From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet

This is a wonderful read! It is the memoir of Seth's trip through China and Tibet and home to India. It takes place in a time we won't see again but gives a glimpse of life for the common people of the time. There is adventure, apprehension (mostly on the reader's part), humor, and fabulous description of the land, the process of traveling on one's own at the time, hitch hiking, people, customs, etc. I read it in anticipation of my own trip to China, Mongolia and Tibet that was derailed by COVID 19. My sister read it next and having been to both China and Tibet at about the same time as the author, and loved reading Vikram Seth's book. It is well written, interesting and will make you laugh at times.

An excellent travel story by a skilled author. It’s a narrative of his trip through China and Tibet as a young student, often hitch-hiking. Seth goes on to write A Suitable Boy.

China has evolved as a society and political entity so fast that this diary of chronicleof events has become more of a history of things as they were 30 years ago in western China. Today one need not hitch hike to Lhasa but rather rides a 21st century train.Reading this naritive we meet individuals, both Chinese and Tibetian, who are quite different from our sterotyped impressions.The diary , to my mind ends too abuptly. I had the impression that the publisher limited the number of pages allowed.

After slogging through a couple of mediocre fiction books it was a pleasure to read Vikram Seth's account of his journey from China to India. The man can really write! His descriptions are clear, concise, and evocative. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in northern China, and Tibet.

From one who has traveled a lot, and read a lot of history of this area, this book is very down-to-earth. One can smell and feel and taste the author's movements. And that's what I liked.

A great travel writer and storyteller (A Suitable Boy), altough I am not as impressd with his later works.This book is excellent!

In general, I like vikram seth's works. But,I found this early travelogue to be less insightful and interesting than his later novels. I did not really connect with him, his travels, his predicaments, or the people he met along the way.

From the author of two best selling novels "A Suitable Boy" and "An Equal Music" this travel book is something very different. It is a delightfully written story created from the journals kept by Vikram Seth during his hitch-hiking traverse of China from Nanjing to Tibet. For most people, certainly for most westerners, this is about as far off the beaten track as it is possible to get.We sympathise with Seth as he endeavours to obtain the myriad of visas necessary to cross communist China. These include, entry visas, travel visas, permits to stay in a certain village/area/precinct/canton and of course, exit visas. The bureaucracy is simply immense and yet nobody has any real authority, always having to revert up the seemingly endless chain of superiors. Overcoming the man made hurdles is only part of the story as rain, floods, swamps, swollen rivers, altitude sickness, extreme cold, washed away bridges and difficult terrain pose further obstacles along the journey.During the narrative, Seth breaks off occasionally to discuss the Chinese political system and interestingly compares it with the Indian political system. The Chinese dictatorship virtually removes free will from the people whilst the wheels of Indian democracy slowly turn in a very different form of bureaucratic inefficiency. "One overwhelming fact" says Seth "is that the Chinese have a better system of social care and distribution than we in India do. Their aged do not starve. Their children are basically healthy. By and large the people are well clothed, very occasionally in rags." He goes on "The fact that we have elections every five years means that the government is afraid to undertake projects that are unpopular but beneficious in the long term. The Chinese government is not thus fettered".Throughout his travels, but particularly in Tibet, the smashed temples, buildings and works of art, to say nothing of the ruined families, present evidence of the destruction which was wrought during the cultural revolution. How ironic that I was reading this in April 2001 whilst the Taliban were destroying fifth century carvings of standing Buddhas in Afghanistan.This review would not be complete without a mention of the yaks which form part of the scenery along Seth's route. Whilst alive, the yak is an efficient machine converting grass into milk, butter, cheese and yoghurt. It provides a convenient means of transportation and delivers dung for fuel and fertiliser. Finally, the meat, bone, pelt, fur, hooves and tail provide sustenance, clothing, leather and material for tents and awnings.So, please read and enjoy this unique travelogue by an educated, eloquent and observant man, multilingual Vikram Seth, also known as Xie Binlang in China. You won't be disappointed.

Before going on to write 'A Suitable Boy', probably the longest novel in English since Samuel Richardson's 'Pamela', and 'An Equal music' (the finest novel about music that I have read) Vikram Seth had enjoyed a lengthy and cosmopolitan career as a student. After studying in his native India he pursued postgraduate study in England and then California, before moving on to Nanking University in China in 1982.Having embarked on an officially sponsored tour of some of Western China Seth became obsessed with the possibility of visiting Tibet, and travelling from there to Nepal and then on home to India. Tibet has the status of 'autonomous region ' but travel there required formally endorsed permits. Seth's struggle to obtain the appropriate certification proves almost as difficult as the journey itself.Seth never quite resolves his doubts about China, and spends much of his journey comparing life there with conditions back in India. Most of his journey is spent in the cramped cabin of a large lorry, except when he is delayed by dreadful floods, or sinking into mud having deviated only slightly from the marked trail.The writing is sparse (though he was still very young and yet to establish himself as a writer), and Seth never quite manages to stir the reader's fascination

What is the best way to experience another culture? Learn their language and then promptly hitch hike your way across. This is precisely what Vikram Seth has chances upon. It is a gem of a travelogue, and what has won my admiration is that he is a Hindu pilgrim. Vikram captures the emotions of his friendship with the Chinese people, especially the tension between the majority Han and minority Uighars, mogols and the Tibetans. The travel abroad a truck as it crisscrosses across Sinkiang and Tibet brings about a constant stream of challenges, from police checks, bartering to frequent unwarranted stops when the truck gets stuck in mud. These occurrences produce the best phrases out of the author like....'A mind clouded with rage is fearsome even to itself.' I agree with Vikram's analysis in the end though when he compares India with China and the way both have progressed under different system of governance. According to his observation if you are dirt poor than you are better off born in China as compared to India. On the other hand if you are on the upper end of the poverty scale, than India offers a better prospect for future.

This exquisite writer has been around for a long time but sadly, his sequel to the admirable A Suitable Boy never got written. Diving deep in his earlier works unveils this little gem, a description of his voyage from Nanjing to his home town Delhi one Summer in the early 80ties, hitchhiking through the remote provinces of North Western China, visiting Tibet en route. Respectful but not a victim to any illusions of the political realities of China at that time, Seth is your perfect guide. His journey, seen from the outside, appears impossible, but he pulls it off, and he and we are all the wiser from it.

BOOK ARRIVED QUICKLY, WAS INEXPENSIVE AND AM HAPPY WITH MY PURCHASE A REALLY GOOD BOOK.

I could not get into this book although us description is excellent