Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East | 
| Author: Pico Iyer
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 197528
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0679722165
Dewey Decimal Number: 950.428
EAN: 9780679722168
ASIN: 0679722165
Publication Date: June 18, 1989
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Amazon.com
Only in India would the American film Rambo be remade with the title role played by a woman--in a sari, no less! Only in Hong Kong would a man at a cocktail party pick up a woman with the line "What do you think of the dollar?" And only in Video Night in Kathmandu will you find detailed, unsettling portraits of a Far East in flux as experienced by Pico Iyer, a travel writer beyond compare. Tibet, China, India, and Thailand--these are among the objects of Iyer's wanderlust, the subjects of 11 essays chronicling his travels. In India, he explores the lucrative Bombay film business: "The process of turning an American movie into an Indian one was not very difficult ... but it did require a few changes.... the Indian hero had to be domesticated, supplied with a father, a mother, and a clutch of family complications." As one film director told him, " ... for example, Rambo must be given a sister who was raped." In Bangkok he finds the sex trade is well nigh impossible to avoid: " ... by the time a third official government tout approached me with the novel invitation: 'My friend. You no like birdwatching?' I was inclined to suspect that ornithology was not among his interests." Pico Iyer is more than just a travel writer. For four years, he wrote about world affairs for Time, and he brings to these brilliant, comical, and poignant essays his extensive knowledge of politics and culture as well as a journalist's eye for the telling details. Video Night in Kathmandu provides both a stark, unsettling view of modern Asia and an exploration of the ambivalent attitudes Asians hold toward the West.
Product Description
Mohawk hair-cuts in Bali, yuppies in Hong Kong and Rambo rip-offs in the movie houses of Bombay are just a few of the jarring images that Iyer brings back from the Far East.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
Cynical Romantic February 7, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The currency and accuracy of the information aside (China abolished FECs and foreigner prices more than a decade ago), this book presents many truths that may go against a lot of things that the tourism authority and the infatuated romantic writers say. Without actually making fun of everybody, Pico Iyer skillfully paints a poetic yet cynical and down to earth, almost Dickensian picture of developing Asian countries where the citizens quite happily watch Hollywood movies and pore over the latest electronic gadgetry.
Iyer's insights are by no means new, unique or even profound. He sympathised with Chinese-occupied Tibet. He blew the spiritual cover of hippies in Nepal. He talked about the sex trade in Thailand. However, it is through this book that I discovered Pico Iyer's great talent with words and highly polished writing style. For those who like "plain English", I would certainly not recommend Iyer's books. But for those who enjoy introspective literary works, Iyer will not disappoint.
My favourite chapter is Thailand - Love in a Duty-Free Zone. The content of the chapter is as full of nuances as the title.
Asia Travelin' December 27, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Brings back times of travel before the world learned of the Internet. True description of the oddities of Katmandu for anyone who has spent some time there. Most travelers simply pass in and out of the capital with 2-3 days on the front and/or back end of a journey. If you can take the time to soak up the side streets, meet the locals and spend time with family and children, this exciting capital offers some of the most exciting asian travel adventures...try to spend a week there if possible. A good absorbtion of the Katmandu valley for 3 weeks will bring liftime memories.
 Up On The Mountain in Himalayans. July 30, 2005
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is interesting in that Kanmandu used to be closed to the western world. Their culture is so special, being at the foot of Tibet, that we could not appreciate it. But the first I heard of it was in Paul Theroux's RIDING THE IRON ROOSTER as that was the starting point for his adventurous, almost fatal, car trip up that treacheous, spectacular mountain to see the Dahlai Lama. He distributed 8X10 glossys of the one we all revere. And made it to Shangrila.
Before that my favorite news reporter in the Fifties, think it was for CBS, was invited to do a broadcast from there and he took had an accident, only his was more serious -- on the way down the mountain when his mule took a misstep and fell. Paul's was on the way up to Tibet.
Ever since I read his book and reviewed it for my literary club, I have done much searching for the truth of Tibet and its major problems even today. These essays show just how special Kathmandu is and how they struggle to keep their impenetrable jungle just that. It is beauty personaified. We need to know more about the Asian culture and beliefs so that we can all live in harmony.
 Late 80s Asia March 3, 2003
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
Pico Iyer has written an interesting set of annecdotes on Asia during the late 80s boom years. It covers the isolation of Burma, the sex trade in Thailand, the night life in Nepal, and everything inbetween. The book takes a deeper view beyond the stereotypes to understand the complexities of the cultural merging.The book really has two main values. First, it gives an annecdotal view of a lifestyle that, while only 15-20 years ago, is already gone. Hong Kong 1986 is a place in transition that is different than Hong Kong today. While many books today provide political and economic viewpoints on the times, and the changes, they don't accurately cover an expats view of life and cultural exchange. The second value is in understanding aspects of the culture that still apply. India's polyclot of ethnic groups and interaction with the West applies today. Pico Iyer is adept at capturing cultural traits that last, and perhaps even grow, despite the pressures of a globalizing world. I'm not a universal fan of all of Iyer's material, but this is certainly one of his better works. It's more readable, and the concepts more universal and lasting than some of his other books.
 patronizing fluff October 17, 2001
3 out of 11 found this review helpful
I tried reading this book while in Kathmandu, and forced myself to finish the chapter on said city before throwing the book across my hotel room in frustration. His anecdotes start out interesting, but turn into self-serving drivel that trivializes a very complex situation and culture. What bothers me most is that his writing is gimmicky- he puts words next to each other that try to sound cool and witty, rather than sharing any real insight. P>Predictably, the Thailand chapter concerned itself mainly with the sex trade. This a common theme, and it's sad that so many authors can't come up with anything else to say about a truly diverse and fascinating country.
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