Review-Naked ( Stranded )in Dangerous Places by Cash Peters
Posted: 04 Oct 2012, 15:28
When Cash Peters,hitherto radio journalist,author and handwriting analyst,was asked to come up with an original idea for a travel show,little did he think that he was to be the host and that it would involve him in an extremely gruelling schedule,completing thirty two episodes in just over a year,travelling across the globe to places as varied as Vanuatu, Dubai and Cambodia,just a few days in each place before jetting off to the next, usually via Madrid,that being the cheapest route,he remarks.
Not only does he have the punishing schedule to contend with ,but also his many allergies and phobias, which are constantly being challenged.
This book is the very funny and entertaining account of the filming of the TV series Stranded With Cash Peters in which the host has to appear to arrive in various places all alone and lost( which,of course he isn't,having a camera crew in tow) and without money,thus dependent on the kindness of the natives for food and a bed for the night.
As ever Cash Peters tells it like it is, with unfailing honesty, great insight,sensitivity- and of course humour.
The brief background to each of the places visited gives just the right amount of information to put it into context.
The action begins in Vanuatu " No-one has a clue where Vanuatu is.In that respect it's a lot like the human spleen"
Here he gets to meet a tribal chief, climb an active volcano and drink the local knock out brew- kava.
Then to Lesbos, described from above as "Male-pattern-baldness shaped,like a horseshoe"He remarks that" the islanders dislike being referred to as Lesbians.Particularly the men for some reason."
On to New Zealand where he gamely resists the temptation to partake in bungee jumping!Then in Cambodia he gets to sleep in a Buddhist stupa and spend time with the monks. Morocco brings with it a bout of food poisonong, cured with a handful of cumin powder bought in a souk where "The atmosphere--------- is dark and menacing.Spears of dust -speckled sunlight,bursting through broken slats in the roof ,hack the polluted air into slices,guiding our feet to a crossroads."
One by one the original camera crew members begin to drop out , leaving the author to battle on- pausing somewhere between Alaska and Kenya to have his gallbladder removed- probably a result of the muttuk and other such dubious delicacies sampled on route!
In Alaska we see him dogsledding,searching in vain for the Northern Lights and ,to his consternation, getting rather too close too to Polar bears.Kenya on the other hand brings a chance to sleep in a dung hut surrounded by the sounds of the jungle,having been told there are maneating lions at large.He is shown how to identify animals by their dung by a tribesman to whom he refers as "the poofessor"!
More than just a travel book, much attention also focuses on the behind the scenes activity, the authors relationship with the crew members, as feeling left to his own devices he tries to"yoko his way into their beatles",the reaction of the producers back in LA and that of viewers after the first episodes go on air.
The whole account is populated with very real chracters ,each of the crew members, and the many diverse and memorable people he meets along the way.
A very different kind of travel writing , I highly recommend this book.
The reason for the brackets in my heading-- The book was published in the US under the title Naked in Dangerous Places while in the UK for some reason," Naked "was replaced by "Stranded."
Not only does he have the punishing schedule to contend with ,but also his many allergies and phobias, which are constantly being challenged.
This book is the very funny and entertaining account of the filming of the TV series Stranded With Cash Peters in which the host has to appear to arrive in various places all alone and lost( which,of course he isn't,having a camera crew in tow) and without money,thus dependent on the kindness of the natives for food and a bed for the night.
As ever Cash Peters tells it like it is, with unfailing honesty, great insight,sensitivity- and of course humour.
The brief background to each of the places visited gives just the right amount of information to put it into context.
The action begins in Vanuatu " No-one has a clue where Vanuatu is.In that respect it's a lot like the human spleen"
Here he gets to meet a tribal chief, climb an active volcano and drink the local knock out brew- kava.
Then to Lesbos, described from above as "Male-pattern-baldness shaped,like a horseshoe"He remarks that" the islanders dislike being referred to as Lesbians.Particularly the men for some reason."
On to New Zealand where he gamely resists the temptation to partake in bungee jumping!Then in Cambodia he gets to sleep in a Buddhist stupa and spend time with the monks. Morocco brings with it a bout of food poisonong, cured with a handful of cumin powder bought in a souk where "The atmosphere--------- is dark and menacing.Spears of dust -speckled sunlight,bursting through broken slats in the roof ,hack the polluted air into slices,guiding our feet to a crossroads."
One by one the original camera crew members begin to drop out , leaving the author to battle on- pausing somewhere between Alaska and Kenya to have his gallbladder removed- probably a result of the muttuk and other such dubious delicacies sampled on route!
In Alaska we see him dogsledding,searching in vain for the Northern Lights and ,to his consternation, getting rather too close too to Polar bears.Kenya on the other hand brings a chance to sleep in a dung hut surrounded by the sounds of the jungle,having been told there are maneating lions at large.He is shown how to identify animals by their dung by a tribesman to whom he refers as "the poofessor"!
More than just a travel book, much attention also focuses on the behind the scenes activity, the authors relationship with the crew members, as feeling left to his own devices he tries to"yoko his way into their beatles",the reaction of the producers back in LA and that of viewers after the first episodes go on air.
The whole account is populated with very real chracters ,each of the crew members, and the many diverse and memorable people he meets along the way.
A very different kind of travel writing , I highly recommend this book.
The reason for the brackets in my heading-- The book was published in the US under the title Naked in Dangerous Places while in the UK for some reason," Naked "was replaced by "Stranded."