Rainy Day Reads

I went to Cambodia as part of my big Asia-trip in 2009. To be honest I only wanted to go to Cambodia, because I wanted to see the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. And boy, did I?! We spent 3 days just touring the temples, and I took about a million pictures from every angle and then some more, just to be sure. I was worried that it would be completely overrun by tourists, but the place is actually so big that even though there are many tourists, it doesn’t feel too packed.  The Angkor Wat Temple One morning we got up at 4 to see the sunrise over the temples. Apparently our brains were not functional that early, so we didn’t bring a flashlight. Being brought up in a country with plenty of street lamps, you don’t think about how truly DARK it can get at night. So our poor tuk-tuk driver had to lead the way up to the top of the temple using his cell phone as a flash light. The sunrise was lovely and it was documented in great detail.  The sunrise at Phnom Ba...

I’ve wanted to start this series, or what you would call it, for a while now, but getting books has been a bit slow going. But then this book about India sort of fell into my hands, and I thought it was a sign to get this show on the road. India was also the first “big trip” I did, so it seems fitting that it should kick off the series.   The book I’ve read about India is “Holy Cow! An Indian Adventure” by Sarah MacDonald.  I thought this book was fiction based on a personal experience in India, but it turns out it was actually a non-fiction book about the author’s two year residence in India. In the book she shares her journey towards inner peace, and all the stumbling blocks along the way.  I went to India in 2004, and the book was published in 2002, so our experiences were not that far apart in time. India has probably changed in the 10 years that have passed since I was there, but I suspect the essentials have stayed pretty much the same. And I feel like ...

My two main reasons for starting this blog was books and travels, and I thought I would try and combine the two in a series of posts called “My Travels in Books”. I always think it’s fun to read books set in a place you have actually been. It makes it a bit easier to imagine the setting and the atmosphere, and maybe it’s also a bit easier to relate to the characters, especially if they are also tourists, like you, struggling to cope with a different culture and the joys and hardships of traveling.   I will try and talk a little about my personal experience in a given country or city and relate how it compares to the descriptions in the chosen book. As of right now I don’t really have any specific criteria for the book, other than that it should mainly be set in the country or city in question. I’ll try to find one that really captures the place and uses the setting in the story, and not pick a book that could really be set anywhere.  On my travels I have often travele...