Idea Smith’s Reviews > Ghost Train to the Eastern Star > Status Update

I was a child during the Iraq-Kuwait-US war. I never thought to link it to the Israel-Palestine conflict till I read the chapter on Ankara. Truly, our advice has no basis unless we travel. History and also propaganda is written by the powerful.

I loved the chapter on Istanbul. So much better than the misery of Bucharest.

Just realising that reading travelogues may be a way to beat the propaganda that passes for news media around the world.

Paul Theroux’s description of Bucharest sounds exactly like the Western image of Bangkok (treasure trove of cheap sexual exploitation).

“A great satisfaction in growing old - one of many - is assuming the role of a witness to the wobbling of the world and seeing irreversible changes.”

What a great book to start on the cusp of a new year as I sit with the reality of my mortality & ageing!