02046cam a2200205 a 4500003000900000003000400009005001700013008004100030020001800071040002700089082001700116100001900133245008300152264003600235300003100271520144400302651003401746600003301780650002701813PH-MaWHOost20241108112740.0080312s2008    maub          000 0deng    a9780141015729  aDLCcWPRO LibrarydDLC00a915.044250921 aTheroux, Paul.10aGhost train to the Eastern star :bon the tracks of the great railway bazaar /  aLondon :bPenguin Books,c2009.  a485 pages :bmap ;c24 cm.  aAn unmitigated treat for the hundreds of thousands of fans of the first Bazaar. In the new railway bazaar, 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. His odyssey takes him from Eastern Europe, still hungover from Communism, through tense but thriving Turkey, into the Caucasus, where Georgia limps back toward feudalism while its neighbour Azerbaijan revels in oil-driven capitalism. As he penetrates deeper into Asia's heart, his encounters take on an otherworldly cast. The two chapters that follow show us Turkmenistan, a profoundly isolated society at the mercy of an almost comically egotistical dictator, and Uzbekistan, a ruthless authoritarian state. From there, he retraces his steps through India, Myanmar, China, and Japan, providing his penetrating observations on the changes these countries have undergone. 0aAsiaxDescription and travel.10aTheroux, PaulxTravelzAsia. 0aRailroad travelzAsia.