News from Tartary
Notes
Ian Fleming (the guy who invented James Bond) had a total bad-ass for a brother. This is his well-written account of traveling by foot across western China during a time of political upheaval. He did it without passports, real currency, or reliable maps. It’s seriously inspiring.
Noted on January 25, 2010
Quotes
But they made me out a sinister (though clumsy) agent of Imperialist intrigue, a kind of shady Lawrence; and I could not help feeling pleased that anyone should take me so seriously.Quoted on January 22, 2010
We were never short of food; but, with the exception of perhaps an hour after the evening meal, there was no single moment in the day when we would not have eaten, and eaten with the greatest relish, anything that appeared remotely edible. Dog biscuits would have been welcome. A plate of cold tapioca pudding would have vanished in a flash. Your dust-bins, had we come across them, would not have been inviolate.Quoted on January 22, 2010
The [unidentified feral donkeys] are known to Tibet and Ladakh as 'kyang', to the Turkis of Sinkiang as 'kulan,' to China (always charmingly vague about natural history) as 'wild horses.'Quoted on January 22, 2010