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Some travelers like to hang out in cities. Other people like museums, while still others like to go to resorts. Some travelers prefer to venture to wild places, where there are few people and much solitude. David Yeadon is one of those travelers. In his book, "The Back of Beyond," Yeadon ponders upon many of the journeys he has taken over the years. It is the story of venturing past the crowds, into places where few go or tread. In these places, Yeadon finds what he seeks coming to know himself and all others in a better, more intimate way. Right off the bat, Yeadon tries to answer the question that many who travel more conservatively wonder about people like him, people who all of the sudden have a yen to spent six months in a yurt on a Tibetan mountain or ride on trains through China. Setting up right away the impulse that compels him to go rather than to stay, he takes his reader on an up-close-and-personal view on what it means to be a traveler, and why it is so important for him to leave than to stay. One may not choose to live as he does, but he is clear about why he does what he does. This motivation resonates throughout the book as he makes his way around the world, gathering wildness in each place he visits. Though the book's journeys are not necessarily chronological in layout, his book is written as though it is, occasionally causing me as a reader to be taken off guard and forgetting that this is a compilation of all his trips, not a year-around-the-world sort of journey. Part of this was actually a compliment to the book, because I got so involved in the writing that I felt like I'd actually accompanied him to the place. Yeadon's descriptions of what it is like to leave all civilization behind and to find oneself in a wholly different place, both spiritually and physically, are fascinating and rich with detail. Yet they are not so overblown to become nothing more than a laundry list of details. Yeadon has a knack of being able to describe fully without detracting from his narrative, a balance of yin and yang. Yeadon's adventures take him around the world, from Tehran during the eighties, to Inner Mongolia, and Southern Thailand. The author is adept at finding solitude in places known for crowds, such as India and Phuket Island. Where Western tourists are drawn to and are encouraged to go, Yeadon finds a way to sidestep the obvious and find the places where he is truly a stranger. But even an avid wanderer needs a little vacation from solitude and backwoods now and again, and Yeadon aptly describes what it is like for a Westerner to come back from the ascetic and to find even the most meager provisions ample luxury, as well as what it is like to just rest after a long haul deep into one's soul. Though Yeadon's journeys are spiritual in nature, this is not a narrative where a novitiate from the West goes and seeks enlightenment from gurus in the East. It is the actual place that stirs Yeadon's soul, and his ponderings are a marriage of the sacred and the profane, with the profane being the focal point. It is a story of realizing one's passion, and the importance of following that call, whatever it is, so that one truly lives. The adventures of David Yeadon are compelling enough to challenge the reader to find a passion and follow it, no matter what the cost. It is an enjoyable and enlightening read, one that takes the reader from the desert to the sea, and far beyond. |
