Customer Reviews

The Last Secrets of the Silk Road: In the Footsteps of Marco Polo by Horse and Camel

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

 

 

I have to admire the spirit and determination that motivated four young women to travel the Silk Road on camel- and horseback; also, author Alexandra Tolstoy is clearly an able and talented person. That said, however, I have to admit that I found this a boring book about a fascinating part of the world. The narrative is rigidly chronological: it starts at the beginning and ends at the end, with little deviation from the set path. Surely that's one way of writing about a journey, but it isn't always the most interesting.
Tolstoy's voice lacks the authority and/or theoriginality essential to good travel literature. I think, for example, of Paul Theroux's many travel books, or, more specifically, Tom Bissell's recent "Chasing the Sea," in which Uzbekistan comes alive. While readers may take exception to many of his opinions, at least he has them, and one sees the world through his eyes. Tolstoy may well go on to write a better book, but this one sounds more like a catalogue than a shaped narrative. If you're planning the same kind of trip, it would be helpful, but if not, look elsewhere.

Normally I find travel books to be boring, but this one kept me very interested. I found it hard to put down. It was a very entertaining and educational read about an area of the world that is rarely ever talked about.

I picked this book up off my public library's new book shelf without any prior knowledge of it, and I am glad I did. The author does not appear to be writing a book for the ages. She is merely telling her story, and it is fun reading. I felt I got a good sense of the adventure the author and her three colleagues (also women) were having. I was often amused or impressed and occasionally touched. I would recommend the book to a friend who is interested in traveling in that part of the world. As for me personally, the book was vivid enough to show me that I want no part of riding horses or camels across central Asia.

With the subject itself being so misleading. To start with, this lady talks more about herself then the "silk road". Seems that she is under the impression that silk road is highway 69, one long stretch. When you read someone like Peter Hopkirk or Francis Woods, this book reads like attention demanding little girl's journal.
I am trying to think if there is anything good about this book.... Maybe a few pictures are good. And that Countess crap is the (fermented) icing on (molded) cake!

Wow what a royal bore fest - My dear Highness , you must be the most self centered person in the
World - You and you Book have no secrets to tell - and Please leave Marco Polo to rest in Peace
as every would be _ _ _ uses his name , My dear your no Marco Polo . Go look in the mirror some
more , that is if you can drag yourself away from the mirror !

This is a 1999 travelogue across Central Asia written from a very different perspective, has a rightful place in travel literature, especially for young girls looking for a role model in an 8 month expedition that only men went before. Great literature it is not; great travel guide it is not either. But for young readers looking, as the four recent northern UK college grads were, for their place in the world, preparing for 2 years gathering resources and sponsorships, and how they matured under great physical, mental, and social adversity, this is a great read. This book is about relationships: love and hate with their guides and crew; compassion for their emaciated animals; love for the quiet, wide open spaces with its beautiful, diverse flora and fauna; greeting, hospitality and goodbyes with the natives they touched; and the awe in transforming the words of historical eras, cultures and its peoples into their reality today.

While written in the first person, there are excerpts from the three companion's diaries, it would be still difficult to make a first book great literature. However there are great elements in it that make it a compelling read. The author subsequently founded a company headquartered in Moscow as a Siberia and Mongolia travel guide with her Prince Charming and now husband Shamil Miloslavsky, a Uzbekistani (UZ) national competition horseman (p94) / novice guide (p37) that she meets (parting (p104) and falls in love with during her trek (Postscript p211). The Team of Four have been giving talks on this experience in the UK which lead to future endeavors in the UK, KZ, and India. Only the author could speak Russian, so she was the sole translator for the team in Central Asia's former Soviet states; none could speak or read Turkic, a Turkey-based language native in central Asia nor Chinese, although there was at least the guide leader who spoke some English.

Only Alex catches amoebic dysentery (p25) early into the trip, even though they used filters with the water. Since her tent-mate (p61) was "Mouse" the acknowledged founder of the expedition (p64, 67) often elaborating on the flora with her strong botanical background. In the final assault over the Tain Shan Mtn range in early June to NW China, their guide makes a sheep sacrifice and feast for safe passage (p68). They cross paths with some Westerners and visitors going through their own trek (Czech cyclist p70, UK school buddies p82-104 for couple weeks, Swiss boy cyclists p102, Kazak ambassador p132, an American p181, and German boy cyclists p198). Once crossing the border into China, Lucy, Mouse and Wic came down with dysentery too (p120-2), probably from food in Kashgar or Yengisar and convalesced in a rural hospital in Yarkand. Mouse had heatstroke and salmonella (p130) again in Khotan.

Alcoholism and drugs are still alive and well especially in the former Soviet block countries, among male crewmembers and people they meet along the route. They did not try to explain why it was so prevalent there (p34, 41, 57, 62, 76, dope 81, 90, 99, 100, 103, 147, 185) to describe some of the episodes. In many of episodes, many authorities, guys and families were hitting on them, on which of the women would make good wives (Wic p10, 14, 86; Lucy p82, 86, 206; Alexandra p25, 160; Mouse p160, Charty p92) There are vignettes of only-here humor and seemingly mortal conflict, it is a fun read.

The trek included four additional regional personnel; a overall tour guide, cook, backup truck driver, and a horse or camel guide, usually their owner. In Turkmenistan, their tour guide was Zheniya (Evgeniy) p8, in Merv, Victor, who had a background in archaeology (p8) explained the ancient city, and Dzhuma p7 thru Bukhara, UZ, Vadim p24, 48 thru to China border. In Uzbekistan, their horse guide was Abbas p16 to Bukahara and Shamil p24 (Dyadya Tolik, god Father p44) thru Kyrgyzstan and the Tien Shan Mountains to the China border p104. Fabrication of excuse to prevent Shamil p48-53, adding Bazar-kul, continuing thru Kyrgyzstan to Chinese border. Max (p82) on KG side of Tain Shan mtn and Torogart Pass, Sadiq (p108) on the China side to past Kashgar, tenderfoot Mamat-Jan (p121) in Yarkand , near mutiny in Charchan (p162-5), Jason and Hor (Fire) in Dunhuang (p186). Many, many times there were heated arguments between the bitchy girls and their six sets of tour guides; this will serve as instances which can happen on your independent trek in foreign destinations; taking consideration private enterprise with initiative vs Communist centrally ruled state (p162) tour management in China.

The best travel experiences seem to be in the ancient cities of Bukara and Samarkand, UZ and the small Alpine-like country of Kyrgyzstan (KG) whose peoples were former Siberian herders who migrated from the headwaters of the Yenesey River at Siberian / Mongolian border which flows north emptying into the Arctic Ocean. The whole group felt that Kyrgyzstan was the "beautiful and harmonious secret" of the Silk Road trip. They visited with an extended KG family (p88).

The scrawniest, disease-ridden, pathetic horses and camels (p7, 13, 83, 107, 119, 126, 131, 173-4, 176, 193, 200, 204) were provided and were walked to near death. Treking across the Taklamakan Desert, the girls learned to read while astride the camels, an escapism from the boring, stifling, tiring endless desert. But a water rationing episode (p142) and a later flash flood caused by a cloudburst and fast-melt of glaciers (p146), and an asbestos mine gulag (p176) in the middle of nowhere punctuated the boredom.

About half of the book covers Central Asia (4 months, Apl-July) and the other half Northwest China (4.5 months, July-mid Nov). In the middle of the book are 8 pages of pixs with about 2 pixs per page. Written in UK English, there is no Index.

In ordering this book I had anticipated more of a travelogue; descriptions and stories about the places visited. I intend visiting Central Asia shortly and wanted to find out more about the places I am going to.
This was more of an autobiographical story focused on the indivduals experiences with each other and their guides, rather than the places visted. There was also a certain lack of generosity from the author in relation to the other travellers. The last few chapters were hurried and lacked the substance of the early chapters - almost as though the author just wanted to get the book finished.
This is story about people rather than places. There is nothing wrong with that if that is the type of story a reader is looking for. I had read other reviews which indicated this was the case so it was my problem that my expectations were not fulfilled.
For those looking for a description of the relationships between people on a long arduous journey this would be a reasonable purchase. For those looking for information and descriptions of Samarkand and Tashkent and other Central Asian places of interest, this is not the book for you.

Traveling the route of Marpo Polo to China from the Central Asian Republics was the purpose of the book, but I feel that the author sometimes gets carried away with too much personal detail. I think that it is a good travel book, but it does not really describe the route

YAWN. no history. no insight into local cultures. no personal epiphanies. no drama. NOTHING. I didn't even finish the book. Read Peter Hopkirk if you are interested in this region.

This book covered an area of the world that I find very interesting. The author could have developed the coverage of their travels more expansively than she did.