Urgan, Child of the Himalaya

To the north of the Himalayas, the Nubra valley in Ladakh has only been open to visitors since 1993. It takes several days of hiking to reach the isolated 3,800 meter high village of Tangyer. The people here have always observed Buddhist traditions, including the custom that a family’s youngest son become a Buddhist priest, or lama.

Urgan is nine years old. He has never known anything other than this land surrounded by snow capped peaks. In this month of January however, he must leave his family for the monastery and cross the 5,000 meter high Wori La pass.

During his journey, he will be accompanied by his uncle, a caravanner, who is going to the other side of the valley to sell his yaks for Lo-Sar, the Tibetan new year. Afterwards, he will continue on, along with his nineteen year old cousin, Norbou.

Over a period of several days, they will experience unexpected, fascinating and sometimes frightening spiritual encounters... A true path to enlightenment.