Back of the Blog - "A Walk in the woods" by Bill Bryson

Back of the blog. Here we will share tit-bits and snippets on India Travel which may be useful for a traveller in India. It may be some new information about the place, a new cuisine one can explore, a bit of history, a funny anecdote or a good travel book. Anything connected to Travel in India. 

When we were packing the bags for the Great lake trek in Kashmir, the first thing we packed was an old copy of Bill Bryson's classic on trekking Appalachian Trail in America. I have read it many times and each time it provides a new insight. On a long trek covering more than 50 KMs in Kashmir, this would be the best companion. It is funny, serious and typical Bill. 

This book has no connection with travelling in India. But it is a story which every trekker feel, wherever they go.......Himalayas, Western ghats.........

Relevant to this date, we in India can definitely relate to the insights provided in the book .

Some pictures of the trail from the Net.......

Here is what Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, the reviewer in New York Time wrote when it was first published in 1998.

"A Walk in the Woods" is a funny book, full of dry humor in the native-American grain. It is also a serious book. Nothing really terrible happened to the author, but by playing on our fears, he captures the ambivalence of our feelings about the wild. We revere it but we're also intimidated. We want to protect animals but we also want to kill them. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but they also "choke off views and leave you muddled and without bearings." He continues: "They make you feel small and confused and vulnerable, like a small child lost in a crowd of strange legs." 

For full review, click here.

NYT Review

Bill takes you through the trail without you sweating a drop. Just pick up a copy from somewhere and read it. You won't regret the time spent with him!