Travel Adventures in the Balkans and Tibet || By Akhter Matin Chaudhury

Travel Adventures in the Balkans and Tibet

HARDLY travelogues are written in English here in book form that deserves a review. But Travel Adventures in the Balkans and Tibet is a different package altogether. The iconoclastic writer cum adventurer shakes off the shackles of life and finds time to travel and discover the world. His style is that of a short story writer. When one reads these opening lines in the prologue of the book, "Soft, but audible murmurs of passages from the Quran, recited by devout Muslims, mingle with smoke rising from oil lamps. Ostrich eggs placed just above them are fixed to large cast iron rings suspended from the ceiling. The evening is pleasant, fanned by a gentle cooling breeze wafting in from the Bosporus," one cannot keep it down but feels the urge to read on.    

The book has been divided in to two parts: Balkans Express and Lhasa Chronicles. In 2012, he went on a short tour of six Balkan countries (European Turkey, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia and Croatia) in eight days (Around the Balkans in 8 Days !).  In the first part he has written about that travel experiences in the rough but beautiful Balkans. 

Balkan Express

In the 13 episodes he has brilliantly described the places, the cultures and the works of architectural beauty he came across and the people he met. His Balkans adventure started in Istanbul during a hot summer in July 2012. Basically he went there for his Company meeting and decided to leave for London after that for his annual holiday. So he decided to pass through some Balkan countries instead of simply flying to London. At the end of the first part (From page 77 to 90) the author has inserted some photographs of some places, people and architectural view (The Blue Mosque-Istanbul, Turkey; The Grand Bazar-Istanbul, Turkey; Sophia Train Station Concourse-Bulgaria; Alexander Nevsky Cathedral- Sophia, Bulgaria;A statue of Alexander the Great in Skopje, Macedonia; Mother Teresa's birthplace ; Mother Teresa Museum, Macedonia; The Central Square, Skopje, Macedonia;  Belgrade Train Station, Serbia; The monument of Slovenia's greatest poet-Ljubljana, Slovenia; Ljubljana University etc. ) in the Balkan countries. These photos have made this book more attractive and informative for the future travelers. He also gave some practical and necessary travel tips for them. 

Lhasa Chronicles

In the second part he describes his Tibet journey which he named Lhasa Chronicles.  He divided this section into 11 parts in which he has depicted the exciting train journey and his experiences there, visiting  various places, meeting different people and viewing works of architectural beauty.

The author described four important Houses of God - Deprung Monastery, Jokhang Temple, Potala Palace and Sera Monastery. With the help of his guide Nitong, the author climbed up to the Deprung Monastery where he saw the Assembly or Chanting Hall which is lined with idols of many forms of Buddha and of  Dalai Lamas. He also described annual festival, Buddha Thangka, a religious festival organized at the Monastery. He observed that the throne of Dalai Lama is displayed in Jokhang Temple. The author has mentioned seeing the Potala Palace (the highest palace in the world), its history, architectural view and the ancestors of Dalai Lama living there. Various food items, lifestyle, traditions, religious views of Lhasa have also been included in this section. 

The book is available at: www.rokomari.com
The reviewer is a major in English Literature and a part time reviewer.