Nepal: Tibetan pilgrim in front of prayer wheels at Bodhnath (Boudhanath), Kathmandu

Set squarely in the siddhi - a zone of supernatural power where guardian deities dwell and wishes are granted - Bodhnath is located just six kilometres east of Kathmandu, along the long, old trade road to Lhasa. Known to the Tibetans simply as Chorten Chempo, or 'Great Stupa', it has been the Mecca of Tibetans in exile ever since the Chinese occupation of their homeland in 1950. Bodhnath has also developed as a centre for the study of Tibetan Buddhism, numerous monasteries having been built in effective replacement of those destroyed by Mao Tse-tung's Red Guards.