Shadow of the Silk Road

It is a privilege to go on a journey with Colin Thubron. Thubron is not only extremely well-versed in local history and culture, but he has a knack for languages as well. I knew the author spoke fluent Russian from reading "In Siberia" only to discover that he speaks enough Mandarin to make himself understood most of the time during his travels in China. The best part about this book and other Thubron travel books is when he is actually traveling. His descriptions are precise. His casual encounters with ordinary people are interesting, particularly when he arrives in Iran toward the end of his trip. Occasionally, the book bogs down when Thubron digresses into one of the many historical anecdotes. While I cannot help but be mpressed by show more the author's knowledge and research, I often found these passages frustrating because they were often too long and detailed (and some too obscure to be of general interest) that they detracted from the journey itself. Thubron has clearly established himself as one of the leading contemporary writers of travel literature, but I couldn't help but think that that reputation may have cowed his editors into allowing long weary passages slip by. show less

Very interesting - Thubron is clearly a very hardy and monastic soul seemingly perfectly suited to this lonely trip. He treats all the people he meets with genuine interest and gentle humour and copes with rugged conditions without over romanticising them, taking pain and privation without seeming to notice. Its a melancholy book; the former glories of the region are recalled and placed in stark contrast to the realities of today - or rather to 5 or 6 years ago. One suspects that some of the route might be more depressing today. And yet although Thubron is occasionally surprised by changes to places he's visited before (particularly in China) he is never sniffy about modernisation (as for example, Paul Theroux often is) and seems to be show more comfortable with change.

I hadn't read any of Mr Thubron's travel writing in book form before (i have read short pieces in Granta) but I have a couple of his novels. But so enjoyable is his company that I will be buying more at the earliest opportunity show less

Setting out from Xian, the author travels overland, taking in Tibetan monks; Yongchang (where he explores a fascinating tale of a Roman army division being sent out to fight the Parthians in 50 AD...and the sometimes 'European looking' locals...meets the Uighur, on the edge of the Gobi desert, Ends up in a SARS quarantine camp, through Krgyzstan and Samarkand...and into Afghanistan, still ravaged by war, the silenced people of Iran, and through the Elburz Mtns to Antioch.
It's masterly writing. I was glad to nget to the end but that's in no way a reflection of a beautifully written travel narrative.

Colin Thubron has written a number of travel books; this is my first read by him. I have been to China so the book held an interest for me.
In 2006 he began his trek from China to Turkey, taking eight months and 7,000 miles. Thubron began in the heart of China and went through Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, and then to Turkey.
Such an interesting book about the people he met, people he already knew, foods he ate, places he slept, problems, danger and historical places he visited. I kept wondering why he would want to do this. Colin Thubron traveled by way of bus, car, ferry, boat, donkey cart, camel and his feet.
The book introduces the reader to places the average person will never see.
I gave it a 5 star rating and a book I would show more re-read.

There were maps which helped to follow his journey.
Contents:
Author's Notes
1. Dawn
2. The Capital
3. Mantra
4. The Last Gate Under Heaven
5. The Southern Road
6. Kashgar
7. The Mountain Passage
8. To Samarkand
9. Over the Oxus
10. Mourning
11. The Mongol Place
12. To Antioch
Timeline
Index show less

Thubron travels the length of the Silk Road, at least one of its many traces, and uncovers traces of what has the feel of lost history. Wonderfully written, Thubron's book intermingles contemporary observations with deep and rich historical asides. The breadth of his knowledge is humbling and brings to mind the like erudition that Patrick Fermor brought to A Time Of Gifts and Between The Woods And The Water. Thubron's acerbic tone sometimes echoes the travel writing of Paul Theroux.

Colin Thubron went back to cross from China via Central Asia and Afghanistan to Iran and Eastern Turkey, to travel the ancient Silk Road. He published “Shadow of the Silk Road” in 2006, the book, but more so his journey, an extraordinary feat, given the threat from SARS in China and the hostilities in Afghanistan at the time. All the more striking, then, that Mr Thubron, quiet and relaxed as always, just does his own thing, finds his own way, often ignoring official directions if he thinks they are useless and ineffective. He may get arrested, so once in a while, but it doesn’t seem to bother him that much. As I have observed in other books of Mr. Thubron, he has a special way of observing, not necessarily focusing on the tourist show more highlights, but often on more obscure, somewhat irrelevant yet interesting aspects of the region he travels through. Helped by his linguistic skills, he travels off the beaten track, and he meets people, mostly ordinary people. All very interesting, yet, it seldom gets very exciting – which does not, in any way, diminish the respect I have for this man, who wrote his first travel book in the 1960s!

The last part of the book deals with Iran, which he traverses along the northern route, like Dervla Murphy did. Unlike Ms Murphy, Thubron is strong on historical context, which is interspersed with his own travel experiences, past tombs and towns, Teheran and Tabriz. Like Ms Murphy, he also observes the striking difference between Iran’s Persian population, and the large swath of Azerbaijani Iranians, who are culturally quite different. Although Mr Thubron stuck me earlier as quiet and relaxed, during his passage through Afghanistan for the first time some fear shimmers through his travelogue, when he realizes he is the only Westerner, except for the occasional foreign soldiers, in the wide surroundings, in an area where even the locals don’t want to tread – resulting in him taking a plane to Herat, instead of his usual overland travel. But back in Iran, he is his usual self again, back to what I called earlier “a special way of observing, not necessarily focusing on the tourist highlights, but often on more obscure, somewhat irrelevant yet interesting aspects of the region he travels through”. In fact, I enjoyed the latter part of the book more than the earlier, Chinese and Central Asian part. show less

Very well written and excellent character study. Extremely difficult content at times, given the holocaust as subject matter. Disturbing, compelling, unlovely.