Ghost Train to the Eastern Star
Subtitle: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Railway Bazaar
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Published: August 18, 2008
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 464
ISBN-13: 9780618418879
Subjects: Asia - General; Travel / Asia / General; Travel; Travel - Foreign
Description: In Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Theroux recreates an epic journey he took thirty years ago, a giant loop by train (mostly) through Eastern Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, China, Japan, and Siberia. In short, he traverses all of Asia top to bottom, and end to end. In the three decades since he first travelled this route, Asia has undergone phenomenal change. The Soviet Union has collapsed, China has risen, India booms, Burma slowly smothers, and Vietnam prospers despite the havoc unleashed upon it the last time Theroux passed through. He witnesses all this and more in a 25,000 mile journey, travelling as the locals do, by train, car, bus, and foot, providing his penetrating observations on the changes these countries have undergone.--From publisher description.