4 comments about Insight Guide Vietnam (Insight Guides).

1. While the Insight Guides do not provide the best info as far as hotels and restaurants, they give excellent background info and tourist info. A great resource.



2. Although it includes most of the information I found in Fodor's, it wasn't as detailed. It's as if the writer assumes the reader knows his way around Hanoi or other larger cities. Top sights to visit are blurred together. Maps were difficult to read.



3. I just unwrapped my Insight Giuide Vietnam from Amazon. It has some of the most beautiful photographs I have ever seen. The travel text is simply icing on the cake. Anyone involved in a trip to Vietnam will want this book on their shelf. This book will excite your imagination, and guarantee that you will have beautiful memories of your trip even if you lose your camera.



4. Good basic, mainstream travel info.
   Lots of great pictures - which I find preferable to travel guides with no pictures. I like to see the places I'm reading about.

No comments about The Great Wall of China: Photographs by Chen Changfen (Houston Museum of Fine Arts).

1 comments about Japanese a Language Map (Language Map Series).

1. As my wife and I prepare for our second trip to Japan, our fears of linguistic isolation are much smaller. This time around, we have taken conversational Japanese lessons and found out that the spoken language is not as hard as we expected (except for counting things, a real brain twister for Westerners). This Language Map helped us greatly on our first visit with the little questions, answers and bits of courtesy needed in any language. We will bring it again this time for a quick reference on the details we will inevitably forget.
   
   There is an English phonetic pronunciation beside each Japanese word or phrase. It may not be enough for someone with no knowledge of Japanese to pronounce the phrase correctly. The format of the Language Map may be too small to provide enough coaching (although, on the other hand, the compact size is a big plus). The Language Map does not inform you about the relative lack of inflection in Japanese compared to Western languages or the subtle inflections in many words. For example, many Americans think they know the Japanese equivalent of "thank you" and they almost always pronounce it "ah-ree-GAH-toh," with a strong accent on the third syllable. Of course, that's not the way the Japanese say it, with something between flat intonation and a very soft accent on the second syllable. The phonetic pronunciations do omit all those unspoken or whispered u's (saying dess instead of desu, for example). The Language Map contains the common phrase "ikura desu ka" (how much is it) with the phonetic pronunciation "ee-koo-rah dess kah." The first-time visitor to Japan may not notice the silent vowels.
   
   The Japanese may not understand us if we try to read the words provided here with English phonetic pronunciation. With luck, they would think it funny, perhaps even cute, and appreciate the effort we make to speak their language. A little knowledge of the basic rules of Japanese pronunciation would make this tool more useful.

No comments about Tokyo Complete Residents' Guide.

No comments about The Ancient Tea Horse Road: Travels With the Last of the Himalayan Muleteers.

5 comments about Circling the Sacred Mountain : A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas.

1. If Tantra is the union of opposites, this book works pretty well. Tad Wise seems likeable enough, except for the fact that he has 3 kids by 3 Moms, and leaves Mom #3 behind with a newborn to go off on this spiritual adventure. So I'm rooting for him to get it right this time and go home and help with the laundry. And Robert Thurman seems to use Tad as a whipping boy, teasing and taunting him, which doesn't make Thurman exactly shine in my eyes either. The other members of the trek are more or less invisible, though they are mentioned from time to time.
   
   The mountain captures my attention starting from the picture on the cover. It looks extraordinary. I love Tibet, and this is deepest darkest Tibet for sure. The monasteries have all been trashed and recently rebuilt to attract tourists for China's benefit. Young Tibetans are as likely to smoke and play pool as they are to chant mantras. So all the tragedy of Tibet are here to see.
   
   The dharma presented here is very Tibetan. Yamantaka, the fierce deity of death is invoked to stomp on and anhiliate one's self-obsession (the false self). The teaching is called the Blade Wheel of the Mind, and it is meant to work like a buzz-saw, turning all that is self-oriented into dust and all negative experiences into potential gold. To be there, exhausted and suffering from the high elevation, and to listen to these teachings, would probably be an extraordinary retreat experience. I don't know that it is particularly effective in absentia. Thurman does come off as a gas-bag. Maybe it was very unselfish of him, also worn out from trekking all day, to sit down and teach. Or maybe it was just pedantic of him. His close friendship with the Dalai Lama is name-dropped several times. I suppose it's relevant, but it also does not really endear him to me.
   
   Since I will in all likelihood never even get to Tibet, much less to this remote corner, I enjoyed the vicarious trek. But I'm just as glad I wasn't part of this particular group of trekkers.



2. This is a spiritual travelogue in which Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman and his backsliding sidekick Tad Wise lead a group of pilgrims to circumambulate Tibet's sacred Mount Kailish, believed by Tibetans to be the Home of the Gods and the Center of the World.
   
   As a travelogue and introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, it works pretty well, with the narrative shifting back and forth between the scholarly pontifications of the hyper-serious Thurman and the more laid-back reflections of the slacker Wise. Whereas Thurman sees the journey as a spiritual quest, Wise tends to look upon it more as an adventure.
   
   As the book progressed, I became intrigued how an educated Westerner like Thurman could so thoroughly immerse himself in an alien worldview such as that of Tibetan Buddhism. Here is a man who has no doubt dissected (and rejected) Christianity from a standpoint of strict rationalism, but who then does an about face and accepts an alien religion thoroughly steeped in a complex psycho-spiritual mythology. Thus we find the crusty old Thurman performing in all seriousnes acts which would strike some as rank superstition, e.g., performing a complex fire ritual to an assortment of Buddhist and Vedic deities, circumambulating the "Great Freedom Pole," and prostrating on the shores of the "holy" Lake Manasarovar.
   
   This I found this book interesting both for the "right" reasons - as an introduction to Tibetan Buddhist beliefs and practices - and for the "wrong" reasons, i.e., my musings about the psychological quirks which draw some educated Westerners to Buddhism. Perhaps, as Rudyard Kiping once wrote, it's simply a yearning for a spirituality shorn of the negative associations of childhood, guilt, and repression: "Ship me somewhere east of Suez, where the best is like the worst, where there ain't no Ten Commandments, an' a man can raise a thirst."



3. Few of us will ever undertake this arduous spiritual journey to one of the world's most remote sites, but reading this book is the next best thing. The dialectic between intrepid students and wise dharma master is unique and often profound. Tad Wise's narrative of the journey and occasional skeptical asides blends well with Thurman's lessons on the essence of Tantric Buddhism. Especially poignant was Thurman's metaphor of motherly love as a device for linking us all together through an empathic heart. Recommended for all open-minded spiritual seekers.



4. This book is not just a travel journal, but is also a great spiritual wakeup. Dr Thurman is an incredible resource.



5. This book is an entertaining self revealing account by one of Robert Thurman's young associates with Buddhist dharma talks by Thurman on their trip to Mount Kailash in Tibet. Americans visit Tibet.

1 comments about Nanda Devi: A Journey to the Last Sanctuary.

1. Thomson has given us one story of a mountain; a story of friendships, adventure, and the real world of people and the politics and beliefs that make the world fascinating, but at times troubling. The cultural lessons of the locals (India) and of the participants were very intriguing.
   
   Written in a straight forward manner, keeping our interest but not making the read a job with complicated plots and subplots.
   
   Recommended to us by someone not interested in mountain adventures, but who never the less enjoyed the book.
   
   Includes color and b/w photos.

No comments about Chinese Business Etiquette: The Practical Pocket Guide.

No comments about Beijing Restaurants.

3 comments about Sherpas: Reflections on Change in Himalayan Nepal.

1. A very informative and readable book. The author provides a thoughtful and moving account of the Sherpas and how their community is being transformed by the forces of modernization. The book is well-researched, thorough, and balanced. The author's personal accounts and anecdotes that cover a quarter of a century, complemented by excellent photographs, are particular strengths. Excellent reading for anyone with an interest in the Sherpas of Nepal.



2. A very informative and readable book. The author provides a thoughtful and moving account of the Sherpas and how their community is being transformed by the forces of modernization. The book is well-researched, thorough, and balanced. The author's personal accounts and anecdotes that cover a quarter of a century, complemented by excellent photographs, are particular strengths. Excellent reading for anyone with an interest in the Sherpas of Nepal.



3. James Fisher worked with Edmund Hillary in the early 1960's to establish the early Sherpa schools in Khumjung and Jung Gompa (Junbesi) as well as the medical supplies landing strips at Lukla and Phaplu. Thus he learned first hand the basics of Sherpa culture and economy; he had a good working understanding of Sherpa moral values, too.

   Returning to USA for PhD in Anthropology, Prof. Fisher developed a theoretical understanding of human society. He then coupled theory with his practical knowledge of Sherpa life, and did several outstanding studies of Sherpa culture which ask the right questions of the appropriate spokespeople resulting in culturally accurate answers.

   Sherpa Friendship Association always recommends Sherpas: Reflections on Change as the first book anyone should read to answer the vital questions: what is happening to Sherpa society now? Is Sherpa religion dead? Have Sherpa values collapsed into generic materialism? Many folks recently returned from Himalayan trekking or those studying vajrayana buddhism, as well as Sherpa leaders, are very concerned to find these answers. You will find Prof. Fisher's answers accurate and positive, because he does not ask random informants (or informants with mischievious motivation) like many other anthroplogists who go on to write books on Sherpas.

   Essentially, Fisher's interviews show that Sherpa culture remains vibrant, moral, and strongly religious. Great book, highly recommended!