserving the music...- Yes.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Even that, change...the face.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54A little bit I catch,
0:19:54 > 0:19:58- otherwise everything gone.- You feel it's slipping away.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31The new China appears bright, glossy and unsentimental.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37Her cities seem only concerned with the future.
0:20:37 > 0:20:44In trying to compete with corporate America, China is growing increasingly to look like it.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46This is Kunming, the capital of Yunnan.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49It's one end of what used to be called the Burma Road -
0:20:49 > 0:20:54a supply line for the Allies in World War Two that connected China with India.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59The Hump was the name given to the 500-mile wide, 20,000ft mass of the Himalaya
0:20:59 > 0:21:06over which, until the Burma Road was completed, lay the only supply route behind Japanese lines.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08Planes were pushed to their limit.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Over 600 were lost, many plunging into the jungle
0:21:12 > 0:21:17on the Indo-Burmese border, an area known to this day as Nagaland.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21THEY CHANT
0:21:21 > 0:21:26The Naga comprise a dozen different tribes of which these, the Konyak Nagas,
0:21:26 > 0:21:30were the last to give up the proud tradition of head-hunting.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37My Konyak friend, Shingwong, is a local official
0:21:37 > 0:21:41who's brought me here to the border of India and Myanmar, formerly Burma.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45And you know in the Second World War when they...
0:21:45 > 0:21:50A lot of the RAF pilots, the people who had fallen behind the lines,
0:21:50 > 0:21:54- as it were, were rescued, would it have been by people like these?- Yes.
0:21:54 > 0:22:01My father has given word to, information to all of the villages to see that no white man is harmed.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05We still have a pilot's seat in the chief's house.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08- A pilot's seat?- Yes. - Do they? That's great, yeah.
0:22:08 > 0:22:14So there are some pilots around who, who owe their lives to...to the head hunters?
0:22:14 > 0:22:16- Nine of them.- Nine of them.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20So these were head hunters with hearts of gold.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23This weekend there's a big cross-border market.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27One of the events is this re-enactment of a headhunting raid.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29GUNFIRE, SHOUTING
0:22:29 > 0:22:31It's a war dance.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33You're telling me!
0:22:46 > 0:22:51On these necklaces, each brass face means a head taken.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24And I see quite a lot of heads.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28The...the skull, is that a trophy from the head hunting days?
0:23:28 > 0:23:31- Well, what's that, the... - The porcupine.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Porcupine? Has it got a buyer? Right.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39- Is it quite a delicacy, porcupine? - Yes.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42- It's quite nice...- Is it? - Like venison.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47Like venison. Ah, yes, yes. Quite strong, quite gamey, yeah.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50This gentleman here, is he a very distinguished man?
0:23:50 > 0:23:53He looks it, with a head dress like that, rather important.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57- He might have been...a warrior once. - Yeah.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00- You can see by the tattoo on the face.- Yeah.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04What's the largest number of heads that anyone's ever taken?
0:24:04 > 0:24:10- One I know from...- Yeah.- ..who had got 66 heads.- Ah!
0:24:10 > 0:24:12He's no more.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Another ex-head hunter, I think.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22So, one, two, three, four, five - five heads he's taken.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27Does he remember the British at all here? Did they seem strange?
0:24:27 > 0:24:29SHINGWONG SPEAKS IN LOCAL TONGUE
0:24:36 > 0:24:38He was afraid.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43- Afraid to go near and he thought, "The white man doesn't have any blood."- Yes. Good!
0:24:51 > 0:24:53- A tattoo? Yes. - A tattoo on his chest.
0:24:55 > 0:24:56Yes, what does that mean?
0:24:56 > 0:24:59Does that mean...? Oh, it goes all the way down?!
0:25:04 > 0:25:07There's a lot of history in there!
0:25:07 > 0:25:10My stomach's very boring. Look at that - very boring.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14- Bloodless.- Yes, not very nice at all.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Ooh, yes, there we are. Ooh!
0:25:18 > 0:25:23I think you win! You win on the decorative stakes!
0:25:23 > 0:25:28Other traditional activities go on away from the market.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Opium smoking still goes on, does it?
0:25:31 > 0:25:36- This is clandestine, illegal.- Yeah. Do the authorities turn a blind eye?
0:25:36 > 0:25:38No, they're strict.
0:25:38 > 0:25:39So there's a restriction.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44So what happens to these guys if they're caught?
0:25:44 > 0:25:45They may be imprisoned.
0:25:45 > 0:25:52- Cultivation is also stopped, but they...clandestinely get it from Myanmar.- Right.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04So how many times a day do they smoke?
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Three to four times daily.
0:26:37 > 0:26:42Inside a long-house I find a pilot's seat from the Second World War
0:26:42 > 0:26:47and an old book offering clues as to why anthropologists liked it here.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55Perfect bedtime reading.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Next morning I'm invited to visit the Ang,
0:27:00 > 0:27:04the local headman, in a huge house made entirely of vegetation.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07I've come to see the chief. Hello, girls.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11Ah, there he is. Watching television again.
0:27:11 > 0:27:12EastEnders?
0:27:14 > 0:27:20I ask Shingwong if the chief could tell me how a village like this had changed over the years.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29SHINGWONG TRANSLATES People coming from enemy... Different villages, attacking them.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34The moment the church was built, the moment religion came in,
0:27:34 > 0:27:36this has all been stopped.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40And they have only one fear - that is fear of God.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42How many children does he have?
0:27:47 > 0:27:51- Five from the actual queen...- Yes.
0:27:51 > 0:27:57- ..And two from the concubines, so seven. And he has ten concubines. - Ten concubines!
0:27:58 > 0:28:04- I was going to ask, do the concubines all live here with...with the king?- They all live together.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07- In this...- In separate compartments.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Is that still sort of permitted to have ten concubines in this...
0:28:10 > 0:28:14- Christian time? - Still with the chiefs, yes.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17It's not allowed, but this carries on.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21Oh, what other powers does he have?
0:28:21 > 0:28:23Giving out capital punishment,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26or imprisoning.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28Everything will depend on him.
0:28:28 > 0:28:34So he could... He could decide on whether someone was executed or not.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Capital punishment was given to a person
0:28:42 > 0:28:46- who has spied against a village. - Spied against the village.
0:28:46 > 0:28:52And he has got... Passed some secret information to... villages.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57- So, they were bounded and thrown over a cliff.- Wow!
0:29:02 > 0:29:05One of the great problems on this whole Himalayan journey
0:29:05 > 0:29:10has been when we come to international frontiers. It's always so difficult to get across.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14That's why it's lovely to be here, in Myanmar and to know
0:29:14 > 0:29:17that if I want to get into India, I just have to do...that,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20because the apex of the chief's hut here goes along the border.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23So, this leg is in Myanmar, this leg is in India.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25A truly international body.
0:29:25 > 0:29:30There we are in India, I can hop into Myanmar, I can do my exercises...
0:29:30 > 0:29:35Ho! Chest in India, bottom in Myanmar.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39I can do international exercises without any problem at all!
0:29:39 > 0:29:42Oh, if only all world's frontiers were like this!
0:29:42 > 0:29:43Oh!!
0:29:48 > 0:29:50COCK CROWS
0:29:50 > 0:29:52We leave just in time.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56The rains are coming and they can turn tracks into quagmires
0:29:56 > 0:29:59and completely cut off these remote hill villages.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03And is this road, are they going to... Will they make this a hard top road?
0:30:03 > 0:30:07- Yes, there's a plan, a six year plan. - Six year plan.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12It's pretty rough and ready at the moment.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16How strong is Christianity here now?
0:30:16 > 0:30:1999% of the population is now Christian.
0:30:19 > 0:30:24- 99% are Christian?- Yes.- Wow. Why have so many become Christian?
0:30:24 > 0:30:26It's because of education.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30They've come in contact with outside world.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35- Right. So, does the Christian religion provide the education?- Yes.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42At the Baptist Cathedral in Mon, 2,500 Naga voices are raised.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48CONGREGATION SING: "Onward Christian Soldiers"
0:31:18 > 0:31:22Memories of home have a habit of ambushing you in the least likely places.
0:31:22 > 0:31:29The church hymns at Mon were one thing, but something even more poignant is awaiting me in Assam.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Two powerful images from my northern boyhood -
0:31:32 > 0:31:34a steam engine...
0:31:35 > 0:31:37..and a coal mine.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44Tipong Mine has been in existence since the 1920s.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46As has this engine.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49Neither seems altogether real.
0:32:17 > 0:32:22It may look like a cross between Apocalypse Now and Thomas the Tank Engine,
0:32:22 > 0:32:27but Tipong is one of the mines that makes India the third biggest coal producer in the world.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31They even have priests on hand to bless the morning shift.
0:32:38 > 0:32:45I think I'm beginning to realise now what being given the tika by the priest is all about,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48because behind me is a temple.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50It's built over the entrance to the mine shaft.
0:32:50 > 0:32:55It's a temple to the goddess Kali who was the great destroyer.
0:32:55 > 0:33:02So I assume it's there, and the blessings go on to appreciate the goddess Kali, the destroyer
0:33:02 > 0:33:05on behalf of the people who are going to go under the earth
0:33:05 > 0:33:07and they do go down a long way. I'm told they go...
0:33:07 > 0:33:12It extends down about 1,000 feet below the temple there, the mine shaft.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17Assam is very, very prone to earthquakes.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20A very, very strong earthquake area,
0:33:20 > 0:33:25so I should think that a destroyer is quite, um... Needs a bit of propitiating.
0:33:28 > 0:33:34As the miners head underground, I have an appointment with Mr Das - Tipong's chief engineer.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37Security patrols keep an eye on us.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40Security, like safety, is one of the buzzwords here.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46Mr Das is keen that I should hear one of their latest safety songs.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49THEY SING IN LOCAL DIALECT
0:34:30 > 0:34:32- They're just...- Yeah, that's great!
0:34:32 > 0:34:34The best safety song I've heard!
0:34:34 > 0:34:37- They sang a safety song. - Yes, it's about safety in the mines?
0:34:37 > 0:34:41Safety, about the safety in the mines and they are just going to say to everybody,
0:34:41 > 0:34:47in true music, only one single message - that's safety first. Safety not at the cost of production.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51Well, I think that could be a big hit. It could win Eurovision, let's face it!
0:34:51 > 0:34:53SAFETY SONG ECHOES IN BACKGROUND
0:34:55 > 0:34:58What they were singing is, "Safety first, safety first.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00"In every step of work, heed the rules.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02"It's for us to remain awake all the time.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04"There is danger in every move.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07"If you obey all the rules, there will be no sorrow for us,
0:35:07 > 0:35:10"Safety first, safety first."
0:35:13 > 0:35:16And what's the economic viability of keeping open a mine like this?
0:35:16 > 0:35:18Does it make a profit?
0:35:18 > 0:35:23Private industry, they are mostly profit oriented
0:35:23 > 0:35:28and we have some other duties also regarding coal conservation,
0:35:28 > 0:35:32service to the community, service to the welfare of the community,
0:35:32 > 0:35:39so I do not think with the way we are running here, the same way would have one private company run this mine.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43They'd have looked for a profit and once the profit stops coming
0:35:43 > 0:35:46they'd have left, leaving the people here in the dark.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54There's oil as well as coal up here.
0:35:54 > 0:35:59Digboi not only produces oil, it has a museum dedicated to it.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04This is the first oil well in Asia.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06This was drilled in 1889
0:36:06 > 0:36:12around the same time... This derrick came up around the same time as the Eiffel Tower.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14So this was,
0:36:14 > 0:36:19this area here was one of the first oil fields to be discovered anywhere in the world.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22Yes. Coal had been discovered in Margarita just ahead
0:36:22 > 0:36:24and they were building the railway tracks.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27They used to use elephants for the railway work,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30so one evening one of the elephants came back
0:36:30 > 0:36:32with oil markings on its feet
0:36:32 > 0:36:36and so that's how they discovered that there was oil here.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40- And once...- Yes. It figures. - ..And once the drilling started,
0:36:40 > 0:36:45there were these Canadian engineers, they used to be so excited they'd say, "Dig, boy, dig,"
0:36:45 > 0:36:50- because the wells were hand-dug and that's how the name "Digboi" came into being.- I see.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55- Is that true, or is that just a, a well-established legend! - It's a well-established legend!
0:36:55 > 0:37:00- I love all this. I think these are great.- Yes, this is a BOC petrol pump, you know.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03- BOC?- Yeah, Burma Oil Company.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06A hot and heavy morning at Digboi station.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08Thanks to the coal and oil
0:37:08 > 0:37:11there's been a railway line here for over 100 years.
0:37:11 > 0:37:12Good morning.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Can I have a single ticket to Dibrugah, please?
0:37:18 > 0:37:19Thank you.
0:37:19 > 0:37:2218 rupees, that's very cheap.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27Eighteen rupees, that's about... 25 pence.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51The next big town is Dibrugah, on the fertile river plains
0:37:51 > 0:37:57where, in 1823, wild tea plants were discovered by Scotsman Robert Bruce.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02Now half of India's tea is produced in the carefully husbanded tea gardens of Assam.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12This was the first place in the world where elephants were trained to work,
0:38:12 > 0:38:14now there's much less for them to do.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22The elephant minders, called mahouts, face a serious loss of livelihood
0:38:22 > 0:38:25and the elephants an uncertain future.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41Manosh Jalan is a plantation owner who loves elephants
0:38:41 > 0:38:44and insists they're the best way to see his property.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51And what's happening to them now that there's less logging
0:38:51 > 0:38:53and the elephants are not much in demand?
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Can they get other jobs, or are they just out of work?
0:38:56 > 0:39:01There are fewer people taking up and elephants are doing a different type of work.
0:39:01 > 0:39:06Like, they are pulling bamboo. They are not necessarily doing timber work.
0:39:06 > 0:39:11Do elephants like working? Do they adapt to a discipline or...?
0:39:11 > 0:39:13Yeah. You see, they are very obedient.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16- Obedient?- Very, very obedient.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19MAHOUT SHOUTS AT ELEPHANT
0:39:19 > 0:39:25Sometimes it doesn't sound like it, it looks as though they're being very disobedient!
0:39:25 > 0:39:27You see, like with all wild animals...
0:39:29 > 0:39:32- ..there's always an element of uncertainty.- Yeah.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35Is there anything at all you can do,
0:39:35 > 0:39:38I mean of the 20 words that you use to sort of control an elephant,
0:39:38 > 0:39:41is any of them any good when it's bolting?
0:39:41 > 0:39:46No, not, nothing, nothing, you just have to... You just have to say your prayers
0:39:46 > 0:39:51and hope that you will get... You'll survive this and the elephant stops on its own.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57Once I get used to it, I almost forget I'm on an elephant.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00It feels more like being on board ship in a gentle swell.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07Tea is more of a way of life in Assam now.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10This is absolutely traditional.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13The casual employment also comes out of the same family,
0:40:13 > 0:40:18so it's generally the husband and the wife working and if one retires,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22the child gets the job, and so the tradition carries on.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26Do you expect your son or your daughter to go into this business?
0:40:26 > 0:40:29- I think that they cannot escape from it!- Oh!
0:40:29 > 0:40:30THEY LAUGH
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Ah, very nice, OK.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43After two hours doing the splits, I'm quite glad when the time comes to dismount.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45There's no graceful way of doing it, is there?
0:40:49 > 0:40:52And clearly it's a relief for the elephant too.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02It strikes me, Manosh, we're still terribly close to the Himalayas.
0:41:02 > 0:41:07Does that make Assam very different from the rest of India?
0:41:07 > 0:41:10No, if you look at the north-east India as a whole,
0:41:10 > 0:41:1498% of our borders
0:41:14 > 0:41:16is with international countries.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20Only 2% are connected... are connected to India.
0:41:20 > 0:41:27- Yes, because you've got a very narrow link with them. - So the entire bordering,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30immediate bordering areas of the north-east region are international.
0:41:30 > 0:41:36You have Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Tibet, and so on.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39You've got these two enormous countries
0:41:39 > 0:41:45separated by the Himalayas - China and India - do you think there can be a meeting of minds between them?
0:41:45 > 0:41:49It's not the mountains which are the barriers, I think it's the mind-set.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54It's a mind-set which looks a bit different from here in Assam -
0:41:54 > 0:42:01where Hong Kong is closer than Delhi and China is seen less of a threat and more of a trading opportunity.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08The Brahmaputra, rising a thousand miles away in Tibet,
0:42:08 > 0:42:14pours out of the Himalaya creating a fertile corridor that splits Assam in half.
0:42:14 > 0:42:21Makeshift ferries, packed tight, leave from makeshift jetties. Nothing is permanent.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24The Brahmaputra is a mighty river, isn't it?
0:42:24 > 0:42:27Yes, it's just one little channel of the Brahmaputra.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30- What, this is?- Yes.- Really? - Yeah, yeah, several channels.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34- A little channel? - Yes, one little channel. - It must be half a mile wide!
0:42:34 > 0:42:39- Yes, several channels like this. In some places, four kilometres, five kilometres wide.- Really.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44- Where does the name Brahmaputra come from?- Brahmaputra means "son of Brahma".
0:42:44 > 0:42:49Brahma is the three, the trilogy of gods and it's the only male river in India.
0:42:49 > 0:42:54It just looks very calm and serene now, but in the monsoon it's a different mood altogether.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58It's my good fortune to be riding the Brahmaputra with Maan Baruja,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01a 20-year-old walking encyclopaedia.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06Can you tell me a little bit about Majuli, the island where we're going?
0:43:06 > 0:43:10The main thing about the island is that it has lots of these Vaishnav monasteries.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12What we call satras.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16These create institutions now for Assam, because they're about 400 years old
0:43:16 > 0:43:20and they create institutions of art, culture, dance.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23These are celibate monks who live there.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28Majuli is the world's largest river island -
0:43:28 > 0:43:33250 square miles of flat fertile mud.
0:43:33 > 0:43:40The arrival of a 16th-century saint, Sankardeva, left substantial religious deposits as well.
0:43:40 > 0:43:46This monastery, dedicated to Vishnu, the Preserver of Life, is renowned for its music and dance.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49TRADITIONAL DRUM PLAYING
0:43:58 > 0:44:01Extraordinary intricate fluid movements.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04How long does it take to learn something like that?
0:44:04 > 0:44:05It takes about five years.
0:44:05 > 0:44:10- At least five years.- At least five years, from the first time from when you come here?
0:44:40 > 0:44:43TEACHER INSTRUCTS CLASS
0:44:43 > 0:44:46From the age of five or six, boys begin the painstaking
0:44:46 > 0:44:49and sometimes painful process of learning
0:44:49 > 0:44:52the 64 positions of classical dance.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04I have about five minutes to master the classical Assamese drum, the khol.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07My teacher Dulal is 41.
0:45:07 > 0:45:09He's been here for 35 years.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14This is called...means left side.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18Then there is three sounds at first.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21First is khol...
0:45:21 > 0:45:25down, down there is two different sounds, you see...
0:45:26 > 0:45:29- This is ta.- Yes.- T-A - ta.
0:45:31 > 0:45:37And you will slowly give breath here and this will be tha, OK?
0:45:37 > 0:45:39HE HITS DRUM SOFTLY
0:45:39 > 0:45:45- I can't even get mine to resound. - And this is than, OK?
0:45:46 > 0:45:49- HIGHER-PITCHED BANG - Yeah, like this.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08TEACHER KEEPS RHYTHM
0:46:15 > 0:46:18- So, you play.- Is this my concert? Am I ready?- Yes.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24It's getting that resonance.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33- So, you see... - NOTES RING OUT
0:46:47 > 0:46:51Oh, it's, just... I just haven't got the co-ordination.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54And what do they give when you're a six or seven year old?
0:46:54 > 0:46:58- Do you give a small one of these? - No, this is the same one. - Really? The same size?- Yes.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01FRANTIC DISCONNECTED DRUM BEATS
0:47:04 > 0:47:07That's my entire repertoire, thank you very much.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11There's no electricity or running water at the satra.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15The vegetarian diet is prepared by tried and trusted methods.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22Every day life here is resolutely pre-industrial.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34The monks have taken strict vows of purity
0:47:34 > 0:47:39and even the simplest tasks are accompanied by thorough ablutions.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Now, you're washing your hands and the floor.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05This is very, very important, is it?
0:48:05 > 0:48:08- The...the thing about purity?- Yes.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12Because you're... I'm impure and you're washed.
0:48:12 > 0:48:18- Yeah...- So, you can't touch me and you can't touch anything that isn't pure.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22- And if you do touch me now... - Not now. No touch. - ..you have to wash again, do you?
0:48:22 > 0:48:24- I wash again, yes.- Yeah.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29So, Dilip, how long have you lived in the monastery?
0:48:29 > 0:48:32- Nine years I live in this monastery. - Nine years.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36- And Lilaram?- 16, 17 years. - 16, 17 years.- Sixteen. Ah, right.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40- So he's been your guide? He's kind of helped you.- Yeah.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43I'm very happy and other monks I meet.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47Other monks, we love kisses.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52- Love.- Love?- Love, yeah.- Kisses? - Kisses, yeah.
0:48:52 > 0:48:58- Do you think that you will stay here for the rest of your life? - Yeah.- You do?
0:48:58 > 0:49:00- Yeah, I do, yeah.- How old are you now?
0:49:00 > 0:49:04- Now, 17 years.- Seventeen! So you think you will stay here?
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Yeah, I think I will stay here.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09- Really?- Really, I think.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12Would you be allowed to marry and stay in the monastery?
0:49:12 > 0:49:18- I'll marry I'll go outside.- Oh, I see.- No marry in the monastery.
0:49:18 > 0:49:19No, no, so you have to be celibate?
0:49:19 > 0:49:24- No sex, really.- No sex. - No sex when monks, yeah.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28There are women on Majuli Island,
0:49:28 > 0:49:32some of them engaged in quite bizarre practices.
0:49:32 > 0:49:37These ladies of the Mishing tribe are fishing, but not with conventional methods.
0:49:37 > 0:49:43Having trapped the fish with their wide wicker frames, they slip them down their cleavage.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55Well, I've always said you see more on a bicycle!
0:50:02 > 0:50:07Next day at the satra, preparations are going on for a rare treat.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10The monks have agreed to show us an extract from the Rasa Lila,
0:50:10 > 0:50:13a story they normally perform only once a year.
0:50:14 > 0:50:19The details of make-up and costume must be as precise as the performance.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28Most of the monks will be playing milkmaids.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35These two are clearly not regular transvestites.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59One of my hosts at tea yesterday will play the god Krishna.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06Krishna is Vishnu incarnated as a bit of a ladies' man.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10When he appears in the fields all the milkmaids fall hopelessly in love with him.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13CHANTING
0:52:02 > 0:52:05This monastery on Majuli Island really is a very special place.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10Partly because in this sort of overgrown Oxbridge college atmosphere,
0:52:10 > 0:52:14they really produce work of great skill and beauty.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16Also the people here are very friendly.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19They seem to be as curious about us as we are about them
0:52:19 > 0:52:23and also it's just such an oasis of serenity on a helter-skelter journey.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26It really brings the pace of life right down.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30I think I'll surrender to that for a minute.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33MONKS SING IN THE DISTANCE
0:52:45 > 0:52:50Next day Maan offers to take me to Kaziranga National Park
0:52:50 > 0:52:54where he grew up and where he still lives with his father.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56Majuli certainly...
0:52:56 > 0:53:00- had quite an effect. It sort of calmed...- It's very tranquil.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03..calmed us all down, very tranquil, kind of unrushed
0:53:03 > 0:53:08and now we're going to Kaziranga, is that right? Is that very different, or...?
0:53:08 > 0:53:12It's formed by the deposits of the Brahmaputra alluvial deposits.
0:53:12 > 0:53:17About a hundred years of conservation has led to a lot of regeneration of grassland
0:53:17 > 0:53:24and we now have the world's highest population of one-horned rhino, wild water buffalo and swamp deer.
0:53:24 > 0:53:29So how was it that you came to be brought up in Kaziranga?
0:53:29 > 0:53:32Well, my father's always been interested in conservation,
0:53:32 > 0:53:36so he decided to set up a small project in Kaziranga.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38And he's very unconventional in his thinking,
0:53:38 > 0:53:43so he thought he may give me a better education there than in the school.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45Yeah, it worked.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47- Oh, I don't know. - Is there anything you don't know?
0:53:47 > 0:53:53You must have a weakness somewhere. Probably... Petula Clark's middle period!
0:53:54 > 0:53:58Got him, you see, straight away! # Downtown! #
0:53:58 > 0:54:03On arrival at Kaziranga, we strike gold on our first safari.
0:54:03 > 0:54:08A long horned rhino, which this park saved from extinction.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12First close encounter with a rhino.
0:54:15 > 0:54:21Manju, your son has been a fount of learning and knowledge
0:54:21 > 0:54:23for us on this, on this trip so far.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26What sort of education did he have?
0:54:26 > 0:54:29If he went to school, he waste a lot of time.
0:54:29 > 0:54:34In school you have about two hours of study which you can do at home,
0:54:34 > 0:54:39but to do that two hours of study, takes over six hours to go to the school and come back...
0:54:39 > 0:54:44Maan's father, Manju, runs Kaziranga's best hotel.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47But in the 1960s, he was a radical Marxist.
0:54:47 > 0:54:52You see, when you're young you start off thinking, "Change the world."
0:54:52 > 0:54:57Every young man...change the world. We'll do this, we'll do that... Revolution, we'll change the world.
0:54:57 > 0:55:03After a little while, they get married and they say, "Let me change my wife, first."
0:55:03 > 0:55:08Then you start thinking, "Let me change my son." Ultimately you think, "Let me change myself,"
0:55:08 > 0:55:13because your wife doesn't listen to you, your son doesn't listen to you, so you may as well change yourself!
0:55:14 > 0:55:18Manju has changed from communist to conservationist,
0:55:18 > 0:55:21organising an elephant festival, now in its second year.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28The organisers hope it will dispel local prejudice against elephants,
0:55:28 > 0:55:31who many see as a destructive threat to their livelihood.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51The message being pounded out is that people should see elephants
0:55:51 > 0:55:55not as an enemy, but as fellow creatures we should look after.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59I mean, who could possibly hate an animal that plays football.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18They're not natural footballers, are they, elephants?
0:56:20 > 0:56:23It's more like a rugby scrum.
0:56:39 > 0:56:45Just in case there were any lingering doubts as to who is the stronger, a long-suffering elephant
0:56:45 > 0:56:52takes on a team of tourists, trainers, local politicians and the entire organising committee.
0:56:52 > 0:56:56To great applause, and a roar of irritation from the elephant,
0:56:56 > 0:56:59he effortlessly pulls the lot of us out of the arena.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04He's weakening, I think he's weakening, Maan.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13At the end of the day, when all the stunts are over,
0:57:13 > 0:57:17I have a rare chance to get close to the elephants...
0:57:17 > 0:57:20on their terms, rather than ours.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23They have very few sweat glands, so they need to cool off.
0:57:23 > 0:57:30- It's very important.- So how often a day would they really need to get into the water?- At least once a day.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33At least once a day. I'm not sure about this...
0:57:35 > 0:57:38Underwater tusks...fine, fine tusks.
0:57:38 > 0:57:43They don't need soap then, or anything like that? Just a bit of...
0:57:47 > 0:57:51It takes a lot of washing, doesn't it?
0:57:51 > 0:57:53- There.- 55 years old, this one.
0:57:53 > 0:57:58- How much?- 55.- 55? Oh, younger than me then.
0:57:59 > 0:58:06I must say, it's a rare and wonderful privilege to be able to make an elephant happy.
0:58:06 > 0:58:10Who knows, he might be a television presenter in his next life.
0:58:10 > 0:58:12It's been nice washing you.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15Feel better?
0:58:17 > 0:58:19SNORTING
0:58:19 > 0:58:22I think we'll take that as a yes.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24Next time on Himalaya...
0:58:24 > 0:58:31I'm in the Kingdom of Bhutan, trekking up hidden valleys, meeting a high-altitude poet,
0:58:31 > 0:58:34sending prayers for safety,
0:58:34 > 0:58:37and watching dancing like I've never seen it before.
0:58:37 > 0:58:42Seeing paintings the size of houses, and archery, Bhutanese-style.
0:58:42 > 0:58:45I cross the Bangladesh border,
0:58:45 > 0:58:48take on the traffic in Dhaka,
0:58:48 > 0:58:51meet friends on the ferry
0:58:51 > 0:58:55and follow the rivers till they reach the sea.
0:58:55 > 0:58:57Himalaya...the best way to get high!