This is the story of a year spent in a remote village high in the Himalayas. In a series of anecdotes, Ted Reynolds describes: his delight in the children he teaches, but also his dismay at their harsh treatment by the village discipline master; the colourful local characters, such as the false rimpoche and the boy monk; the steady influx of quirky foreign visitors; and the beauty of the landscape. When Ted Reynolds volunteered his services as an unpaid worker at a Tibetan refugee camp in Ladakh, the response from the monk in charge was, Come, and bring something to break stones. When he arrived with his seldgehammer, he was instead directed to teach maths to the children of the camp. Ted Reynolds is the author of My Side of the River.