Nepal detains 20 Tibetans for illegal crossing

The cold moon dust high desert behind the Himalayas where moisture from India can only rarely overcome the peaks.

• Amazing photos of Tibet by Chandni Dossani

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Police in Nepal say they have detained 20 Tibetans who trekked the treacherous Himalayan trail for more than two weeks from their mountain homes.

They do it to escape the Chinese controlled Autonomous Tibetan Region and visit their exiled spiritual/political leader.] Police spokesman Binod Shrestha said the 15 men and five women were detained Monday after they crossed the border. They are aged 18 to 21 years old and are being transported to the capital, Katmandu. Tibetan refugees who are detained in Nepal are generally handed over to the United Nations' refugee agency.

The U.N. helps them on their journey to the Indian town of Dharmsala where the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama lives. Hundreds of Tibetans trek into Nepal every year to visit Dalai Lama. They walk route to avoid Chinese border guards.

Himalayas (kerdowney.com)

Father's Day trek: Bigfoot, Devas, Shamans

Our Father’s Day gift to our expedition leader took a decidedly cryptozoological turn, a “Hooray for Cryptozoology” tee-shirt (threadless.com) from the International Cryptozoology Museum.

Wisdom Quarterly is going to the Yosemite Highlands to commune with nature in search of bhummi-devas (nature spirits, dryads) and their elusive companions the California Yeti, our native Sasquatch.

The indigenous Indians in the area were well aware of its existence all the way down to Mono Lake. We'll be staying in a yurt to ensure we're close to the forest and able to hear it, led by our friend Melissa's father, who is part Miwok.

(cryptomundo.com)

Native rock art of shamans, who created them as power points with celestial and animal references. They are scattered all over the Great Basin including Yosemite and the Hetch Hetchy Valley, which were once Paiute Indian areas.

• The Indians of Yosemite Handbook

These beings in Buddhist cosmology hold woodland power and possibly answers. Even if the Sierra Madre mountain range reveals nothing but misty emanations of light by granite-and-gold encrusted stones, streams, and placid Lake Tenaya, it will be an adventure to rival trekking in the Himalayas.

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