I finished a book called "The Road to Samarcand" by Patrick O'Brian (author of the "Master & Commander" books). It was originally written in 1954, and probably for kids. While not nearly as good as the Aubrey/Maturin tales, it's not a bad book and a lot of fun. It's set in the 30s and is an adventure in Tibet and China. It has lost valleys and mongol hoards, and towards the end, yetis. While written to be more mysterious than anything, (footprint and body description may not be what we hear of them described) the encounters come off as creepy and bigfoot-like.

Hmm...thanks for that recommendation. O'Brian's Master and Commander series would be hard to beat by anyone. They are nothing short of superb so I will keep my eye's peeled for this book.
By the way, I presume you've read Master and Commander. One aspect of life aboard the ships in those days and up until the age of powered ships and smaller crews, was the habit of adopting animals by the crews and presumably releasing them once they were found out or became too big or too troublesome. O'Brian was (is) famous for his attention to details based on solid research.

I can't let a mention of the Aubrey/Maturin series go by without giving my praise. I read the first one thinking that I'd just give the books a chance--I had enjoyed Horatio Hornblower years before, and thought the genre could still be entertaining. Well, there's twenty in the series, and I blew through it faster than any set of related books I've ever read. Each one was superb, tying book after book together like the longest and most enjoyable movie ever made. Clothing, furniture, architecture, and a deep insight into both ship construction and warfare were so well described and 'alive' that it never failed to place you in the character's world.

If anyone hasn't read it, please do--Patrick O'Brian did something special with those books.

I'll go pick up The Road to Samarcand, even if it wasn't written at his peak, and for a younger audience, I'm sure it's still good. Thanks for the recommendation.

Yup. I read "Master and Commander" while recuperating from surgery. In less than a year, I had read the other 19. Simply the best series ever, not a stinker in the lot.