Jeff Greenwald
Greenwald's four previous books, including his bestselling "Shopping for Buddhas" and "The Size of the World," have taken thousands of readers on journeys from the ruins of Angkor to the California Lottery's "Big Spin": voyages at once sublime and provocative, spiritual and absurd.
After more delays than the MumbaiChennai Express, Jeff"s latest offering "Scratching the Surface: Impressions of Planet Earth, from Hollywood to Shiraz" is finally available, as a limited edition paperback.
Here is the best of Greenwald'syear travel writing career, handpicked from two decades of openeyed dispatches, Spanning oceans, continents, and the quantum leap from the SmithCorona to the Cybercafé, these stories provide an illuminating, often hilarious view of our rapidly evolving world,
The essays which appealed to me were some of the following:
The essay 'Union of the Sun and the Moon' where Greenwald goes to the historic Iranian cities of Esfahan and Shiraz to observe the rare total solar eclipse in.
He finds Iran as one of the most hospitable countries on earth and the people welcoming Americans on the Eclipse expedition warmly, He predicts inthere that in five years' time, Iran will be part of the mainstream in the world community, One doesn't know if it would have happened had/not occurred,
In Bhutan, he finds one asian nation where conservation and cultural integrity remaining more important than profit, Still, Bhutan allows highend organized, controlled tourism for people with money,
His meeting with 'Buzz' Aldrin on theth anniversary of the Moon landing was a mesmerizing experience for him and he says he was 'drawn into his orbit', I wish he didn't use such a cliched expression!
About the laidback Laotians, he quotes the French phrase ', . the Vietnamese plant rice, the Cambodians watch it grow and the Laotians listen to it grow',
Among the stories from Nepal, I liked the one about young Jitu, a selftaught young
naturalist and animaltracker, Jitu takes him on an exciting outing into the Chitwan National Park to watch a tiger at its kill at very close range,
The essay on the traditional Hindu cremation of the dead in Bali being turned into a tourist event was shocking and bizarre to read, The one real adventure story in the collection was a boat trip he takes from Dubai to Karachi with no radio, no flares, no signals and fuel only forhours.
The journey takes more thanhours and they were running out of fresh water as well, It was hilarious to read that the Pakistani boatman was asking halfnaked seamen on fishing stiff for directions to Karachi out in the open sea!
Greenwald spends some time in a refugee camp in Thailand for Khmers fleeing Pol Pot.
In trying circumstances, he finds the Khmers still with hope, tremendous dignity, vast equanimity and an acceptance of the present moment which he feels is completely unparalleled in western behavior.
On Kathmandu, he writes perceptively, ', . you go through your life here, dodging cows, smiling at the monks with their new quartz watches, stopping at the stores to buy the latest Elvis Costello cassette, and you forget how thinly the veneer of western influence is pasted over what basically is a very superstitious and pagan society.
. . '
He describes the ancient HinduBuddhistJain Ellora caves in western India poetically as ', . it was an ancient harbinger of Michaelangelo's contention that the sculptures are already in the quarries awaiting release from the stone',
The narratives are not in the same class as that of Paul Theroux or Naipaul, They are not that absorbing to read in one or two sittings, Still, anyone interested in travel would find the exotic nature of his experiences quite fascinating,
Jeff Greenwald has published six books, including Shopping for Buddhas just out inth Anniversary edition , The Size of the World for which he created the first Internet travel blog and Snake Lake.
His tales and essays appear in many print and online publications, Jeffs first voyage abroad, at, ended in utter disaster, and a host of subsequent mishaps have provided rich fodder for his storytelling career, His critically acclaimed one man show, “Strange Travel Suggestions,” premiered in San Francisco in, Jeff is also the Executive Director of Ethical Traveler sitelink www, ethicaltraveler. org, a non profit dedicated to human rights and environmental protection, Jeff Greenwald has published six books, including Shopping for Buddhas just out inth Anniversary edition , The Size of the World for which he created the first Internet travel blog and Snake Lake.
His tales and essays appear in many print and online publications, Jeffs first voyage abroad, at, ended in utter disaster, and a host of subsequent mishaps have provided rich fodder for his storytelling career, His critically acclaimed one man show, “Strange Travel Suggestions,” premiered in San Francisco in, Jeff is also the Executive Director of Ethical Traveler sitelink www, ethicaltraveler. org, a non profit dedicated to human rights and environmental protection, sitelink.
After more delays than the MumbaiChennai Express, Jeff"s latest offering "Scratching the Surface: Impressions of Planet Earth, from Hollywood to Shiraz" is finally available, as a limited edition paperback.
Here is the best of Greenwald'syear travel writing career, handpicked from two decades of openeyed dispatches, Spanning oceans, continents, and the quantum leap from the SmithCorona to the Cybercafé, these stories provide an illuminating, often hilarious view of our rapidly evolving world,
The thirtyone tales in "Scratching the Surface" span the globe, from the jungles of Nepal to a solar eclipse in the skies above Iran from an "electric bath" in Tokyo to moonwalker Buzz Aldrin's Beverly Hills flat.
Nearly all of these stories have previously appeared in print, but most will be unfamiliar to even his most loyal fans,
The essays which appealed to me were some of the following:
The essay 'Union of the Sun and the Moon' where Greenwald goes to the historic Iranian cities of Esfahan and Shiraz to observe the rare total solar eclipse in.
He finds Iran as one of the most hospitable countries on earth and the people welcoming Americans on the Eclipse expedition warmly, He predicts inthere that in five years' time, Iran will be part of the mainstream in the world community, One doesn't know if it would have happened had/not occurred,
In Bhutan, he finds one asian nation where conservation and cultural integrity remaining more important than profit, Still, Bhutan allows highend organized, controlled tourism for people with money,
His meeting with 'Buzz' Aldrin on theth anniversary of the Moon landing was a mesmerizing experience for him and he says he was 'drawn into his orbit', I wish he didn't use such a cliched expression!
About the laidback Laotians, he quotes the French phrase ', . the Vietnamese plant rice, the Cambodians watch it grow and the Laotians listen to it grow',
Among the stories from Nepal, I liked the one about young Jitu, a selftaught young
naturalist and animaltracker, Jitu takes him on an exciting outing into the Chitwan National Park to watch a tiger at its kill at very close range,
The essay on the traditional Hindu cremation of the dead in Bali being turned into a tourist event was shocking and bizarre to read, The one real adventure story in the collection was a boat trip he takes from Dubai to Karachi with no radio, no flares, no signals and fuel only forhours.
The journey takes more thanhours and they were running out of fresh water as well, It was hilarious to read that the Pakistani boatman was asking halfnaked seamen on fishing stiff for directions to Karachi out in the open sea!
Greenwald spends some time in a refugee camp in Thailand for Khmers fleeing Pol Pot.
In trying circumstances, he finds the Khmers still with hope, tremendous dignity, vast equanimity and an acceptance of the present moment which he feels is completely unparalleled in western behavior.
On Kathmandu, he writes perceptively, ', . you go through your life here, dodging cows, smiling at the monks with their new quartz watches, stopping at the stores to buy the latest Elvis Costello cassette, and you forget how thinly the veneer of western influence is pasted over what basically is a very superstitious and pagan society.
. . '
He describes the ancient HinduBuddhistJain Ellora caves in western India poetically as ', . it was an ancient harbinger of Michaelangelo's contention that the sculptures are already in the quarries awaiting release from the stone',
The narratives are not in the same class as that of Paul Theroux or Naipaul, They are not that absorbing to read in one or two sittings, Still, anyone interested in travel would find the exotic nature of his experiences quite fascinating,
Jeff Greenwald has published six books, including Shopping for Buddhas just out inth Anniversary edition , The Size of the World for which he created the first Internet travel blog and Snake Lake.
His tales and essays appear in many print and online publications, Jeffs first voyage abroad, at, ended in utter disaster, and a host of subsequent mishaps have provided rich fodder for his storytelling career, His critically acclaimed one man show, “Strange Travel Suggestions,” premiered in San Francisco in, Jeff is also the Executive Director of Ethical Traveler sitelink www, ethicaltraveler. org, a non profit dedicated to human rights and environmental protection, Jeff Greenwald has published six books, including Shopping for Buddhas just out inth Anniversary edition , The Size of the World for which he created the first Internet travel blog and Snake Lake.
His tales and essays appear in many print and online publications, Jeffs first voyage abroad, at, ended in utter disaster, and a host of subsequent mishaps have provided rich fodder for his storytelling career, His critically acclaimed one man show, “Strange Travel Suggestions,” premiered in San Francisco in, Jeff is also the Executive Director of Ethical Traveler sitelink www, ethicaltraveler. org, a non profit dedicated to human rights and environmental protection, sitelink.