I wanted to get my hands on this book the minute I read the title. However, since I didn’t manage to get hold of it in the spur of my excitement, I forgot about it until recently when a fellow travel-writer handed it to me. And what a great collection of stories, well most of them anyway. (Lesson: when you really feel like reading something, do everything you can to get hold of the book immediately or you probably never will!)

A Travelers’ Tales publication edited by Tim Cahill, the book is a collection of 28 travel stories of travel humor and misadventure on the road. Some of the misadventures are narrations of pretty grave experiences, but they have been written with good humor although there was probably nothing remotely humorous in the actual situation. For e.g. in the story It’s Dar es Salaam And I’m Not Dead, the author recounts an awful experience of being caught by the local police, being repeatedly duped for trusting people, and getting into more trouble by being honest — definitely one of my favorite stories in the book. Fortunately, all such stories have a happy ending.

There are also some great anecdotal stories that highlight the differences in culture when doing simple things (eating out, shopping, talking etc) in a foreign country: I Am An Englishman (confusing communication in Pakistan), Ravioli French Style (a French reaction to pubic hair in food), Underpants from Hell (the author buys stench-giving underpants in Japan), and King Kong in Shanghai (a woman’s bra-buying experience in China).

Our very own Rolf Potts also has a great story in there where he is called too fat to ride the horses as he attempts to understand the Thai fascination with cowboys and unravel the mysteries of Far East’s Wild West.

All the stories have an undercurrent of expected and unexpected cultural idiosyncrasies, all of which you can learn a thing or two from. Although there are a few stories I found lame and couldn’t get through, I did catch myself laughing out loudly on the metro many times. The writing style is very conversational, I often felt like the writer was telling me the story in person which made it a good read. Recommended if are not too culturally sensitive and can see the humor in misadventure on the road.