Travel Asia

Tiziano Terzani in Asia: una storia lunga una vita. Ma è Terzani a raccontarci l'Asia o è l'Asia che ci racconta Terzani? Difficile dirlo, tanto forte è il legame che quest'uomo ha deciso di stringere, fin dal 1965, con il più contraddittorio e misterioso dei continenti; un legame nato quasi per caso e, come succede ai grandi amori, rinsaldato non soltanto dalla passione, ma anche dalle difficoltà, dalle differenze, dai contrasti.

From the author of the enduring classic The Solace of Open Spaces, here is a wondrous meditation on how water, light, wind, mountain, bird, and horse have shaped her life and her understanding of a world besieged by a climate crisis. Amid species extinctions and disintegrating ice sheets, this stunning collection of memories, observations, and narratives is acute and lyrical, Whitmanesque in breadth, and as elegant as a Japanese teahouse.

Well, it wasn't a car--it was bikes, a KLE500 and a KTM990, and by the end of the trip the KLE was pretty much trashed. On their third epic trip together, Lawrence Bransby and his son Gareth head for the notorious Pamir Highway, the second highest "highway" in the world, tucked deep in the Pamir Mountains of Central Asia. For those in the know, this area has roads and tracks that can be defined as "motorcycle adventure travel at its best". And it didn't disappoint.

Bound for Distant Seas begins sailing author James Baldwin's epic tale of his second circumnavigation. His story is seasoned by his adventures during his first circumnavigation in 1984-86 as told in Across Islands and Oceans. Alone with little money aboard Atom, his now-engineless 28-foot sailboat, James embarks on his odyssey without the comforts and equipment most sailors consider essential.

Mount Kailas is the most sacred of the world’s mountains – holy to one fifth of humanity. Isolated beyond the central Himalayas, it is claimed by myth to be the source of the universe created from cosmic waters and the mind of Brahma. Its summit has never been scaled, but for centuries the mountain has been ritually circled by Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims. Colin Thubron joins these pilgrims, after an arduous trek from Nepal, through the high passes of Tibet, to the magical lakes beneath the slopes of Kailas itself. His trek around the great mountain, revered by multitudinous others, awakes an inner landscape of solitude....

Nella primavera del 1976, a Hong Kong, un vecchio indovino cinese avverte l'autore di questo libro: "Attento! Nel 1993 corri un gran rischio di morire. In quell'anno non volare. Non volare mai". Dopo tanti anni Terzani non dimentica la profezia (che a suo modo si avvera...), ma anzi la trasforma in un'occasione per guardare al mondo con occhi nuovi: decide infatti di non prendere aerei per un anno, senza tuttavia rinunciare al suo mestiere di corrispondente.

Maugham spent the winter months of 1919 travelling 1500 miles up the Yangtze river. Always more interested in people than places, he noted down acute and finely crafted sketches of those he met on countless scraps of paper. In the resulting collection we encounter Western missionaries, army officers and company managers who are culturally out of their depth in the immensity of the Chinese civilisation.

In May 2018, former Monty Python stalwart and intrepid globetrotter Michael Palin ventured into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, camera crew in tow, to gain a glimpse of life in the most notoriously secretive and cut-off nation on earth. His resulting two-part documentary for Channel 5 fascinated millions and won universal plaudits.

Hong Kong is the world’s most exciting city, at once fascinating and exasperating, a tangle of contradictions. It is a dazzling amalgam of conspicuous consumption and primitive poverty, the most architecturally incongruous yet undeniably beautiful urban panorama of all. Through firsthand reportage, world-renowned travel writer Jan Morris takes us through the crowded streets of this enigmatic city, offering the most insightful and comprehensive study of Hong Kong thus far. She reviews Hong Kong’s early days as a British opium port controlled by pirates, cutthroats, and scoundrel tycoons, and looks ahead to the city’s future.

When Ian Buruma arrived in Tokyo in 1975, Japan was little more than an idea in his mind, a fantasy of a distant land. A sensitive misfit in the world of his upper middle class youth, what he longed for wasn't so much the exotic as the raw, unfiltered humanity he had experienced in Japanese theater performances and films, witnessed in Amsterdam and Paris.

Packed with insightful information, this guide serves as a comprehensive companion for both seasoned travelers and those embarking on their first Korean adventure. From the bustling metropolis of Seoul with its vibrant blend of ancient palaces and modern skyscrapers to the serene landscapes of traditional villages and natural retreats, the guide navigates through the diverse tapestry of South Korea.

With all the narrative power and intellectual authority that have distinguished his earlier books, V.S. Naipaul explores the life, the culture, the ferment inside the nations of Islam–in a book that combines the fascinations of great travel literature with the insights of a uniquely sharp, original and idiosyncratic political mind.

Culture Smart! Cambodia is for all those who want to do more than just scratch the surface of this fascinating country. Thoroughly updated, this new edition will enrich your understanding of the land and its people. It explains the key values, attitudes, customs, and traditions that you need to be aware of and provides practical tips and vital information on how to make the most of your time in Cambodia.

This audiobook exposes the worst lie about Thailand, and goes on to detail many of the complications that retirees have in the Kingdom. At times it's not a pleasant listen, but there's plenty of expatriates who will tell you they wish they knew what they were getting themselves in for before they arrived in Thailand.

Here is William Dalrymple's highly praised and greatly entertaining account of his 1986 trip made while a student at Cambridge, which retraced Marco Polo's route across land from Jerusalem to Xanadu. With him, he took a phial of Holy Oil, 600 pounds and Laura until Lahore, and Louisa from there to Xanadu.

Expat Guide: Thailand is your essential comprehensive resource for successfully transitioning to life in the vibrant nation of Thailand. This guide is meticulously structured to walk you through every step of your expat journey, from understanding the expat life, to making the decision to move to Thailand. Navigating the intricacies of Thailand's visa, legal requirements, healthcare system, and housing options is made straightforward with this guide.

After crossing the final mountain passes of Turkish Kurdistan, Ollivier sets foot in Iran, keen on locating vestiges of the silk trade as he passes through Persia's modern cities and traditional villages, including Tabriz, Tehran, Nishapur, and the holy city of Mashhad. Beyond urban areas lie deserts: first Iran's Great Salt Desert, then Turkmenistan's forbidding Karakum, whose relentless sun, snakes, and scorpions pose continuous challenges to Ollivier's goal of reaching Uzbekistan.

Following the mighty river upstream, this highly acclaimed, award-winning travelogue takes the listener on a voyage through 2000 miles of spectacular landscapes and fiercely contested territory, and back through 5000 years of rich and eventful history.

Taking listeners from the snows of the Pamir Mountains to the backstreets of Kashgar—a Central Asian city that could be the setting for One Thousand and One Nights—to the Tian Shan Mountains to the endless Taklamakan and Gobi Deserts of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Bernard Ollivier continues his epic foot journey along the Great Silk Road hoping to make his way to Han China and reach, at long last, the legendary city of Xi'an.

I Should Have Left the Whiskey is the first book in the Rambling On trilogy–compelling tales from a time when motorcycles were left in the shed and global exploration slowed to the pace of cycling. These diaries divulge two very different journeys in Asia: because progressing into enlightened India required some back-pedalling through darkest Thailand en route to China.