When Pico Iyer began his travels, he wanted to know how Rambo conquered Asia. Why did Dire Straits blast out over Hiroshima, Bruce Springsteen over Bali and Madonna over all? If he was eager to learn where East meets West, how pop culture and imperialism penetrated through the world's most ancient civilisations, then the truths he began to uncover were more startling, more subtle, more complex then he ever anticipated. Who was hustling whom? When did this pursuit of illusions and vested interests, with its curious mix of innocence and calculation, turn from confrontation into the mating dance? From Bali to Tibet, Nepal to China, to travel with Iyer is to experience the seductions and ironies of today's Asian cultures - and our own.
