Synopses & Reviews
Sick of producing the picturesque bromides of the professional travel writer, Lawrence Osborne decided to explore the psychological underpinnings of tourism itself by taking a six-month journey down the so-called Asian Highway”a swath of Southeast Asia that, since the Victorian era, has seduced generations of tourists with its manufactured dreams of the exotic Orient. And like many a lost soul on this same route, he ends up in the harrowing forests of Papua, searching for a people who have never seen a tourist.
What, Osborne asks, are millions of affluent itinerants from the West looking for as they wade through endless resorts, hotels, cosmetic-surgery packages, spas, spiritual retreats, sex clubs, and back to nature” trips? What does tourism, the worlds single largest business, have to sell? The Naked Tourist is a travelogue into that heart of darkness known as the Western mind. Lawrence Osborne has written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and other publications, and is the author of four previous books. Born in England, he lives in New York. Sick of producing the picturesque bromides of the professional travel writer, Lawrence Osborne decided to explore the psychological underpinnings of tourism itself by taking a six-month journey down the so-called Asian Highway”a swath of Southeast Asia that, since the Victorian era, has seduced generations of tourists with its manufactured dreams of the exotic Orient. And like many a lost soul on this same route, he ends up in the harrowing forests of Papua, searching for a people who have never seen a tourist.
What, Osborne asks, are millions of affluent itinerants from the West looking for as they wade through endless resorts, hotels, cosmetic-surgery packages, spas, spiritual retreats, sex clubs, and back to nature” trips? What does tourism, the worlds single largest business, have to sell? The Naked Tourist is a travelogue into that heart of darkness known as the Western mind. "'We're flying to the most godforsaken place on earth. Compared to Wanggemalo, Wamena [Indonesia] is like Manhattan,' observes Osborne of a dense rain forest in Western Papua. Having an aversion to the homogeneity created by the global tourist industry, Osborne set off on a six-month journey to that remote part of New Guinea. En route he visited Dubai, the Andaman Islands, and Bangkok before meeting up with an adventure tour operator in Bali who took him and a few others on an expedition into Western Papua. While all the places Osborne visited are exotic, he manages to put a new spin on more familiar tourist haunts by focusing on some intriguing aspect of their culture, like the spa and cosmetic surgery facilities in Thailand. But the apogee of Osborne's travels is reached in Western Papua, where he eats mouse hinds for breakfast with natives who have never seen a white man. As compelling as the narrative are Osborne's literate ruminations on travel and the writings of anthropologists. This Bruce Chatwin readalike is highly recommended for armchair travelers."Ravi Shenoy, Naperville Public Library, Illinois, Library Journal "'When a neighborhood is described as 'seedy' by some Lonely Planet prude,' Osborne declares, 'I immediately head there.' But even the boldest of travel writers can become jaded by visiting locales that have recreated themselves in romanticized 'exotic' images, making one feel one is merely playing the role of a tourist rather than seeing anything new. So Osborne sets out to visit a tribe in Papua New Guinea that's had barely any contact with Westerners. Instead of heading straight for the jungle, however, he embarks on a lengthy trek along 'the Asian Highway,' clusters of tourist attractions that lead him through Dubai on to Calcutta and Bangkok. The story is strongest when Osborne . . . simply engages with his surroundings: a hellish drive through Indian jungles, for example, or a whirlwind tour of Thailand's inexpensive medical centers . . . he fully abandons his comfort zone and plunges into the remote swamps of Papua."Publishers Weekly "Today's tourist, in Osborne's estimation, has too much money, undergoes too little education, possesses even less knowledge, and lacks completely the intellectual curiosity that makes travel compelling and rewarding. Osborne sets out across the globe, working his way east from Dubai through India and Thailand into remote areas of Papua New Guinea. In Dubai he surveys a money-obsessed society determined to remake a desert seafront into a sort of Islamic Disneyworld with manufactured sandy beaches on artificial islands. He finds Calcutta a ruined, failed city, still beset with Marxist idols. Bangkok caters boldly to carnal pleasures, and a trip to the hospital for some vaccinations uncovers a haven for sex-reassignment surgery. Less-radical changes may be had at Thai spas. The exotic culture of Bali attracts Osborne, but his objective remains Papua New Guinea, where too much cleanliness can be dangerous since the locals confuse soap perfumes with evil spirits. Nevertheless, in this South Pacific remoteness, Osborne finally attains his travel goal of reaching a place where no one has yet seen tourists."Mark Knoblauch, Booklist
Review
"[Osborne] grabs the bull by the horns . . . Through the most surreal environments (the fabricated islands of Dubai, the medical resorts of Thailand) he is funny, intelligent, insightful and honest." --Max Watman, The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
Sick of producing the picturesque bromides of the professional travel writer, Lawrence Osborne decided to explore the psychological underpinnings of tourism itself by taking a six-month journey down the so-called "Asian Highway"--a swath of Southeast Asia that, since the Victorian era, has seduced generations of tourists with its manufactured dreams of the exotic Orient. And like many a lost soul on this same route, he ends up in the harrowing forests of Papua, searching for a people who have never seen a tourist.
What, Osborne asks, are millions of affluent itinerants from the West looking for as they wade through endless resorts, hotels, cosmetic-surgery packages, spas, spiritual retreats, sex clubs, and "back to nature" trips? What does tourism, the world's single largest business, have to sell? The Naked Tourist is a travelogue into that heart of darkness known as the Western mind.
About the Author
Lawrence Osborne has written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and other publications, and is the author of four previous books. Born in England, he lives in New York.