A Land Like None You Know
Awe and wonder in Burma on the road to Mandalay
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
Burma (or Myanmar as it is now called) is in the news for all the wrong reasons. It has been ruled for many years by a ruthless, repressive junta, it suffers regular earthquakes and the cyclone of May 2008 left more than a hundred thousand people injured, homeless or dead. Yet this is a magical place: a country of contrasts with a rambunctious history and a culture that is both awesome and fascinating. Largely on a whim, prompted by sitting next to the “neighbour from hell” on a long-haul flight, the author decides to visit Mandalay, the “Golden City” foreseen by ancient Buddhist prophesies. Despite controversy – there are campaigns suggesting you do not travel to Burma on the grounds that doing so supports the government - he makes a trip, flying to Bangkok and on to Yangon (previously Rangoon) and makes much of the journey on the river cruiser Road to Mandalay sailing along the famous Ayeyarwady. Along the way he encounters taxis pulled by oxen; rings the largest bell in the world; learns how to wear a skirt, the difference between a stupa and a pagoda and why florescent pink tiles are used in temples. In this lively and light-hearted account of his journey he watches the best sunset in the world on the plains of Bagan, and as the sun sinks behind the towers of pagodas stretching in countless numbers to the horizon, concludes that this wonderful country is worthy of everyone’s attention, and perhaps help too.
Customer Reviews
A Land Like None You Know
I bought this book to put some meat on the bones of an idea - to go to Burma now that the regime is beginning to see the light, and before the country becomes truly part of our homogenised world, adopting the blandness that can come with progress - to capture a moment in time whilst earnestly hoping for real self-determination for the Burmese people.
I wanted therefore an understanding of what I might find and some idea of what I should avoid. I got what I wanted, and more. Patrick Forsyth's style personalises his experiences for the reader so as to foster a keenness to move on to the next stage of the adventure with him and his undoubtedly tolerant, good natured, and long suffering wife! He has a wry sense of humour and brings it to bear on his sympathetic observations of his fellow travellers and the lives and personalities of those they meet along the way. He is not afraid to poke fun at himself either, and part of the joy of this book is that it doesn't take itself too seriously.
There were moments in the book that I felt paid a little too much homage to particular commercial organisations to the point that I felt I was reading the "blurb" on their own promotional literature. These moments jarred with the overall tone of the book which mostly captured very evocatively the personality of the experiences described, rather than being a recommendation for those that provided them.
This book does offer a real flavour of the culture and people and I now yearn to get to Burma and have started to plan my trip. It will be my first long haul third world trip alone, (I'm a single mum of three teenage boys just celebrating having hung on in there for my first half century!) but this book has left me reassured that I will not be taking an undue risk, and that the payback in terms of undiluted chances to watch, listen, small and generally soak up all that Burma has to offer will be enormous.
I won't be going first class this time but perhaps I'll have my fortune told and be reassured that the next time I will be passenger on the Road to Mandalay - well, I can dream...