Synopsis "Looking for Kathmandu (in English)"
The quest for a perfect romance. A couple set out to look for Shangri la and become immersed in the mysteries of the East. If you have ever wondered what it is like to hit the overland route to the East and what may await you on the way, then this is it. High romance in the mountains, mystery and enlightening encounters multiply as the story unfolds. 'A well-written thoroughly enjoyable book evoking the romance and adventure of this last frontier. The overland trek is particularly well handled as you would expect from a seasoned round the world traveler.' Printer's Pie review. In 'Looking for Kathmandu' you meet Peter Anscombe a Vietnam war veteran with a mighty chip upon his shoulder at what happened to him there. When, for reasons he finds hard to explain even to himself, he sets out on a great journey towards the East and India, he has no idea what will become of him, but he knows he seeks another, better world. In Istanbul he meets Birgit, a uni student who found herself signing up to join a coach heading East when she was in Amsterdam, crying uncontrollably as she felt her life dissolving. Fate seems to intervene to bring them together in Istanbul, but this is only the beginning of a journey which will take them across thousands of miles of deserts and mountains in the raw heart of Asia. Rainbows in profusion greet their eyes as they gaze out at the skies from their mountain viewpoint in Turkey. In old Persia, present day Iran, they find their own love nest in the heart of Teheran. By the shores of the Caspian Sea Birgit suddenly realizes that the fields they are standing beside waiting to hitch a lift towards the East are actually full of marijuana grass. She whoops with joy and harvests her crop, even though there is a death penalty in operation in the country for possession. In Afghanistan under the brilliant stars with the Milky Way visible in stunning clarity, the romance goes into overdrive. After a row, Birgit naked runs off into the desert night. Peter follows, alarmed at what might befall her. He catches up with her crouched at the bottom of a gully. He slowly descends the shifting sands of the gully in the night. 'Don't fight me, instead love me', he implores before she surrenders and they make passionate love. Now perfectly relaxed and at one with the world, Birgit finds a tortoise with a parasite bug clamped to its leg in the gully. With a long departed doctor for a father, she hands the tortoise to Peter to remove the parasite and cure the patient visitor from the natural world. Liberated, the tortoise proceeds on its way, the couple head into old Kabul, where they discover the great thriving city that existed before the wars began that were to tear out its heart. 'Looking for Kathmandu' immerses you in an East that is likely to disappear almost completely in the next few decades. It is a snapshot in time that reveals the magic and the mystery of cultures that were old even while the Western cultures were being born. You join the couple on their quest to enter this ancient civilization with its wonders, inexplicable coincidences and marvellously wise sages and holymen. Immersed in this world, the revelations and experiences that occur for both Birgit and Peter are destined to reveal them to themselves in a new stark light. Is it possible for them to survive the shocks and twists of fate that take them to a place from which there is no coming back?
