October 1987, on an overland expedition across the entire Chang Tang Tibetan Plateau.  Here is where you find the warrior nomads of Tibet, the Khampas.  Renowned and feared for fierceness, they couldn’t have been friendlier to me when I gave them each what they treasured most in the world – a photo of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, far more valuable to them than gold.

Before, they were suspicious and angry at a stranger intruding upon them.  Instantly with gifting the photos, they were joyous and smiling.  They had no idea who I was, all they knew was that I was their friend, insisting I sit down and have a cup of yak-butter tea with them.  It was the most memorable cup of tea in my life. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #55 photo ©Jack Wheeler)   

Princess Iparhan, granddaughter of the ruler of the Silk Road oasis of Kashgar, was so famous for her beauty and the intoxicating natural aroma of her body that the Manchu Emperor far to the east called for her.  She was 22, the year was 1756.  The Emperor became completely infatuated with her, making Iparhan his Imperial Noble Consort, loving her deeply until her death 33 years later in 1789.

In mourning, the Emperor kept his promise to her that her body would be returned to Kashgar and buried in the mausoleum of Apak Hoja, built in 1640 by her Apaki family.  And there she rests today.  Everyone in Kashgar and beyond, however, knows the mausoleum as The Tomb of the Fragrant Concubine.

It’s a wonderfully romantic legend, and even though there are several conflicting versions, let’s hope this one is true.  Regardless, a visit to this peaceful shrine is certainly memorable.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #54 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

The high hidden Valley of Shing in western Tajikistan holds, as we learned in yesterday’s Glimpse #52, a series of seven stepping-stone lakes called the Seven Pearls of Shing.  The valley is dotted with tiny villages of Mountain Tajiks, descendants of the ancient Sogdians who fought Alexander the Great.

Alexander fell in love with and married a Sogdian princess named Roxanna – and the girls of Shing are often named Roxanna to this day.  The Mountain Tajiks of the Shing are a special people – strong, independent and free.  They are also warm and welcoming.  The kids – the girls just like the boys – grow up vibrant and confidant.  These two young brothers exemplify that.

Each of the seven pearls have a unique breathless beauty, for they are of different colors and change according to the time of day.  We are here at Mijnon (Eyelash), the first pearl, followed by Soya (Shade), Hushnor (Vigilance), Nophin (Navel), Khurdak (Little One), Marguzor (Blossoming), and Hazor Chasma (Thousand Springs).  Towering above us are snow-laced mountains 18,000 feet high.

Perhaps you’d like to join your fellow TTPers to make the Seven Pearls, and so much else, a part of your life next May?  Let me know! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #53 photo ©Jack Wheeler)  

There is a series of stepping-stone lakes in a hidden valley in Tajikistan known as The Seven Pearls of Shing.  This is the fourth, taken at dawn’s early light with the lake a mirror reflecting the sky and surrounding mountains.  Each Pearl are of different colors, each of uniquely mesmerizing allure. It is one of the many wonders – natural, cultural, historical – we’ll experience next May in our exploration of all Five Stans of Hidden Central Asia. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #52 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

At the foot of Mount Hermon in northern Israel you find the Grotto of Pan, the Greek God of Nature, where pilgrims came from all over the ancient world to worship.  Remnants of the huge Temple of Pan are here, together with the cave grotto where he lived when not at Olympus.  The spring that gushes forth from the grotto is one of the sources of the Jordan River.

If Pan was ever disturbed, he would groan so loudly it would cause anyone who heard it to “panic” (panikos in Greek) – the origin of the term.  Loudest of all was his last.  The legend is that with the advent of Christianity replacing belief in the Olympian Gods, Pan died for lack of worshippers, emitting a death groan of agony from the mouth of the cave you see here so loud and terrifying it was heard throughout the Mediterranean.  It’s a beautiful and peaceful place today. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #51 photo ©Jack Wheeler)