Play Book Tag discussion

I am putting this up so that we can start planning our buddy read for the last of Bernard's Walking the Silk Road Trilogy. The desire to read it has been steadily growing in me though I don't yet have time. Possibly June? July more likely.

I'm particularly feeling the need to start reading it because a friend who leads deep tours, especially ones that have a textile, embroidery tie in, is currently leading a textile tour in Northern India across Kashmir and Ladkh, and some of it is on the Silk Road -- especially a trek on the shaggy Bactrian 2 humped camel in the foothills of the Himalayas. Much as I lust after that trip -- her photos and videos on FB are incredible - I know that I would be suffering from the altitude, badly. Not sick but not able to physically keep up without frequent rests to get my breath. It takes me (and others in my family) significant time to acclimate even a little.

Are any interested? Preference on month?

I was thinking of taking it up this month if possible.

I've been wanting to reconnect with Bernard, so whenever I can fit him in. I'm chomping at the bit.

Not happening this month for me for sure.

While I understand the chomping at the bit, I'm also very aware that once this is read, that's it. Bernard and his journey is done.

I could put it off until June.

I'm keeping my eye on Back to Istanbul: On Foot across Europe to the Great Silk Road.

Ah yes, translation was published recently I believe. I knew it was out in France.

I am interested in the buddy read. June sounds good to me but I am flexible.

Here's an interesting article about key cities of the Silk Road.

https://www.catalystplanet.com/travel...

I'm officially setting this for a June read. A plus is that it counts for a letter match though not tag match for BWF.

Besides, doesn't he usually start his walk in June? Seems like a propitious time.

I'm good for June and I think I can start fairly quickly. I have a short book to read first.

I have at least 1, possibly 2 mysteries to finish for BWF. 2.5 days and counting. I'm thinking Bernard will be a start for me next week, possibly the weekend.

I also have BWF reporter duties - eats up reading time to some degree.

I've started reading it and I'm about 30% in. I'll post a few links in a bit which shouldn't interfere with reading.

Bernard seems to start in a completely different mindset than he did in the last two, but that is something which we can discuss.

I've read two books previously about traveling the Silk Road both from the opposite direction. One explores the origin and movement of noodles On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome, with Love and Pasta and one by renown travel writer Colin Thubron, who traveled the road at about the same age as Bernard, Shadow of the Silk Road. They both start their journey in China and travel from there.

I did write a review of Thubron's book https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... , but sadly did not for the Noodle Road, so have to rely on memory. She did do a lot of cooking and met with the cooks. :)

I haven't started yet but can definitely get to it this month.

It's queued up on my tablet - will start this week. Need to get one other out of the way first that's short. And I have a bad work schedule right now. I will be slow.

I already had Shadow of the Silk Road on my TBR and have added Noodle Road one. Sounds right up my alley.

It's not related to the Silk Road, but is a book I think anyone liking something with On the Noodle Road would love it: Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia - Alford and his wife Naomi Duguid with there 2 kids, travel the length of the Mekong River from it's source in China to it's end delta. It's as much a travelogue and cultural study as it is a cookbook and coffeetable picture book, maybe even more so. I read it in ebook which was fine - and since I believe the print book is an oversized one, it is far more readable as an ebook I think. Not long after this book was published, the couple divorced - Duguid is a noted cook and food writer. Highly recommend it as an armchair travel read.

I started this last night and got to Solenad, about 12% in.

Have to say it isn't pulling me in or engaging me as his first 2 did. Feels more like he is fulfilling an obligation, not embracing the experience as previously. I wonder if he had not published 2 books on the walk already, and no doubt had a contract, if he would have finished the walk.

Also, he just expressed his disappointment at not seeing any evidence of The Silk Road. So far. He suggests it is historical obliteration but I wonder if the long detour he had to take wasn't the real reason.

I've finished and I did find it quite interesting. His mental state when he started the walk, was not good.

He is better prepared, but not mentally.

I found an article with a picture of him and Ulysses. Somehow I was picturing a sort of grocery pull cart.

https://panethos.wordpress.com/2022/0...

I was very interested in the people he meets and the food he was eating.

I did write a review but made it very general, so I wouldn't give any spoilers:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I did sort of picture it as that sort of cart, having taken one of these hand pulled golf carts and modified it - several times in the end.



The food descriptions are fab. He is definitely eating better than in first and even the second. So far seems to be pacing himself well. Defintely some interesting people. His writing just feels flatter.

I am definitely reading on.

I think that it had smaller wheels to begin with, as he had it fixed a number of times along the way.

I was really impressed with how helpful people were in this unpopulated area and how many of were quite skilled at repair.

He had 2 small rubber wheels - and even I know that rubber is going to melt in tbe temps he said he was going into which he described as melting asphalt. He didn't give up on rubber wheels until he went through a replacement set.

Ah, stubborn mulish Bernard is back!

Just reached the part where he's hoping his necessary papers for the crossing into China are waiting for him and that the French Embassy is open.

Loved reading this short section about Kyrgyzstan. Also Uzbekistan. A dear friend has a tour company the specializes in deep travel, often having her tours center on textile, needlework and craft. She led one to Uzbeckistan and Kyrgyzstan - I have some of the feltwork they are notedfor. The photos she and another friend who was on that tour took and posted on FB were stunning. In 2025 she has one headed back to Uzbekistan and includes Tajikistan. https://www.eyhotours.com/uzbekistan-...

So much of what Bernard experiences with the people was their experience.

She just got back from Kashmir and Ladakh. It was her first textile tour to Gujurat and Kutch that got me to India. Her trips have just gotten better. You should follow her on FB - I think there are links to each of her FB group pages from her tour company website: eyhotours.com.

I met Shila on a Nile cruise about 30 years ago. She has had the travel company about 12 years.

Every here and there, Bernard flashes a bit of the novice traveller in Third World Countries and Remote Areas that makes me shake my head and laugh out load. This time it's his only having a $50 bill to change into local currency! He should have known better by end of first couple weeks in Turkey!

Lordy, you can have trouble breaking a $50 bill in NYC, or even convert it to Euros anywhere in Western Europe!

Where he is travelling, nothing larger than a $10 bill, best to have a selection of snmaller ones. All bills need to be in crisp clean shape, looking close to new.

Bernard really loved his time in Kyrgyzstan and it showed. It must be a beautiful country. Even though he is traveling over very high passes and must be tired his spirit was so uplifted there.

I reached the end of Part I - end of first part of his journey into China. Really pleased that a retrofitted Ulysses is going to be with us in Part II.

I have to say I was totally blindsided by the 9/11 mention. somehow my mind had not embraced that this walk was in 2001 and that his still being on the journey in September could mean a reference. That was a hard few pages to read for me, as not expecting it, that day where I was here in Manhattan as it unfolded, came roaring back, breaking out of the mental lockbox I keep it in. I guess I needed a trigger warning though I generally don't believe in them. Not that it would have stopped me from reading it, just that I would not have had to put the book aside for awhile as I dealt with too many memories.

Taking a short break before moving on. I also have 2 other books to finish.

I haven't even started yet so take your time, Theresa.

Theresa wrote: "I reached the end of Part I - end of first part of his journey into China. Really pleased that a retrofitted Ulysses is going to be with us in Part II.

I have to say I was totally blindsided by t..."

I didn't want to give any spoilers, it was a shock to me and how it was revealed. I had to go back to see what year it was that he was traveling.

I also didn't say anything about the two parts. It is a good place to pause. I planned on doing that and then pulled a Bernard and just plowed through.

Booknblues wrote: "Theresa wrote: " then pulled a Bernard and just plowed through..."

😂. I think we have a new expression!

Joy - just a warning that in chapter entitled Accident, be prepared for a 9/11 bit --- comes not long after the eponymous accident.

I am definitely going to let it rest a bit before reading on. I'm still emotionally discombobulated -- I pushed myself to finish that part because I was reading before going to sleep and needed to push that out of my mind as much as possible. But it took its toll.

You know, I honestly don't believe any of us who were in NYC - especially Manhattan - that day have done more than lock it all away in a mental box and try not to open it up. It was survival - we had to keep moving forward, reclaim our city, thumb our noses at the terrorists. I've yet to even go to the 9/11 Memorial reflecting pools and I know I will never go to the Memorial Museum. I have been in the neighborhood of course but have limits. If friends or family visiting want to go, I send them off with instructions and stay home, just as I do to visiting the Statue of Liberty -- which I refuse to climb/visit any more - I'm happy just riding by on the Staten Island Ferry. I remember attending a wedding in Virginia at some point a couple years after and was totally blindsided where everyone at my assigned table wanted to hear about that day when I said I was from NY. Lordy I did not expect that! My lawyer training came through for me though and I got out just enough to allow me to turn the conversation.

Sorry for rambling... Joy, I'm leaving Bernard to the side for at least a week. I actually started The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher as my palate cleanser -- it's the last May the Fourth buddy read I planned and it spells.

I just picked this up again, as Bernard starts his final year - crossing China and the huge Gobi Desert in particular. Interesting his mental and physical state, and how he kept his mind occupied during the monotony mentally plotting a fiction book he published! His mention of George Sand caught my attention there and if it's not translated, I might try reading it in French.

I may even finish it tonight. A meeting cancelled and I'm so tired, I'm packing it in early.

Bernard and I just took our final steps together on The Great Silk Road! I'm going to miss him but I own the trilogy so can dip back into whenever I want. Plus there are other books of his -- whether translated or not -- to enjoy. Not ready to leap into another - want to savor this for a while.

I was right to take the break before starting the 4th and final leg - it read quickly and was a joy. Even with his depression and negative mental state at the beginning, the wonder of what he was doing, the people he met, the food, the geography and cultures sang.

I really understood and appreciated his final chapters (though that final push he did was RIDICULOUS but so Bernard!) when he talks about both how the reality of finishing wasn't felt (a place I think we all know well) and trying to understand what personal goal or knowledge he had acquired and whether it was what he set out to do. On this latter, first it reminds me of a friend and I going to the DIa Foundation The Lightening Field installation in NM- https://diaart.org/collection/collect.... She was all intent on doing it, looking for some great spiritual experience (she's into all that New Age and mystical stuff - I'm a skeptic who is a good sport), and of course was disappointed when it was just a bunch of rods in a field in the middle of no where with about a 2 second light moment at sunset. I was perfectly content - it was remote, quirky, the meal provided delicious, and I enjoyed the peace and quiet. The second reminder was my Cousin Patty who has walked portions of the Camino de Compostela - mostly in Spain. Patty has actually walked portions of it several times and volunteered at one of the way stations where walkers can stay overnight. She says that there are 3 stages of it - stage 1 is pain and discomfort no matter how much you have trained, stage 2 is enjoyment of the walking and the scenery, and stage 3 is not a spiritual revelation but a commitment to the Way itself, and to walking. She and her husband now regularly plan walks -- England, Ireland, other portions of the Way. Patty to thought there would be some huge enlightenment or spiritual revelation when she first did it, but in the end it became something else, and better. I think Bernard found that too.

I also like that there was a fuss made over him in Xi'an Individual achievements outside sports competitions and awards ceremonies are not celebrated really or even recognized by colleagues, friends, family, or even time to relish what you have done.

I loved that Bernard slowed down a bit here and there and did things like climb the mountain to discover the temple and grottoes. I don't think he would have done that in the first year for sure, and possibly not the 2nd year.

Now I really want to know what happened to Ulysses once the trip was over. I should probably google.

Oh and here's a link to My Review.

I have started it. Not too far along yet but enjoying it so far. It sounds like he is much better prepared for the desert this time. Thanks for the advance warnings.

Theresa, I have so enjoyed the time I spent with Bernard on the silk road. It has been interesting to see his progression with preparedness and mental progression. They certainly didn't take the same curve or inclination.

The first year of the last book, he started out depress but worked his way out of it. The second year he had much more difficulty with his funk. As much as he enjoyed his time alone, I think he is for the most part a very social person and his lack of language effected his mental state.

It was clear to me that he did meet many helpful people and saw so much during his travels. I think also he was beginning to see what life offered him after his travels.

It was a wonderful read. I think by that last leg, as happens when you are near the end of a journey or trip, hewas both sorry to see it end and eager to see it end and to move on tova new stage in life. His heart was more dedicated to the program he was starting, Seuil, than to the Silk Road.

The language barrier was also a big factor. It also took him a good half the trip to realize that those who did know any English could only read and write it.

I finished the book last night. One thing I really enjoy about Ollivier's writing is that you get a good sense of his personality. I loved the part about smiling at the bureaucrat to try to get his Visa extended.

I think it shows how important language can be when on a trip through places where the language is so different than any he has picked up before, and he knows quite a few (or can at least get by) - French, English, Turkish, Russian. I may have missed a few.

It is obvious that China was completely different culturally to the other places he had been. Not quite as welcoming and always trying to price-gouge the outsiders. But I'm sure his lack of ability to speak the languages played a big part in this.

I enjoyed the series a lot and glad to have read it "with" (albeit a little late on my part) you both!

I have travelled in a lot of different places, often on my own - though not like this! - where I did not know the language. I actually am pretty ok picking up basics in languages though to get by though not have a real conversation. I have not travelled in East Asia so I can't say how I'd do but I suspect it would be like Bernard with no knowledge because when I was travelling in the middle east - Jordan and Egypt - I was not picking up arabic at all - nada - and I was traveling there for a month. It was isolating though given my sister and I were following the tourist paths, we were not so isolated - it just made reading signs and asking directions when we went off on our own very difficult.

When you have any gift for languages and know any of the major ones to some degree - English, French, Spanish (which all help with German and also Italian) - it really throws you when you find yourself unable to pick it up, not even the basics.

This was a fun adventure and so glad that we did it! Joy- for once I was not the caboose of the buddy read and I love it.

So I decided I could not wait any longer and picked up Back to Istanbul: On Foot across Europe to the Great Silk Road

It begins-
“What are you suggesting? That a 7,500-mile hike wasn’t enough? That I should have added 1,900 more between France and Istanbul and dodge bullets in Kosovo?” I replied ironically. I then pointed out that, as far as I was concerned, the Great Silk Road was first and foremost in Asia.

But on second thought, I added: “You’re right, though: I could very well have set out from Lyon. After all, in the late nineteenth century, it was the greatest silk-making city in the world. It’s true that the Silk Road really did begin—or end, rather—right here at home.”

You Bernard groupy you!

I will wait a while longer. I like having something like this to look forward to for a while.