"Wayfarer in China..." Book Review

Hello, Faithful Readers,

Once again I am being lazy and writing in English instead of Turkish or Spanish. Since the book I am about to comment on was in English, and it is too early on a Saturday morning, I will excuse myself...I really must get to practicing Turkish at some point--but then I guess since I will be leaving in less than a week, whatever Turkish I haven't practiced enough for the last several weeks is about to bite me anyway, so I guess I'll enjoy my last few days of being able to communicate unhampered. Hmm. That word always makes me think of the piles of laundry I still haven't done...But I digress.

This post is about a book I recently "read." I say "read," because my eyes didn't actually read it. I once again let the nifty text-to-speech feature of my Kindle do all the hard work, while I sat back and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the rolling Kansas hills. My family made a brief trip to Kansas last weekend, where we all congregated at a convenient mid-point between Illinois and Colorado. I don't know when we'll have a chance to see everyone again, since my intrepid sister is taking off today for a little hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro, followed by some months in Antarctica and who knows where after that...

Did I say this post was about a book? Oh, yes...
The book, A Wayfarer in China: Impressions of a Trip Across West China and Mongolia, by Elizabeth Kendall, can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Wayfarer-In-China-Impressions-Mongolia/dp/1164102591

So, my favorite thing about my Kindle is the awesomeness of the incredible number of free books available in the public domain, which Kindle offers on their devices (and all of which include text-to-speech), allowing me to read the classic books I love at a fraction of the cost. Is $0 a fraction? My math isn't so good...Recently, I went on a Kindle-loading spree and downloaded about a thousand free books, in case I get bored exploring Turkey...yeah. Like that's going to happen.

Anyway, one of the treasures I found was this little book about a bold and fearless adventurer who appears to have had the travel bug as much as (or more than) I do, and wrote about wandering around China and Mongolia in 1911. This was back when travel was dangerous, and people had to actually take their food with them and worry about things like finding banks, and robbers attacking the caravans. Also, she was a woman, traveling alone (with her load of servants, chair-carriers, cook, interpreter, and the occasional soldier), when everyone told her she couldn't do it. It appears that this simple statement did more to motivate her than anything else...

She traveled from West to East across China as far as Peking, then cut northwest into Mongolia almost to the border of Russia. Her vivid and sometimes humorous descriptions of local dress, eating habits, customs, and especially scenery made the story come alive and did a lot to spark an interest in learning more about China. I especially liked that she didn't use flowery speech, as a lot of writers of her time did, she just told it how it was and moved on.

Aside from learning a bit about how China and its people used to be, the thing that most attracted me about the book was something that was I'm sure wholly unintentional on the part of the author: what her writing reveals about the stereotypes, norms, attitudes and ingrained prejudices of her day. Although she was eager to explore and genuinely wanted to learn as much about the people and their culture as possible, she at the same time belies her belief that her Western ideals and ways of life are superior to those of the people she encountered on her journey. These attitudes and prejudices seemed to be mostly subconscious, making them all the more interesting to me.

Noticing how her culture and attitudes shaped her view of the people she met made me consider how my own ways of thinking may be affecting my interactions with people I meet, especially those in cultures somewhat different from my own. On a philosophical note, is it possible for a person to get past their subconscious ideas about the world and truly see another culture for what it is? I suppose not. One's culture, upbringing, personal history and education are sure to influence one's view of others, no matter the context...Sigh.

Today is Saturday. A sunny, bright day after a heavy rain. It's the perfect time for a stroll and picnic in Allerton Park. This is the last weekend I get to enjoy with my family before I head off to strange lands, so I'd better get to it.

Thanks to everyone dedicated enough to keep reading my little experimental blog! Stay tuned for more (and hopefully better) writing in the following weeks.

This is me, signing off...