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By Nicolas Bouvier
The best way of the realm, a cult vintage, is the beguiling story of an impecunious and life-enhancing trip from Geneva to the Khyber move within the '50s. while Nicolas Bouvier and the artist Thierry Vernet set out, they'd funds for 4 months and a robust Fiat Topolino. They broke their trip whilst cash ran low, to educate and promote work and articles in Istanbul, Tabriz and finally in Quetta. Gravitating in the direction of the poorer neighbourhoods, they spent intoxicating nights hearing gypsy musicians, buying and selling poetry with Iranian tramps and enjoyable their fellow drinkers with songs and an accordion. the way in which of the area is additionally a trip in the direction of the self. 'You imagine you make a trip,' writes Bouvier, 'but quickly it really is making you - or unmaking you.'
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Additional resources for The Way of the World : Two men in a car from Geneva to the Khyber Pass
Sample text
My season ended last week, but I’ve kept on my servants and I rather like travellers. ’ With her cigarette-holder, she indicated a little gold plate above the door: Moda-Palas. In silence our bags were taken across a sombre Victorian dining room. On the sideboard, a mustard cat was asleep between ornate Christofle teapots. The room gave on to a faded garden, and had a light but distinct odour of polish and mildew. Except for a chambermaid, the maître d’hôtel and Madame Wanda, the proprietress, the hotel was deserted and, with its shutters closed, more intimidating than a tomb.
Once across the border, this is no longer necessary: a listener will interrupt you in mid-flow with impatient gestures – he’s got it – and as you go on talking he gets carried away, having already launched into a kind of pantomime which contains his response. Indeed the Greeks sometimes understand more than you intend; at the border crossing, because I assumed more authority than my voice usually conveys, I was immediately treated with the special indulgence reserved for the timid. For the first couple of days this agility caught us unawares.
That’s just as well, as the rhythm of conversations and exchanges speeds up considerably. You’ve got into the habit of explaining things slowly – usually twice rather than once – and of pausing over words for comprehension to catch up. Once across the border, this is no longer necessary: a listener will interrupt you in mid-flow with impatient gestures – he’s got it – and as you go on talking he gets carried away, having already launched into a kind of pantomime which contains his response. Indeed the Greeks sometimes understand more than you intend; at the border crossing, because I assumed more authority than my voice usually conveys, I was immediately treated with the special indulgence reserved for the timid.