Currently still reading this book. Pretty decent read about a Jewish family's three months' travel from Asia, the Middle East, to Europe. If you are interested in getting snapshots of history, culture, or arts, this is a good book to get interesting facts that do not bore you as much as a real history book.
It's rather impressive that Mark Jacobson's children seem to be extremely intelligent, sensitive and unique individuals, who are actually concerned about the going-ons in the world than your average teenager.
I like the part where they travelled to India's Ganges River and watched the burning of bodies and then taking a boat ride in that river. Not only that, they actually saw two men crapping in the middle of the roads, next to each other, and chit chatting the whole time. Oh my God, that must have been a truly unpleasant sight for a nine yr old boy (the youngest of the Jacobson's family).
Another part of the travelogue which left an impression on me was the Cambodian leg of the journey. The clan travelled to the Killing Fields and visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide museums, where about 2 million people were massacred. People were also imprisoned and tortured in Tuol Sleng, a high school converted into a prison of sorts. Those killed had their mug shots taken first before execution- their skulls remained in the museum.
Such bits and pieces of the travelogue made me want to visit these places, to experience something perhaps, a little different from your usual run of the mill happy holidays. Most people I know, prefer to travel to affluent countries since most of us, technically, want to enjoy life whilst on vacation. But I feel travelling to places that are less developed and have sad histories to tell, could be a true eye-opener too and perhaps give you a little food for thought.
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