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naturalistnatalie 's review for:
Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road
by Kate Harris
This book definitely had the feel of a bike trip to it. Harris alternated between descriptions of the trip and random musings on whatever caught her fancy (which was often explorers). That tracks with my experiences riding long trips. Your brain goes off on the weirdest tangents when you're riding for hours at a time. Or, you focus on how terrible the road is. Kate and Mel definitely rode in some rough terrain. The roads weren't maintained or it was up mountains (or both) as they climbed to the Tibetan Plateau. Or they were on the only highway through the area, so they were constantly dodging the draft of big trucks. Not pleasant.
I did enjoy the stories about dinner with locals. We've hosted cyclists on trips via Warm Showers, and it's always fascinating to hear people's stories. Of course, sharing stories is made more difficult when you don't share a language, as often happened with Kate and Mel. Nevertheless, kindness is universal. The politics of the area certainly added to the complexity of traveling there. Getting visas didn't always go smoothly, and they weren't even supposed to be in the Chinese-controlled Tibet without a guide. In these days of not being able to travel because of the global pandemic, I appreciated hearing of someone else's travels. I don't think I'd want to do the same trip (way to many mountains for my taste), but I do harbor the desire to bike across the U.S. Luckily, biking isn't just a young-person's game.
I did enjoy the stories about dinner with locals. We've hosted cyclists on trips via Warm Showers, and it's always fascinating to hear people's stories. Of course, sharing stories is made more difficult when you don't share a language, as often happened with Kate and Mel. Nevertheless, kindness is universal. The politics of the area certainly added to the complexity of traveling there. Getting visas didn't always go smoothly, and they weren't even supposed to be in the Chinese-controlled Tibet without a guide. In these days of not being able to travel because of the global pandemic, I appreciated hearing of someone else's travels. I don't think I'd want to do the same trip (way to many mountains for my taste), but I do harbor the desire to bike across the U.S. Luckily, biking isn't just a young-person's game.