Extreme Continental

Containing many anecdotes, this is Giles Whittell's account of a journey he made across Central Asia soon after the break-up of the Soviet Empire. Avoiding the official Intourist routes, he met many larger-than-life characters and had a succession of bizarre and sometimes alarming experiences.

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Following nearly a century of Soviet rule, Central Asia, surrounded by Russia, Iran and China, and sealed off by mountain ranges, is comparatively little-known in the West. When the USSR broke up in 1991 the five republics which had been artificially created by the Russians - Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirghizstan and Kazakhstan - were released and emerged as autonomous entities. They are now accessible to the independent tourist. In 1914, before the Bolshevik Revolution, Stephen Graham journeyed across this vast land of fearsome deserts, mountains and inland seas, making his way from the Caspian Sea to Siberia. Nearly 80 years later, just after the fall of the Soviet regime, Giles Whittell came across Graham's account of his travels. He read it in one sitting and was inspired to make a similar journey, curious to see how much had changed. Avoiding the official Intourist routes, he met many larger-than-life characters and had a succession of bizarre and sometimes alarming experiences. Containing many anecdotes, this book is Whittell's description of his journey.