Customer Reviews

The Great Hill Stations Of Asia

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Crossette's narrative of her journey to a selection of Asian hill stations is much more than just a personal travel journal. She provides an entertaining mix of history, politics, religion, and native lore. The stories in the book are not limited to the hill stations alone, but concern the entire regions South and Southeast Asia. Her descriptions of the unpleasant lowland cities and some distinctly Asian traditions are particularly engrossing. This is a great book for someone who would like an introduction to the area delivered in an easy-to-read format. Those who are already familiar with hill stations and the history of the region may find the book dull. The book is written from an Anglo-Western perspective, with a chapter of rather surprising American flag-waving at the end. Americans will be delighted and surprised by accounts of historical figures' visits to the area, such as Mark Twain's trip. Brits, I assume, will already have some knowledge of the area, its history, and famous characters. The average American will get a thorough introduction to Asia's culture and history and most will be surprised by how interesting it is. On the negative side, I found the meandering writing style a bit disruptive. Crossette jumps from travel journal to political commentary to regional descriptions without smooth segues. While the material is compelling (to someone interested in the region), the inconsistent style gives the book a choppy feel which detracted from my enjoyment. Overall, I recommend The Great Hill Stations of Asia for anyone interested in learning about South and Southeast Asia from an unusual and insightful perspective.

Ever since I learned about this book on Booknotes I have wanted to read it, but never had the time until now. I enjoyed the book a great deal. I had no idea what Hill Stations were, was pretty vague on the colonial history of India, nor have I been able to clearly understand the cultural transitions since independence and partition. My sense of the British and American exploits in southeast Asia prior to the Second World War are even more slight.

The Hill Stations were places the colonists (particularly the British) built up in the mountains to get away from the heat and disease of the tropical lowlands. They tended to live lavishly and in the case of Simla, built the summer capital there. This book is a wonderful introduction to that history in Pakistan, India, Sri Lank, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Since the end of the colonial period these stations have been taken over by the governments in some cases and in others by private enterprise. The author visited all of the stations she talks about in the book and gives us very interesting observations on what has been kept intact (if decayed) from the former times (including bad cuisine and slow service in one station) and what has been modernized and to what effect. In almost all cases the vastly increased domestic populations have led to more building at the expense of the local flora and especially the fauna.

I think the saddest visit she describes is the military ruination of Burma (now Myanmar) by its removal of history, education, and learning from its population. Just hideous, but unfortunately, far from unique. The detail and personal experiences of this tragedy add to the value of the really marvelous little book.

If you know about these places from your own experience you may or may not like what the author has to say. I came to this book completely ignorant of these places and may still be. However, I enjoyed the tour this book gave me and I think it taught me a great deal. The author provides a nice bibliography for further reading and an index

Barbara Crossette makes us discover the Hill Stations of Asia, from Pakistan to the Philippines and Indonesia, built by British, French, Dutch and Americans to escape the tropical climate when air conditionning did not make it bearable yet.

She does it with a richness of detail about the place, how it was built, who were the people and the atmosphere, the ecological challenge posed by the the buildings in high altitude, the evolution of the stations after independance and the return of Asian people with the Asian boom.

Book is revealing because in some instances Westerners spent 6 months in those places including the Vice-Roy of India and his court, ruling their vast dominions in Asia from above the clouds.

Do read the rave reviews below, but know firstoff that for climatic reasons the hill stations largely coincide with the famous TEA PLANTATION DISTRICTS of the East -- the chapter on the near-mythical town of DARJEELING alone is worth this book's bargain price.

But there are also first-hand reports (the well-traveled author is the New York Times UN Bureau Chief) on the history and current condition of: five other such towns in India; Pakistan's fabled Simla; Shri Lanka (the "Ceylon" of the British Raj); mysterious Burma; Indonesia and Malaysia; Viet Nam; and more!

All tea lovers the least bit interested in the knowledge and culture of tea will love this comprehensive survey; EVERY tea house owner should have one, and a spare for the shop's library -- but chain it to the reading desk!

The subject seems promising enough. I've always been fascinated by the colonial experience. And what better way to shine a light on that than by looking at hill stations, exclusive resorts that colonials built in the mountains to escape the tropic heat and feel, for a little while at least, like they were back in their home country. What interesting histories might be uncovered. How evocative it would be to revisit the places now. How fascinating to compare the past with the present.

Unfortunately, none of this is really in the book. The author covers a number of these stations, from Pakistan to the Philippines, and actually visits each in turn. What she does at each, though, is very limited. She typically describes the journey there, her hotel room, the hotel dining room, and a quick walk around the main square or streets. This might be supplemented by a few passages from some old memoirs she finds at the hotel or in a local bookstore (she loves to describe her search for these sources, successful or not), and also by the occasional, rather cursory interview she's had set up for her with some local notable.

What she doesn't do is ever give me a real feeling for the place. Her descriptions tend to be rather flat, abstract, and colorless, as if she were describing a UN Security Council meeting rather than an Indian bazaar. This may be because she is very much a journalist (she's the UN correspondent for the NY Times), and not really a travel writer.

One other reviewer mentioned the jumpiness of her prose. I saw that too, as well as several other, related problems. One is that she is an old Asian hand, and so mentions a lot of things in passing that she assumes the reader will understand and appreciate, but just left me wondering what exactly she was talking about. Here's an example:

"Almost any Indonesian trying to explain the Suharto phenomenon would sooner or later say to me, `Well, you have to understand that he is very Javanese.'"

So, what is it about those Javanese? I certainly have no idea - and she never bothers to enlighten me.

Kind of along those lines, she also likes to give everything a rather arch tone:

"Allowing for the unforgiving absolutism of youth sitting in judgment on its elders, the arbitrariness and corruption among colonial officials that Thomson described were probably real, because he had as his witnesses and informants the local people he met while at work on whom the consequences of malfeasance fell so heavily."

Sounds like she's channeling some 18th Century essayist.

She's also a bit of a snob. It seems like anything or anybody that isn't sufficiently redolent of the glories of the Raj is "hideous," "horrifying," "monstrous," "nauseating."

Overall, I was amazed at how negative she could be. I don't mind a little crankiness - it can be very amusing in the right travel writer's hand - but Crosette's is pretty unrelieved. It doesn't seem like anything can make her happy. The rooms are cold, the food is horrible, the roads are awful, the streets are crowded and noisy.

Finally, there were quite a few typos. There are few howlers (apart from Sir Thomas Raffles dying in 1923, 100 years late), but lots of missing articles, repeated words, and substitutions of "a" for "an." None of them are big in themselves, but they do tend to add up.

Overall, a very promising topic, but a very poor and idiosyncratic treatment of it.

The hill stations of India are wonderful places: decaying but they capture some of the magic of the land. Some of my most fond memories are about the time spent at these hill stations as a boy. So we do need a writer to communicate this magic to the wide world. Unfortunately, Crossette is not this writer. She doesn't approach the places with any sympathy, let alone the reverence they deserve. Crossette is too eager to peddle her political and social theories about the divide between the highlands and the lowlands, races and religions. These theories are too simplistic and they detract from the narrative.

I dislike the tropics. The endless heat and humidity and the lack of variety in the weather is deadening to the spirit. So it was to the Western colonialists in Asia -- and even more so in the days before air conditioning. They sought a refuge in the cool hills to escape the heat and the disease of the lowlands.

Barbara Crossette writes of the hill stations to which the colonialists escaped. Some of them are storied: Simla, the hot season capital of British India; Darjeeling with its tea plantations and marvelous view of Kachenjanga, the world's third highest and most scenic peak; the high, cool tea country of Ceylon; the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia; and Baguio, the American hill station in the Philippines. In all, the author describes briefly about 20 hill stations in eight countries.

"Hill Stations" covers the history and the current atmosphere and flavor of the stations, based on her visits. Most of the old Colonial watering holes have been taken over by local tourists rather than affluent foreign colonists --and ease of access and population pressure has made them tacky with high-rise development and "tourist" attractions. But, all can be forgiven for the blessed relief the hill stations offer from the heat of the plains and the glory of their scenery. Crossette has written an interesting book that may whet your appetite to visit and learn more about the hill stations.

Smallchief

Hill Stations are an interesting topic of colianialsm in Asia. Hill Stations are interesting because it is where westerners tried to maintain their lifestyles in Asia and taking in Asian populations in the schools. Also, the differences in different colonies is interesting to see. In places like South Asia, Hill Stations you saw a mix of them because they had Westen missionaries and Western traders while in the Phillipeans you saw the only American Hill stations and they were mainly missionaries.