The legendary stronghold of light of the Buddhist legends of Central Asia, a country hidden from the everyday and cruel world - Shambhala... But it’s not so easy to get to the threshold of a wonderful country. The paths leading to Tibet through gorges and snow-covered passes, from the Iranian Plateau, from the Gobi Desert and Northern India, from the Celestial Empire - China, can be deadly dangerous. The simple merchant who wandered here was an ascetic who risked death from the cold and blizzards. The author of the book, a talented sinologist, writer and traveler Nail Khasanovich Akhmetshin (1953–2008), invites you on a journey along the unreliable caravan routes that connected Ancient Tibet with the inland provinces of lowland China. The reader will discover amazing lands where the earth conceals traces of cultures and religions completely unknown to science.