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Cities of the Hot Zone: A Southeast Asian Adventure
Greg Sheridan has loved Southeast Asia for a long time. But he had no idea of what he was letting himself in for when he decided to journey to the hidden depths of some of his favourite cities with his Malaysian-born wife Jessie and their three sons.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 24, 2012
The problem with a travelogue is that you are stuck with the author as your traveling companion for the entire journey. And that was my problem with Greg Sheridan's "Cities of the Hot Zone".
The cities visited in this book are great and include Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Hanoi. The best part of the book is the section on Malaysia, with some decent insights into that country. The book moves along at a fairly good pace, but there is obvious filler material to pad it out.
Your host on this journey, unfortunately, is a conservative with a bit of colonial attitude. He seems to prefer staying and eating in the nicest places only while rubbing shoulders with the upper ranks. His biases come out as he praises the rich countries (i.e. Singapore), and is appalled by the poor ones (i.e. Vietnam).
There are a few other things that put me off. The author has a knack for identifying redlight districts wherever he travels. I have no idea where that gift comes from. He apparently has no problem lying to a cathedral caretaker in order to get in to visit after it's closed. Add to that some weak attempts at humour, and I was ready to bail on this trip at several points.
The cities visited in this book are great and include Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Hanoi. The best part of the book is the section on Malaysia, with some decent insights into that country. The book moves along at a fairly good pace, but there is obvious filler material to pad it out.
Your host on this journey, unfortunately, is a conservative with a bit of colonial attitude. He seems to prefer staying and eating in the nicest places only while rubbing shoulders with the upper ranks. His biases come out as he praises the rich countries (i.e. Singapore), and is appalled by the poor ones (i.e. Vietnam).
There are a few other things that put me off. The author has a knack for identifying redlight districts wherever he travels. I have no idea where that gift comes from. He apparently has no problem lying to a cathedral caretaker in order to get in to visit after it's closed. Add to that some weak attempts at humour, and I was ready to bail on this trip at several points.
December 10, 2023
Middle aged right wing journalist visits some of the big cities of Asia. Lots of coffee and walking. That'all I remember. Readable enough
A war mongering advocate who constantly urges governments to send the young into battle while he taps away on his keyboard thousands of km away.
Greg, how about a book on war memorials. You get to be in your 60s, most of those men listed never got close to 30. Tap tap tap
A war mongering advocate who constantly urges governments to send the young into battle while he taps away on his keyboard thousands of km away.
Greg, how about a book on war memorials. You get to be in your 60s, most of those men listed never got close to 30. Tap tap tap
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews