What do you think?
West of Arabia: A Journey Home
HAVING TRAVELLED AROUND TAIWAN IN HIS LAST book,
this time Gary Heath explores Arabic culture as he journeys over 5000 kilometres through Northern Africa, encountering old soldiers, black marketeers, political activists, Bedouin students and Tuareg tribesmen. Studiously avoiding the tourist traps, he finds the scent of revolution in the air, just a few months before the Arab Spring. Yet the biggest culture shock comes when he returns to Fortress Europe…This book is a lively recount of a journey in its own right, and also a valuable historical record that describes underlying tensions that were to explode onto the world stage just shortly afterwards. It includes a chapter reflecting on the changes that subsequently took place in many of the countries visited.
this time Gary Heath explores Arabic culture as he journeys over 5000 kilometres through Northern Africa, encountering old soldiers, black marketeers, political activists, Bedouin students and Tuareg tribesmen. Studiously avoiding the tourist traps, he finds the scent of revolution in the air, just a few months before the Arab Spring. Yet the biggest culture shock comes when he returns to Fortress Europe…This book is a lively recount of a journey in its own right, and also a valuable historical record that describes underlying tensions that were to explode onto the world stage just shortly afterwards. It includes a chapter reflecting on the changes that subsequently took place in many of the countries visited.
272 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2011
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 2, 2013
West of Arabia -- A Journey Home by Gary Heath on Ozaru Books, England, 2011
Gary Heath’s daunting task for the Fall of 2010 was to travel South from the Saudi Arabia to Eritrea via Yemen then overland North to the Sudan and Egypt, then proceed West to every other country in North Africa all the way to Morocco. He intended to then cross the Strait of Gibraltar North through Spain and France all overland to his former home in the U.K. He had hoped he would triumph over the sterility of personal freedom-denying Shariah Law Islamic culture and the vast desert there itself, both literally and figuratively, to open up and reveal vistas of nurturing experiences and then detail them in a journal diary of his “minor Odyssey.” Travels in Taiwan revealed a friendly, avuncular tone throughout as Heath reveled in the free, open culture and environment of the island he explored throughout that book. His daunting task in West of Arabia would be to somehow have this same window open up now as an outsider -- a non-Muslim -- on the outside looking in on the Western edge people and culture of the vastly different, Islamic Middle East. His is a courageous attempt to duplicate what he did in a Travels in Taiwan, and for that he should be admired and applauded, for in Arabia in his chapter entitled, “An Education,” in Eritrea and the Sudan he succeeds. Also, in Egypt and Tunisia he does as well. It is when he must surrender his familiar, trusty, beloved freedom of traveling unencumbered by himself via public transportation to having to be forced to accept the constraints of being desultorily shepherded around by two laconic and lazy local national SUV drivers through the vast stretches of Libya that his tone changes from his usual friendly, avuncular style to that of understood irritation and begrudging resignation. He must suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in also rudely being denied a travel visa to traverse Algeria in Tunisia, forcing him to rather fly over that country, much to his chagrin, in a commercial aircraft.
Obviously tired by the time he comes to Morocco, he must suffer the company of some boorish, know-it-all Western travelers in a train carriage there, before crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. The strengths of the book are in his keen revelations of the contemporary TEFL language teaching scene of university Preparatory Year instruction in KSA in his chapter there, “An Education”; his charming experiences in Eritrea and the Sudan, where he must rein in an obnoxious Austrian lady; his quite perceptive experiences of Egyptian contemporary culture in his travels in that country; his beloved Gibraltar and Spanish sections, including one of his Madrid art museum visits; and his return via rail to the U.K. where he writes a concluding chapter on his cross-cultural experiences that reveal an alienation having to become immersed again in a stifling British cultural morass, so stultifying to someone who needs and demands the freedom of personal liberty. I recommend the book, but the book might benefit from a new concluding chapter on the so-called Arab Spring, which has rather turned out to be as tragic as Tennessee Williams’ ironic The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, what with Al-Qaeda jihadist elements muscling in to take over and hijack the democratic movements for their own darker purposes as revealed in the terrorist-supportive Muslim Brotherhood take over in Egypt, in the violent terror attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, where four Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador, were cruelly murdered on September 11th, and in the terrible oil company attack in Algeria by Al-Qaeda in the Maghrib, one of the benefactors of the Spring in the void it left in North Africa.
Gary Heath’s daunting task for the Fall of 2010 was to travel South from the Saudi Arabia to Eritrea via Yemen then overland North to the Sudan and Egypt, then proceed West to every other country in North Africa all the way to Morocco. He intended to then cross the Strait of Gibraltar North through Spain and France all overland to his former home in the U.K. He had hoped he would triumph over the sterility of personal freedom-denying Shariah Law Islamic culture and the vast desert there itself, both literally and figuratively, to open up and reveal vistas of nurturing experiences and then detail them in a journal diary of his “minor Odyssey.” Travels in Taiwan revealed a friendly, avuncular tone throughout as Heath reveled in the free, open culture and environment of the island he explored throughout that book. His daunting task in West of Arabia would be to somehow have this same window open up now as an outsider -- a non-Muslim -- on the outside looking in on the Western edge people and culture of the vastly different, Islamic Middle East. His is a courageous attempt to duplicate what he did in a Travels in Taiwan, and for that he should be admired and applauded, for in Arabia in his chapter entitled, “An Education,” in Eritrea and the Sudan he succeeds. Also, in Egypt and Tunisia he does as well. It is when he must surrender his familiar, trusty, beloved freedom of traveling unencumbered by himself via public transportation to having to be forced to accept the constraints of being desultorily shepherded around by two laconic and lazy local national SUV drivers through the vast stretches of Libya that his tone changes from his usual friendly, avuncular style to that of understood irritation and begrudging resignation. He must suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in also rudely being denied a travel visa to traverse Algeria in Tunisia, forcing him to rather fly over that country, much to his chagrin, in a commercial aircraft.
Obviously tired by the time he comes to Morocco, he must suffer the company of some boorish, know-it-all Western travelers in a train carriage there, before crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. The strengths of the book are in his keen revelations of the contemporary TEFL language teaching scene of university Preparatory Year instruction in KSA in his chapter there, “An Education”; his charming experiences in Eritrea and the Sudan, where he must rein in an obnoxious Austrian lady; his quite perceptive experiences of Egyptian contemporary culture in his travels in that country; his beloved Gibraltar and Spanish sections, including one of his Madrid art museum visits; and his return via rail to the U.K. where he writes a concluding chapter on his cross-cultural experiences that reveal an alienation having to become immersed again in a stifling British cultural morass, so stultifying to someone who needs and demands the freedom of personal liberty. I recommend the book, but the book might benefit from a new concluding chapter on the so-called Arab Spring, which has rather turned out to be as tragic as Tennessee Williams’ ironic The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, what with Al-Qaeda jihadist elements muscling in to take over and hijack the democratic movements for their own darker purposes as revealed in the terrorist-supportive Muslim Brotherhood take over in Egypt, in the violent terror attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, where four Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador, were cruelly murdered on September 11th, and in the terrible oil company attack in Algeria by Al-Qaeda in the Maghrib, one of the benefactors of the Spring in the void it left in North Africa.
October 4, 2012
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. To say the author, Gary Heath, is not your average travel writer is the ultimate understatement. Mr. Heath decided at the end of a teaching assignment in Saudi Arabia, to return to his native UK. But a simple plane ride back home was not for him. He decided to travel back across the Arabian peninsula, hopefully through Yemen,Eritrea,Ethiopia, the Sudan, Egypt and then west by way of Libya,Algeria and Morocco and then finally to the UK by way of Spain.
We are much the richer for his experience. Along the way, we read about his encounters with soldiers, dealers on the black market, students, Bedouins and political activists as well as visits to historical sites and stays at rundown hotels. Mr. Heath was in the unique position of travelling through the region just before the fall of President Mubarak and Libyan President Gaddafi. In his book, he gives just the right blend of historical background leading up to the political situations in each country he visited, as well as recounting his own personal experiences and those of others, such as a visit Bill Gates made to Libya, by mooring his private yacht off the coast and flying in by his private helicopter to visit the "nice beaches" while his wife went shopping. This book is a must read, along with his first book "Travels in Taiwan".
We are much the richer for his experience. Along the way, we read about his encounters with soldiers, dealers on the black market, students, Bedouins and political activists as well as visits to historical sites and stays at rundown hotels. Mr. Heath was in the unique position of travelling through the region just before the fall of President Mubarak and Libyan President Gaddafi. In his book, he gives just the right blend of historical background leading up to the political situations in each country he visited, as well as recounting his own personal experiences and those of others, such as a visit Bill Gates made to Libya, by mooring his private yacht off the coast and flying in by his private helicopter to visit the "nice beaches" while his wife went shopping. This book is a must read, along with his first book "Travels in Taiwan".
October 28, 2012
I love travel books. They give us a look into places we have never been at and maybe will never go to. And it is also interesting to see it through the eyes of somebody who has different interests and expectations. Unlike Gary Heath I would go crazy about seeing the prehistoric caves and the pyramids! I even looked up these areas to see if it is safe to go there now, but unfortunately I have to wait.
Still, the author's idea of going on this trip to learn about the culture is incredibly interesting. Especially considering what happened in that area not so long after he left.
I also like how he often tells us about the history of the place he currently visits. Having an idea about the conditions and past gives the pictures he describes a greater level.
I wish he would just have more conversations with people and a bit less passages about things like airports, waiting in lines etc. While those are important parts of traveling, they are not necessarily the most interesting part to read. Not that the book was rotating around that, but sometimes it was feeling a bit slow because of it.
I loved his final chapters. Very good thoughts on how to look at things things. Would recommend it to anyone interested to read about this part in the world. An interesting experience.
* I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Still, the author's idea of going on this trip to learn about the culture is incredibly interesting. Especially considering what happened in that area not so long after he left.
I also like how he often tells us about the history of the place he currently visits. Having an idea about the conditions and past gives the pictures he describes a greater level.
I wish he would just have more conversations with people and a bit less passages about things like airports, waiting in lines etc. While those are important parts of traveling, they are not necessarily the most interesting part to read. Not that the book was rotating around that, but sometimes it was feeling a bit slow because of it.
I loved his final chapters. Very good thoughts on how to look at things things. Would recommend it to anyone interested to read about this part in the world. An interesting experience.
* I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews