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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
‘I am doing this on account of the dead.’
In this book, Colin Thubron sets of towards Mount Kailas, the sacred and mystical mountain in Tibet which is sacred to the Bon, to Buddhists, Hindus and Jains. Mount Kailas is close to the Tibetan borders with Nepal and India, and lies very close to the sources of all of the four major rivers of the Indian subcontinent: the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, the Indus and the Sutlej. The mountain rises abruptly from the flat western Tibetan plateau, approximately 2000 kilometres from Lhasa.
No one has ever successfully climbed Mount Kailas: the thousands who make a pilgrimage to it each year circumambulate it. Buddhists and Hindus walk clockwise around the mountain, Jains and the Bon walk counterclockwise. Many believe that circumambulating Mount Kailas is a holy ritual that will bring good fortune. It is a very tough pilgrimage: the path is 52 kilometres long, one of the passes to be crossed is at 5,500 metres and many endure severe altitude sickness. Some pilgrims, sold cheap trekking tickets by unscrupulous tour operators, are often badly affected by altitude sickness because they are not allowed sufficient time to acclimatize.
‘Where are you?’
Colin Thubron undertook this journey after the death of his mother left him as the only surviving member of his family. His pilgrimage may be secular, but it is still spiritual. And his economical prose seems perfectly suited to describing the barren landscape around Mount Kailas: a landscape dotted with prayer flags.
‘The value of things no longer belongs to cost or beauty, but only to memory.’
It’s ultimately a journey without an end: there are no answers available for the questions that Colin Thubron has. And yet, to read this book is to gain a sense of the sacredness of the space traversed, and the changes wrought by time and political change. A few monasteries still survive, and the Chinese now allow a limited number of pilgrims access to the mountain.
This book is both a deeply personal journey and a captivating travelogue of a remote, harsh and inaccessible place that most of us will never see. What makes this book special is the sense of being a pilgrim on this journey. Colin Thubron writes of who he meets and of what he sees, of the history, religion and practices of the region.
It’s a fascinating, short but incredibly dense, book.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In this book, Colin Thubron sets of towards Mount Kailas, the sacred and mystical mountain in Tibet which is sacred to the Bon, to Buddhists, Hindus and Jains. Mount Kailas is close to the Tibetan borders with Nepal and India, and lies very close to the sources of all of the four major rivers of the Indian subcontinent: the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, the Indus and the Sutlej. The mountain rises abruptly from the flat western Tibetan plateau, approximately 2000 kilometres from Lhasa.
No one has ever successfully climbed Mount Kailas: the thousands who make a pilgrimage to it each year circumambulate it. Buddhists and Hindus walk clockwise around the mountain, Jains and the Bon walk counterclockwise. Many believe that circumambulating Mount Kailas is a holy ritual that will bring good fortune. It is a very tough pilgrimage: the path is 52 kilometres long, one of the passes to be crossed is at 5,500 metres and many endure severe altitude sickness. Some pilgrims, sold cheap trekking tickets by unscrupulous tour operators, are often badly affected by altitude sickness because they are not allowed sufficient time to acclimatize.
‘Where are you?’
Colin Thubron undertook this journey after the death of his mother left him as the only surviving member of his family. His pilgrimage may be secular, but it is still spiritual. And his economical prose seems perfectly suited to describing the barren landscape around Mount Kailas: a landscape dotted with prayer flags.
‘The value of things no longer belongs to cost or beauty, but only to memory.’
It’s ultimately a journey without an end: there are no answers available for the questions that Colin Thubron has. And yet, to read this book is to gain a sense of the sacredness of the space traversed, and the changes wrought by time and political change. A few monasteries still survive, and the Chinese now allow a limited number of pilgrims access to the mountain.
This book is both a deeply personal journey and a captivating travelogue of a remote, harsh and inaccessible place that most of us will never see. What makes this book special is the sense of being a pilgrim on this journey. Colin Thubron writes of who he meets and of what he sees, of the history, religion and practices of the region.
It’s a fascinating, short but incredibly dense, book.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
3.5 - As usual for a Colin Thubron book, this was poetically written, with fantastic insight and description. His writing was pessimistic, which I like. When he is being pessimistic,he isn't necessarily being unenthusiastic about what he encounters in his travels, rather he is cutting through the surface appearance and looking deeply into the subject.
However, and although he obviously researched everything very well, he spent too much of the book describing beliefs and myths.
However, and although he obviously researched everything very well, he spent too much of the book describing beliefs and myths.
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
I enjoyed the dreamlike bits which read as a sort of meditation but there isn't much flow to the work in whole. Ending is abrupt and inconclusive. Thubron is a skilled writer who just missed on this one.
A long tedious description in my opinion that becomes redundant. I had hoped for more history which was touched upon but glossed over to use infinite detail for every step taken. Oh well.
The only other piece of travel writing that I've read I really didn't enjoy, but this was specifically recommended to me by a friend. Besides, why judge a genre by one book?
If two books, are anything to go by, then travel writing is not my genre. It was too bitty and wishy washy for me. One minute we were looking at an awe-inspiring mountain, and the next we were remembering some incident with his parents. It was easy to get lost, and didn't really hold my attention.
It was, however, very interesting to learn more about the history of Tibet: the idealised peaceful country that we think of in the West simply doesn't exist, and never has. I felt almost let down by this; in my head, it's forever been a place of almost utopia.
But, of course, utopias don't exist, and I'm old enough to realise that really.
Maybe travel writing isn't for me. Or maybe I just need to persevere... There are so many other books to read though! Oh, first wold problems.
If two books, are anything to go by, then travel writing is not my genre. It was too bitty and wishy washy for me. One minute we were looking at an awe-inspiring mountain, and the next we were remembering some incident with his parents. It was easy to get lost, and didn't really hold my attention.
It was, however, very interesting to learn more about the history of Tibet: the idealised peaceful country that we think of in the West simply doesn't exist, and never has. I felt almost let down by this; in my head, it's forever been a place of almost utopia.
But, of course, utopias don't exist, and I'm old enough to realise that really.
Maybe travel writing isn't for me. Or maybe I just need to persevere... There are so many other books to read though! Oh, first wold problems.
It is a endearing book. As I said several times in previous reviews, I love reading travelling books as it allows me to learn so much about places, history, people. And most of all, allows me to visit places in my mind that I may never be able to go physically. This was one of these books. I have no illusions that I may never be able to go to Tibet. However, in this book, people's smiles were almost visible in front of me, and the simple conversations made me think about myself. It was one of those books that made me go to Google and search extensively about the place, the people, the religion.
If you ever have the chance to go to Mount Kailas, leave a praying stone there for me.
If you ever have the chance to go to Mount Kailas, leave a praying stone there for me.
This is the fourth book of Colin Thubron's I've read and while they're all fascinatingly interesting and wonderfully crafted, this is probably my favorite because of how personal it feels. He retains from his earlier work the vivid pictures he paints for us of what he sees and encounters, adding to it in this case a fascinating exploration of the lore and beliefs surrounding the mountains and lakes he passes. Additionally, it's clear this trip has the added dimension of a personal pilgrimage as the author peels back a bit of the curtain to show glimpses of his family's past as he reflects on the passing of his last immediate family member. The reflections are wonderfully interwoven with both his physical journey and the legends of the territory through which he treks.