A friend of mine brought me this book from Taipei early this year. I was eager to read it in a leisurely manner, for I know Murakami’s travel essays are still very good. The Chinese version of What is there in Laos? was translated by Mingzhu Lai. For me, it is a great pleasure to read Traditional Chinese arranged vertically from right to left. Although it is a Japanese-styled expression, I often find refuge in Japanese- and Murakami-styled Chinese-language written by Lai.
According to Murakami Haruki, Laos is a country where everybody slows down everything. Even dogs have a lot of free time for a siesta in temples. Travellers who wish to save money enjoy their time a lot in Laos, whose cuisines fall between Thai and Vietnamese dishes in terms of taste. And the price is cheap.
The book also included Murakami’s stories of visiting Mykonos and Spetses in Greece. Mykonos was the place where Murakami wrote the first chapters of Norwegian Wood, and I guess his super fans would love to visit the place. Other essays introduced Iceland, Finland, Italy, New York and Kumamoto Prefecture of Japan.
I find essays on his experiences of travelling and living in Boston, Portland of Oregon, and Portland of Maine to be more interesting. ‘When I make more money I would also love to travel in the United States’ was my idea when I was reading these stories. It must be quite a good experience to travel in US while working on translation and copywriting projects at the same time. And of course, to always go for a jog in the evening.
今年初友人從臺北帶這本書回來給我，我就迫不急待讀個痛快，因為我知道村上的遊記還是值得一讀的。這本《你說，寮國到底有什麼？》也是由賴明珠翻譯，一部直排正體中文右邊至左邊排版的書拿在手上細讀，當然是一大樂事。賴明珠筆下的「村上式的日式氛圍中文」是我的救贖，哪怕那是日式風味的中文。
村上描述的寮國就是一個凡事都放慢腳步的國家，是一個「…寺裡經常有兩三隻大狗莫名所以地呼呼睡著午覺。狗似乎也時間太多的樣子」的國家。他也提到寮國菜介乎泰國菜、越南菜之間，而且消費便宜，可以讓想省錢的旅客好好享受旅行時光。
書寫歐洲之旅的篇章涵蓋了希臘的米克諾斯島、斯佩察島。米克諾斯島是村上寫《挪威的森林》最初幾章的地方，超級村上迷可能會有興趣拜訪那個地方。另外還有一些篇章介紹冰島、芬蘭、義大利，還有紐約和日本熊本縣。我一向來對歐洲沒有興趣，所以讀了還是無甚印象，只是覺得村上找地方寫小說的經驗值得參考。
我覺得比較有趣的篇章包括波士頓、奧勒岡州波特蘭、緬因州波特蘭，心裡也會想著「哪一天賺到錢應該到美國走一走」。若到了美國，一邊做翻譯、寫文案，黃昏時分跑步，應該也是相當不錯的經驗。