Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East
Only in India would the American filmRambobe  remade with the title role played by a woman--in a sari, no less!  Only in Hong Kong would a man at a cocktail party pick up a woman  with the line "What do you think of the dollar?" And  only inVideo Night in Kathmanduwill you find detailed,  unsettling portraits of a Far East in flux as experienced by Pico  Iyer, a travel writer beyond compare. Tibet, China, India, and  Thailand--these are among the objects of Iyer's wanderlust, the  subjects of 11 essays chronicling his travels. In India, he  explores the lucrative Bombay film business: "The process of  turning an American movie into an Indian one was not very  difficult ... but it did require a few changes.... the Indian hero  had to be domesticated, supplied with a father, a mother, and a  clutch of family complications." As one film director told  him, " ... for example, Rambo must be given a sister who was  raped." In Bangkok he finds the sex trade is well nigh  impossible to avoid: " ... by the time a third official  government tout approached me with the novel invitation: 'My  friend. You no like birdwatching?' I was inclined to suspect that  ornithology was not among his interests."Pico Iyer is more than just a travel writer. For four years, he  wrote about world affairs forTime, and he brings to these  brilliant, comical, and poignant essays his extensive knowledge of  politics and culture as well as a journalist's eye for the telling  details.Video Night in Kathmanduprovides both a stark,  unsettling view of modern Asia and an exploration of the  ambivalent attitudes Asians hold toward the West.