A Dozen Dirty Dumplings: travelling through Asia in the 1980s (Journey Books)

In the early 1980s - long before smartphones, budget flights or the safety net of Google Maps - an uncertain and gloriously uninformed Chris Price set out to cross Asia the slow way.Armed with a backpack, questionable judgement and a stack of diaries, the accidental adventurer crossed 13 countries by whatever moved: rattling trains, rust-bitten ferries, overcrowded buses, the odd smuggler's car - and frequented more dubious guesthouses and toilets than he will ever publicly admit to.For most of the journey he relied on a single Bartholomew's map, picked up guidebooks after travelling through the regions as souvenirs, and navigated China with a map written entirely in Chinese. A Dozen Dirty Dumplings is a candid, amusing and often uncomfortable account of travel before the world became curated, convenient and constantly connected.In place of Instagram sunsets are nights in musty rooms, run-ins with border officials, strangers who offered improbable kindness, and long stretches of heat,