Original subtitles

♪♪

It's Not A Cave. It's A City.

Gates: Nobody's Been Up Inside Them Before.

This Is Uncharted Territory For Us.

♪♪

[ Bleep ] Long Way Down.

Oh, My God! Look At This!

That Is Discovery.

[ Horse Whinnies ]

Holy [ Bleep ]

-There It Is. Can You See It?

Can You See It?

♪♪

My Name Is Josh Gates.

With A Degree In Archaeology And A Passion For Exploration,

I Have A Tendency To End Up In Some Very Strange Situations.

Good Lord! Aah-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha!

My Travels Have Taken Me To The Ends Of The Earth

As I Investigate The Greatest Legends In History.

We're Good To Fly. Let's Go.

This Is "Expedition Unknown."

--Captions By Vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions Paid For By Discovery Communications

The Legend Of Shangri-La

Is The Story Of A Hidden Valley Somewhere High In The Himalayas,

A Place Of Mystical Energy, Immortality, And Eternal Peace.

But Could It Be Based On Someplace Real?

My Search Brought Me To The Holy City Of Kathmandu,

Where I Learned About The Spiritual Tradition

Of Shambhala -- An Ancient Buddhist Realm

Which Inspired The Shangri-La Story.

I've Also Learned That Archeologists

Have Recently Been Granted Access To Explore

Nepal's Remote Northern Frontier --

Known As "The Mustang Region" --

That May Hold The Truth Behind The Myth.

My Team And I Hopped A Helicopter

To Navigate High Into The Himalayas,

Where We Touched Down, Switched To 4X4s,

And Undertook An Epic Drive Into The Mustang.

Once There, We Linked Up With Archeologist Mark Aldenderfer

And His Associate, Mohan Singh Lama.

They Revealed That These Valleys Are Filled

With Nearly 10,000 Mysterious Sky Caves --

Perilous-Looking Chambers Hand-Dug

Out Of The Cliffs More Than 500 Years Ago

By Buddhists Who Came Here From Tibet.

But Why?

Some Claim This Area Could Be The Real-Life Shangri-La.

In One Remote Cave, I Discovered That Some Of These Structures

Were Used As Places Of Healing.

You Should Not Enter This If You're Not Pure Of Heart.

Oh, Now You Tell Me.

Another Cavern Revealed Incredible Paintings

By Different Ancient Artists --

Proof That Some Of These Caves

Were Used As Places Of Culture And Craftsmanship.

That Is Incredible.

Now, At Nearly 14,000 Feet, We've Discovered A Rock Tower

That Could Help Unravel The Mystery

Of Why People Came To This Valley So Many Centuries Ago.

The Wall Is Crumbling Here, Guys.

Be Careful!

Back Up, Back Up, Back Up! You Okay?

It's Really Sketchy Up Here.

So, What Do We Got?

When You Have Small Chambers Like This,

There Are Only One Of Two Things Usually Put Inside --

Something Stored Or Human Burials.

So, Let's See What The Hell's In There.

We've Got Human Burials.

Oh, My God.

Wow. Very Good Score.

We've Got A Human Jaw. We've Got Long Bones.

We've Got A Femur, Fibula, Tibia.

Congratulations To The Team, Here.

This Is Great. -Nice Work, Guys.

Any Sense Of How Old This Might Be?

It's Earlier Than 800 A.D.

This Is Actually An Amazingly Important Find.

Gates: This Is Astounding.

We've Discovered Human Remains

That Indicate That, Even In Ancient Times,

People Considered These Mountains Sacred.

By Extension, The Dizzyingly High Sky Caves

May Have Been Put Up Here For The Same Reason --

To Be Closer To The Gods.

No Doubt That Many Of The Caves Were Considered Holy Ground

For Cremations And Burials Of The Dead.

Now, I'm Gonna, With Your Permission,

Extract This Mandible.

Yeah.

Look At That.

Gates: The Jawbone Has Been Bleached White By The Sun

And Is Incredibly Well-Preserved.

This Is A Group Of People

That, Still, Are Largely A Mystery, Right?

Aldenderfer: If It's As Early As I Think It Could Be,

It Might Help Us Recalibrate

What Our Thinking Is About This Region.

This Is A Really Tangible Link To The Past.

Wow. Not Bad For A Day's Work, Huh?

Not Bad. Good Score, Guys.

Well Done.

Gates: After Photographing The Site,

We Hike Back Down The Mountain.

As We Walk, Though, We See Scraps Of Prayer Flags

And Clothing On The Ground.

Lots Of Debris Here. -Yeah.

-Parts Of Scarves. -So, It's A Sky Burial Site, Yes.

Aldenderfer: This Is How They Take Their Dead

Into The Next Dimension, If You Will.

Gates: It Turns Out, Not All Rituals On This Mountain

Are Ancient.

We've Come Across What's Known As A "Sky Burial,"

An Active Site

Where Buddhists Ceremonially Part Ways With The Dead.

Aldenderfer: Very Few People That Are Not Lobos

Or Tibetan See This.

It's Not Something That They Like You To Watch.

The Person Dies, And They Bring Them Here,

And They Put Them On This Slab.

That Rope Is Used To Tie Around The Deceased's Neck,

And They Pull That Neck So That The Body Is Tight.

Then, They'll Slash The Back Of The Body With A Sharp Knife.

And Then, The Lammergeier Vultures,

You Know, Get Wind Of This Scent,

And They'll Come And Descend On The Body.

And Then, What Remains,

The Person Will Then Crush Those Bones

And Push It All And Make It Into A Pulp...

And Then, Leave It Here For The Vultures To Come Back.

Gates: So, There's Nothing Left?

That's The Idea, Right? -Yep.

The Practice Might Seem Gruesome,

But It Is Also Profound.

And This Site, Mohan, Is Still Being Used?

Yeah, They Still Live There.

Gates: The Experience Of Seeing The Sky Burial

Leaves Us All Feeling Moved, And Frankly, A Little Shaken.

We Solemnly Hike Down To The 4X4s

And Drive On In Silence.

Just After Dark, We Arrive At The Outskirts

Of The City Of Lo Manthang.

Tomorrow, We'll Continue Our Investigation.

But With Temperatures Outside Now Below Freezing,

For Tonight, We Seek Shelter In A Teahouse --

The Local Version Of A Motel 6.

Welcome To Lo Manthang.

Bags Are Stacked,

And Generators Are Plugged In To Our Batteries.

Uh, Do Not Splice Wires With Your Mouth At Home, Kids.

Our Crew Powers On The Phones, But Up Here,

Even The Satellites Seem To Be Out Of Commission.

What's Going On?

Just Trying To Call Home.

How's That Going?

Not So Well.

Doesn't Work?

The Locals Fire Up The Stoves, And We Finally Get To Chow Down.

What Else Do You Need In Life?

♪♪

Morning In The Mustang Region.

We're Only About 20 Miles From The Border Of Tibet,

And We're On The Doorstep Of A Place

That I've Traveled A Long Way To See.

This Is Lo Manthang.

Population About 1,400 People, But Believe It Or Not,

That Still Makes This The Biggest City

For Hundreds Of Miles.

This Was Once The Capital Of The Kingdom Of Lo,

A Walled Fortress With 14 Guard Posts And 2 Gates

To Keep Out Potential Invaders.

Today, This Is Not Just An Entrance To A City.

It Is A Portal To Another Time And Place.

Welcome To The Past.

A City Made Of Mud, Sweat, And Prayers.

This Isn't A Tourist Attraction.

This Isn't A Re-Enactment.

This Is, For All Intents And Purposes,

Life In The Middle Ages.

[ Strumming ]

It Is Also The Best-Preserved Example

Of Ancient Tibetan Culture Left On Earth.

Residents Even Collect And Dry Out Yak Dung

To Burn In Their Stoves.

Excuse Me. Just, If -- If I Could Just --

That's Fine. Hi.

No Internet, No Phones,

And Don't Even Ask About The Plumbing.

In Fact, The Only Modern Amenity

That Seems To Have Made Its Way Into Town Is This...

An Espresso Machine.

♪♪

♪♪

That's Very Good.

Watch Out, Starbucks.

This Guy's Coming For You. -[ Chuckles ]

Next Door, I Find A Gift Shop

Filled With Authentic Treasures From The Region.

This Is Beautiful. What Is This?

That's Amazing.

[ Laughs ]

Oh, It's A Human Thigh Bone.

I Probably Shouldn't Have Put That To My Mouth.

As I Continue My Stroll Through The 1400S,

I Notice That The Women Of Lo Manthang

Seem To Be Doing A Lot Of The Heavy Lifting.

Meanwhile, I Find The Guys In Town

Hanging Out At The Local Bar...

Namaste.

...Just Without The Bar Part.

What Are We Talking About? Women? Money?

The Usual.

Sure Enough, It Isn't Long Before Someone Brings A Tray,

And It Isn't Just Tea They're Pouring.

-For Me? -Yeah.

-What Is This? -Very Good.

It Smells Good.

Whoo! Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-Hoo.

I Think I Just Found Enlightenment.

This Is Raksi -- Nepalese Moonshine.

-Cheers! -Cheers!

Cheers!

I'd Tell You What It Tastes Like,

But I Can No Longer Taste Anything Else For Comparison.

Ah, You Guys Are The Best.

I Love You Guys.

Let's Always Stay In Touch.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

♪♪

After A Few More Rounds With The Boys,

I Find Myself In Front Of A Buddhist Temple.

Like All Repentant Drinkers,

It Seems I've Turned To Religion.

♪♪

Beyond The Doors, Time Stops,

The Bright And Dusty Streets Of Lo Manthang

Replaced By Twilight And Silence.

A Monument To Contemplation.

Four Lamas Chant Mantras --

Phrases Repeated In Order To Allow The Mind To Drift Away

From Distracting Thoughts And Into A Trance-Like State.

If I'm Gonna Reach The Realm Of Shambhala, Or Shangri-La,

I Can't Just Explore The Mysterious Sky Caves.

I Need To Explore My Own Mind.

[ Chanting In Native Language ]

I Spend An Hour Listening To The Chanting,

And Then, For Just A Moment, Everything Vanishes,

And I Fall Into An Incredible Nothingness.

But It's Fleeting -- A Taste Of Something

I May Never Be Disciplined Enough To Find Again.

The Monks Are Gracious, And Grant Me

The Next Best Thing To Enlightenment.

I Carry Their Blessing From The Temple.

Where I'm Going Next, I'll Certainly Need It.

Got A Kind Of Foothold.

I Thought Shangri-La Was Supposed To Be Peaceful.

This Is Terrifying.

Gates: I'm On An Epic Journey Through Nepal

Investigating The Legend Of Shangri-La,

Or What Buddhists Call "Shambhala" --

A Heaven On Earth Rumored To Be Hidden High In The Himalayas.

Okay, Convoy, We're Moving Out.

Here We Go.

After Two Nights In The Medieval City Of Lo Manthang,

Our Convoy, Led By Archeologist Mark Aldenderfer,

Sets Off To Explore Remote Sky Caves

That May Be Linked To The Legend.

Where Are We Headed?

Today, We're Headed Toward The Martzon Area,

And Apparently,

There's A Cave System Called "Pumamba."

-Pumamba? -Pumamba, Yeah.

-Sounds Tropical. -It Does. It's An Odd Name.

And What's In The Pumamba Caves?

Well, We Don't Know What's In The Pumamba Caves.

They've Not Been Explored By Anybody's Team.

-Nobody's Been In There? -No.

So, I Think That They're Worth Taking A Look At.

For Sure.

God, Just A Little Bumpy In Here.

The Road To Paradise Is Far From Paved.

We're Driving Near The Restricted Border Of Tibet

To A Valley That Contains The Mysterious Sky Caves.

God. This Is The Craziest Road I've Ever Been On, For Sure.

This Is, Like, Some Next-Level [ Bleep ], Really.

Just Try To Not Hit The Big Rocks.

Right.

Come On, Girl.

Wow, Look At This.

The One Smooth Section Of Road.

Is This A Mirage, Mark?

No, No. Keep Going.

My Kidneys Thank You.

Don't Get Used To It.

This Looks Like A Tough Crossing.

What Do You Think?

We Going Through This Or Walking?

-We Have To Walk, I Think. -We Have To Walk?

-Yeah. -Too Much Weight In The Vehicle?

Yeah? -Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

Okay, So, Let's Get Out, And We'll Have One Of

The Drivers Take It Across. Okay, Let's Jump Out.

Everyone Climbs Out To Cross The Stream On Foot

While One Of Our Local Guides Drives Solo --

On His Way To Rob A Bank, Apparently.

Our Local Team Protects Our Most Valuable Commodity -- Breakfast.

Several Dozen Eggs Are Hand-Carried Across The River.

Something Tells Me We're All Taking Them Scrambled Tomorrow.

Hey, Lockma.

-Yes? -How Did The Eggs Do?

Did You Crack Any Eggs Coming Across?

-No, No, No. -You Sure?

-Yeah. -You Saved Them All?

Yeah.

Nice Work, Buddy. [ Laughs ]

We Ready?

Back In The Cars.

We Drive Through The Seemingly Barren Valley,

Inventing The Road As We Go.

But Soon, We Hit The End Of The Line.

Aldenderfer: Okay, So, Here We Are.

Pumamba Is Just A Little Bit Further Down Valley.

Okay. Here We Go.

We're Less Than An Hour's Hike To The Caves.

But Once The Sun Goes Down, It Gets Really Cold Around Here,

So We'll Need To Make Camp Before We Set Off On Foot.

Once Again, We Have To Take All Of The Gear

From One Place To Someplace Else.

Don't Worry -- Breakfast Made It.

Bryan: Josh, You Want Me To Carry One Of Those?

No, No. I Got This, Bryan.

-Are You Sure? -No, No.

Don't Worry About It.

All Right, You Look Pretty Solid.

You Just Stand There With That One Small Camera.

-Okay. -I Got All This.

Everyone Pitches In To Move The Equipment,

Though I'm Not Sure My Contributions

Are Being Fully Appreciated.

Bryan, I Got This. -Yep.

Yeah, I Got It.I Got This.

-Yep. I Got It. -You Get That. I Get This.

No, Got It. It's Fine. I Got It. Got It.

Josh Gates Finally Doing Some Work Around Here, Finally.

I'm Gonna [ Bleep ] Kill All Of You.

I'm Gonna Leave You All Out Here For Dead.

♪♪

While We Set Up The Tents,

Our Local Guides Start Preparing Dinner.

They Cook As Easily On The Side Of The Himalayas

As I Do In A Fully Stocked Kitchen.

Andrew, I'm Sorry We Ran Out Of Tents, Man.

It's All Right. It's All Right. Don't Worry About It.

Somebody's Got To Watch The Gear.

It's Okay. -Yeah, You'll Be Fine.

Temperature Should Be About 20 Degrees Tonight.

Yeah. Yeah, I Got This. Don't Worry.

[ Laughs ]

With Camp Set, It's Time For Another High-Altitude Hike.

We're Setting Out To Survey A Group Of Sky Caves

That Have Never Been Explored.

The Enigmatic Caverns Of This Region

Have Been Linked To The Shangri-La Legend,

So We're Eager To See What Might Be Hiding Inside.

Is That It?

That's Pumamba Right Dead Ahead.

Wow.

They're Really Extensive.

They Are. But I Hope You've Noticed One Thing.

The Closer We Get To The Place, The Higher Up They Are.

Yeah, I Do Notice That.

From Where I First Saw Them, They Didn't Look Too Bad.

Now, It Looks Like They're -- I Don't Know --

A Couple Hundred Feet Up, At Least.

Yep.

How Many Openings Do You Think There Are?

50 Or 60, Easily. Maybe More.

So, Nobody's Been Up Inside Them Before?

No. This Is Uncharted Territory For Us.

♪♪

♪♪

The Caves Are Absolutely Stunning.

They're Really Mysterious-Looking.

But As You Get Close To Them, They're Also Something Else --

They're Terrifying.

The Enormity Of The Caves Is Finally Clear To Me.

And One Thing Is For Certain --

We're Gonna Need A Bigger Ladder.

That Is A Real Challenge.

[ Bleep ] Me.

Gates: I'm In The Himalayan Mountains Of Nepal,

Searching For The Origins Of The Shangri-La Legend.

And My Investigation Just Got A Whole Lot Harder.

[ Bleep ] Me.

So, There She Is. -Yep.

Good Lord.

That Is A Real Challenge.

Yeah. It's Gonna Be An Interesting Climb

To Get In There.

But You Know, It Looks Doable.

With The Right Kind Of Ropes And A Good Guide,

You Should Be Able To Get In There No Problem.

-You're Going In There? -No. I'm Not Going In There.

-Really? -Really.

Bad Back. -Bad Ba--

I Got Bad Everything, Mark.

[ Laughs ]

High-Altitude Caves Like This Are Mark's Passion.

But Since He's Recovering From A Recent Injury,

He Won't Be Able To Attempt An Ascent.

Who's The Man In Charge, Then?

I Think That The Most Important Thing To Do

Is To Put This All In Neema's Hands, 'Cause He's The Pro.

He Knows How To Get Into These Places.

Our Local Team Member, Neema,

Has Been Climbing In This Region All His Life,

And Knows Firsthand How Dangerous

These Crumbling Cliffs Really Are.

Okay, Neema, Walk Me Through This.

How -- How In The Hell Do We Get Inside Of That?

Okay.

And Then, We Try To Gain Access There?

-Yeah. -In That Hole? -Yeah.

When Do You Think The Last Time Was

Somebody Was Up In These Caves?

I Think The Last Time Was When The People Left,

Which Would Have Been 400 And 500 Years Ago.

We Have No Idea What's In Here.

Okay, Great. Well, Let's Get To Work.

We Gear Up For The Climb,

Eager To Understand Why People Carved These Openings

And Whether The Secrets Of Shangri-La Are Hiding Inside.

But The Cliffs Here Are Made Up Of The Softest Rock

This Side Of Barry Manilow,

Which Is Why They're Collapsing To Dust Before Our Eyes.

My Cameraman, J.J., Sums Up The Climb Very Succinctly.

So, This Snaps, I Die?

-Okay, We Ready? -Yep.

So, Order Of Events.

You're Gonna Go Up First. -Yep.

You Guys Are Gonna Set The Anchor Points.

We're Following Up,

And We'll Be Talking To You On Walkie-Talkie.

Sounds Good. Climb Safe.

-Hey, Thanks Man. -Good Luck.

We Carefully Hike Up The Lower Embankment

While Neema Sets Pitons Into The Rock.

We'll Then Clip Into A Fixed Rope

And Move Together Across The Cliff Face.

The Problem Is That These Canyons Are Made

Of Loose Conglomerate.

Step In The Wrong Place,

And The Whole Hillside Can Come Down

Like The World's Biggest Game Of Jenga.

There They Go.

♪♪

♪♪

I Thought Shangri-La Was Supposed To Be Peaceful.

This Is Terrifying.

We Make It Up To The First Plateau,

And Then Clip Into The Next Section Of Rope

And Ease Our Way Across The Face Of The Cliff.

Very Slippy And Very Loose.

You Know Where We Are Now, My Friend?

-Death Zone? -Death Zone.

If We Fall Here,

I'm Gonna That Great Wednesday Time Slot In The Sky.

These Are The Widow-Makers, Right Here.

These Are Just Huge Boulders,

And All This Loose Conglomerate Waiting To Let Go.

Makes This Incredibly Dangerous.

♪♪

Phew. Got A Kind Of Foothold.

Okay, Now What? Now What, Now What?

I Got It.

♪♪

Finally, We Make It The Edge Of The Caves.

Hey.

That Was [ Bleep ] Stupid.

Oh, God. Look At How Sketchy

This Thing Is Now That We're Inside Of It.

It Looks Twice As Bad.

How The Hell Am I Gonna Get Down From Here?

Look At This Place. This Is Incredible.

Mark, We Are In The Caves.

Repeat, We Are In The Caves.

Copy That. What Do You See?

There's A Passage That Goes Up, And Then, One, Two,

Three Other Passages Coming Off Of This.

So, We're Gonna Try To Explore Around A Little Bit In Here,

And We'll Report And Let You Know What We See.

Copy That. Thanks.

The Cave Openings That We Saw From The Ground Are Deceptive.

Now That We're Up Here, There's More Than Meets The Eye.

The Caves Are Merely Windows To A Huge Network

Of Interconnected Tunnels.

This Place Is Like A Massive Ant Farm For People.

On The Right, Room After Room.

On The Left, Not Much.

[ Bleep ]

That's A Long Way Down.

Check This Out.

Wow.

This Is So Cool. Look At This.

Inside The Caverns, There's Construction --

Mysterious Mud-Brick Enclosures Of Every Shape And Size.

Lots Of Little Chambers In Here.

Can See This Has Been Divided Off,

And They've Made These Channels In The Side.

You Can Just See That There's Actually

So Much Architecture

Once You Get Inside Of These Caves.

They're Not Just Raw Spaces.

They Actually Have Design To Them.

I Make Sure To Take Dozens Of Photos For Mark And Mohan

To Analyze Later.

Okay, Good. Let's Keep Moving.

The Number Of Passages Is Disorienting.

Left, Right, Up, Down. It's A Total Labyrinth.

Each Tunnel I Take Branches Off In Every Direction.

More Chambers Here. Here.

And It Looks Like It Connects Through.

This Is Like M.C. Escher's Summer House.

And As Tough As It Is For Me, It's Twice As Hard For J.J.,

Who Has To Sling A Camera While He Climbs.

♪♪

But With Effort Comes Reward.

Oh, Look At This! Come Here!

Look! Look At That.

Beautiful Piece Of Ceramic.

How Cool Is That?

Mark, Can You Read Me?

Yes, Josh. Come In.

I Found Some Beautiful Pottery Up Here, Mark.

Looks Like A Bowl Of Some Kind.

Black On The Outside.

Okay, Thanks. Can You Smudge The Outside

And See If There's Any Charcoal On The Exterior?

Yeah, There Is.

We Think It's A Cooking Pot.

Please Take A Good Picture.

Will Do. For Sure.

That Is Unreal.

You Can See How Burned Up The Walls And The Ceiling Are.

And Lots Of Carbon That's Just Caked On

From Hundreds Of Years Of Fires In Here.

This Is Decades And Decades Of Grease.

And It's Not Just In This Chamber.

At Every Turn, I Find Materials From The Past.

Oh, Look At This. We've Got A Horn Here.

Probably Ceremonial.

And Then, Down Here, This Looks Like...

Animal Hide. Some Kind Of Leather.

Okay, Let's Keep Moving.

We're Burning Daylight Here.

We Explore For Hours,

Carefully Traversing Passage After Passage.

In Each Chamber, We Find The Remains

Of A Vanished Culture.

These Are The Fingerprints Of The People That Were Here.

This Is What They Left Behind.

Though It's Just A Broken Piece Of Pottery,

It's Really All That's Left Of A Person.

All That's Left Of A Whole Culture

That Was Up Here Are Little Fragments Like This.

So, They May Be Broken, But They're Huge Clues.

Room After Room After Room.

It's Not A Cave. It's A City.

I Mean, Thousands Of People Could Have Lived Up Here.

It's Incredible.

Phew.

I'll Tell You What,

I Am Really Looking Forward To Standing Up Straight Again.

[ Neck Cracks ]

Okay, Let's Keep Moving.

We Continue To Investigate Until There's Nowhere To Go But Down.

Looks Like That's A Dead End.

And There's The Team Down There.

Josh For Mark, Come In. -Mark Here, Josh.

I Don't Know If You Can See Me.

I'm At A Very Narrow Chamber.

I'm Gonna Flash My Light Down.

I Do, In Fact, See You. Hello.

Mark, What Can You See Above Me, Here?

Anything? How -- How High Up Am I In The Complex?

You're In The Upper Window.

There's No Place Higher For You To Go.

I Do Have A Question For You, Though.

Yeah, Hit Me.

Have You Found Shambhala Yet?

[ Chuckles ] You Know, I'll Tell You What --

Looking Out At The View, Maybe I Have.

Copy That.

You Think, "Why Would Anybody Want To Live In A Cave

On The Side Of A Cliff?"

And Then, You See The View.

For A Life Of Quiet Reflection,

There's No Better Place In The World To Be.

Phew. Man.

Imagine Living Here.

Pull Up The Ladders, And No Army Could Take This Place.

You're In The Ultimate Fortress Of Solitude.

Okay. Let's Head Down, Yeah?

Yeah.

Having Made It To The Highest Chamber,

We Carefully Descend Down To The Entrance.

But Then...

Oh, My God! Look At This!

Holy...

Gates: 200 Feet Off The Ground,

In A Remarkable Man-Made Sky Cave,

And I Spot Something That May Shed Light

On The Ancient Origins Of The Shangri-La Legend.

Oh, My God! Look At This!

Look At This! Come Here, Look!

Holy [ Bleep ]

Oh, My God.

Josh For Mark, Come In.

Aldenderfer: Mark Here, Josh.

Mark, We Got Artwork Up Here.

There's A Painting On The Wall Here.

It's Done In -- It Looks Like A White And Red Plaster

That Looks Tibetan.

That Is Totally Fantastic.

Make Sure You Get A Good Documentation Of This.

I'll Take A Lot Of Photos For You.

Fantastic. Copy That. Thanks So Much.

That Is Something. I Mean...

We Are The First People To See This --

Youare The First People To See This -- In Probably 500 Years.

That Is Discovery.

Worth The Climb Up, I'll Tell You That.

This Is Awesome.

The Painting Is Vivid,

Spelling Out A Message From Across Time.

I Try To Get Photos For The Guys On The Ground,

Though A Real Wide Shot May Send Me Over The Edge.

♪♪

With The Sun Beginning To Set, It's Time To Head Back To Camp.

The Return Trip Down The Cliff

Is Every Bit As Dangerous As The One Going Up.

Rock!

But We Manage To Make It Down In One Piece.

Hey, Great Job.

Phew!

J.J.!

-That Was A Big One. -That Was A Big One.

It Looked Like You Were All Pros Up There.

Oh, I Don't Know About That. I Was Quaking.

I'll Tell You What, Though, To Go Into Each Chamber

And To Think "I'm The First Guy To Go In Here

In Hundreds Of Years" --

-That's Right. -It's Just A Thrill.

That's What The Romance Of Archeology Is Really All About.

Well, I Got About A Million Photos To Show You.

-Great. -So, Let's Get De-Rigged,

And We'll Hike Back And Take A Look At Them.

Sounds Fantastic.

After A Day Like Today, We Get Back To Camp

With A Huge Appetite And Lots To Discuss.

The Local Guides Have Dinner Waiting For Us

Beside A Crackling Fire.

This Is How People Go Camping In Nepal.

We've Got Beef Stew, Vegetables, Salad,

And Macaroni And Cheese On A Silver Platter.

Woman: It's Made With Yak Cheese, Though.

Yak And Cheese, I Believe It's Known As.

We've Got Garlic, And Salads, And Vegetables.

It's Like A Full-Service Restaurant Out Here.

Man: Some Soup.

Wait A Second.

Wasn't This Bottle Of Whiskey Full, Like, 10 Minutes Ago?

Man: There Were Actually Two Bottles Full 10 Minutes Ago.

And They're Both Empty?

Is There More Of This?

Once We're Full And Warm Again, I Sit Down With Mark And Mohan

To Review Our Pictures Of The Caves.

Let's See What You Got.

Oh, Check It Out.

Here's, Generally, What A Lot Of The Rooms Look Like.

They Have This Segmented Architecture.

Right. That's Right.

And So, This -- This Is For Storage, Yeah?

Yeah. But You Put Blankets Back There.

You Put Food Back There. You Put Gear For Your Horses.

Right. And Then, One Of The Rooms

Had A Chamber That Went Down. And In Here,

There Were A Few Small Pieces Of Ceramic Down There,

And Then, Really Large Piece.

Oh, That's Beautiful.

This Is One That Had Charcoal On The Outside?

Yes. Yeah.

And We Think That's Likely To Be Some Kind Of --

Part Of A Cooking Pot.

And Here Is The Painting.

Wow. That Is Just Amazingly Beautiful.

Look How Well-Preserved That Is.

It's Really Clear And Crisp. -Yeah.

That's Absolutely Stunning.

Intact, For A Change.

Not Often Do We Find Whole Wall Segments

That Have Painting On It Like This.

-Oh, Cool. -Really Impressive.

What Are We Looking At, Here?

Okay.

Every Single Line On Here Says, "Om Mani Padme."

Om Mani Padme Hum.

And They Just Do That Over And Over And Over Again.

And So, Looking At The Structure Of The Rooms,

Looking At The Paintings, What Can We Say About This Place?

This Is Home.

This Is Home To Families That Came Down

From The Tibetan Plateau At Some Point After 1000 A.D.

If You're Living Up There, You Still Need Food From Down Here.

Why Go Through All The Trouble

Of Going Up To These Really Dangerous Cliffside Areas

And Hollowing Out These Caves?

You Know, Arable Land Is So Scarce Here.

What People Are Doing Is Not Living On That Arable Land.

They're Saying, "I've Got To Live Someplace

Where We're Not Actually Destroying Farmland

By Putting Up Our Houses."

Keep In Mind, There's A Great Deal

Of Political Instability Of The Entire Region.

So, People Are Likely Also

Putting Themselves Into These High Places

To Protect Themselves From Other Folks Coming Through

That Might Want To Take That Away From Them.

Right. It's A Safe Place.

It's A Safe Place.

Gates: That Security Is One Of The Most Crucial Aspects

Of The Shambhala Myth --

A Safe Place Free From The Threat Of War.

But The Biggest Clue

About Whether These Caves Were A Real Shangri-La

Is The Meditation Painting We Discovered.

The Locals Have Told Mark And Mohan

That They've Seen Similar Paintings

At A Remote And Hidden Monastery...

A Place That Might Have Been Built

By The Same People Who Constructed The Sky Caves.

Could This Location Reveal The Truth

Behind Whether This Place Was Really A Heaven On Earth?

With Temperatures Now Well Below Freezing,

The Answer Will Have To Wait Until Tomorrow.

♪♪

It's A Little Bit Chilly Out This Morning.

My Team And I Face The Day

And Get Ready For One Last Adventure.

We Notice Some New Arrivals At Camp --

A Group Of Horses To Carry Us To Our Final Destination.

Good Morning. -Good Morning.

Josh, This Is My Good Friend Tashi, Who's Got The Horses.

[ Horse Whinnies ]

Headed Out To A Place Called "Chuusang."

And What Is This Place?

Well, It's Got A Cave Monastery.

It's A Branch Of Tibetan Buddhism

Which Is Relatively Rare Around Here.

And Has Anybody Looked Inside This Place?

Never.

This Is A Place Totally Unseen By The Outside World.

Only The Locals, Who Continue

To Maintain The Monastery For Rituals, Know Its Location.

No Foreigner Has Ever Filmed There.

So, We Bid Farewell To The Camp And Head Out On Foot --

Or Hoof, I Guess.

[ Horse Whinnies ]

We Saddle Up And Ride Out Into The Valley.

We're Accompanied By A Local Monk,

Who Carries A Key And His Blessing

For Us To See The Holy Site.

The Landscape Is Frigid And Vast,

And Roads Are Non-Existent.

♪♪

It's Incredible Coming Through Here --

Just These 1,000-Foot Walls On Either Side

Covered In Mud And Ice.

It's Truly Remarkable.

Mark, Looks Like Some Caves Up There.

Maybe We're Close. -I Think So.

Phew.

There Are Sky Caves Looking Down

From The Tall Canyon Walls All Around Us.

Like The Ones We Entered Yesterday,

These, Too, Have Likely Never Been Explored.

As We Get Further Up Valley, The Riverbed Gets Blocked

And The Terrain Turns Treacherous.

Whoa-Ho-Ho. Okay.

Even The Horses Are Getting Antsy.

We Walk?

We Walk. Okay.

So, We Have Kind Of A Tough Section, Here.

Tashi Wants Us To Go On Foot And Walk The Horses.

The Path Ahead Is Far Too Steep To Ride.

We Dismount To Hike Up The Canyon.

But Even Hiking Seems Like A Dangerous Proposition.

♪♪

Gates: I'm On Horseback In The Himalayan Mountains Of Nepal,

But The Conditions Are Making This A Wilder Ride

Than We Expected.

Tough Section, Here.

When The Trail Suddenly Turns Steep,

We're Forced To Get Off The Horses.

-We Walk? -We Walk.

We Walk. Okay.

So, This Is It?

This Is Crazy.

Well, If The Horses Can Do It, We Can Do It.

Here We Go.

This Is The Toughest Climb We've Faced So Far --

A Steep Incline In Seriously Thin Air.

One Foot In Front Of The Other.

The Horses Lead, And We Follow.

And Just When I Think We've Reached The End...

Holy [ Bleep ]

You Do Not Want To Come Around This Corner.

No End In Sight.

♪♪

This Trek Up The Mountain Feels Brutal.

For All The Oxygen We're Taking In,

We Might As Well Be Goldfish Up Here.

Yet, We Keep Trudging Uphill

Until We Catch Sight Of Something Distinctly Man-Made.

Gates: What's This?

Aldenderfer: Oh, Yeah, We Got A Chorten Here,

Which Should Be The Entrance To The Monastery And Village.

And It's A Good Sign That We're Really Close

To The Monastery Right Now.

We're On The Right Track.

Gates: These Mound-Like Stone Buildings,

Also Called "Stupas,"

Are Sacred Structures In The Buddhist World.

Make Sure You Go On The Left-Hand Side.

Got It.

We Pass On The Left To Earn What Buddhists Call "Merit,"

And To Purify Us For The Path To Enlightenment.

At One Time, There Probably Would Have Been A Village Here.

But All Of That's Gone Now.

The Locals Just Report That There's The Remains

Of This Monastery.

We Hike Through The Remains Of Dozens Of Structures.

Looks Like There Was A Ton Of Construction Down Here At One Point.

Yeah. There's An Old Village Of Some Kind Down Here.

Look At That.

Though These Valleys Seem Like The Surface Of The Moon,

There Is Life Here --

Grass Growing, And Signs Of Agricultural Terraces.

With The Ground Leveling Out,

We Remount The Horses And Ride For The Last Leg.

♪♪

-There It Is. -I Can See It!

You See It?

Look At That.

The Monastery Is Insanely Remote.

Few People In The Modern Age Have Ever Seen This Place.

Okay, Let's Tie Up The Horses Here,

And We'll Try To Find Our Way Up On Foot.

We Hike Toward The Cliff.

It Seems Impassable.

But The Monk Leads Us To A Narrow And Hidden Slot

In The Rocks.

Then, Around The Bend,

We Encounter Stunning Religious Murals...

Painted With The Same Pigments We Saw At The Sky Caves.

That's Just Beautiful.

They Are Disintegrating,

Just The Remains Of What Were Once Vast Paintings

On The Rock Face.

Soon, They'll Be Gone Entirely.

Wow.

And Then, Like Characters From "Lost Horizon,"

The Weary Western Travelers Arrive, Hungry And Tired,

At The Door Of A Remote Monastery.

♪♪

Wow.

This Is Unbelievable.

The Entryway Alone Could Fill An Art History Book --

Wood Beams Half A Millennia Old

And Representations Of Kalachakra,

The Deity Who Guards Shambhala.

It's Absolutely Stunning.

We're Fortunate Folks, To Be Able To Have This Opportunity.

Well, Shall We See What's Inside?

Let's Do.

The Lama Produces A Key And Unlocks The Door

To A Place That Has Been Hidden Away For Centuries.

♪♪

This Is A Holy Meditation Shrine,

Festooned With Centuries Of Offerings

And Surrounded By Representations Of Shambhala.

Oh, Wow. How Beautiful.

Look At This. And More Painting Up Here.

Oh, Look At This!

Aldenderfer: Oh, For The Chan Festival.

Gates: I Mean, It's Like A -- Like A Time Capsule.

-Very Much So. -I'm Literally Speechless.

This Altar Is Really Classic.

Gates: This Is Unreal.

It's Absolutely Stunning, Isn't It?

Absolutely Gorgeous Statuary.

Look At These Statues.

Really Insanely Beautiful.

Gates: But As Staggering As This Is,

It's Nothing Compared To What's Waiting In The Inner Sanctuary.

Wow! Look At That.

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Then, Set A Course For Travelchannel.Com,

Where You Can Go Behind The Scenes With Exclusive Photos,

Never-Before-Aired Footage, And More.

On The Trail Of The Legendary Shambhala,

We've Traveled To The Most Remote Reaches

Of Nepal's Himalaya Mountains

And Been Granted Access To One Of The Most Hidden Monasteries

On Earth.

♪♪

This Is Like Something From Another Age.

I Mean, It's Like A Time Capsule.

-Very Much So. -I'm Literally Speechless.

♪♪

Aldenderfer: Let's See Where We Are Here.

Oh, Wow.

Oh, My Word!

These Are Absolutely Stunning.

-Look At This! -They Are Just Amazing.

Look At These Gorgeous Statues.

Gates: Here We, Are At Last -- The Home Of The Gods,

Deities Created In Intricate Detail

In The Darkness Of This Holy Site.

Truly Remarkable. Aren't These Beautiful?

Old And, You Know, Kind Of Local Construction.

And Kind Of Fearsome, Too.

Well, These Are Very Fearsome Creatures, Yes.

These Are Protectors.

They All Are Demanding Their Sacrifice.

They Have Skull Cups, Yeah?

Yes.

Each Of Them Has A Skull Cup In The Left Hand.

-It's Okay To Touch? -Yeah.

This Is The Top Of A Human Skull.

Correct.

And This Is Used As An Offering Cup.

You Know, Tantric Offerings Are Put Inside Those --

Sometimes Blood, Sometimes Grain,

Sometimes Water.

That Is Something Else.

The Statues Are Adorned With Armor And Weapons

Brought Here Over The Course Of Centuries.

These Are Not Re-Creations,

But Master Works Of Art From The Middle Ages.

Fearsome Weapons In Their Hands.

And Look At These Real Swords.

Look At The Shields. That Is Beautiful.

-Real, Real. -That Is Real.

No Question About It.

You Could Fill A Museum Gallery

With What's In These Few Rooms.

Yeah. This Is Absolutely Stunning Material.

There Are Crossbows From The 1400S,

Helmets From Tibet,

And Even Armor From The Era Of Genghis Khan.

The Shields -- And This Is Actually...

-Mail. -This Is Chain Mail, Yeah.

Exactly. Isn't That Amazing?

Wait A Minute. Is This What I Think It Is, Mark?

-Uh...If Only. -Oh.

I Know Where You're Going With It, But It's Not.

Boy, For A Second, I Thought We Really Hit The Jackpot Here.

Returning To The Monastery's Outer Chamber,

We Try To Take Stock Of What We've Seen.

What's Your Impression Of It,

Now That You've Seen The Collection In Here?

It's A Time Capsule, In One Sense.

You're Stepping Back, You Know, 500, 600, 700 Years Of Time

To Look At A Very Local Monastery

And Temple Institution.

And This Idea Of Shangri-La --

It Does Seem Like There Is Something Up Here

That Plays Into That Notion.

There's No Question That It Does.

So, It Looks Like A Very Uninhabitable Place,

But Yet, Look What They Do To It --

Create All Of This Beauty And All Of This,

You Know, Ritual, And All Of This Circumstance.

They Reflect That Idea Of The Shangri-La.

They've Turned This Place Into Something That Is Magical.

It Is. Very Much So.

Gates: This Is The Final Puzzle Piece

In Our Exploration Of Nepal's Sky Caves.

At Lower Altitudes, We Saw Caves Used By Buddhists

As Places Of Healing

And As Workshops For Skilled Artists.

The High Caves We Climbed Into

Revealed A City Inside A Mountain --

A Place For Meditation,

And A Home With Impenetrable Security

Which No Army Could Breach.

And Now, Here, Evidence Of Sustained Agriculture,

Terraces That Transformed Valleys Into Farms,

And Within This Shrine,

A Portal To Commune Directly With The Gods.

Before Leaving To Return To Our World,

We Light Candles And Incense To Pay Our Respects

To The Gods And Our Local Friends

For Sustaining Us During These Past Few Weeks.

Shangri-La Is Not A Myth.

The Mustang Region Of Nepal Is,

In A Very Real Sense, An Earthly Shambhala.

It Is A Land Hidden Among Clouds,

A Place Of Tranquility Cradled By The Eternal Himalayas.

But It Is Also Fragile,

Like The Bodies Placed On Sky Burials.

The Art, The Caves, Even The Land Itself

Is Constantly Being Returned To The Earth,

Where It Is Renewed Again.

Many Wonder What The Modern World Will Do To This Place

And To Its Indomitable People.

Probably More Harm Than Good.

But I Now Realize That Time Here Is Measured In Eons.

The Himalayas Will Give And Take,

And We Will Continue To Rest In Their Shadows

And Search For Enlightenment.