Genre: Travelogue, as above. Also a memoir, thus suggesting a more reflective tone to the writing than in Polo/goat. Zeppa visits a remote country and tries to giver some perspective to her travels.
Voice: Objective 1st person. Able to communicate a sense of awe and an eye for detail, however small (biscuits). Mixes information with description of the travels.
Purpose: To present a narrative of the travels of the journalist and also to share her impressions of the countries she visits.
Structure:
1: Awe inspiring description of the mountains to set the scene, before each subsequent description moves into closer focus.
2: The capital
3: Breakfast and the people on the trip. We learn that Zeppa is not an experienced traveller
4: Street life, with humour in the description of the policemen and a surprise in the degree of westernisation evident
5: The parliament and the people, used to explore the peace-loving nature of the Butanese – ‘dignity, unselfconsciousness…’
6: The history of the country in which it is clearly portrayed as different to other countries later absorbed into empire. Place-names and the gentle humiliation of an envoy from London help to establish a sense of ‘otherness’.
7: Reflection: She is impressed by what she sees – ‘full of admiration’.