Temples and Elephants: Travels in Siam in 1881-82 by Carl Bock

by Carl E. Bock

Temples and the narrative of a journey of exploration through Upper Siam and Lao, etc. [With plates, including a portrait, and a map.]British Library, Historical Print EditionsThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries holding over 150 million items in all known languages and books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps, stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial additional collections of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC.The HISTORY OF TRAVEL collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. This collection contains personal narratives, travel guides and documentary accounts by Victorian travelers, male and female. Also included are pamphlets, travel guides, and personal narratives of trips to and around the Americas, the Indies, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition++++British LibraryBock, Carl Alfred;1884.xvi. 438 p. ; 8º.010055.gg.16.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1884

Reviews

[Yigal Zur · Rating 4 out of 5]

l love travel diaries and this one is great example why i keep reading them. it is account of Bock journey to the golden triangle and i was reading and checking on the same my own thriller Passport to Death which is based in Thailand to see if any error were done.
his journey is described with vivid detail even when he comes to dangerous moments and shabby treatment under the hands of local official. basically very little changed in the 130 years when he done his journey to the time i researched my thriller and crossed illegally to Myanmar to meet a drug lord. fummy

[Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 1884, this narrative book by a Norwegian natural scientist named Carl Alfred Bock has explored northern Thailand (Siam then) and Laos on people’s ways of life as well as what he thought interesting along his tough journey in the reign of Rama V (King Chulalongkorn) in 1881 or 137 years ago. And this extract representing his first glimpse on such magnificent views while traveling into a new Oriental country would reveal some thrillingly exotic snapshots to his readers in the early 21st century:

All the way up, the distant backbone of the long tongue of land, ever varying in outline, and forming a rich setting for the tamer foreground of the coast, afforded a pleasing panorama. Four days’ steaming brought us to the mouth of the River Menam – or, to give it its full name, Chow Phya Menam – when a pilot came abroad to take us over to the treacherous bar, and steer us through the myriad fish-stakes and traps which fringe the shoals and banks like so many chevaux de fries. The bar passed, we came to a small island in the river, upon which is built a Wat, or temple, … , whose gilt spires, surrounded by those of several phrachedees or topes, towering far above the tree-tops, shone resplendent in the evening sun. … (p. 2)

To continue . . .

[HansBlog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessante Begegnungen und Erlebnisse, zu langatmig über Hintergründe. Mehr Meinung dazu hier:

https://hansblog.de/kritik-historisch...