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Stranger in the Forest: On Foot across Borneo : Methuen non-fiction - Eric Hansen

Stranger in the Forest: On Foot across Borneo

By: Eric Hansen

Paperback | 1 November 2000

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Eric Hansen was the first Westerner to make the perilous crossing of the island jungles of Borneo. Befriended by the Penan rainforest tribe - who catch fish with their feet - he hunted pigs, discovered eye-watering sex aids, and was ceremonially named King of the Moustache; more profoundly, he 'came face to face with myself in the patch of the map marked Unsurveyed'. Here is a true traveller's tale, a deeply memorable portrait of a little-known corner of our world and 'a new classic of jungle travel' (Sunday Times). AUTHOR: Eric Hansen is one of the world?s great travel writers. With characteristic curiosity, humour and self-effacing charm Hansen takes readers fluidly with him from the Maldives to Darwin, from Cannes to Borneo and far beyond. In this latest collection, he shares portraits of some of the most fascinating characters he has met during his 25 years of adventures around the globe. Each memoir is a passionate, lyrical experience of life seen thorough the eyes and voice a singularly evocative and original writer.
Industry Reviews
Travel-adventure writing in the grand tradition as this first-time author and long-time American expatriate in Asia hoofs it through the Borneo jungle. Equipped with little more than a change of clothes, a bed sheet, and a knapsack crammed with shotgun shells, beads, and other trade goods, Hansen - who had led a life of singular nonconformity (goldsmith, buffalo catcher, barber in Mother Teresa's Home for the Destitute Dying) - was intent on Sharing the life of the former headhunters who inhabit the rain forests of the partly unmapped island interior. Part of the fascination in Hansen's story lies in the bizarre hybrids that have resulted from contact between Borneo's native and Western cultures. Midway through his narrative, for example, he tells of an encounter with a group of tribesmen returning to their village carrying, among other items, an ancient Singer sewing machine, a Johnson outboard motor, and a pair of rainbow-colored golfing umbrellas. There is also a shrine that consists of a pink plastic suitcase filled with pig livers (sure-fire prophesiers of the future) and balai rumah tinggi, the animistic spirit who must be appeased with blood sacrifices before construction can be begun on high-rise buildings. Hansen writes with sensitivity about the people he meets, and captures in resonant details the look and feel of the land. If a note of self-congratulation creeps in occasionally, it is soon balanced by an even greater sense of self-mockery. As a bonus, Hansen provides a number of travel tips not often found in more conventional guidebooks. He reveals, for instance, how to get around by air with several live chickens in tow - tie their feet together with airline baggage tags and stash them under your seat as "carry-on" luggage. A rousing read. (Kirkus Reviews)

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