In Xanadu: A Quest, by William Dalrymple. Brilliant travel writing. The quest is to retrace the journey of Marco Polo from Jerusalem to Kubla Khan's Xanadu. As between the competing schools of travel writing - genial companion (Fermor, Bryson) vs misanthropic depressive (Theroux) - Dalrymple generally shades toward the latter, but that's not criticism. There are very funny moments, and a great finish. Highly recommended. This is what's left of Xanadu now; the little blue squiggle across the bottom there (zoom out a bit) is, in fact, Alph, the sacred river.
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