As someone who is passionate about Chinese (and East Asian) history, I am always looking for unique perspectives penned by interesting people who lived or traveled through the region. It is usually to hard to come by such books in China and even abroad you only find recent travelogues, most of them written in the 80s and 90s. (I will recommend Vikram Seth’s From Heaven Lake and Ma Jian’s Red Dust – both set in the early 1980s). There is one book store in Bangalore, India where you can get some rare, out of print books.
Select Book Store. From M.G. Road turn into Brigade Road, stay on the left side of the road and take the first left to a narrow lane leading to a 3-floor building. Walk up the flight of stairs to level 2 (first floor in India).
I was here last couple of years back and managed to find some really interesting books -A memoirs of an Italian spy in pre-World War 2 years http://preetam.net/an-italian-spy-in-1930s-china-0
Through Oriental Gates – another western person’s travelogue through Asia. http://preetam.net/comment-fights-before-the-blog-days-a-reader-0
The next book is an interesting one – memoirs of a Soviet agent in Myanmar set in the late 1950s.
After browsing through this book, I am missing Yangon. The author describes his interactions with the Burmese people. I also found the way the Russian and Chinese diplomatic community interacted very interesting. This was the time just before Sino-Soviet split. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Soviet_split)
Another book on North Korea below.
This book was published by the official Chinese press.
The book covers the early 1970s when North Korea was growing at a decent pace.
The next book is from the earlier Korean war period, when the communist forces occupied Seoul before the Americans were able to push them up North.
Also found a very colorful travel guide on Hungary. It was published by an Hungarian publisher in mid 1950s.
The last book is a travel guide on East Asia published in the late 50s.
Myanmar was Burma, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were still dominions. India had just become a republic.
Stay in Bombay at Taj Mahal for only 50 rupees. In the pre-email days, businesses used to post their Cable keyword. Prominent businesses would have these cable keywords and you could send a telegram to them via this.
A lot of places in India used to be “dry” meaning alcohol was hard to get for everyone. Tourists enjoyed a liquor permit. There was a point system that dictated what type of alcohol and how much you could consume.
Singapore sound like a lot of fun isn’t it. Ah, we miss these ticket dancing places. Ronggeng is a dance from Banyumas culture of Central Java. It is considered somewhat erotic by many observers as it features some flirtatious and vigorous movements. Who shall we call to see a sample of Ronggeng? none other than Inul Daratista http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OT6zL-yb7o
Aah, such a miss of Rangon, most of the places mentioned here are no longer there. Strand Hotel is still around though. Many nostalgia after reading this book. I was not born in East Asia and but all these places are like home to me. And there is always such a strong “miss feeling” when I read about their past. Now excuse me for a while, I need to book some tickets and head to some of these places.
