Daren

Published in 1999, written much later in life than these events, this is a descriptive biography of a Dutch woman who, in her youth was interned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Indonesia - the Dutch East Indies as it was at the time. There were many Dutch people living there at the time, and in 1943 when the Japanese army overran the country Gerarda was in her early teens.

This is not a fantastically written book, but clearly sets out her experiences, many of which were obviously very unpleasant for her, with her mother and sisters in a series of camps. They were separated from Gerarda's father who was placed in a camp on another island and was out of contact with him for around four years.

That the Japanese were cruel and unnecessarily so is evident from this book. Many of those interned died without receiving adequate aid for medical issues, numerous women were beaten by the camp commandant who was a vile little man. Decisions the Japanese made, (such as not identifying the camp with the required markings (so that the allied forces bombed the camp, which was next to an airfield, assuming it was a military barracks) and thieving the red cross parcels provided for the POWs, never passing on the food and clothing provided) make it obvious that that they were not playing by the rules of engagement in WWII.

As I mentioned above, while I have absolute sympathy for the author and her family, this wasn't excellent writing. The writing of the book may well have cathartic for her, and she spent some very important developmental years interned, but towards the end she started referring to the POW camp as a concentration camp, and while she was likely emotionally distraught at the time she could have removed some of the repetition of the issues they faced - it would have made this a little more readable.

For those interested in the details, the main camp was called Kampili and was located near Makassar on the island of Celebes (now Sulawesi). It housed approximately 1,800 Allied women and children, mostly Dutch. The men who were separated from these women and children were taken initially to Batavia, then Pare Pare camp. Many were sent to Burma to work on the infamous Burma/Thailand railway, although luckily for the author her father was not one of them. After the war, the camp commandant was tried for war crimes, but only received a sentence of seven years, as some previously interned women had written supporting him - something criticised in this book and considered baffling given the way they were treated.

In later life the author returned to the Netherlands, lived in Australia, again returned to the Netherlands and then emigrated to New Zealand, where this book was published.

2.5 stars.

This need only be a short review. This book is a relatively simple academic work to describe the ethnology of the tribes inhabiting the hills which is point of area from the greater part of the state of Manipur Naga and Kuki occupy definite areas in these hills the Naga tribes in Manipur.

It is not particularly readable, but for the general reader, it has its more interesting aspects mixed with the less interesting. It is however very thorough, and is no doubt an important publication to record these anthropological details that would otherwise be lost. Obviously it is a snapshot of time from just prior to its publication in 1911.

As above it covers many aspects from habitat and geographical distribution, appearance and characteristics, origins, dress, tattooing and weapons to descriptions of houses and villages, furniture and utensils, manufactured items, agriculture, crops, hunting and fishing, food and drink. It goes on to cover tribal organisation and structure, marriage, adoptions, inheritance. Land and other laws, decision of disputes, war and headhunting are also covered. A large section on religion follows, which covers beliefs and origin stories, dreams, omens, ancestor worship, nature worship, rites, sacrifices, ceremonies, marriage and priesthood. There is also a collection of folk tales.

In terms of setting out to meet its purpose this book nailed it. For the entertainment of the general reader, clearly not its intent, it was a bit of a chore to get through it all.

2 stars.

Peter Hessler's third in his China trilogy, and this third book is a story in three parts. They are quite distinctive parts too. Overall this is a fairly long read, at circa 550 pages, and it is a book that dwells in the minutiae, but it was minutiae that was interesting to me.

Speaking fluent Mandarin, as well as reading and writing do little to hide his foreignness, but offer him insights that others will never have. He is clearly a person who builds trust quickly as people are inclined to spill their life stories to him! He must have a way of quick connection and must have developed suitable questioning techniques for the Chinese psyche.

I will keep it brief, and stay away from the details, but the parts of the book consist of:

Part one - The Wall. Driving the small roads ostensibly following the Great Wall in it many fragmented parts. China is also undergoing a massive development in automobile ownership and development of industries around cars and roads. Using Sinomaps (the only Chinese map book that makes an effort) Hessler attempts to follow small roads, visit small towns, look around the Great Wall fragments. On the way he picks up hitchhikers, meets other people and shares their short stories, find historical points of interest and manages to layer in some basic history and context for where he is and who was there before him. Obtaining a Chinese driver's license provides pages and pages of entertainment, hiring a car provides ongoing amusement with the reportage of every far visit, every breakdown and every damage causing incident.

Part two - The Village. Hessler and a friend seek a 'writers refuge' - a house in a small village near Beijing, but beyond the suburbs in which to embed themselves (sharing but mostly separately). After searching they find a simple house in a simple village on the brink of modernisation. His landlord, wife and son become the key interface for this section of the book. In Sancha, Hessler makes friends and enemies, he helps and hinders the locals and writes about it all. Local government politics, the Communist Party and its involvement in village decisions, the system of land ownership, the hospital system, the police, Falun Gong, religion, farmers becoming businessmen, house alterations, family relationships. Little is sacred and Hessler reports it all.

Part three - The Factory. In this section Hessler visits an industrial area being established in advance of a new motorway. This is Chinese development on a large scale, described and removing mountains and filling valleys to make development land. Here he finds a factory in the very origins of setting itself up and he ingratiates himself with the owners and picks up the personal stories of them, their foreman and a group of workers. The factory makes two metalwork items, the underwires for bra's and the rings that make strap adjustment possible on bra's. Again he weaves in lots of information about land development, motorways & factories (manufacturing in general) as well as the personal stories of those noted.

So three quite district storylines, Hessler says researched over the period 2001 to 2009, during which a great many things in China changed. No doubt it has all continued to evolve and change at a great rate.

For me this equaled his first book and was superior to the second.

5 stars

An ok read with out being great, or providing much in the way of insights. Everyone knows Michael Palin, no he isn't going to be very controversial, but yes he might ask a few awkward questions and make a few jokes that North Koreans won't have context to understand. This is, of course, a tv series tie-in book - ostensibly his 'journal' recording each days events for his 14 day visit to North Korea.

So much of this was predictable or already pretty commonly known - yes the minders were going to leverage some control over what you saw and what you photographed, no most people would not talk to you freely about the restrictions on their everyday life. Michael Palin is still in pretty good health for his age (82 now, this book was published 7 years ago, so circa 75 at the time of travel), and gets around well - surprising the Korean minders who seem to expect him to be geriatric.

On the plus side there are lots of photographs, covering a whole array of topics and people, most of them pretty good, although they are not captioned. They generally refer to the text on the same page though, so the context isn't too hard to pick up.

I would be lying if I thought this would be any different when I bought this (second hand for a few dollars) but I do like Michael Palin and his gentle travelogues.

2.5 stars

Leon McCarron is no stranger to Iraq, having spent 6 years their establishing the Zagros Mountain Trail. After returning to set himself up in London, and finding himself needing more action, he packs up with girlfriend Emily Garthwaite, a photographer, and sets out to travel the length of the Tigris River, from its headwaters in Turkey to the sea in the Persian Gulf. Joining them are Claudio von Planta (the Swiss cameraman best known for his journey with Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman on their motorcycles in various locations) and local guides for each country. Some time in Turkey and briefly Syria, but the lions share of the journey is in Iraq. In Iraq they are assisted by environmental activist Salman Khairalla and interpreter Hana Ibrahim, both of who feature a lot.

McCarron's intent was to travel as much of it by boat as possible, meeting those who live adjacent the river, learning their stories, and combine them with the river's history. Given this travel occurs during covid, and also through areas where ISIS remain active (if not very successfully active), the journey is quite an undertaking, and while they travel predominantly by boat, there are many periods where we it is just not safe, or permitted to be on the river. In the end the calculation is around 68% of the distance travelled is on the river (approx a 1200 mile journey).

Initially there is no real mention of the environmental condition of the river, but this quickly becomes a major feature of this book - the environmental damage being done to the river, the impacts of this, and really, to raise the issue to the public. Having read Rory Stewart's Occupational Hazards I have some understanding of the complexities of governing and the disfunction in Iraq. Army, police, other factions, militias with conflicting intents, power struggles and lack of cohesive intents mean that the river is treated for local issues not national issues - this becomes readily apparent as they progress downstream. There are many issues, but water control based on the dams is a major factor. Changing the flows, releasing or not releasing water effects all downstream people. This includes the flooding of many villages within the dam catchments, often with little or no assistance in relocating these suddenly homeless people.

There are just so many other issues - excavation of aggregates for concrete and asphalt, depleted uranium left over from military caches, waste from oil refineries, effluent pipes dumping sewerage, the river used as mass grave by ISIS, medical waste discharging directly into the river bypassing a broken treatment plant and water salinity and stagnation in the marshes.

McCarron does a good job of cataloguing all of these depressing things while still identifying some cultural positives, as anyone who has read of the Middle East will know the extent of hospitality, especially from people with so little. Many Iraqi people go out of their way to be of assistance to the travellers, or share their stories with them.

As much as a nautical journey down the Tigris in a traditional boat appeals, that was never viable with the unrest and uncertainty in Iraq. This was certainly an alternative that had plenty to keep me satisfied - still an epic journey, massive challenges and ultimately a really sad state that the Tigris River is now in. The only hope is that this sort of exposure may raise enough concern for changes to be made.

4.5 stars.