Travel Reads: The Great Railway Bazaar

I love books about travel – I love reading about places I’ve never had the chance to visit and seeing them through the eyes of the author. The more descriptive, the more it fills your senses with sights, smells, sounds, the better… I like a book that physically pulls you into its pages and completely envelops your senses so you feel as if you’re a part of its world, be it fictional or real.  For part of our March catalog shoot, or team took a night train from Hanoi to the northern town of Sapa – if I had to choose, I think trains would be my favorite mode of travel. No traffic, no leaving the ground, and the ability to relax in your seat with headphones on, a book, or just sit and watch the scenery roll by outside your window.

When I heard our team was traveling via train, I was immediately reminded of the book “The Great Railway Bazaar,” by Paul Theroux. Written in 1975, the book recounts his four month journey by train, the places he saw and the people he met along the way.  He starts in Europe and follows the “hippie trail” from Europe to India, riding trains such as the Orient Express, Khyber Pass, Frontier Mail, and many more – ending his journey in Japan and then returning on the Trans-Siberian Railway. I definitely recommend checking it out, it’s a very insightful look into traveling by train but also traveling in general, and the joys of all the encounters you make along they way. After all, the journey is always the destination…

FP-Vietnam

vietnam

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12 years ago

This is really great. Thank you for sharing!

Madison
12 years ago

When’s the next bookclub going to be?! :) xx

12 years ago

Thanks, the book sounds really good. I agree with riding trains being the best way to travel (: