At the invitation of the Maharaja of Kathmandu, Alexandra David-Néel traveled to Nepal in the winter of 1912/1913, a country that was still forbidden for Europeans at that time. She wanted to write a useful introduction afterward, a political assessment of a country that had to redefine itself between tradition and modernity - a modernity already demonstrated by its neighboring countries India and Tibet, which were under British protection. And a tradition that still persisted in the remote Nepal. Widow burning, political classes and castes, primitive sacrificial rituals - the enlightened journalist casts a critical eye on this society. But her report from the heart of the Himalayas is much more than a political assessment: it is the fascinating story of a Buddhist woman who, in search of the birthplace of Siddhartha, finds herself in the Duf.