William Dalrymple's award-winning first book: his classic, fiercely
intelligent and wonderfully entertaining account of his journey across
Marco Polo's 700-year-old route from Jerusalem to Xanadu, the summer
palace of Kubla Khan.
At the age of twenty-two, Dalrymple left his college in Cambridge to
travel to the ruins of Kubla Khan's stately pleasure dome in Xanadu. As
he and his companions travel across the width of Asia--crossing through
Acre, Aleppo, Tabriz, Tashkurgan, and other mysterious and sometimes
hellish places--they encounter dusty, forgotten roads, unexpected
hospitality, and difficult challenges. Stylish, witty, and knowledgeable
about everything from the dreaded order of Assassins to the hidden
origins of the Three Magi, this is travel writing at its best.