5 comments about The Desert of Death on Three Wheels.

1. i've been reading Antonio Graceffo's storys and books and i enjoy them all, i really recommend buying this book its really worth it. His adventure is very intresting, many facts and funny conflicts. also check out his book "The Monk From Brooklyn" i say its a very good book... and to mention all the negative post with one star rating is obviously the same person. you can tell by comparing all his/her negative post.



2. Antonio Graceffo deserves nothing but kudos for the risks he took leaving his corporate job and New York to spend more time on an adventurous journey for additional perspective with his journalistic eye, the creative craftmanship of his writing, and his backpack. The verdict on his voyage based on the insights derived from his narratives and his publications should give one brief pause before the resounding yes to purchasing his books.



3. An honest account of an adventure through a place most people would never have even heard of. The bonus story about Antonio's participation in an Elephant polo tournament is also an interesting look at a sport generally only enjoyed by the disgustingly rich. I really enjoyed these stories, and would recommend them to anyone interested in travel writing, because you won't have read anything else quite like them.



4. It may be difficult for us to understand why a successful investment banker from New York, chooses to risk death and danger by crossing the world's second largest desert. However, when reading Antonio Graceffo's story, everything starts to become very simple and clear why he'd to do such a thing.
   
   This is a story of one man's own challenge, to cross the Taklamakan Desert from North to South alone, although unachieved by men before. It allows us Westerners to gain insight to not only an experience we may never visit or encounter but also types of cultures and people we never imagined could still exist.
   
   What's appealing about this story by Graceffo is his writing style as being ordinary and informal with snippets of dialogue to assist you in getting the `bigger picture'. For a less intellectual but entertaining read this is ideal. Antonio's genuine character, blatant or funny statements and honest thoughts all provide a fuller engagement with his journey.
   
   Most people love a good story of knowing how a human overcomes something serious or survives danger. This is a story of survival from the extremely high temperatures, constant dehydration and consistent physical pain. This one man isolated, travelling nature's danger zone, riding miles on a strange impossible to ride three wheeler bike is remarkable.
   
   I became so engrossed in this story, my curious self questioning can this guy really make it? Is it really possible for a human to survive such ordeal? Throughout the journey there are times when he feels as if he can't go on. By great will power and determination he becomes a hero and completes his mission.
   
   The descriptions given are detailed enough to provide great visual imagery for the reader and therefore makes the reader feel as if they were encountering the journey with Antonio also. The various types of village people which he stumbles upon his journey provide an intriguing aspect to his story. You just never know what type of person he will meet next, some of these people pretty much save his life, and some of the conversation exchanged between them helps the reader gain insight to a completely unfamiliar culture we likely don't know enough about. It's very thought provoking meeting these characters in the book because it highlights the extreme different lives we lead. e.g. the Ughyur construction foreman Antonio meets randomly while travelling across the Taklamakan. The foreman earned in a month the equivalent to what a pair of sixty US dollar boots would cost. There are many people which appear in Antonio's travels which lead very simple lives living on what we would class as nothing, some are not even aware of what a camera is? It really makes you wonder how we are all a part of the same world.
   
   I recently emailed Antonio and asked a series of questions referring to his book "The Desert of Death on Three Wheels".
   
   He is currently living in Cambodia, writing articles about families and people living in poverty. He wrote the following to me in response to one of my questions:
   
   "In the west we have no idea of true hopelessness and desperation. Most recently I did a story about sick people gathered in a temple where they believed the monk could cure them. They were desperate and poor and ignorant and uneducated and infecting each other. More than one thousand people living on top of each other in an area about three times the size of a football pitch.
   What can I say to sites like these? They sadden me. There is so much humour in a lot of my stories. But that is often my way of dealing with the sadness I saw the previous day."
   
   The Desert of Death on Three Wheels also has an added bonus story, it's about his trip to Thailand, where he plays for a team in a rather interesting sport called elephant polo. I won't go into great detail of what happens, or what kind of story to expect but I can guarantee you it is an extremely funny read. Filled to the brim, of course, with Antonio's witty and comic comments in reflection of his experience. Antonio does actually raise awareness for these elephants by fighting in a boxing match. He is a boxer as well as a writer! It is clear from my response from my online interview with him, that he really does care about the places and people he visits from around the world. He has a very unstable financial income writing about poverty, wars and the corrupt governments he encounters when travelling.
   
   The Desert of Death on Three Wheels is an entertaining great story about a man who is compassionate about people and the places he visits. He converts his travel experience into a story overcoming what may seem the unobtainable. Everybody loves a good story don't we?
   
   © Vanessa Hyde Nov 2005



5. A great book for those that love traveling and want to learn about some things to look out for when traveling. It is filled with humor and describes the reality of traveling to a remote area. It is a great read for those that have traveled and also for those looking to travel. The elephant polo part is filled with more humor and gives in inside look at a rare sport played by the wealthy.

5 comments about Berlitz Cantonese Chinese: Travel Pack (Berlitz Travel Packs).

1. I was extremely dissappointed in Berlitz's new series of phrasebooks. I have been collecting Berlitz phrasebooks for years in every language available, and have always found Berlitz products to be of great quality. Yet the recent changes, such as the elimination of tonal indications and textual discrepancies in the Mandarin and Cantonese series, have resulted in a poor product that will definitely weaken my loyalty. I give them credit for attempting to create a more visually appealing phrasebook. I do not, however, think that this should compromise the overall quality of the series. The use of tonal markings and the inclusion of an audio script for the cassette would greatly enhance the utility of this product. The cassette should also repeat the phrases in Cantonese so that the listener can strengthen oral and aural skills. These faults make it almost impossible to become proficient in the language as past editions have. I sincerely hope that Berlitz attempts to remedy the current situation, because there are a great deal of new phrasebooks on the market that offer both appealing and practical approaches to learning the language.



2. I can't add much to Mr. Ulrich's very on-target remarks besides my agreement. He has already mentioned the two most irksome things about the book, namely the lack of tone indicators, and the lack of correspondance between the Cantonese and the Mandarin text. Let me clarify this for those who haven't looked at the book. Each sentence is presented in both romanization and in Chinese characters. The trouble is that while the romanization is faithful to the language spoken on the tape, the Chinese characters seem to have been borrowed wholesale from (I'm guessing) the Mandarin version of their phrasebook, leaving only the loosest of semantic ties between the two. There is thus no question of using the characters to find out exactly what you are saying. It's as if the authors were actively hostile to the ambitious student.



3. Usually a great enthusiast about the Berlitz products, I can't say enough about how poor this offering is. An obvious departure from their other works, this one doesn't.



4. I received the Berlitz Cantonese Chinese Travel Pack as a gift from my parents. This phrase book and CD set is completely useless. It is extremely difficult to follow - the audio CD does not follow the lessons in the book (jumps from one phrase to another in no apparent order) and often times the written text is completely different than what is spoken on the CD. The sequence of the lessons do not make sense either - the introductory part (e.g. greetings, "my name is...") are in the BACK of the book, instead of the front. There are a lot of other mistakes in the book, but these are just the worst...



5. I would concur with the other reviewers - this phrase book and CD set is quite useless. The audio CD only has a tiny, tiny fraction of words/phrases listed in the book - maybe 200 or so. The rest you will need to figure out for yourself, that is if you can decipher the pronunciation. Astoundingly, the book goes with a Western-style pronunciation guide with no mention of rising/falling tones. For example, it lists:
   
   like ut in cut
   like ee in bee
   
   with no other indication of tone! I do speak a bit of Cantonese, and I know how important tones are for this language. So if you use this "guide" you would probably end up saying something that insults a person's mother or worse.

No comments about Eastern Tibet: Bridging Tibet and China.

1 comments about The Journey of Yung Lee: From China to America (Immigrant's Chronicles #4).

1. Yung Lee is a young orphan girl living in China, and despite her bound feet, which causes her much pain, she is happy. But when her brother Yung Fong wants them to immigrate to California to seek their fortunes, Lee is dismayed. She doesn't want to leave China and the kind missionaries whom with she stays. But brothers are brothers, and to America she goes.
   Once in California Fong meets up with a family who agrees to take them in, and Lee makes friends with their feisty daughter Lizzy. Lee is excited to attend school, but her excitement stops when a boy named Howard O'Laughlin teases her and on one occasion steals her cup, which was a treasure to her and Fong because it had belonged to their parents.
   Will Howard ever accept Lee? And will Lee and Fong ever find enough gold to stay in America? Find out in this wonderful book!

   This is one of my favorite books out of the whole series. I once lent all the books to a friend of mine and she kept them for a looooong time. I'm just I own them and don't have to borrow them every time I want to read them!

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.

2 comments about In Secret Mongolia (Mystic Traveller).

1. This book is comparable to the stories told by explorers of the Americas of how hard it was to survive outside of one's own culture in a time without our modern amenities like a phone, a translation dictionary, or a guide to local customs. I read it while I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mongolia in 1996 and it helped me understand how much life had changed there in the past ninety years.



2. This book is one mans recollections of his time spent in Mongolia during the 1920s. Haslund was part of a group of Danes who set out to Mongolia in order to set up a farm in remote Mongolia. During this time period it was similar to the wild west with tribal warlords of various ethnicities as well as communist Russians on one side, and the Chinese on the other.
   
   Haslund recounts his various adventures and interactions with warlords, Shamans, his short stay in a Siberian prison after a case of mistaken identity, dealing with the harsh climate and environment of that part of the world, the setting up of the farm. Lots of great observances of the culture, customs and the nature in Mongolia.
   
   This book reads like a Jack London story except its for real. It really is amazing how tough and self sufficent these guys had to be to pound out an existence in that part of the world. Haslund doesn't slip into any corny tough guy semantics though. He is very matter of fact about the dangers and hardships that he dealt with. To me this book is one of the great unknown books. I currently live in Denmark and I've yet to meet a Dane who has even heard of Haslund or this book.

No comments about Where Beijing CityGuide (Where Cityguides).

No comments about Lonely Planet Best Of Hong Kong (Lonely Planet Encounter Series).

2 comments about Let's Go Map Guide Hong Kong (2nd Ed) (Let's Go Map Guide Hong Kong).

1. The actual map is incomplete and presented in awkward segments, so it's not really useful as a map.



2. If you are planning to live in Hong Kong for the next three years do not count on this map guide to help you get around. It shows only very limited, touristy portions of the SAR. I deem it a total waste of money.

4 comments about The Search for Shangri-La: A Journey into Tibetan History.

1. The author, a writer and oral historian with long experience in the Indian subcontinent, here describes his re-examination of the complex history of Buddhism in Tibet and India. He intersperses colorful chapters about traveling in Tibet among drier chapters on religious history. The mix does not quite work. While Allen's travel writing generally holds the reader's attention, only people with a serious interest in Asian religions would stay with the scholarly presentations all the way through. Even though I lived in South Asia for four years, I found the religious history heavy going. While the color photographs bunched in the center of the book are of good quality, I wished that they had covered more of the sites described by the author. Overall rating: three stars.



2. of Tibetan history than one often finds in Buddhist-authored books on the subject. The author combined known Near Eastern/Asian ancient and medieval history with personal observations of the land and its archaeology to arrive at some very interesting conclusions about (1) the pre-Buddhist religious history and cultures of Tibet, and (2) the development of Buddhism in this milieu. The frequent transitions in writing style, from travelogue to historical discourse and back, were sometimes awkward. But if you like books on comparative religion, anthropology, mythology, religious history, or ancient history, and are interested in Tibet, you'll have fun with this one! Overall rating: 4 stars



3. Il titolo è fuorviante. Il libro di Allen è la ricerca letteraria e filologica del mitico regno di Sham Shung, probabilmente posizionato nell'area del regno di Guge, fra il Ladakh ed il monte Kailash (cui Allen aveva dedicato un libro nel 1982: A mountain in Tibet). Ho compiuto un viaggio al Kailash nel 1997. Con sorpresa ho trovato che l'autore aveva effettuato lo stsso percorso pochi mesi dopo. La stessa agenzia (TIST), lo stesso albergo (Himalaya Hotel a Lhasa, gli stessi episodi (come la morte di un pellegrino indiano per mancanza di acclimatazione). Ma anche la piccola personale soddisfazione di vedere che il gruppo da me organizzato era riuscito a raggiungere i luoghi (Toling e Tsaparang) per cui Allen aveva invano chiesto il permesso.



4. Though the author brings about some important facts like the connection between the Bon religion and Parsis somehow the book does not really jell. It could be because the author does not speak of his own experiences - one gets a teeny weenie feeling that he is writing under some duress or pressure. May be asked by Chinese Govt. not to mention the unmentionables or that the book has been edited, rather severely, by the publishers. Something is wrong somewhere! Only those who're interested in the Bon religion can refer this book! Vacuous! Ineffective! Though the subject matter is really very good.