On and Off the Rails

Italian Ways: on and off the rails from Milan to Palermo
by Tim Parks

"What a beautiful respite a train journey is and a good book, too, and best of all the book on the train, in life and out of it at the same time..."

On a recent trip to Italy, I visited a number of English language bookstores looking for books that weren't yet available in the US. In each one of them I encountered books by Tim Parks. Among other books, he has written several about his experience living in Italy as expat for more than 30 years.  This book, Italian Ways, is his most recent. It isn't a travel book exactly, but an examination of Italian culture through it's rail system. It is an examination that makes more sense than you might think. There are the odd inefficiencies, and the massive ones, the petty power displays by staff, the avoidance of rules by passengers, the lack of competition, the remodels and rebrandings of stations and trains that make little sense, the institutional racism and elitism.  In short it is Italy in a nutshell.

In reading the book, I found some excellent explanation of things that puzzled me while I was in Italy like the price differences between the slow and the fast trains, the lack of slow trains, the stamping of tickets for validation, the odd designs of rail stations and about Italo, the new train line. I also learned a great deal about the corruption that plagues the country and thus its rail system and the shocking disdain for the train in the South of Italy. But then given the inefficiencies, the lack of routes, and the conditions he describes, maybe it isn't so shocking after all. Reminiscent of the US, in fact.

But through it all Parks captures the possible pleasures of public transportation. I enjoyed his descriptions of his fellow travelers, of the quirks that you need to accept when at the mercy of public transport, of the ability to read and do work, the ability to gaze out a window. Traveling by plane is stressful and unpleasant and travel by car is demanding and stressful. Travel on a train, especially in another country, can be a true pleasure as you connect with the land you travel through and the culture of the country you are visiting. It can also, as Parks demonstrates, be truly revealing. It is one of the great travel adventures, an experience not to missed.

All the Ruined Places

Visit Sunny Chernobyl and Other Adventures in the World's Most Polluted Places
by Andrew Blackwell

So Andrew Blackwell wants to start a new tourist trend; that of visiting the ruined places of the world.  He is only partly facetious with this suggestion.  Still, is it likely to catch on? Well, why not? There are tours of slums and other poverty stricken areas.  Sewers, chemical ponds and radioactive wastelands don't seem that far removed. You can, in fact, arrange to tour Chernobyl. Still, as Blackwell points out, most guidebooks do not mention these places.  They are mostly off the beaten path, hidden like something embarrassing and someplace to be ignored.  Blackwell instead sees in them a hidden beauty, saying we should appreciate these ruined places for all the ways in which they aren't ruined.

Chernobyl, the archetypical ruined place, is in our minds a wasteland of abandoned civilization. That may be true, but it is also now what is essentially a vast nature preserve. Plants and animals not seen in decades prior to the accident now flourish there.  In India, a river that is more sewage than water is worshiped.  In Port Arthur, Texas, land of oil refineries, a community of long term residents still strives to live and endeavors to improve conditions.  In China, which has horrific pollution on all levels as it develops rapidly, people go about their daily lives in a very ordinary way.  In Canada and Brazil, the economic results of the use of natural resources seemingly outweigh the costs to those who participate--meaning essentially the whole world. This is the world we live in.  We are all part of this environment and have all played a part in making it this way.  Acknowledging that is part of Blackwell's point. There are no environmental rants here, no manifestos.  Instead there is a powerful look at consequences without judgement. 

This to me is the power of travel--even travel to beautiful places. If you travel with eyes open and with acceptance you learn to understand. You come to see your place in the world.  You understand connections. You can see possibilities and positives. You also can see the beauty in a place where there seems to be none.  That is a wonderful thing.

Everything is Broken

Everything is Broken
by Emma Larkin

A while back I read Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin and found myself absolutely captivated by the country and people.  Despite one of the most repressive dictatorships in the world, Larkin captured a spirit among the people, an awareness that there was goodness in the world and it would one day come to Burma.  I found myself thinking often about the country after reading the book and avidly following the news of the apparent rise of democracy in the country.

The fact is that the struggle for democracy was a very long time in coming and in this book, a follow up to George Orwell, Larkin details the increasingly active protests against the ruling junta in the 2000's and the horrifying crackdown against the true heart of the country, the Monastery's. She frames this with the utter devastation of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008 and the even more devastating aftermath.  The descriptions of how the government refused international aid but provided little of their own, stole money and supplies that were accepted, forced villagers to return to nonexistent villages...and then reported happy recovery stories in the official paper.  It simply defies understanding. Despite my awareness of what had happened, my horror grew as I turned each page. The spirit demonstrated by the Burmese people in the previous books was gone. They seemed truly defeated by the wrath of nature and of their own government. Never have I encountered a more perfectly titled book. It is an utterly absorbing and heartbreaking read.

But today, perhaps, things are under repair in Burma? The continuing stories and new open borders seem to suggest that there is real change underway.  I find myself very much hoping Larkin will share her deep insight into this country and write another book telling the continuing story of Myanmar (Burma). If she does, I will most definitely read it.