Armchair adventuring | Karavansara

23 January 2016
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Announcing the Karavansara Reading Challenge 2016

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 →

20 January 2016
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

The Mysterious Orlandini

The Karavansara Challenge 2016 has yet to start¹, and already strange connections are beginning to appear.
On the first page of her Forbidden Journey, Ella Maillart writes (my translation)…

Finally, the Italian Orlandini, having spent one year in China, was ordered away from the Xinjian frontier[…] He covered great distances by bicycle, an ideal means of transport in Central Asia, and tells a curious story, according to which, having been mistaken for a spy, he risked being poisoned in Inner Mongolia.

And that’s it.
An Italian, traveling through Central Asia and Xinjian (or Sinkiang, or Chinese Turkestan) on a bicycle, and being mistaken for a spy and almost poisoned?
How comes nobody ever told me his story?! Continue reading →

19 January 2016
by Davide Mana 3 Comments

Remembering Barbara Stanwick Blogathon: Escape to Burma (1955)

babs-remembring It’s the Remembering Barbara Stanwyck Blogathon… first movie blogathon of the year for Karavansara, and a good opportunity to watch (again) a nice piece of old fashioned exotic melodrama.

But first things first – the Babs blogathon is hosted by the In the Good Old Days of Hollywood blog…
And here you’ll find the list of all the other blogs participating in this event. Check them out – Barbara Stanwyck had a long and very diverse career, and you’ll find all sorts of different movies.

As for us, here, we’ll take a good look at Escape to Burma, a 1955 RKO movie directed by veteran Allan Dwan.
Which is just the sort of thing we like hereabouts – pulpy, noirish, adventurous and shot in garish colors.
What else do you need? Continue reading →

18 January 2016
by Davide Mana 10 Comments

Three on the Silk Road

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.

Continue reading →

14 January 2016
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

The true adventure of the WASP

cover79908-medium For 27 months, between 1942 and 1944, eleven hundred and two women flew military aircraft as part of the US war effort.
They did not engage in combat, but (mostly) ferried new planes to their destinations – a key role, because planes don’t fly on their own.

The story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots is one of those often overlooked bits of history that are the main reason why I love history.

Now, Sarah Byrn Rickman, probably the foremost expert on WASP history, has published WASP of the Ferry Command, a complete overview of the WASP ferry pilots – based on official reports and documents and, most importantly, on interviews with the surviving members of the unit. Continue reading →

13 January 2016
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

The noir shadows of L.A.

51yDStJIzZL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_ I was talking with a friend, yesterday, about Ray Chandler and Los Angeles – how the author was such a keen observer of his environment, that his voice has become the default voice of LA, and you can’t really set a story in Los Angeles¹ without slipping somehow in a chandleresque mode.

The discussion reminded me of a fine book I have here on my shelf – bought more than ten years ago, and part of my collection of noir-related books.

It’s called Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles, and it was written by Elizabeth Ward and Alain Silver.
Silver has devoted most of his work as a critic to genre movies and noir in particular, and obviously the volume does have a noir feel to it. Continue reading →

8 January 2016
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Visit Kyoto in the past

Kyoto, ancient capital of Japan, can now be explored through the Heiankyo Overlay Map, which allows users to shift from the current plan of the city back to the Heian era (9th century) city, and back.

Kyoto_Trey-Ratcliff