Book cover of Slow Boats to China

Book description

Seven months and twenty-three agreeably ill-assorted vessels are what were required to transport Gavin Young, by slow boat, from Piraeus to Canton. His odyssey teemed with excitement, adventure and colour. Gavin Young's account memorably distils the people, places, smells, conversations, ships and history of the places he encountered in what…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Slow Boats to China as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book and its sequel were an early read in my love affair with travel writing–I love the concept of slow travel by unconventional means, and I love all the descriptions along the way.

I first read this before I had ever traveled to China or, indeed, anywhere in the East, so it was one factor in developing an interest and love of the region. Though the journeying is slow it is written in a way that I regard as a real page-turner.

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