22 December 1999
Itinerary of trip to Rajasthan, India 22 December 1999 - 10 january 2000
View Rajasthan trip in a larger map
This the map of my itinerary. Soon to be followed by details and pictures from this trip...
19 September 1999
Book Review: Bad Times in Buenos Aires (1999), by Miranda France, ****
Synopsis
In 1993 Miranda France moved to South America, drawn to Buenos Aires as the intellectual hub of the continent, with its wealth of writers and its romantic, passionate and tragic history. She found that is was all these things, but it was also a terrible place to live. The inhabitants of Buenos Aires are famously unhappy. All over South America they are known for their arrogance, their fixation of Europe and their moodiness.
In 1993 Miranda France moved to South America, drawn to Buenos Aires as the intellectual hub of the continent, with its wealth of writers and its romantic, passionate and tragic history. She found that is was all these things, but it was also a terrible place to live. The inhabitants of Buenos Aires are famously unhappy. All over South America they are known for their arrogance, their fixation of Europe and their moodiness.
11 September 1999
Book review: Cobra Road, by Trevor Fishlock, ***
Synopsis
Trevor Fishlock set off from the harsh and haunted gables of the Khyber, zigzagged to the dazzle of India's southern tip at Cape Comorin and came at last to the little town called Cobra Road. Here, he presents his experience, the smell, feel and history of the subcontinent.
Review
This is a fairly typical jounalist's book. A good journalist for sure. It is full of sharp anecdotes and vivid vignettes of India's immense diversity.
It is also a very disorganized book, his personal explanations intertwined with more detached historical explanations, eyewitness accounts and stories he picked up along the way.
They style is uneven, at times fun and witty, at times rather boring.
All in all a book that I would recommend, even with the reservations above, especially for readers who have never been to India or read much about the country.
Read my other reviews of books on India here on this blog.
Trevor Fishlock set off from the harsh and haunted gables of the Khyber, zigzagged to the dazzle of India's southern tip at Cape Comorin and came at last to the little town called Cobra Road. Here, he presents his experience, the smell, feel and history of the subcontinent.
Review
This is a fairly typical jounalist's book. A good journalist for sure. It is full of sharp anecdotes and vivid vignettes of India's immense diversity.
It is also a very disorganized book, his personal explanations intertwined with more detached historical explanations, eyewitness accounts and stories he picked up along the way.
They style is uneven, at times fun and witty, at times rather boring.
All in all a book that I would recommend, even with the reservations above, especially for readers who have never been to India or read much about the country.
Read my other reviews of books on India here on this blog.
18 August 1999
19. - 18 AUG: Flight back to Brussels and end of trip to Zimbabwe
Morning at leisure and transfer to the airport where out faithful KLM Boeing 747 is reassuringly waiting on the tarmac.
It is the end of another trip to Africa and again I am left with the desire to return. A trite, banal remark, but so true. More than that, I have an ardent desire to see a better Zimbabwe, one in which blacks don't have to regret having won their freedom because the previous racist regime ran things better. Zimbabwe is a rich country but its people are poor. Especially blacks. This need not be the case and hopefully won't.
It is the end of another trip to Africa and again I am left with the desire to return. A trite, banal remark, but so true. More than that, I have an ardent desire to see a better Zimbabwe, one in which blacks don't have to regret having won their freedom because the previous racist regime ran things better. Zimbabwe is a rich country but its people are poor. Especially blacks. This need not be the case and hopefully won't.
17 August 1999
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