Book review: Walking Home From Mongolia, by Rob Lilwall
Rob Lilwall, a former geography teacher-turned-adventurer living on Lantau Island, has just published a second travel book, Walking Home From Mongolia.
by Rob Lilwall
Hodder & Stoughton
2.5 stars
Rob Lilwall, a former geography teacher-turned-adventurer living on Lantau Island, has just published a second travel book, .
The Briton's 5,600km, six-month trek on foot with Northern Irish cameraman Leon McCarron in November 2011 took them from Mongolia's Gobi Desert town of Sainshand to Lilwall's Mui Wo home; it came seven years after his first journey, a 50,000km solo cycle ride lasting more than three years that finished in London, and formed the well-received 2009 book, .
Lilwall, who now works as a motivational speaker and with his wife helps to run children's charity Viva, fretted with wanderlust before - literally - dreaming up the idea.
Unfortunately, his narrative contains few thrills, and too much repetition. Once he and McCarron leave the desert it feels forced and grows increasingly monotonous - more like a chore, for Lilwall and the reader, with endless references to instant noodles, blisters, stomach cramps, sweat-soaked clothes, below-freezing temperatures and chilly nights under canvas.
We never sense it's about the adventure, only the destination.
Lilwall pads the book with the usual travel-guide facts about Genghis Khan, the Cultural Revolution, Xian's terracotta warriors - even tea - but fails to linger long enough on the rare moments of interest.
Too often we're offered bland repetition - of yet another villager who fills his water bottle, or passing motorist who waves and treats him to dinner, or dull descriptions of roads, or shortcuts leading us down a slope, over a stream, past a tree - and, yes, round the bend.
Near the end, Lilwall gives a talk to a school and is asked, "Why did you do it?" His answer: "To have an adventure and explore China."
At the back of the book are a series of good reviews and a three-page "taster" of his first book, which suggest what Lilwall could have done, perhaps, if he had chosen a journey that provided him with something more interesting to say.
