This account describes the author's adventures during an 18-month journey "beyond forbidden frontiers" in Asia. With minimal equipment and disguised as an itinerant Muslim, he hitch-hiked and walked through southern Turkey, and the Iran of the Ayatollahs, entering Afghanistan illegally in the wake of a convoy of Chinese weapons and then spent months dodging Russian helicopter gunships with the rebel guerillas. He was the first foreigner to cross from Pakistan into the closed western province of China since the revolution on 1949.
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From the Back Cover
Nick Danziger’s graphic account of his hairaising adventures during an eighteen-month journey ‘beyond forbidden frontiers’ in Asia makes a vivid and unforgettable impact. Travelling in disguise as an itinerant Muslim,his journey on foot and using traditional means of local transport cost him £1,000 in all – exactly one-third of the Winston Churchill travel fellowship he received in London.
After walking and hitch-hiking through southern Turkey and the ayatollahs’ Iran, he entered Afghanistan illegally in the wake of a convoy of Chinese weapons and spent two months dodging Russian helicopter gunships with rebel guerillas. He was the first foreigner to cross from Pakistan into the closed western province of China since the revolution of 1949. Living and travelling with local people and pitting his wits against officialdom, Danziger broke barriers and crossed boundaries of all kinds. Written with engaging humour and a great zest for life, 'Danziger’s Travels' is an exceptional book in every way, handsomely illustrated with the author’s own outstanding photographs and drawings.
“Danziger is the stuff that legends are made of… his remarkable story… contains some of the most exciting travel writing I have ever read”
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE, 'Literary Reviewer'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By E. Worrall
Format:Paperback
I loved it. Danziger's gift is to put the reader in his shoes, to bring his journey to life. If you want a tourist guide or annotated historical treatise, this is not the book for you. If you want to know what it actually feels like to wander across some of the most dangerous and least understood places in the world, Danziger's Travels provides a safe alternative to visiting in person.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By O
Format:Paperback
I read this in 1994, and it helped me when I was planning a similar journey (which sadly left out Afghanistan).
As another reviewer mentioned, he tried to inject some love interest, and failed miserably. I had to skim read these parts - cringingly. I'm by no means a prude.
Anyway, the rest is good travel reading. Perhaps embellished a little, and he is incredibly self-centered.
But there is no doubt that his travels were groundbreaking back in the 1980s when he made them, and the route today can still be challenging.
Recommended. I managed to forgive the ego trip and self pandering, and if you can do that, it's a good read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By "davclav"
Format:Paperback
Well, if you are the type of person who cannot sit beside a slightly annoying person on a bus for a few hours then perhaps this book is not for you. Danziger is steeped in self importance. However if you can bear this travelling companion you will be richly rewarded with a feast for the imagination almost helped by Danzigers imperfect descriptions. In this book the countries, customs and religions do most of the talking.
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4.7 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Mistaken purchase ever !!!
I purchased this book when it first came out by accident.
I was in Foyles and I forget what I was buying but it was busy and the cashier gave me the wrong book. Read more
I was in Foyles and I forget what I was buying but it was busy and the cashier gave me the wrong book. Read more
Published 12 months ago by M Coote
3.0 out of 5 stars
A serious travel book, that is true to life
Nick Danziger, after receiving a bursary decides to travel along the old spice routes, including places sucha as Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Shep
1.0 out of 5 stars
Fiction not nonfiction
Having travelled through the same region as Danziger not long after he was there (I had not read his book at the time) I picked this up with interest on returning to the UK. Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2010 by Junkyard Dog
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entrancing
I picked this up in Oxfam after seeing an ad for it in the back of Wild Swans, and am really glad I did, because I think it's brilliant. Read more
Published on 15 May 2008 by J. Charlesworth
5.0 out of 5 stars
So good I read it twice
I initially read this book way back in the late eighties when I was planning some travelling of my own (although mine was far more mundane). Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2008 by Adrian Bates
1.0 out of 5 stars
what a wasted opportunity
This could have been such an inspiring travelbook because the trip the author made is quite extraordinary - travelling from Europe to China overland, through Iran a mere five years... Read more
Published on 1 May 2006 by Pukka Sahib
1.0 out of 5 stars
The worst kind of orientalist fiction
The author presumably has his own reasons for having written this as a travel book rather than as a novel but I would certainly file under fiction, or even narcissism (?). Read more
Published on 7 May 2004 by Mrad
1.0 out of 5 stars
Limited writing ability
The author's limited writing abilities do not justify his sense of self-importance. There are much better books on this region.
Published on 6 Feb 2004
4.0 out of 5 stars
shaken not stirred
A very entertaining travel book, to be read with a large pinch of salt. I found it hard to belive everything the author encounters on his travels, but he manages to tell an... Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2002 by simon gurney
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thrilling adventure writing; insights into Afghanistan
This thrilling book was my introduction to Nick Danziger about a year ago, an author whose other books I then eagerly searched out. Read more
Published on 8 July 2002
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- Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > Afghanistan
- Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > China
- Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > Turkey
- Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Middle East > Iran
- Books > Travel & Holiday > Guidebook Series
- Books > Travel & Holiday > Travel Writing
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