Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Palin on top of the world

Michael Palin has another travelogue that "chronicles his six-month journey over the Khyber Pass from Pakistan to Afghanistan and then into India, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and Burma." His previous shows (Pole to Pole, Full Circle, Hemingway Adventure and Sahara) were brilliant... he's the perfect tour guide, able to find beauty and humor in the strangest places.

On this trip he met with the Dalai Lama:

"I was expecting to be rather over-awed, sort of a bit dumbstruck by him, but as soon as he came in, it was just sort of something in the eyes, a little look of mischief that he really has ... it was just sort of like meeting a fellow Python," Palin said.

Palin's travelogues are the best of both worlds: you get to see places all over the world, but you don't get mugged/cold/dysentery/targeted as the local representative of US imperialism.