false 24083236 1131214 1975116 076792200X 9780767922005 245 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1975116.Lost_on_Planet_China_The_Strange_and_True_Story_of_One_Man_s_Attempt_to_Understand_the_World_s_Most_Mystifying_Nation_or_How_He_Became_Comfortable_Eating_Live_Squid 3.79 659 Maarten Troost has charmed and entertained thousands of readers with his tales of wandering among the remote islands of the South Pacific. When the travel bug hit again, he decided to go big–time, taking on the world’s most populous and intriguing nation. In Lost on Planet China, Troost escorts readers on a rollicking journey through the new beating heart of the modern world, from the megalopolises of Beijing and Shanghai to the Gobi desert and the hinterlands of Tibet.

With his trademark edge and self-deprecating wit, Troost deciphers restaurant menus (offering delicacies such as garlic cattle penis); visits with Chairman Mao (still dead, very orange); and hikes (with 80,000 other people) up Tai Shan, China’s most revered mountain. He learns to “fish for tigers” by dangling live chickens over Siberian tigers gathered in a pit below; studies Mandarin with a woman who may or may not be a “take-out girl;” and experiences the booming Chinese economy through its belching industrial towns—before North Korean border guards send him packing for home.

Lost on Planet China brings China to life as you've never seen it before, brilliantly confirming Troost’s status as the Bill Bryson of a new generation.

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