Travels In The East

I have always felt that Donald Richie was a kindred spirit in that I I often agree with his assessments of of Japanese culture as well as observations about life. Richie revels in the new, exotic, unknown, the other-these are all of the essential reasons to travel to get outside of your comfort zone and come face to face with the strange and unknown. I see that in this collection of essay, Travels In The East (2007), we share some of the same sentiments about travel and the allure of foreign cultures. There are several essays about places that I haven't been and if they weren't already on my list, they most certainly are after Richie observes what it is about them that make them intriguing places and these include the following: Egypt, Indian, Bhutan, Mongolia, Borneo, and Yap (a small Polynesian island near Guam). I felt we had similar feelings about the places that we have both traveled as well: China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, and Korea. Furthermore, in his section on Japan I think the only place I have been that he discusses is the "The Stone Garden of Ryoan-ji," which is Kyoto. The  inspirational locales he visits are: "The Sacred Heights of Koya-san," "The Lakes of Hokkaido," The Satsuma Peninsula," "The Shores of the Noto Hanto," "Kunisaki-Land's End," and an "Asakusa" that no longer exists. I think this is a collection of essays that I will revisit as I follow in Richie's footsteps, because all all of these destinations are places that I long to visit as well.