marcynewman 's review for:

From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet by Vikram Seth

4.0

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This is a marvellous little travel narrative that beautifully captures Seth's travels through parts of China that one rarely sees glimpses of - Turfan, Urumqi, Liuyuan, Dunhuang, Nanhu, Nilamu, Zhangmu, Lamasangu, and eventually Kathmandu on his way home to Delhi. At the core of the story is his hitchhiking journey to Tibet where readers are privy to Seth's tenuous travels at a time - the early 1980s - when control of foreign travellers was extremely tight. Between state surveillance and natural disasters (the rainy season - lots of mudslides, bridges washed away, trucks getting caught in the mud) it makes for a harrowing journey. But what's most fascinating on this journey are the conversations he has with ordinary Chinese and Tibetan people, people whom he probably wouldn't have had a chance to engage with had he travelled through the traditional state-controlled channels. Seth's fluency in Chinese and his occasional contextual passages, as well as his descriptions of the people and places he sees, are wonderful to read. But the insights he shares from these casual chats are like an extraordinary time capsule giving a sense of how China and Tibet have evolved over the 20th century.