A Barbarian in Asia

This book is a travel journal, by a 'Barbarian' as Henri Michaux designates himself, who relates his journey through southern and eastern Asia. he was then barely thirty, in 1931, and yet, he was no wide-eyed tourist. This book is full of subjective glimpses that cover a wide swathe of Asia- India, the Himalayas, Ceylon, malaya, China, French Indo and Japan, and describes Michaux's impressions and opinions towards a culture and way of life that, through his Western eyes, often seem odd and inexplicable. he praises, and at the same time, makes fun of these foreign habits that he hardly understands.