The Journey That Changed Me: William Dalrymple

The Journey That Changed Me: William Dalrymple

From the footsteps of Marco Polo to the dream destination he has never seen - author William Dalrymple tells us about the journeys that changed him

William Dalrymple was born in Scotland in 1965. At the age of 22, he set out to follow Marco Polo's journey from Jerusalem to Mongolia on foot. The journey inspired In Xanadu, the critically acclaimed bestseller that marked the beginning of a long and illustrious career.

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Since then, Dalrymple has won the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize, the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award, the Hemingway Prize, the Kapuściński Prize and the Wolfson Prize.

Most recently, he published The Anarchy, one of Barack Obama's best books of 2019, as well as the Financial Times, Observer, Daily Telegraph, Wall Street Journal and Times Book of the Year. Here he tells us about the journey that changed him.

Which region or trip impressed you the most?

When I was 18, I spent a year backpacking through India. At that time Scotland and North Yorkshire were the limits of my vision and suddenly I was in India. It was a complete lightning strike.

The people were strange, the climate was strange, the history was fascinating but strange – but it was also very accessible. People spoke English and many things were familiar. They turned to a television and it was showing To The Manor Born.

Of course, falling in love in India is never easy. It's annoying in many ways: power outages, bureaucratic obfuscation, traffic jams, terrible monsoons, floods, but it never gets boring. It's always interesting. I fell in love and have been living in and outside Delhi ever since.

Do you still have a big dream goal that you haven't achieved?

No, not a big dream destination, but a long list of places I want to see. In the eastern half of the world, I long to see Borobudur.

I am also very interested in the Sanskritization of Southeast Asia. Around 100 B.C. In the 4th century B.C., all of these kingdoms across Southeast Asia—in what is now Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia—adopted Sanskrit and adopted Sanskrit names and mythologies. The Ramayana became their story and that was without conquest. I want to go out and write about it.

alt="Borobudur in Indonesia">Pambudi Yoga Perdana/ShutterstockBorobudur in Indonesia

Travel guide or not travel guide?

I'm a big user of advice. You can go out and make your own plans, but I think it's very important to bring a guide.

Are you a planner or a spectator?

I am a flexible planner. I have a vague idea of ​​what I want to do, but then I often get off track.

What was your most important travel experience?

My journey that became In Xanadu, hitchhiking from Jerusalem to Outer Mongolia. This includes the passage on the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan from Islamabad to Kashgar, which is now much more difficult to accomplish. It was like Cortés discovering Mexico - absolutely stunning at every stage.

I was traveling in a pickup truck with all these bearded mujahideen. These are the kind of guys you'd run miles away from or imagine they'd kidnap you, but they couldn't have been kinder or more generous. They were the most charming, friendly and hospitable hosts who got me up the highway for free.

After all, why travel?

Because it is one of the great experiences of life. It's up there with the best sex you'll have, the best meals you'll ever eat, or jumping out of a plane. No question, it is one of the most joyful things in life. It's up there with only two or three other things you can do.

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In The Anarchy, his most ambitious and compelling book to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.

Main image: Boris Stroujko/Shutterstock

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