13. Pico Iyer, Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

13. Pico Iyer, Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East

I love travel books, and this is a fantastic one. Iyer visits several Asian countries (including India, China, Tibet, Burma, the Philippines, Bali, Thailand, Hong Kong, and probably a few more I'm forgetting) with the goal of seeing how they've been affected by Western pop culture and tourism. Iyer is quite good at describing places, and seems to have really made the effort to get to know local people and include their viewpoints.

This book is a bit out-of-date now (it was written in the early 80s), but to me that just added to the appeal. This is a China and Tibet newly opened to Westerners, a Hong Kong which is still a colony, Burma before it was Myanmar. So many of the places he visits no longer exist- at least, not as they did at the time- that it makes for an intriguing historical snapshot.

Iyer uses the 'Modern, Masculine West meets Traditional, Feminine East! However Will They Understand One Another?' trope a bit too much for my tastes, but you could easily skim those parts and focus on the descriptions of places and people, which are quite well-written. Recommended, and I'd love recs for other travel books, if you have a favorite!

Comments

[saharazara.livejournal.com]

I, too, love travel writing and this is one of my all time favorites. It has moved with me across states and towns. I went through a spate of travel book reading in the late 90s/early 00s - so most of my books are from an era before travel became so complicated to and from (and now within) the States. Another one from Iyer that I really liked is Falling Off the Map: Some Lonely Places of the World. My favorite travel writer won't fit in with the goals of this group, but I love him - Bill Bryson. Of course, I am a bit of an anglophile, so his writings (and life) are right up my alley (he being an American married to an English woman), but YMMV. Ooh- thank you for writing this review! It has reminded me of a whole genre that I haven't been keeping up with, lately. And now I must go hunt up more of Iyer's writing. :)

[jamescuck.livejournal.com]

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