Paul Theroux; Iron Rooster

I heard many great stories about China. Coming from a country very much influenced by Chinese culture, I am curious and interested in learning more about the country and its people.Theroux's insights, while a bit outdated after publishing it in the late 80s, some still rang true today. Restroom complaints, spitting and the lack of courtesy among people from mainland are laments often heard by friends who have visited the place. While the lack of hygeine bothered me a bit, Theroux's novel painted a gorgeous picture of China's countryside, captured during his trip through a railway tour across China.
Hopefully, I will be able to go to the sites he mentioned and not just the more famous cities- Beijing and Shanghai.
1. First on my list is the Bogda Shan-Tianchi where the Heavenly pool is located.

2. I would also like to try the railroad crossing the Silk Road
3. He mentioned the railway crossing Emei to Kunming with 200 tunnels. A memorial was dedicated to the people who built it as hundreds sacrificed to build a railway across one of the perilous and mountainous area.

4. On the subject of Kunming, it is also home to several minorities. It would be wonderful to see their colorful clothings, as Theroux put it TECHNICOLOR TRIBALISM, which is a big fad these days

5. Theroux mentioned the ride from Guangxi to Guilin, I would personally love to see the landscapes,. As mentioned, the train ride gave him a glimpse of rural China and how the changing landscapes made man co-exist with nature-altering land to suit his needs. He also mentioned that the place resembled that of a Chinese painting.

 

 It was also a place of some exotic foods such as wawa fish (which is actually a salander) and muntjac (deer):

So cute to eat?