Explorer, Author. She was a Belgian–French explorer who was the first woman to visit in 1924 the city of Lhasa, which was the capital of Tibet. Since foreigners were forbidden in the city, she donned rags as a beggar woman to hide herself after traveling thousands of miles on foot. Born Louise Eugénie Alexandrine Marie David, the only child of a wealthy couple, she was attracted by Buddhist theories as a youth. Her father, Louis David, was a French Huguenot who was a professor at a Belgium University, and her mother was a Belgium Roman Catholic. As a young lady, she was taught the Christian faith and studied voice and piano at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Although afforded a private education, she left school at age 15 and, by age 18, had traveled alone on a bicycle to Spain, England, and Switzerland and later, after receiving an inheritance from her godmother, traveled to India and North Africa. She easily learned several languages. In Indochina, she performed as the first soprano at the Hanoi Opera. On August 4, 1904, she married Philipe Néel, a railroad engineer. Her traveling expenses were financed by several sources, including the French government. In 1916 David-Neel met the fourteen-year-old Sikkimese Monk, Aphur Yongden, who became her lifelong traveling companion and would later become her adopted son as an adult in 1929. With him she traveled throughout the Soviet Union and China prior to World War II. During the war, her travel was restricted for nearly nine years. She reflected on her experiences in more than 30 books about Eastern religion, philosophy, and her travels, such as "My Journey to Lhasa," "Buddhism: Its Doctrines and Its Methods", and "Sous des nuées d'orage; Recit de voyage." Active in French politics, she was a supporter of French women's right to vote and own property. Alexandra David Néel was awarded a gold medal by the Paris Geographical Society and named a Knight of the Legion of Honor. Her and her son's ashes were scattered together.