[1] As a teenager, he dropped out of school[2] and ran away from home to join the Tibetan guerrilla group Chushi Gangdruk, which operated from Mustang in Nepal.

Contrary to the belief of a small minority, the controversial Samdhong had no part in the creation of the Green Book and has instead always been one of the most vocal critics against any support of independence, notoriously declaring that pro-independence Tibetans pose a greater danger than either Dorje Shugden worshippers or the Chinese government.

[15] He calls the "New Age perception of Tibet... that this even materialist west will be saved by the spiritualism of the Tibetan Buddhists" "total nonsense.

He lamented, "We are frankly, a people still in thrall to ignorance and superstition, which far from declining with the years seems to be gaining new life and impetus with foreign sponsorship and encouragement.

In the book, Holmes joins Huree Chunder Mookerjee, another fictional spy who last worked for the English in Rudyard Kipling's Kim.