In this travel memoir, the acclaimed novelist Jamaica Kincaid chronicles a three-week trek through Nepal, the spectacular and exotic Himalayan land, where she and her companions are gathering seeds for planting at home. The natural world and, in particular, plants and gardening are central to Kincaid's work; in addition to such novels as Annie John and Lucy, Kincaid is the author of My Garden (Book): a collection of essays about her love of cultivating plants and gardens throughout her life. Among Flowers intertwines meditations on nature and stunning descriptions of the Himalayan landscape with observations on the ironies, difficulties, and dangers of this magnificent journey.

For Kincaid and three botanist friends, Nepal is a paradise, a place where a single day's hike can traverse climate zones, from subtropical to alpine, encompassing flora suitable for growing at their homes, from Wales to Vermont. Yet as she makes clear, there is far more to this foreign world than rhododendrons that grow thirty feet high. Danger, too, is a constant companion--and the leeches are the least of the worries. Unpredictable Maoist guerillas live in these perilous mountains, and when they do appear--as they do more than once--their enigmatic presence lingers long after they have melted back into the landscape. And Kincaid, who writes of the looming, lasting effects of colonialism in her works, necessarily explores the irony of her status as memsahib with Sherpas and bearers.

A wonderful blend of introspective insight and beautifully rendered description, Among Flowers is a vivid, engrossing, and characteristically frank memoir from one of our most striking voices.

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher

Lonely Planet Central Asia is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Enjoy booming Almaty's cafes, clubs and shops, wind through rugged mountains past ancient tombs, hot springs, and remote Kyrgyz yurt camps on Tajikistan's Pamir Highway; and wonder at the architecture in Uzbekistan's Samarkand - all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of central Asia and begin your journey now!

Inside Lonely Planet's Central Asia:

• Colour maps and images throughout
• Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests
• Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots
• Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices
• Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
• Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - covering history, art, literature, music, architecture, landscapes, wildlife, Islam in Central Asia, the Silk Road, Central Asia today
• Covers Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and more

The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet Central Asia is our most comprehensive guide to the region, and is perfect for discovering both popular and offbeat sights.

Travelling further afield? Check out Lonely Planet's Mongolia, China and Iran guides for a comprehensive look at all those countries have to offer.

About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more.

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

A land of enormous proportions, countless secrets, and incredible history, Central Asia was the heart of the great Mongol empire of Tamerlane and scene of Stalin's cruelest deportations. A remote and fascinating region in a constant state of transition--never more so than since the collapse of the Soviet Union--it encompasses terrain as diverse as the Kazakh steppes, the Karakum desert, and the Pamir mountains. In The Lost Heart of Asia, acclaimed, bestselling travel writer Colin Thubron carries readers on an extraordinary journey through this little understood, rarely visited, yet increasingly important corner of the world.

Lands of Lost Borders carried me up into a state of openness and excitement I haven't felt for years. It's a modern classic.--Pico Iyer

A brilliant, fierce writer, and winner of the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize, makes her debut with this enthralling travelogue and memoir of her journey by bicycle along the Silk Road--an illuminating and thought-provoking fusion of The Places in Between, Lab Girl, and Wild that dares us to challenge the limits we place on ourselves and the natural world.

As a teenager, Kate Harris realized that the career she craved--to be an explorer, equal parts swashbuckler and metaphysician--had gone extinct. From what she could tell of the world from small-town Ontario, the likes of Marco Polo and Magellan had mapped the whole earth; there was nothing left to be discovered. Looking beyond this planet, she decided to become a scientist and go to Mars.

In between studying at Oxford and MIT, Harris set off by bicycle down the fabled Silk Road with her childhood friend Mel. Pedaling mile upon mile in some of the remotest places on earth, she realized that an explorer, in any day and age, is the kind of person who refuses to live between the lines. Forget charting maps, naming peaks: what she yearned for was the feeling of soaring completely out of bounds. The farther she traveled, the closer she came to a world as wild as she felt within.

Lands of Lost Borders, winner of the 2018 Banff Adventure Travel Award and a 2018 Nautilus Award, is the chronicle of Harris's odyssey and an exploration of the importance of breaking the boundaries we set ourselves; an examination of the stories borders tell, and the restrictions they place on nature and humanity; and a meditation on the existential need to explore--the essential longing to discover what in the universe we are doing here.

Like Rebecca Solnit and Pico Iyer, Kate Harris offers a travel account at once exuberant and reflective, wry and rapturous. Lands of Lost Borders explores the nature of limits and the wildness of the self that can never fully be mapped. Weaving adventure and philosophy with the history of science and exploration, Lands of Lost Borders celebrates our connection as humans to the natural world, and ultimately to each other--a belonging that transcends any fences or stories that may divide us.

Written by Central Asian expert and experienced travel writer Sophie Ibbotson, who is Uzbekistan's Tourism Ambassador to the UK, this new, fully updated fourth edition of Bradt's Uzbekistan remains the definitive practical travel guide to an increasingly liberal destination - Central Asia's most populous country and the heart of the Silk Road - offering more detail for independent travellers than any other guidebook, sharing first-hand descriptions of everything from UNESCO World Heritage sites and the world's best collection of Soviet avant-garde art, to riding across deserts by camel and cooking plov (lamb pilaf).
A perfect spring or autumn destination, Uzbekistan is unexpectedly packed with diverse experiences, from the Silk Road cities of Bukhara and Khiva to glorious Islamic architecture. Explore the Kyzylkum Desert by camel, ski amid the western Tian Shan mountains, overnight by the Aral Sea to search for the bizarre saiga antelope, visit 50 ancient Khorezm fortresses in Karakalpakstan, or gawp at Registan's unmissable sound and light show. Stroll through Bukhara's old town then take tea at chaikhana teahouse or shop in the Chorsu bazaar, trade's beating heart in Tashkent. Or marvel at medieval tiled tombs in Shah-I Zinda and the magnificent 19th-century palace of Kokand ruler Khudayar Khan.
It has never been easier to explore this fascinating country. Over the past decade, Uzbekistan's new reformist government has been strengthening its tourism offer, including improving infrastructure and reducing bureaucracy, culminating in it hosting a World Tourist Organisation conference in 2023 and initiating a new $300 million tourism strategy for 2030. Complemented by the author's 2023 Bradt guide to Karakalpakstan, this new edition reflects post-COVID 19 investments in tourism infrastructure, and provides more detailed economic and political insights. Entirely new elements include Amirsoy resort, Zarafshan nature reserve, Lower Amudarya Biosphere Reserve and Shirin ecovillage, while there is expanded coverage of Tashkent hotels, museums and shopping; Navoi tour operators; and new hotels in Khiva.
Whether you're interested in culture, trekking, historical sites, archaeology and architecture, seeing endless deserts or majestic mountainscapes, or fascinated by the Golden Road to Samarkand and Silk Road cities, Bradt's Uzbekistan is your ideal travel companion.

A fascinating political travelogue that traces the life and work of George Orwell, author of 1984 and ANIMAL FARM, in Southeast Asia

Over the years the American writer Emma Larkin has spent traveling in Burma, also known as Myanmar, she's come to know all too well the many ways this brutal police state can be described as Orwellian. The life of the mind exists in a state of siege in Burma, and it long has. But Burma's connection to George Orwell is not merely metaphorical; it is much deeper and more real. Orwell's mother was born in Burma, at the height of the British raj, and Orwell was fundamentally shaped by his experiences in Burma as a young man working for the British Imperial Police. When Orwell died, the novel-in-progress on his desk was set in Burma. It is the place George Orwell's work holds in Burma today, however, that most struck Emma Larkin. She was frequently told by Burmese acquaintances that Orwell did not write one book about their country - his first novel, Burmese Days - but in fact he wrote three, the trilogy that included Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. When Larkin quietly asked one Burmese intellectual if he knew the work of George Orwell, he stared blankly for a moment and then said, Ah, you mean the prophet!

In one of the most intrepid political travelogues in recent memory, Emma Larkin tells of the year she spent traveling through Burma using the life and work of George Orwell as her compass. Going from Mandalay and Rangoon to poor delta backwaters and up to the old hill-station towns in the mountains of Burma's far north, Larkin visits the places where Orwell worked and lived, and the places his books live still. She brings to vivid life a country and a people cut off from the rest of the world, and from one another, by the ruling military junta and its vast network of spies and informers. Using Orwell enables her to show, effortlessly, the weight of the colonial experience on Burma today, the ghosts of which are invisible and everywhere. More important, she finds that the path she charts leads her to the people who have found ways to somehow resist the soul-crushing effects of life in this most cruel police state. And George Orwell's moral clarity, hatred of injustice, and keen powers of observation serve as the author's compass in another sense too: they are qualities she shares and they suffuse her book - the keenest and finest reckoning with life in this police state that has yet been written.

In 1996, Tom Bissell went to Uzbekistan as a na-ve Peace Corps volunteer. Though he lasted only a few months before illness and personal crisis forced him home, Bissell found himself entranced by this remote land. Five years later he returned to explore the shrinking Aral Sea, destroyed by Soviet irrigation policies. Joining up with an exuberant translator named Rustam, Bissell slips more than once through the clutches of the Uzbek police as he makes his often wild way to the devastated sea.

In Chasing the Sea, Bissell combines the story of his travels with a beguiling chronicle of Uzbekistan's striking culture and long history of violent subjugation by despots from Jenghiz Khan to Joseph Stalin. Alternately amusing and sobering, this is a gripping portrait of a fascinating place, and the debut of a singularly gifted young writer.

A Himalayan adventure travel memoir with a humanitarian twist. About to turn sixty-eight, Patti's life was disintegrating. Leaving behind her injured husband she packs her bags and heads to Nepal. Solo travel forces her to surmount daunting hurdles-both physical and emotional. While trekking in the forbidden kingdom of Upper Mustang she realizes her strength and determination when she suffers a frightening fall in an isolated cave monastery.

Volunteering in remote Ratmate village presents unforeseen challenges, and a visit to nearby Aprik village offers a life-changing opportunity. Along the way, conversations with fascinating monks, teachers, and entrepreneurs provide insight into how best to serve the children of Nepal.

Shrouded in secrecy and once closed off from the outside world by the Soviet Union, most Americans know very little about Kazakhstan. A Five Finger Feast tells the story of this beautiful place, its vast lands, blue skies, cold winters and hospitable people. Journey with author Tim Suchsland to places less traveled, like the vanishing Aral Sea and the mountain paradise of the Altyn Arashan. Be a guest at a mad tea party, infused with vodka and the sheep-head delicacy called beshbarmak.

From 2007 to 2009, Suchsland served in Kazakhstan in the US Peace Corps-an institution at the heart and soul of what it means to be American. Through his story, Suchsland details the adventure of living abroad as a young American with its ups and downs, excitement and thrill. In A Five Finger Feast, he tells the story about growing up in a place far away from home.

Featured on Travel with Rick Steves (Episodes 764 and 771 - 2024)

Winner of the Moritz Thomsen Award for Best Book about the Peace Corps Experience (2023)

Lonely Planet's local travel experts reveal all you need to know to plan the trip of a lifetime to Central Asia.

Discover popular and off the beaten track experiences from staying overnight in an authentic yurt in the high eastern Pamirs, to hiking through the wild and memorable Bartang Valley, and haggling for goods at the buzzing Jayma Bazaar in Kyrgyzstan.

Build a trip to remember with Lonely Planet's Central Asia travel guide:

• Our classic guidebook format provides you with the most comprehensive level of information for planning multi-week trips
• Updated with an all new structure and design so you can navigate Central Asia and connect experiences together with ease
• Create your perfect trip with exciting itineraries for extended journeys combined with suggested day trips, walking tours, and activities to match your passions
• Get fresh takes on must-visit sights and expert local recommendations on when to go, eating, drinking, nightlife, shopping, accommodation, adventure activities, festivals, and more
• Essential information toolkit containing tips on arriving; transport; making the most of your time and money; LGBTIQ+ travel advice; useful words and phrases; accessibility; and responsible travel
• Connect with Central Asia culture through stories that delve deep into local life, history, and traditions
• Inspiring full-colour travel photography and maps
• Covers: Kyrgyzstan; Tajikistan; Uzbekistan; Kazakhstan; Turkmenistan

Create a trip that's uniquely yours and get to the heart of this extraordinary part of the world with Lonely Planet's Central Asia.

Culture Smart! Uzbekistan will take you beyond the standard descriptions of minarets, kebabs with vodka, embroidered skullcaps, and Soviet-style bureaucracy. It will make you aware of the value systems, attitudes, and behaviors of the different cultural groups in the country, and offer an insider's view of Uzbekistan's fascinating history, national traditions, various cuisines, and cultural scene. It will tell you what the peoples of Uzbekistan are like at home, at play, and in business, and give practical advice on how to behave in different situations so as to make the most out of your visit. Uzbekistan is a land of paradoxes, both enjoyable and surprising for foreign visitors. It is famous for its fabulous architectural monuments and the exotic spirit of the Great Silk Road, the ancient trade route connecting East and West. Uzbekistan is a multicultural society where old and revived traditions coexist with modernity.

Are you ready to embark on an extraordinary adventure to the heart of Central Asia? Look no further than the TURKMENISTAN Travel Guide 2023. This comprehensive guide is your key to unveiling the hidden gems, historical marvels, and cultural riches of Turkmenistan.

Step into the vibrant world of Ashgabat, where modern skyscrapers stand side by side with ancient traditions. Journey into the heart of the Karakum Desert, where the mesmerizing Darvaza Gas Crater illuminates the night sky. Immerse yourself in the mysteries of Ancient Merv and Kunya-Urgench, ancient cities that transport you through time.

From bargaining at bustling bazaars to experiencing traditional nomadic heritage, this guide ensures you don't just visit Turkmenistan-you become a part of it. With detailed itineraries, insider tips, and practical informations, you'll navigate the landscape, savor local flavors, and connect with the warmth of Turkmen hospitality.

Whether you're an intrepid traveler, a history enthusiast, or a seeker of authentic experiences, the TURKMENISTAN Travel Guide 2023 is your ultimate companion. Let the pages of this guide lead you to a land where tradition meets innovation, and where the spirit of adventure knows no bounds. Get ready to discover Turkmenistan like never before and make memories that will last a lifetime.

In Shambhala Roerich has recorded the way of his journey through Central Asia and Tibet in the terms of spirit. It is a record of legends, of parables, of notes--the very substance of which the larger reality is composed, and all revealing different facets of the theme of Shambhala. In this book--as in his other books, Altai-Himalaya and Heart of Asia, one realizes that Roerich's vision is manifold. Traveling on his way, he discerns all the beauty of the natural spectacle through which he passes. And in his works--as in his paintings--he records this panorama in successive sparks which flow into a continuous pageantry. But in addition, Roerich perceives also that subtler manifestation of the countries and peoples through which he journeys. He discerns their thoughts; he perceives the pulsating, throbbing hopes and beliefs that sweep like winds across space. And it is this record--so little visible to the many of us--that becomes the vital force of Roerich's message.
One must remark the style of Roerich--it has the unrepeatable quality and synthesis of life. He transmits to us the essentials and we discern that these fragments of seeming fantasy are weaving themselves into a pattern of essential truth and essential beauty.
Roerich has named this book, Shambhala advisedly. Reading it, one realizes that Roerich has woven a wreath which he has offered in full reverence to the great Principle which is Shambhala, the New Era; for truly it is the salutary wind of people's thought and faith which will aid the fires of Shambhala. And once again, as in all the deeds of his inexhaustible creative fervor, Roerich's Shambhala pronounces the evocation of the fires of new human achievement and a new human destiny.

An inspiring record of the Roerich Central Asiatic Expedition (1924-1928) to India, Sikkim, Little Tibet, Chinese Turkestan, Mongolia and Tibet.
Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) is known first and foremost as a painter.His paintings, of which there are thousands around the world, explorethe mythic origins, the natural beauty, and the spiritual strivings ofhumanity and of the world. But Nicholas Roerich was as prolific a writer as he was a painter. He wrote books, poetry, and almost-daily essays on life and events (called Diary Leaves).
Many of these writings have been unavailable for decades. They willtherefore be new to many readers. It is our hope that bringing thesevolumes to light again will expand awareness of the vast range and depth of Roerich's interests and insights into human nature and culturalhistory.

UPDATED for 2019 to include all changes, new photos and better maps

Xinjiang: A Traveler's Guide to Far West China is the most comprehensive, up-to-date guide available on the Xinjiang region. Whether you're a backpacker looking for information on hiking the Tianshan Mountains or a luxury traveler trying to discover a bed and breakfast in a comfortable grape orchard, this book covers everything you think you need to know...and more.

Inside this Xinjiang Travel Guide:

• Color Maps Detailed color maps for every major city and region in Xinjiang.
• Beautiful Photos Get a glimpse of the places you'll get to see while you're in Xinjiang.
• Simple Navigation Find what you're looking for without a huge fuss.
• Itineraries Helpful itineraries to get you started on your planning.
• Detailed Coverage Most guides on Xinjiang just cover a select few cities. This guide has 470+ pages to cover it all.
• Adventure Travel Tips for exploring Xinjiang's beautiful natural scenery.
• Mandarin & Pinyin Every location, every street, every city is in both Mandarin characters and pinyin for pronunciation.
• Hotel Recommendations Find the best luxury hotels, mid-range hotels or hostels in each city.
• Up-to-Date Information that is current as of July 2019.

Bonus Features

Once you register your purchase:

• Downloadable Maps Get the full resolution maps to print or download to your tablet/phone.
• Travel Discounts Page Receive exclusive discounts from Xinjiang travel agencies and other China travel-related services.
• Exclusive Facebook Group Get access to an exclusive Facebook group where over 800 travelers can answer questions you have about Xinjiang travel.
• Xinjiang HD Wallpapers Get access to profession, HD-quality Xinjiang photographs perfectly sized for your computer or tablet.

Moving to Xinjiang? This guide will become an indispensable part of your library as you prepare for moving and even after you arrive.

The Best Choice: FarWestChina offers the best guide from the most trusted source of information on the region.

About FarWestChina.com

Started in 2006 as a simple blog, FarWestChina has grown to become the most-trusted source of information available on the Xinjiang region. Run by Josh Summers, an American who currently lives in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi, FarWestChina has been awarded numerous awards and been featured in newspapers and magazines internationally.

The second edition of the bestselling Far Flung Places guide to Turkmenistan, with increased coverage of all major cities, and updated listings.

Turkmenistan, a country once closed to visitors during its time as a Soviet republic, is now attracting more intrepid tourists. Beautiful ancient Silk Road cities contrast with striking marble-clad modern architecture. Mix in unconventional leaders, an overwhelming choice in types of vodka, and a massive gas crater burning in the middle of the desert. There is a lot to see and enjoy in this unusual central Asian destination.

Detailed information of the cities and attractions with maps and invaluable contact information. Learn how to travel around and find the best places to visit, stay and eat.

The Silk Road conjures images of the exotic and the unknown. Most travellers simply pass along it. Brit Chris Alexander chose to live there. Ostensibly writing a guidebook, Alexander found life at the heart of the glittering madrassahs, mosques and minarets of the walled city of Khiva - a remote desert oasis in Uzbekistan - immensely alluring, and stayed.

Immersing himself in the language and rich cultural traditions Alexander discovers a world torn between Marx and Mohammed - a place where veils and vodka, pork and polygamy freely mingle - against a backdrop of forgotten carpet designs, crumbling but magnificent Islamic architecture and scenes drawn straight from The Arabian Nights. Accompanied by a large green parrot, a ginger cat and his adoptive Uzbek family, Alexander recounts his efforts to rediscover the lost art of traditional weaving and dyeing, and the process establishing a self-sufficient carpet workshop, employing local women and disabled people to train as apprentices.

A Carpet Ride to Khiva sees Alexander being stripped naked at a former Soviet youth camp, crawling through silkworm droppings in an attempt to record their life-cycle, holed up in the British Museum discovering carpet designs dormant for half a millennia, tackling a carpet-thieving mayor, distinguishing natural dyes from sacks of opium in Northern Afghanistan, bluffing his way through an impromptu version of My Heart Will Go On for national Uzbek TV and seeking sanctuary as an anti-Western riot consumed the Kabul carpet bazaar. It is an unforgettable true travel story of a journey to the heart of the unknown and the unexpected friendship one man found there.

Forbidden Mountains describes the unforgettable journey of two women who embark on the ultimate adventure: to sneak into Tibet from northern Pakistan and cross the country via the South Route, largely unknown to outsiders. Tibet's occupying force - China - has devised unique punishments for travelers who defy its no-go policy, but Vivien and Joanne decide it's worth the risks to visit one of the world's most mysterious and holy lands.

From precariously perched monasteries to
characterful villages to the earth's longest non-polar glacial system,
Wanderlust Himalaya showcases a varied collection of trails from the world's
highest mountain range. First-hand tips, informative maps, and an array of
spectacular photography provide orientation and inspiration as we shine a
spotlight on the Himalayas' natural wonders, along with the cultural and
spiritual elements that help make it such a singular trekking destination. Our
latest offering in the Wanderlust series will lift you (along with your backpack
and boots) to the top of the mountains.

Bradt's Kyrgyzstan remains the only English-language guide dedicated solely to this astounding country, described as 'the Switzerland of central Asia' and regarded by many as the most beautiful country in the world. This new, thoroughly updated fourth edition further extends its comprehensive coverage of all the country has to offer, including trekking, mountaineering, horse riding, historical sites, festivals and Kyrgyz culture. All the most recent information on all the major towns and visitor hubs is included, along with suggested itineraries and details of natural history and conservation issues. Feature boxes throughout the text give further cultural detail on Kyrgyz society, while all budgets are catered for with traveller information covering all options from low-cost to luxury, as well as extensive detail on travel by public transport throughout the country.Deep within central Asia, Kyrgyzstan's beautiful mountainscapes, dreamlike rock formations and semi-nomadic culture are gloriously unspoiled. A trip here can be as adventurous as you please: admire 5,000-year-old petroglyphs at Saimaluu-Tash, gallop on horseback through the alpine meadows that surround 3,016m-high Lake Song-Köl, go trekking in the mountain valleys that lie south of Karakol, visit Bishkek's Soviet-era statues or simply laze on the shores of the vast Lake Issyk-Kul.Kyrgyzstan has it all: glorious mountain scenery, a rich nomadic tradition, Silk Road monuments and thrilling wildlife. It also remains an intriguing, little known but easily accessible country for travellers. With in-depth coverage of historical background, health, safety and transport, plus author recommendations on the best yurt camps and chaikhanas, Bradt's Kyrgyzstan is the ideal companion for a successful trip.