What happens when a French guy with a rope and zero plans stumbles into Nepal in 1973? Fifty years of magic, that's what.

Eric Valli didn't just photograph Nepal - he lived it. He spent a year and a half in Arun Valley when people still traded salt for grain and lit fires with flint. He got stung by bees alongside honey hunter Manilal. He convinced nomad Tinley to star in a film that would earn an Oscar nomination, despite none of them knowing what they were doing.

This is the story of how "getting lost, really lost" led to some of the most powerful visual testimonies of Himalayan cultures ever created. From yak caravans crossing 5,500-meter passes to 150 women allowing a foreign photographer into their sacred ceremony, Valli reveals what happens when you stop being a tourist and start being present.

Featuring: Near-death experiences, fights with Tinley, King Birendra's reaction, commercial shoots in the Alps with yaks, and the philosophy that changed everything: "Be in the water up to here. Be in the snow up to here.

This podcast features the "Dialogue With Director" session at the Central Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Tribhuvan University on 2 December 2025.