I’m still collecting material about Otto Torvik and Carl Persson – that were part of the Swdish Mission in East Turkestan in the 1930s.
While I collect more stuff, anyone interested in the Swedish Mission might like to get a look at the Swedish Mission Project on the Internet Archives – which collects all of the films and audio recordings from th eexpedition, plus a link to a nice book on the subject.
An excellent resource.
As part of the Karavansara Reading Challenge 2016, here’s a taste of our destination…
Last night, I dug out the only Owen Lattimore book I own – 1928 The Desert Road to Turkestan.
Of all the adventurers on the Silk Road I discovered during my researches, Lattimore is probably the one I have more dear.
Maybe it’s because he was subject to much injustice, or because he was a keen observer and a charming storyteller.
Owen Lattimore was born in the USA in 1900. He was raised in China and educated in Switzerland and England. Unable to afford a university education, he got back in China, studied Chinese and was employed by a British commercial firm as jack of all trades and troubleshooter.
A load of wool blocked somewhere in the wild at the whim of a warlord? Send in Lattimore.
He actually liked it. Continue reading
Putting together equipment and supplies for the Karavansara Reading Challenge 2016 means – like with any exploration project – getting maps.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ll use two folding paper maps as reference, but will rely on Google for a lot of quick-and-dirty geographical information. I’d like to plot the course of our virtual travel, following the steps of Maillart & Fleming – maybe linking the posts and other external contents to the map.
And as I was trying to learn how all those marvels are done, I stumbled on a nice question: Google Earth or Google Maps? Continue reading
So, the Karavansara Reading Challenge 2016 is getting real, and I have no idea of what it’s going to happen, or how.
It’s part of the fun, I guess.
We have an official start date – February the 16 2016. Peter Fleming and Ella Maillart left Peking on the 16th of February 1935, so it feels like the right day to start.
In the next days I’ll start posting contents that will be hopefully interesting for both active challenge participants, for lurkers and for passers-by.
Today, a short roundup of the Challenge Bookshelf, the stuff I’ll keep at hand in the next weeks… Continue reading
OK, we discussed this in a few previous posts, but now let’s try and make this official.
The first Karavansara Reading Challenge will start on the 16th of February 2016.
On that day, I’ll start posting about three books, as I read (or re-read) them.
The books are…
. Ella Maillart’s Forbidden Journey, 1935
. Peter Fleming’s News from Tartary, 1936
. Stuart Stevens’ Night Train to Turkistan, 1988
I’ll go slow, cross-referencing the books and in general tracking the progress of Fleming & Maillart, that in 1935, on the 16th of February, started their adventure along the Silk Road, heading from Peking to Kashmir. Continue reading
OK, so I decided to complicate my life some more.
And this time I’m complicating my life for you, dear Karavansara readers.
I hope you are moved by this.
As I mentioned, one of the “minor” (but not minor at all) gifts I got for Christmas is Stuart Stevens‘ Night Train to Turkestan.
That is an attempt at retracing the road followed by Peter Fleming and Ella Maillart in their famous China-to-India (by way of Afghanistan) journey, in 1935.
Now, the interesting bit is – both Fleming and Maillart wrote about their experiences on the road.
Karavansara 