The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia

by Paul Theroux

Release Date: October, 1995

Edition: Paperback

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Train travelling by reading.

"Train travel animate my imagination and usually give me solitude to order and write my thoughts: I travel easily in two directions, along the level rails while Asia flashed changes at the window, and at the interior rim of a private world of memory and language. I cannot imagine a luckier combination."

The words are from Paul Theroux's book The Great Railway Bazaar, where he takes us on a train journey through Asia. The book has excotic chapters, starting with The 15.30 - London to Paris, taking us via The Direct - Orient Express, The Night Mail to Meshed, The Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpus, The Trans - Siberian Express and so on. Names and places I dream of, and would like to go to - one day.
Paul Theroux has been there, and he has been there with an open mind and his pen and paper to take care of this world of memory and language.

This is fun reading. Some people call Theroux a rasist, but I don't agree. Theroux travels with an open mind and really see people and places where he goes. The way he shares his experiences with his readers is so rich and funny, you almost can feel the smell of the meal of old onions wrapped in a dirty piece of newspaper his travel companion is having, or you feel the dust in your eyes from the dry countryside you are passing.

I bought this book at an European airport when I was out travelling, and has read it as a "travel"-book, reading on planes, railways, busses, in cars and so on. And my eyes have been opened to see the people around me - not as grey everyday fellow travellers, but as all different human beings. And from Paul Theroux I have learned that strangers are not actually strangers, but people who can show me more of a mixed world when I take the time to start sharing part of my life with them.

Britt Arnhild Lindland.

Theroux disappoints

One long railway journey from England to Turkey to India to Japan to Russia and back to England passing through various countries along the way. If you like to read about lands and their people, this book is not for you. If you want to experience the customs of Asian countries, you should skip this book. In fact, if you expect anything other than a description of a railway journey, trains and a few co-passengers, you are bound to be disappointed. When you have finally convinced yourself that you are going to get nothing more out of this book other than trains and passengers, you can settle down to read it and find it fairly enjoyable. Paul Theroux describes some of the passengers characteristic of each country well, but omits describing some of the customs and traditions of the people themselves which would have made better reading, thereby loosing the 'travel' flavor I was expecting.