The Hotel on the Roof of the World cover art

The Hotel on the Roof of the World

Five Years in Tibet

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The Hotel on the Roof of the World

By: Alec Le Sueur
Narrated by: Steven Kynman
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About this listen

The very aptly named Mr Pong had the kind of breath that could stun at over 10 feet.… This wasn’t just bad - there was something rotten down there. Something had crawled in and died. Gunter howled with laughter as he saw the look of horror on my face. It was the best entertainment he had seen since he had watched Chef chasing yaks through the kitchens.

Few foreigners are lucky enough to set foot on Tibetan soil, but Alec Le Sueur spent five extraordinary years there, working in the unlikeliest Holiday Inn in the world. Against the breathtaking beauty of the Himalayas unfolds a highly amusing and enlightening account of his experiences. Fly infestations at state banquets, unexpected deliveries of live snakes, a predominance of yaks and everything yak-related, the unbelievable Miss Tibet competition, insurmountable communication problems and a dead guest are just some of the entertainments to be found at the Fawlty Towers of Lhasa.

Le Sueur, the only Westerner since the days of Heinrich Harrer to spend so long in Tibet, examines the country’s intriguing cultural background, providing a fascinating insight into a country that was only just opening up to the outside world.

©2003 Alec Le Sueur (P)2013 Audible Ltd Funny Witty Thought-Provoking Inspiring

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Critic reviews

“...offers lucid details about living in a place that westerners tend to misunderstand.” (Time Magazine)
“An hillarious account of a clash of cultures...a comparison with Fawlty Towers is inevitable, but this is funnier.” (Mail on Sunday)
“Imagine moving Faulty Towers from Torquay to Tibet...Le Sueur has distilled five years of real anecdotes into one hilarious volume...unbelievably true.” (Focus Magazine)
All stars
Most relevant  
An interesting, amusing story with an easy to listen to narrator. An unusual insight into Tibet.

Fun story with interesting historical context

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Amazing story, very humorous and well read!
Really recommend this audiobook if you want to hear about day to day life in Lhasa from a foreigner.

Fantastic book!

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Fantastic book! I laughed out loud so many times, causing weird looks in the middle of a train or street. The narration is superb! And it’s extremely well written.

The funniest book I’ve listened to

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What made the experience of listening to The Hotel on the Roof of the World the most enjoyable?

The story is brilliant, the narrator gave the book a perfect flippancy and captured the situation perfectly. I have listened to this book several times and is performance is the best of any audiobook.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Hotel on the Roof of the World?

The description of the Chinese airline and the onboard magazine made me laugh out loud.

Have you listened to any of Steven Kynman’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I haven't unfortunately

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

They make running a hotel look easy...

Any additional comments?

Funny and thoughtful. I felt like I was there with him and shared in his experience. Can't recommend highly enough.

The best audiobook I have listened to

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Such a brilliant book and it’s nice to have a narrator without an annoying voice!

A fantastic mix of humour, history and great insight into this unlikely hotel. It is one of my favourite books ever. If read this before when I came across a paperback in India, but listening to it has been even better. Brilliant accents and good descriptions with correct pronunciations for the Tibetan villages and historic landmarks have made this even more enjoyable.

I’ll never forget sky burials, Himalayan hamsters and the hard yak cafe!

A must read for all. Especially those wanting a humorous, yet sensitive and informative adventure. I just wish there was an audiobook version of Alec’s Belgian adventures too.

Not to be missed!

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A glorious book, witty , observant and poignant about a Tibet we will never see again and read marvellously by an enthusiastic actor who brilliantly captures the cast of the hotel and the story of à young man catapulted into an extraordinary part of the world at a period in history both appalling, and fascinating. There is so much to love and of course so very much to regret. Long live Free Tibet

Glorious

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It was a decent book. I've never visited this part of the world, so it was fun from a point of view of someone having spent time there and reliving their experience.

Roof of the world...

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I really enjoyed this book. The author recounts his experience in Tibet working for Holiday Inn in the late 1980s/early 1990s - I had no idea that Holiday Inn had been in Tibet! It provides interesting insights into setting up and running a hotel in which a company with a very clear policy on how things should be done based on Western ideas tries to introduce them into a country with a very different set of ideas about how to do things. The author also describes his trips to the countryside and how Tibet was changing under the Chinese. The author is very sympathetic to the Tibetans and the situation they find themselves in - yet he honestly admits that he is not a historian nor a detailed understanding of the politics nor know a lot about Bhudism - nevertheless I think that's possibly a strength of the book. I'm pleased to see that the author has written another book which is about his adopted country - Belgium - which I will look out for.
The narrator is also easy to listen to.

Sympathetic view of Tibet - despite culture clash

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There are very few books that actually make you chuckle out loud, and this was one of them. It was both fascinating and comical at the same time and interesting from a political point of view as well - a wonderful insight into a country we know little about.

A hoot!

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Would you consider the audio edition of The Hotel on the Roof of the World to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version but always feel that a well read audio book stirs both the left and right side of the brain ... therefore making it way more alive and valuable. It's a hard person to find who doesn't enjoy a book being read to them! This book is very well read with great impersonations. I'll definitely listen to it a few times over.

What other book might you compare The Hotel on the Roof of the World to, and why?

It stands alone but if I had to compare it to a variety of travel books - or even books in the humurous category - I'd say it would come out tops.

What about Steven Kynman’s performance did you like?

His impersonations were excellent. He brings the characters to life with ease.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed quite a few times, and felt their frustrations a few times too.

Any additional comments?

Excellent book. Well worth listening to ... especially for travel readers who like to be taken to a lesser-known corner of the earth.

Imperfect people living interesting lives

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