|
Books > Sport & Leisure > Travel & holiday > Travel writing > General
Far away from the trendy cafes, designer boutiques, and political
protests and crackdowns in Moscow, the real Russia exists. Midnight
in Siberia chronicles David Greene's journey on the Trans-Siberian
Railway, a 6,000-mile cross-country trip from Moscow to the Pacific
port of Vladivostok. In quadruple-bunked cabins and stopover towns
sprinkled across the country's snowy landscape, Greene speaks with
ordinary Russians about how their lives have changed in the
post-Soviet years. These travels offer a glimpse of the new
Russia-a nation that boasts open elections and newfound prosperity
but continues to endure oppression, corruption, a dwindling
population, and stark inequality. We follow Greene as he finds
opportunity and hardship embodied in his fellow train travelers and
in conversations with residents of towns throughout Siberia. We
meet Nadezhda, an entrepreneur who runs a small hotel in Ishim,
fighting through corrupt layers of bureaucracy every day. Greene
spends a joyous evening with a group of babushkas who made
international headlines as runners-up at the Eurovision singing
competition. They sing Beatles covers, alongside their traditional
songs, finding that music and companionship can heal wounds from
the past. In Novosibirsk, Greene has tea with Alexei, who runs the
carpet company his mother began after the Soviet collapse and has
mixed feelings about a government in which his family has done
quite well. And in Chelyabinsk, a hunt for space debris after a
meteorite landing leads Greene to a young man orphaned as a
teenager, forced into military service, and now figuring out if any
of his dreams are possible. Midnight in Siberia is a lively travel
narrative filled with humor, adventure, and insight. It opens a
window onto that country's complicated relationship with democracy
and offers a rare look into the soul of twenty-first-century
Russia.
C. Johan Bakkes is die geliefde skrywer van aweregse reisjoernale. Twintig jaar ná die verskyning van C. Johan Bakkes se eerste boek, Moertoe die vreemde in tref dit weer die rak – nie slegs as heruitgawe nie, die skrywer het bygereis en bygewerk. Dit is ’n terugblik sowel as nuwe ervarings/ gewaarwordings soos net Bakkes dit kan verhaal.
In this thoughtful, informative account of a journey from Ho Chi
Minh City and the Mekong Delta to Hanoi and Halong Bay, Zoe
Schramm-Evans delves behind the cliche-ridden images of Vietnam to
discover a country poised on the brink of remarkable social and
economic change.
Bookshop Tours of Britain is a slow-travel guide to Britain,
navigating bookshop to bookshop. Across 18 bookshop tours, the
reader journeys from the Jurassic Coast of southwest England, over
the mountains of Wales, through England's industrial heartland, up
to the Scottish Highlands and back via Whitby, the Norfolk Broads,
central London, the South Downs and Hardy's Wessex. On their way,
the tours visit beaches, castles, head down coal mines, go to
whiskey distilleries, bird watching, hiking, canoeing, to stately
homes and the houses of some of Britain's best-loved historic
writers - and last but not least, a host of fantastic bookshops.
Die "ver paaie" in hierdie teks (wat in 1949 vir die eerste keer
verskyn het) verwys na 'n reis wat die vertellende P.J. Schoeman
deur die Kaokoveld in Suidwes-Afrika onderneem het. Deur die
soektog na 'n wilde perd ontwikkel die reis egter in 'n verkenning
van die gees en word die uiterlike gebeure met die romantiese
verlange en die strewe na 'n onvervulde droom verbind.
- Story of J. R. "Model-T" Tate's thru-hike of the Appalachian
Trail
- Recollections of grueling climbs, knee-wrecking descents,
mountaintop thunderstorms, snakes underfoot, and the myriad
characters encountered on an AT thru-hike
- Conveys the beauty of the trail and the community that
surrounds it
From the seashell-laden shores of Florida’s Sanibel Island to a green
sand beach in Hawaii to island oases in French Polynesia, this
exquisitely illustrated collection uncovers 100 of the world's best
shores and coasts. From the boho surf culture of Australia’s Bondi
Beach to Costa Rica’s dreamy Playa Blanca, rich in white sand and
wildlife, discover the world’s most breathtaking coastlines,
riverbanks, and lakefronts in 100 Beaches of a Lifetime. Along with
tried-and-true favorites, such Oregon’s Cannon Beach and Brazil’s
Ipanema Beach, discover other noteworthy gems, including: Lake
MacDonald, a colorful, picturesque lakefront in Glacier National Park
Chesterman Beach, a surprising surf hub in British Columbia, Canada
Mississippi’s Ship Island swim beach, on a barrier island in the Gulf
of Mexico Shell Beach, in Western Australia, a favorite for
beachcombers Plage de Palombaggia, in Corsica, known for its beauty and
crystal clear water Cape Maclear, a snorkeler’s paradise in Malawi …
and many more!
'Bags of fish for cats - 50 pence'. So it was written, on a
chalkboard sign outside a fresh fishmonger's, under the arches of
the raised promenade along the beachfront of England's newly super
trendy and booming seaside City of Brighton and Hove. In Brighton
Babylon, PK Heights is a Grade II listed maisonette flat in one of
the City's up and coming Regency Squares that provides the elegant
base for a series of interlocking true stories about the city's
people and their lives. Newly relocated from London, Brighton
resident Peter Jarrette combines and intertwines his stories, using
a colourful palette that is one part Brokeback Beach and three
parts seawater. He vividly portrays a selection of suspect
characters and shocking episodes; much like the curious bits and
pieces that might be on offer in one of those bags of fish for
cats. To the author's consternation, the residents and visitors are
a thoroughly peculiar and motley crew. This former string of south
coast fishing villages with a royal and decadent past may now be a
thoroughly cosmopolitan City and even aspire to being an
international hub, but it has not yet lost its renowned and
celebrated dark side, far from it. Brighton Babylon is populated by
a cast of unsavoury hobos and bother boys; Yardie obsessed golden
shower webmasters from nearby Crawley; mistakenly racist London
hairdressers; strangely scripted market researchers; extemporised
short-haul cabin crew; pushy airline First Officers; politically
incorrect new food emporia; a vengeful, crumbling resort Pier and a
locally obsessed, cat-mad press pack.
In Afskeid van Europa lewer Karel Schoeman verslag van sy laaste
twee besoeke aan Nederland, Duitsland en Oostenryk gedurende die
herfs van 2011 en 2013. Dit is veral die stede Amsterdam, Berlyn,
Dresden, Salzburg en Wene wat aandag kry en ook met Schoeman se
vermoe om mense en plekke wat hy waarneem, in woorde tot gestalte
te bring. By dit alles is daar ’n ondertoon van heimwee en
gelatenheid omdat die skrywer voortdurend bewus is daarvan dat dit
werklik sy laaste besoeke is en hy dikwels aan sy ouderdom herinner
word: “‘Elderly,’ lees ek op my vliegkaartjie, ‘can’t walk long
distance can sit gate close 15 minutes prior to departure.’ Dit is
ek.” Maar afgesien van die element van afskeid, is dit Schoeman se
belesenheid en sy vermoe om hede en verlede te skakel wat opval en
hierdie boek ’n ryk leeservaring maak. Nie alleen die politieke
geskiedenis nie, maar ook die verhale van die gewone mens soos dit
in die letterkunde uitgebeeld is, word in verband gebring met die
strate, parke, kerke en paleise van die groot stede wat hy besoek.
Onvermydelik skryf hy oor die twee wereldoorloe se impak op mens en
omgewing, maar ook die vasberade inisiatiewe om te restoureer en te
herstel in stede soos Berlyn en Dresden. Die hede met sy
massatoerisme, die gewonde daaglikse gang van sake en veral ook die
tipiese geregte van die plekke wat hy besoek, verseker dat die boek
vir eietydse reisigers ook relevant is.
Morbid, but strangely fascinating accounts In 2015, a group of
seven hikers were killed when a sudden flood struck Keyhole Canyon
in Zion National Park. Prior to that, the steep, narrow route to
Angels Landing led to at least five fatalities. Numerous people
have found that high, exposed places in Zion-such as rim trails-are
bad places to be in lightning storms. Death in Zion National Park
collects some of the most gripping accounts in park history of the
unfortunate events caused by natural forces or human folly.
|
|