This is a visual journey through Tibet, a land of beauty and cultural interest, this book follows the routes of the extraordinary French female traveller, Alexandra Daid-Neel, who first explored the country early this century. Neel spent 13 years travelling through Tibet and China, walking unknown routes, discovering, recording and photographing new cultures and people, and exploring their traditions and religious beliefs. "The land of the gentleman brigands" was the name she gave to an area in the far west of China populated by fierce tribes, through which she journeyed several times in her attempts to reach Lhasa in Tibet. Today, Alexandra Neel's photographs and the written accounts of her expeditions remain, but she regretted at the time the fact that her pictures could not capture the colours she had seen. This book contains the photographs taken by Tiziana and Gianni Baldizzone 70 years later, to give colour to Neel's impressions. The photographs include the panoramic landscapes, the faces and expressions of individual people, and above all the colours and decoration of the costumes. Divided into six sections to cover the routes that Neel actually travelled, the book explores both the history of a unique people and the life of a remarkable woman.