The Lost Heart of Asia

If I could have a long all-expenses paid trip somewhere, it'd be Central Asia, which is just fascinating. And this account of the author's journey into all the republics is quite beautifully, lyrically written.
A while ago I reviewed a travelogue and complained of the paucity/ quality of its photos. There are none here but you never feel the need of them. Mr Thubron does the photographer's job with his words.

Recent travelers to Central Asia include Colin Thubron, whose “The Lost Heart of Asia” (1994) covers more or less the area we traveled. Except that Thubron did this 20 years ago, when the Stans were clearly the ex-Soviet republics. One of the themes of the book is indeed how the Stans will develop, whether communism will come back, or Muslim fundamentalism will establish itself, or the Pan-Turkic region of influence will emerge, indeed something that I recall was debated at the time (when I was living in Turkey). Thubron is not one of my all-time favourites, but this is perhaps the best of his books I have read so far, a mix of history - including more and less relevant, yet entertaining anecdotes -, adventure travel and genuine show more contacts with the locals, which makes for a very personal story. He combines an extensive knowledge with a willingness to learn, a rare quality in mature travel writers. show less

The geographic descriptions left me a bit cold, but that's true of most travel writers. Meanwhile, there are passages in here that read like a novel; absolutely brilliant prose. Thubron's knowledge of the history of the region and his deft handling of its inhabitants is extraordinary. Central Asia is rarely discussed, but has been the crossroads of history and is even know undergoing significant change with great implications for the world at large. A bastardized form of Islam begins to inhabit the rotting corpse of a defeated colonial power in an area filled with crime and economic deprivation. Relevant? Absolutely.

Hmm. So far, p 57, he's spent a lot of time drinking under the desert sun with the men. Now I suppose he's going to have trouble spending time getting to know the women, seeing as he's male and this is a culture of divided gender roles, but I hope he does find a way to learn more about the people who are actually getting things done.

His focus seems to be more on history, ancient, recent, and future. Long ago the region was more rich and powerful due to the Silk Road (?) and its precursors (?), then Islam came, and the Soviets, and now the Soviets have left, so, what's next?

I think I need to do some research. As I wrote the above I realized just how sketchy my understanding of the region is....

Ok, almost 1/2 done. Still dry. I don't feel show more like I'm meeting individual people or seeing separate places. Everybody is a type, either a blond Turcoman who looks too Russian to be safe, or a Turcoman who misses the Soviet rule. Everybody thinks that London is in America, or England is right next to Istanbul and America is just beyond that. Young women don't realize that their peers a few hundred miles away wear the veil. Nobody likes the Iranians. And everything is dead and dusty - and the Soviets aren't the only ones to blame. The only fancy thing is the purple prose.

Oh, and nothing happens. 'My driver took me out to Ghost Town number 4 and took a nap while I fought the wind/ heat/ cold to look up at the only minaret left. Then we had tea at his brother's house.' Repeat....

Ok. I read the last chapter. Believe it or not, it was exactly like my summary of the first several. So, I give up. Thubron's efforts to make my efforts feel just as futile as the lives of these 'lost' people were effective. show less

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1267616.html

This is a travelogue of a journey through the five Central Asian former Soviet republics in the early 1990s, shortly after the collapse of the USSR. I realised that in fact I had read it shortly after it came out. In those days I was interested then in the legacy of Tamerlane and Ulugh Beg in Samarkand, which Thubron indeed describes in so far as it was there to be found. These days I am more interested in the politics, and things have moved on quite a bit in the region: the Tajik civil war, just starting when Thubron was there, has now been over for more than a decade; meanwhile we have had a revolution in Kyrgyzstan, increasing repression in Uzbekistan, the bizarre rule and death of show more Turkmenbashi, and most of all the War on Terror in the immediate neighbourhood. So the book now feels very out of date. There are a lot of drunken feasts, departing Russians, sweeping generalisations about the facial appearance of people from particular ethnic groups, which I began to find tiresome very quickly. I believe that Thubron did a follow-up volume to this, retracing his earlier route, quite recently but won't rush to pick it up (unless anyone strongly recommends it to me in comments). show less

I read this book as I was traveling to Kyrgyzstan. It's great. It made me want to visit the great cities of Samarkand and Bhukara though. I was sad I was not going there...

Geography/Travel/Central Asia