Published in 1900, his book s suffers most from my proximity of reading Harry Franck's A Vagabond Journey Around the World, which is in a similar setting, and leaves this for dead.
In the Preface, it is noted that "The author's motives, however, are purely selfish. His wanderings have been as aimless as a crooked path in the desert: his impressions of the men and places he visited are necessarily fragmentary. But these impressions are pleasant to look back upon."
Candler's book is made up of four strangely disconnected parts, and fluctuates from interesting and spirited to mundane and repetitive, in about equal parts.
There is a map at the front which shows his route from Tavoy in Burma (Myanmar now) across the Malay peninsular to Bangkok in Thailand, then a sea route in the Gulf of Thailand to Chanthaburi (still Thailand) and into Cambodia and then south east to Vietnam via the Mekong River to MyTho and on to Saigon. This journey coves the first of the sections of the book, entitled Off the Beaten Track
The second section, titled Himalayan Sketches is a fast jump to a very different location, not foreshadowed at all... This section is a series of short unrelated chapters set in the Indian Himalaya, another either in Nepal or at the Nepalese border, a dreadful poem of the Himalaya, another story set on the Nepal / India border, another in Sikkum. On balance, I think these are all set (or stories told to the author) in the Sikkim and West Bengal states of India, which it probably where the author was stationed as he indicated his work was in the 'Indian Hill Stations'.
In the Near East is the third section, and it charts the authors journey from Baghdad to Damascus, through very dangerous Bedouin controlled desert areas.
The final section covers the authors journeying in the Shan States what are now a part of Myanmar. At the time these were small feudal princely states. this chapter, aptly titled In the Southern Shan States
In each of these sections, the author engages with the local naive people, sharing aspects of their culture, their history and other interactions. He describes their individual character and his interacts with them. In places he refers to flora and fauna, to hunting opportunities, the natural landscapes. Towards the end he gets a bit philosophical, contemplating the nature of travel, the motivations behind it, and the experiences gained.
Overall I was disappointed with this, which should have been far more gripping and exciting than it was.
3 stars
Published in 1900, his book s suffers most from my proximity of reading Harry Franck's A Vagabond Journey Around the World, which is in a similar setting, and leaves this for dead.
In the Preface, it is noted that "The author's motives, however, are purely selfish. His wanderings have been as aimless as a crooked path in the desert: his impressions of the men and places he visited are necessarily fragmentary. But these impressions are pleasant to look back upon."
Candler's book is made up of four strangely disconnected parts, and fluctuates from interesting and spirited to mundane and repetitive, in about equal parts.
There is a map at the front which shows his route from Tavoy in Burma (Myanmar now) across the Malay peninsular to Bangkok in Thailand, then a sea route in the Gulf of Thailand to Chanthaburi (still Thailand) and into Cambodia and then south east to Vietnam via the Mekong River to MyTho and on to Saigon. This journey coves the first of the sections of the book, entitled Off the Beaten Track
The second section, titled Himalayan Sketches is a fast jump to a very different location, not foreshadowed at all... This section is a series of short unrelated chapters set in the Indian Himalaya, another either in Nepal or at the Nepalese border, a dreadful poem of the Himalaya, another story set on the Nepal / India border, another in Sikkum. On balance, I think these are all set (or stories told to the author) in the Sikkim and West Bengal states of India, which it probably where the author was stationed as he indicated his work was in the 'Indian Hill Stations'.
In the Near East is the third section, and it charts the authors journey from Baghdad to Damascus, through very dangerous Bedouin controlled desert areas.
The final section covers the authors journeying in the Shan States what are now a part of Myanmar. At the time these were small feudal princely states. this chapter, aptly titled In the Southern Shan States
In each of these sections, the author engages with the local naive people, sharing aspects of their culture, their history and other interactions. He describes their individual character and his interacts with them. In places he refers to flora and fauna, to hunting opportunities, the natural landscapes. Towards the end he gets a bit philosophical, contemplating the nature of travel, the motivations behind it, and the experiences gained.
Overall I was disappointed with this, which should have been far more gripping and exciting than it was.
3 stars