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Bezig met laden... Eastern Horizons : Hitchhiking the Silk Road (origineel 2017; editie 2017)door Levison Wood (Auteur)
Informatie over het werkEastern Horizons: Hitchhiking the Silk Road door Levison Wood (2017)
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. Well....tis easy to see that Library Thing readers know more about books than Amazon readers. Bought this at Heathrow in London and before I had gone 50 pages I read reviews on Amazon. What book were they reading, I thought? My 1.5 should lower the current rating a bit. I would have given it a ‘1’, but it had a map....a rarity in today’s publishing world. The book was boring to read, fair to middlin’ in style, and, did I say, dull? When I bought it I saw he had written numerous books and I thought I might have found a new travel writer. No chance! The guy is stubborn, opinionated on all the wrong things for a traveler, and has an extremely high opinion of himself. He dislikes most of the people he meets (or so it seems!), and he is only 22! His later books must be torture. Good luck to whoever reads them. I did some advance scouting and apparently he’s not getting any better....Finally, I don’t know who Edward Stanford is (I googled him and now I know, for all that is worth), but if this is shortlisted material I don’t think much of him or the award....Read in Malta, Finished 12.03.20. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Levison Wood was only 22 when he decided to hitch-hike from England to India through Russia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but he wasn't the conventional follower of the hippy trail. A fascination with the deeds of the early explorers, a history degree in the bag, an army career already planned and a shoestring budget of 750 pounds - including for the flight home - he was determined to find out more about the countries of the Caucasus and beyond - and meet the people who lived and worked there. Eastern Horizons is a true traveller's tale in the tradition of the best of the genre, populated by a cast of eccentric characters; from mujahideen fighters to the Russian mafia. Along the way he meets some people who showed great hospitality, while others would rather have murdered him... Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)910.4092History and Geography Geography and Travel Geography and Travel Accounts of travel and facilities for travellersWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Which is why he found himself at the age of 22 setting off a journey to hitch-hike from Nottingham across Russia with a friend, before heading south alone to follow the route taken by people for millennia, the Silk Road. He was inspired to follow this route after finding a book called the Great Game in the library whilst he should have been researching something else. This book told the tale of Arthur Conolly who in 1839 tried to see if it was still possible to travel along this legendary road.
His budget of £750 was stretching the definition of shoestring fairly thin, especially as he was hoping to fly home rather than hitchhike back again. His companion in Russia was Jon Winfield, a friend who shared a love of the open road too. Wood's Russian leg would take him from Calais to Stavropol via St Petersburg and he would drink more vodka than was definitely healthy for him, but as they approached Georgia, the first of the Caucasus countries Jon decided to head home., with the ominous message that he didn't want to hear about Levison on Al Jazeera.
Having heard all the horror stories from the Russians about the Georgians, he finds them warm and welcoming and find that the loathing that they have for each other is mutual. Leaving the country to pick up the Silk Road from Turkey and would head into Iran. It is a country of contrasts, with the theocratic mullahs having the most influence and the population committing their own individual acts of defiance. Next was the most dangerous part of his journey, into Afghanistan; this was in 2004, and the country was still under American occupation with battles still happening between the mujahideen, the Americans and the Taliban. The people were resigned at the time to another war taking place in their country but still were as hospitable as they could be given the circumstances. Surviving Afghanistan, Woods crosses the Khyber Pass and into Pakistan the penultimate country on his trip, before reaching the beaches of Goa at journeys end.
It was a journey that had a significant impact on his life. He did join the army as an officer in the parachute regiment and served in various theatres before leaving and becoming a journalist and photographer, but adventure travel is what he has become best known for. This latest book, about his experiences hitchhiking across Russia and the middle east, is I think his best yet. It may not have the freshness of his walks across Africa, Central America and the Himalayas, as it was written from the notes and journals that he kept, but he has matured as a writer and it shows in this book. 4.5 stars ( )