Daren
British textile designer Sarah Hobson, at age 23 in the early 1970's decided to travel to Persia (Iran if you prefer) not only to explore the country but to study Persian designs and crafts.
Even in the 1970's travelling alone as a women was to present challenges. Whilst the Shah was still in power (pre the 1979 revolution) and there were some personal freedoms in Iran, Hobson decided to disguise herself as male for her travels. Ultimately this gave her significantly more freedoms to move about by herself and to communicate with people. From the few times that her sex was discovered it was apparent that the young men of Iran were not pleasant for her to be around.
So to the travel - as 'John' - with hair cut short, wearing a compression wrap over her breasts, hunching forward a little and by pretending to be only 19, Hobson managed, for the most part, to get away with being male. She had to accept she wasn't a very masculine male, and was thought of as a bit of a weakling, but it was only when authorities requested her passport that she was busted. There were inevitably people around her at these times, so generally she had to move on to a new town. The hassles she received were awkward and not pleasant to read about, let alone experience - men wanting to kiss her, offering her money to sleep with them (saying, but you must want to, all western women sleep with anyone, etc). It is either not clear, or I may have missed it, whether the author had previous abilities with Farsi (or Persian, as it is sometimes referred to) or picked it up as she travelled, but she had reasonable fluency - enough to communicate on a day to day basis, hold theological discussions, etc.
Hobson travelled much of the country - there is a small map in the book, as well as various black & white photos. There were a few places she stayed longer, built closer relationships and used these places as a base to travel further afield. In other places she stayed a few days and moved on. For a time she hired a moped, but it was near its end of life to before it broke down she returned it and took to the bus system again.
There is a certain amount of guilt the author shares in misleading these people, pretending to be male and obtaining entry to mosques and the like. This is especially hard with those who are incredibly hospitable, providing accommodation and sharing food etc, but the outcomes when she is identified as a woman prove this disguise can be justified.
Other reviewers have suggested the book is superficial, disjointed and the disguise not being noticed lacking credibility. I didn't really have these issues (perhaps a little of the last), and found the author did a good job of sharing her experiences without too much duplication. She didn't get bogged down in details the reader didn't need to know, but shared interesting aspects of the food, the way people dressed, the conversations, the places she visited, etc. Hobson introduced light history when it was needed for context, but didn't attempt to write the history of Persia! Ultimately I think it took a lot of nerve to travel the way she did, and I enjoyed her telling of this.
4 stars
British textile designer Sarah Hobson, at age 23 in the early 1970's decided to travel to Persia (Iran if you prefer) not only to explore the country but to study Persian designs and crafts.
Even in the 1970's travelling alone as a women was to present challenges. Whilst the Shah was still in power (pre the 1979 revolution) and there were some personal freedoms in Iran, Hobson decided to disguise herself as male for her travels. Ultimately this gave her significantly more freedoms to move about by herself and to communicate with people. From the few times that her sex was discovered it was apparent that the young men of Iran were not pleasant for her to be around.
So to the travel - as 'John' - with hair cut short, wearing a compression wrap over her breasts, hunching forward a little and by pretending to be only 19, Hobson managed, for the most part, to get away with being male. She had to accept she wasn't a very masculine male, and was thought of as a bit of a weakling, but it was only when authorities requested her passport that she was busted. There were inevitably people around her at these times, so generally she had to move on to a new town. The hassles she received were awkward and not pleasant to read about, let alone experience - men wanting to kiss her, offering her money to sleep with them (saying, but you must want to, all western women sleep with anyone, etc). It is either not clear, or I may have missed it, whether the author had previous abilities with Farsi (or Persian, as it is sometimes referred to) or picked it up as she travelled, but she had reasonable fluency - enough to communicate on a day to day basis, hold theological discussions, etc.
Hobson travelled much of the country - there is a small map in the book, as well as various black & white photos. There were a few places she stayed longer, built closer relationships and used these places as a base to travel further afield. In other places she stayed a few days and moved on. For a time she hired a moped, but it was near its end of life to before it broke down she returned it and took to the bus system again.
There is a certain amount of guilt the author shares in misleading these people, pretending to be male and obtaining entry to mosques and the like. This is especially hard with those who are incredibly hospitable, providing accommodation and sharing food etc, but the outcomes when she is identified as a woman prove this disguise can be justified.
Other reviewers have suggested the book is superficial, disjointed and the disguise not being noticed lacking credibility. I didn't really have these issues (perhaps a little of the last), and found the author did a good job of sharing her experiences without too much duplication. She didn't get bogged down in details the reader didn't need to know, but shared interesting aspects of the food, the way people dressed, the conversations, the places she visited, etc. Hobson introduced light history when it was needed for context, but didn't attempt to write the history of Persia! Ultimately I think it took a lot of nerve to travel the way she did, and I enjoyed her telling of this.
4 stars
Having read Chris Stowers' second travel autobiography Shoot, Ask...and Run recently, and finding that excellent, I looped back to read this one - the first!
Firstly - this one was a lot shorter, less than 200 pages, and was a far quicker read. It still contained a number of black and white photos, but some were of lesser quality, as Stower's was still a traveller taking photographs, as opposed to his second book when he was primarily a photographer travelling.
After a chapter called 'The Tipping Point' which explains when, in 1986, Stowers quits his motorcycle courier job in London and goes travelling, this book charts two sections of travel with chapters at an approximate ratio of 2 to 1. In the primary travel narrative, Stowers is in Indonesia in August 1988 where he meets up by chance with a group of Frenchmen (and a Swiss) who are negotiating to buy a traditional Bugis spice ship from a local captain with the plan to sail back to Europe - the first leg being as far as Singapore. After hanging about with them, and sailing as far as Tanah Jampea (an Indonesian island north of Sulawesi) with the boat's owner and crew, where the purchase is to be made, Stowers commits to joining the crew.
The sea voyage exposes their lack of experience, they have plenty of issues and hardships they need to overcome with repairs, their stores and the like, but this section of the book is quite enjoyable.
Intertwined with this is the second narrative, travel that occurred a little over a year before the commencement of the first narrative (say, early 1987) in Tibet. This narrative is linked to the first by the fact he runs in to Charly (another Frenchman) in Indonesia, with whom he travelled after Tibet, who triggered his thoughts back to the earlier time.
In Tibet, Stowers is with a German girl, Claudia and explains the time he spent in Lhasa. When they both need to move on from Tibet, she heads for Nepal, and he into China, and on this journey in China he pines for her to a point where she is mentioned over and over. It is on this leg of the journey he travels a while with Charly (as above). This second narrative is less strong than the first, and taken up with stowers continual thinking back to Claudia. It quietly peters out before the conclusion of the Bugis ship to Singapore.
So while for me, this didn't live up to the heights of the second book, it was a worthwhile read, and filled in some of the experience gaps for Stowers. I guess it also shows Stowers' development as an author. Stowers refers to the two books as volume 1 and volume 2 of The Diaries of a Western Nomad, so I look forward to the third volume in due course.
3.5 stars
Having read Chris Stowers' second travel autobiography Shoot, Ask...and Run recently, and finding that excellent, I looped back to read this one - the first!
Firstly - this one was a lot shorter, less than 200 pages, and was a far quicker read. It still contained a number of black and white photos, but some were of lesser quality, as Stower's was still a traveller taking photographs, as opposed to his second book when he was primarily a photographer travelling.
After a chapter called 'The Tipping Point' which explains when, in 1986, Stowers quits his motorcycle courier job in London and goes travelling, this book charts two sections of travel with chapters at an approximate ratio of 2 to 1. In the primary travel narrative, Stowers is in Indonesia in August 1988 where he meets up by chance with a group of Frenchmen (and a Swiss) who are negotiating to buy a traditional Bugis spice ship from a local captain with the plan to sail back to Europe - the first leg being as far as Singapore. After hanging about with them, and sailing as far as Tanah Jampea (an Indonesian island north of Sulawesi) with the boat's owner and crew, where the purchase is to be made, Stowers commits to joining the crew.
The sea voyage exposes their lack of experience, they have plenty of issues and hardships they need to overcome with repairs, their stores and the like, but this section of the book is quite enjoyable.
Intertwined with this is the second narrative, travel that occurred a little over a year before the commencement of the first narrative (say, early 1987) in Tibet. This narrative is linked to the first by the fact he runs in to Charly (another Frenchman) in Indonesia, with whom he travelled after Tibet, who triggered his thoughts back to the earlier time.
In Tibet, Stowers is with a German girl, Claudia and explains the time he spent in Lhasa. When they both need to move on from Tibet, she heads for Nepal, and he into China, and on this journey in China he pines for her to a point where she is mentioned over and over. It is on this leg of the journey he travels a while with Charly (as above). This second narrative is less strong than the first, and taken up with stowers continual thinking back to Claudia. It quietly peters out before the conclusion of the Bugis ship to Singapore.
So while for me, this didn't live up to the heights of the second book, it was a worthwhile read, and filled in some of the experience gaps for Stowers. I guess it also shows Stowers' development as an author. Stowers refers to the two books as volume 1 and volume 2 of The Diaries of a Western Nomad, so I look forward to the third volume in due course.
3.5 stars
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I really wanted to like this book. In the end it was hard work. The book suffers because in 1977, foreigners were allowed to stop only in three places on the Trans-Siberan: Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Khabarovsk. Foreigners were also not allowed at the final destination -Vladivostok, and had to end the journey at the ferry / fishing port of Nakhodka.
Sadly, due to the lack of possibility on the journey, the book gets bogged down in history and extracts of other traveller's tales. Still some amusing anecdotes in there, just a bit of a battle to get through.
I really wanted to like this book. In the end it was hard work. The book suffers because in 1977, foreigners were allowed to stop only in three places on the Trans-Siberan: Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Khabarovsk. Foreigners were also not allowed at the final destination -Vladivostok, and had to end the journey at the ferry / fishing port of Nakhodka.
Sadly, due to the lack of possibility on the journey, the book gets bogged down in history and extracts of other traveller's tales. Still some amusing anecdotes in there, just a bit of a battle to get through.
I really wanted to like this book. In the end it was hard work. The book suffers because in 1977, foreigners were allowed to stop only in three places on the Trans-Siberan: Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Khabarovsk. Foreigners were also not allowed at the final destination -Vladivostok, and had to end the journey at the ferry / fishing port of Nakhodka.
Sadly, due to the lack of possibility on the journey, the book gets bogged down in history and extracts of other traveller's tales. Still some amusing anecdotes in there, just a bit of a battle to get through.
I really wanted to like this book. In the end it was hard work. The book suffers because in 1977, foreigners were allowed to stop only in three places on the Trans-Siberan: Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Khabarovsk. Foreigners were also not allowed at the final destination -Vladivostok, and had to end the journey at the ferry / fishing port of Nakhodka.
Sadly, due to the lack of possibility on the journey, the book gets bogged down in history and extracts of other traveller's tales. Still some amusing anecdotes in there, just a bit of a battle to get through.