Asia Overland

{{Short description|Travel book by Mark Elliott and Wil Klass}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox book

| name = Asia Overland

| image = File:Asia_Overland_book_cover.png

| caption =

| author = Mark Elliott and Wil Klass

| country =

| language = English

| publisher = Trailblazer

| pub_date = 1998

| pages = 567

| isbn =

}}

Asia Overland by Mark Elliott and Wil Klass was an idiosyncratic book of the 1990s which developed a minor cult following amongst backpackers in Asia[https://caspianpost.com/en/contributors/10 Mark Elliott], caspianpost.com. Retrieved 19 September 2021. and the former Soviet Union. Although it has been out of print since 2002, the book remains a talking point amongst older travellers. Its unique feature was that practical information was displayed in a set of schematic 'treasure maps'[https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1873756100 Amazon.ca: Asia Overland: Books: Mark Elliott, Wil Klass]"Travel Resources" The Modesto Bee, 1 November 1998, p. 72. rather than in run-on text, a style later replicated in certain other books by Trailblazer.[https://www.amazon.com/dp/1873756674 Amazon.com: Trailblazer South East Asia: The Graphic Guide: Books: Mark Elliott][https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/customer-reviews/1873756674 Amazon.co.uk: Reviews for South-East Asia (Trailblazer): Books: Mark Elliott]

Between maps, the book's writing offered a way to inspire questions and investigation more than providing answers in the style of more classic Lonely Planet style guides. The guide gained a certain notoriety by explaining 'tricks' for crossing ex-Soviet borders semi-legally, for reaching Iraqi Kurdistan when that area was still little known to exist, and for getting into North Korea without a visa. Today these tips appear extremely foolhardy, but at the time the book was written (largely pre-Internet) they worked and caused much excitement amongst travellers of the era. Despite considerable interest from the public, there has been no follow-up edition and at times second-hand copies of the original edition have been offered at relatively exorbitant prices on Amazon and eBay.

Trivia

The book contains several hidden in-jokes, including 'towns' on maps named after friends of the authors (Bakus, Danigrad etc.).

Asia Overland was the first practical guidebook in English to cover the ex-Soviet Caucasus region after the breakup of the USSR.

  • Page count = 567
  • Map count = 452
  • Publisher = Trailblazer
  • Publishing date = 1998

References