Asia Overland

Asia Overland

"Asia Overland" by Mark Elliott and Wil Klass was an idiosyncratic book of the 1990's which developed a minor cult following amongst backpackers in Asia and the former Soviet Union. Although it has been out of print since 2002, the book remains a talking point amongst older travellers. Its unique feature was that practical information was displayed in a set of schematic 'treasure maps' [ [http://www.amazon.ca/dp/1873756100 Amazon.ca: Asia Overland: Books: Mark Elliott,Wil Klass ] ] rather than in run-on text, a style later replicated in certain other books by Trailblazer [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1873756674 Amazon.com: Trailblazer South East Asia: The Graphic Guide: Books: Mark Elliott ] ] , [ [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/customer-reviews/1873756674 Amazon.co.uk: Reviews for South-East Asia (Trailblazer): Books: Mark Elliott ] ] .

Between maps, the book's writing offered a way to inspire questions and investigation more than providing answers in the style of more classic Lonely Planet style guides. The guide gained a certain notoriety by explaining 'tricks' for crossing ex-Soviet borders semi-legally, reaching Iraqi Kurdistan when that area was still little known to exist, and for getting into North Korea without a visa. Today these tips appear extremely foolhardy but at the time the book was written (largely pre-Internet) they worked and caused much excitement amongst travellers of the era. Despite considerable interest from the public, there has been no follow up edition and at times second-hand copies of the original edition have been offered at relatively exhorbitant prices on Amazon and e-Bay.

Trivia

The book contains several hidden in-jokes including 'towns' on maps named after friends of the authors (Bakus, Danigrad etc).

Asia Overland was the first practical guide book in English to cover the ex-Soviet Caucasus region after the break up of the USSR

Page Count = 567 Map Count = 452

Publisher = Trailblazer

Publishing date = 1998

References


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