“They said travel has seven benefits, but we never knew what they are, nor who said that quote. But this book is a chance for you, my reader, to know them.”
With this introduction, writer Charl Foa’ad began his latest book “Ibn Foa’ad Trips In Describing Countries and People”, in which he describes some of the countries he visited.
In the book, Foa’ad draws several scenes in five of the countries he had the chance to visit for the reader, their atmosphere, history, the way locals live, the local food and famous neighbourhoods.
“This is the first modern book in the section of travel literature,” Foa’ad said. “This type of writing is very difficult yet very unique.”
In the first chapter of the book, the author describes an interview he had with the personal guard of Osama Bin Laden in Yemen. He focused on drawing the simplest details of the country, its fame for the handmade daggers market, “The Melh”, the most famous tourist place in Yemen, and the precious jewellery sold extremely cheaply there.
“I want the reader to see the places through my eyes, to know the places even if they hadn’t had the chance to go there,” Foa’ad added.
During the book, the author described the “breath taking beauty” of Singapore, the “greenish colour” of Tunisia, the whiteness of snow that usually cover all of Switzerland, and work conditions in Kuwait.
The book is the first of a series to be published in the near future, as Foa’ad plans to write about every country he went to. “I travelled around almost three quarters of the world, and I plan to write about them all,” he said.
Foa’ad explained how he came to the decision of writing about the book after visiting a number of countries, following the footsteps of Anis Mansour in his book “Around the World in 200 Days”.
Speaking on the challenges facing travel literature, Foa’ad expressed his concerns about the changes in the world.
“Now, anyone can know anything about any country with a click of a button on the Internet. That was quite a challenge to overcome while writing,” he said.
Readers get to see pictures of different places through the internet, but they don’t get to read about it through someone else’s eyes, according to Foa’ad.
Yet he assured that the nature of a book reader differs from what the Internet user will experience, and that was the reason that kept him going with the book.
The countries mentioned in the book are in three of the seven continents, to add a taste of uniqueness and colours for the reader, according to Foa’ad.
The book was released earlier this month and there are plans to publish the second part of the series by the end of the year that will describe five additional countries visited.
The book is sold for EGP 40, in several bookstores around Egypt.
