This one we did as an audiobook and there are only few books that I can actually listen to. I process information much better if it’s written instead of spoken but personal stories and journeys – that’s my go-to option for audiobooks. With us loving to travel, especially drive, we definitely need material to kill the time. Normally, it would be comedians’ autobiographies; who doesn’t like a joke or two? This time we ventured out a bit and picked a travel book. Because I am not normal and don’t really care about the right order, we went for Walking the Himalayas (2nd book / journey) instead of Walking the Nile where Wood’s travel writing started.

The book starts with Lev dramatically proclaiming that he is done with traveling, especially with his walks (yes, he really mostly walked next to the Nile as well as in the footsteps of the Himalayas). As there is a second book, you probably guess that he actually ended up walking through the Himalayas. He was not “ambitious” and didn’t scale the peaks , but choose to walk alongside the mountain range. Lev started in Afghanistan, continued through Pakistan, Kashmir, India, Nepal and finally finished in Bhutan. It took him 6 months to walk 1700 miles (or for Europeans like myself, 2700 km) with the finish on one of the Bhutanese peaks.

The book is very easy to listen to and feels like telling a story over few beers. Maybe a lot of beers as this is 8hrs listen. While it is mostly focused on his experiences – how mesmerized he was by the nature, how lonely or difficult it would feel once in a while, how cold or tired he felt, once in a while cultural commentary and a bit of history would kick in. I liked those bits as they made it a bit easier to understand why certain areas were a bit more challenging than others, it helped to understand daily life a bit easier and let the imagination flow and recreate his daily walks. It talked about Afghan tribes, their struggles to survive, fear of the Taliban. It covered Pakistan fight with India and ridiculous levels of education in some areas. Beauty and unpredictability of Kashmir, lonely guards around the border, and unwalkable paths because of the mines. Nepalese rebellions, protests, lack of fuel, and hiding under the darkness of night if you wanted to get anywhere by car.

As I have never been to the region, it helped me to appreciate its history of it, the beauty of nature, and the pain of the locals. Tho, question who is less lucky – me living in the cement jungles with very little nature, especially here in the Netherlands, but having phones, TVs, and cars or people who believe in magic, nature spirits and are always surrounded by untouched nature. While I believe in logic and science, they appreciate all that but once in a while believe in yetis. By the way, according to Bhutanese, they live somewhere around there in the forests. If you want, you can always pop by and check it out. Maybe all of us need a bit of magic once in a while. Ronald Dahl (great author, by the way; highly recommend for children or those with a very strong inner child) has a wonderful quote about that.

Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it

Roald Dahl

When listening to the book, I added a few things to my bucket list and I would love to explore their secrets and discover that magic. While going through the book, I could easily relate to the purpose of traveling, choosing not the easiest path, making really stupid decisions once in a while, and regretting immediately. At the same time, learning and discovering new things about yourself and realizing how small you are against the power and size of nature. The book touched my inner wanderer and reminded me of how rich and poor I am at the same time. And I believe that if a book touches you in any way, it is a time well spent.

Final note here. While I enjoyed the book and will definitely through a few more of his in time, it’s not for everyone. For all the travelers, it is a great read and will most likely enjoy it. But if you are not a fan of travel writing, try his TV series. He has few of those and reviews say that they aren’t that far off from the books. And they even have better views, you don’t need to imagine those 🙂