Rating: 7.3/10.
A Ticket to the Grand Show: Journeys Across Cultural Boundaries by Neil McKinnon
A collection of travel notes from various countries that the author visited, mostly in the 80s-90s, and reflections on how cultures differ in ways that are non-obvious. Through numerous examples, both Canadians and other cultures perceive surprising differences, and being an archaeologist, he ties together the cultures of the past and the present.
Part 1 is about China. The author enters China through Beijing and gets on a flight to Lanzhou, where he visits some remote Tibetan towns in Qinghai, where there is yak grazing and traditional courtship rituals. In Lantian, they find some prehistoric stone tools, but it was difficult to study them in the 1980s China since it was just after the Cultural Revolution and many were afraid of breaking the rules regarding archaeological studies. Travel at that time was chaotic, and he describes traveling from Xi’an to Beijing using a train that was super crowded, with dangerous taxi drivers and police who were corrupt but not in the usual way; they were more interested in practicing English than either taking bribes or following the rules.
Part 2 is about Japan. The author and his wife take jobs as English teachers in Himeiji, where the students take school more seriously than in North America. They are intensely competitive and focus on working hard and getting into a good university, although university is considered a time to relax more because failure is rare. Students copy each other but do not see it as cheating the way Americans would. He writes down a travel or life diary where he experiences connections with locals while teaching in a fairly rural part of Japan. Many friendly locals share their food and stories, and he describes how younger and older generations view family obligations differently. Lastly, the chapter ends with the experience of the great Hanshin earthquake of 1995, during which several thousand people died, there was difficulty in getting supplies and water, and eventually people got sick and overcrowded shelters, until gradually things started returning to normal.
Part 3 focuses on Mexico, where the author has a home in Lake Chapala near Guadalajara. Some time ago, he visited several archaeological sites, such as Palenque, which is the location of numerous Mayan ancient buildings and inscriptions. He also conducted some archaeological work at Guachimontones near Guadalajara, which has now been transformed into a tourist attraction. Some other experiences are being stopped by the police, and various ways to bribe them to get what you needed.
The last few chapters are relatively short and tell some stories of the author running marathons in Hawaii with elderly people who are still quite fit, followed by a chapter about his wife’s family history, where her grandparents emigrated from Japan to Canada around 1907, set up a barber shop, and had all their property and farm confiscated during World War II when Japanese Canadians were rounded up and had their property taken away. They suffered many hardships while still keeping in touch with their relatives back in Japan.
Overall, this book offers a wide range of various thoughts and notes on various places and times during the author’s life. It is moderately interesting to read and roughly organized by location, but otherwise is quite random, without much of a coherent point. Nonetheless, it is still kind of interesting to read about these curious events and stories from the past.
