Journey to Xanadu

The book you are about to read is an account of my own personal wayfaring in two dimensions. It's the story of a physical trip that my wife and I took to the Far East in 2006. It is also an account of what I was thinking as I went exploring beyond the boundaries of my National and Cultural existence. It has a strange provenance. I wrote a first draft of it several months after the trip ended using the notes from my journal. I then filed it away as simply a record of a personal trip. I did not consider it for publication because I could not place it in any recognizable publishing niche.

It is therefore reasonable to ask why I am now publishing a manuscript that was created as far back as 2006. Oddly enough, I am doing so because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I decided to take advantage of the enforced isolation brought about because of the virus by cleaning out old files and folders that were taking up space. When I came across the folder of this manuscript I took another look at it, and decided that it might have merit for publication after all - in the same way that wine can achieve merit if we wait long enough. In this case, the wait has ended in a worldwide pandemic that has forced the entire world to go exploring beyond the boundaries of its troubled existence. I think that some of my observations recorded in 2006 may now have relevance. It will be up to the reader to prove me wrong.