Video Night in Kathmandu - (Vintage Departures) by Pico Iyer (Paperback)

About the Book

When TIME magazine writer Pico Iyer set out to explore the East, what he found was: Mohawk haircuts in Bali; yuppies in Hong Kong, a local movie industry that produces not one, but five Rambo ripoffs in Bombay; and young Filipinos rendering a perfect imitation of the latest Madonna song.

Review Quotes

"Quick-witted and perceptive...something more than a deft and entertaining traveler's tale." -- The New Yorker

"The book is filled with Iyer's enthusiasms and opinions, both engaging and provocative, and is...a sensual feast of rich impressions." -- Los Angeles Times

"A fresh approach, embellished by the author's humorous and perceptive style." -- San Francisco Chronicle

Mohawk haircuts in Bali. Yuppies in Hong Kong. In Bombay, not one but five Rambo rip-offs, complete with music and dancing. And in the new People's Republic of China, a restaurant that serves dishes called "Yes, Sir, Cheese My Baby," "A Legitimate Beef," and "Ike and Tuna Turner." These are some of the images -- comical, poignant, and unsettling -- that Pico Iyer brings back from the Far East in this brilliant book of travel reportage. A writer for Time, Iyer approaches his subject with a camera-sharp eye, a style that suggests a cross between Paul Theroux and Hunter Thompson, and a willingness to go beyond the obvious conclusions about the hybrid cultures of East and West.

About the Author

Pico Iyer has written nonfiction books on globalism, Japan, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and forgotten places, and novels on Revolutionary Cuba and Islamic mysticism. He regularly writes about literature for The New York Review of Books; about travel for the Financial Times; and about global culture and the news for Time, The New York Times, and magazines around the world.