Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road

I have some criticism to offer so let me state the positives first: This is a very good book. I gave it five stars, which is something I rarely do. I also gave it as a gift to a friend, also something I rarely do. It held my attention throughout. Kate Harris writes well, and her descriptions are vivid, often amusing, and occasionally suspenseful. As I am much more of a leisure cyclist but also as one who has biked in many foreign countries, I could empathize with many of the experiences she describes though hers multiplied mine a hundredfold. Reading this book was an opportunity to have a vicarious experience of going on an epic journey.But as good books often do with their ability to fully engage the reader, I have some criticisms. Chiefly, it has to do with her attitude toward money. The first hint of this came with her attitude about eco-tourism. She seemed to believe that once money is involved, whether or not it is simply helping to boost another’s economy, it is no longer a genuine experience. I fully agree that money should not be an end in itself, but Ms. Harris seems to have a sense of entitlement. Yes, she skimped and lived on bare necessities during her journey, living mostly on noodles and Nescafe and sleeping in a tent in all kinds of weather. But clearly this journey cost a considerable amount when you add in plane fares, bus rides, various legal documents and fees, and equipment costs. She also casually mentions in passing trips to Norway and Borneo, Alaska and Arizona, and a transcontinental bike ride, and years attending Oxford. But during all this time, as far as what she wrote, she never held down a job. Support thus came from others---a Rhodes scholarship, a donated bicycle, gifts from family and friends, and money raised through on online blog. I will grant that her intelligence and drive “earned” her this support, but she seems more than willing to accept this support without ever asking what she can contribute in turn.At heart is the question what is exploration all about? Is it merely for one’s own enjoyment or is really ultimately for the benefit of others. For Marco Polo, for Lewis and Clark, and presumably for a future mission to Mars, the ultimate benefit is for others. I’m not certain that is the case with Kate Harris.

The first 25% is a little mind numbing backstory. If you like reading about the time you first enrolled in a college course and then thought you knew everything and had original insights this might be for you. After that the author regurgitates an endless stream of ancillary and overused topics that breaks up the flow of the trip so much I found myself having to go back and forth to remember what she was originally talking about. If you think you'd like a story written by the young and naive about being young and naive, give it a go. If you want some good storytelling about a cycling trip I would pass.

This book starts out so promising as the author and her friend slip past border guards to travel into Tibet territory without the proper visas but the excitement of the first passage falls into tedium as the author drones on about her college experience. I have read several great cycling travel stories such as "Where the Pavement Ends" by Erika Warmbrunn and enticed by the title of this book was looking forward to an adventurous read. Alas the publishers should have taken a stronger hand in editing because the books dwells too much on her non-cycling personal life.

I am going to give the book 5 stars because that was my initial "call" on Goodreads after finishing it. I would recommend it to anyone. It's more than a ground-breaking, feminist journey (two feisty young women from Canada cycle from Turkey to India along the Silk Road, which turns out to be a gritty, back-breaking, polluted horror-show much of the time). Kate's humor is disarming and her meditations are beautiful. I loved her friend Mel as well, and the emotional generosity of their friendship.However: impressed as I was, I was stunned to see that tucked away in the Acknowledgments is the fact that she fell in love with a woman right after returning to the West. (If I'm wrong about this, someone can correct me.) The idea that this was not put in the body of the text astonishes me, since she portrayed herself as a straight girl at Oxford. This shifting sexuality fits so well with the theme of "borders are pointless and don't really have any connection with the natural landscape they uneasily exist upon." It would have been so easy to include this aspect of herself in the book. She doesn't, and remains somewhat of an enigma.But read the book for great insights into these troubled Central Asian countries, including a fascinating look at Chinese soldiers aggressively patrolling Tibet, while the two women bike along beside them, masks pulled down over their faces, trying to blend in. The stickiness and exhaustion of their journey, along with the occasional exhilaration, powers the book along. There's nothing silk about this road...An aside: The city/place names were *so* unfamiliar to me that I had to keep looking them up in Wikipedia on my Kindle as I went along. And there they were, to my surprise! It just served to show me that the unfamiliar for me is the familiar to someone else. I am glad that I have a slightly clearer view of these ancient places now, along with their surprisingly kind and decent inhabitants. Wouldn't you know, there is an Azeri/Armenian war starting up just now over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh...

Simple, adventure travel and exploration on two wheels, along one of the world's oldest and most evocative trade routes.The author writes with flair and color describing not only the scenery, trials and tribulations of a bicycle trip into some of the more remote parts of the world, but also blending her experiences with reflections on her ambitions and a deeper understanding of the concept of a life less ordinary. She may not live in the golden age of exploration, or have been able to be an astronaut, but the trip serves to balance these with a greater awareness of life generally and a sense of achievement.Entertaining and instantly engaging, this is a great book - I really enjoyed it.

Firstly, this book does little to describe the Silk Road, and is more a description of the author’s desire to get from one side of Tibet to the other as quickly as possible by bicycle, with a very odd mix of philosophical and literary quotes. There is very little information about the Silk Road as such, the people, culture and history; you will find more in the cheapest travel guide (arguably a much better buy). We are given a lot of information about her studies, desire to get to Mars. The other significant negative is her apparent desire to label herself as an “explorer”. How can you be an explorer when all you want to do is “do Tibet” as quickly as possible - it is like the awful tour buses that you see rushing around Europe stopping only to take photos and gaining no insight into the country, people or history.There is sadly little coherence to the book. It is very self-indulgent, and she seems to be more focused on doing the journey as quickly as possible than anything else. While the author is correct in her points about the borders being transient, there is minimal insight into how this affects the country and people, e.g. Mount Ararat and the borders between Turkey and Armenia.It is a marginally interesting book at times, but those instances are few and highly outweighed by irrelevances with no connection to the theme of the book.Overall, I would sadly not recommend this book to anybody.

I bought this book because I thought it would be about a bicycle journey along the Silk Road, which in the end I suppose it was, but initially it felt a bit more like an autobiography of someone who really wanted to go to Mars. Having said that, although it took me a while to get in to it, I did actually enjoy it. The title “Lands of lost borders” is a good one as the author uses her early life and journey along the Silk Road to discuss and consider the significance of borders and boundaries whether they be geographical, historical, emotional, cultural, psychological or global. If you want a straight forward travel book about someone who has cycled the Silk Road then this might not be exactly what you’re looking for however, I’d still give it a go. It’s a bit deeper than your usual cycle touring book but it does still describe a journey along the Silk Road - just with a few extra thoughts about boundaries (physical and psychological) added in.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It isn't written in strict chronological and jumps around a fair bit from the main journey but I wouldn't say this detracts from the book as it's done in a way similar to having a conversation with the author. All the offshoots of information compliment the main thread through the book, adding depth to your understanding of Kate's desire and reasoning for taking on each adventure.If you're looking for more autobiographical adventure books to read I'd also recommend Simon Reeve's "Step by step" and Mike Carter's "One man and his bike".

I read this book over two days, interrupted only by meals, sleeping and bathroom visits. More than a travel book, part biography of a restless and incisive mind and full of surprise insights. Having said that, it is an excellent travel book, with evocative descriptions of places and people. I'm thankful to have read it.