Travelogues of Early Buddhism

I am looking for the oldest descriptions by ‘outsiders’ of the lived reality of Early Buddhism - ideally pilgrims, visitors, invaders, etc.

I am aware of the three Chinese pilgrims Faxian (4th century), Xuanzang (7th), Yijing (7th).

And then we have early Greek reports through Megasthenes, not specifically in the Buddhist land, but still ancient India.

Are there other reports I am not aware of?

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Polo’s travels through Asia between 1271 and 1295, and his experiences at the court of Kublai Khan.
[The Travels of Marco Polo](The Travels of Marco Polo https://g.co/kgs/39zkuL)
I wonder why there is no year mentioned in the date in old posts.

Though it’s perhaps rather later than the period that interests you, there’s an interesting account by Upāsaka Chos-dar of the travels of the Tibetan pilgrim Dharmasvāmin, beginning in 1234. There’s an English translation by George Roerich.

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  • Hyecho (혜초) [8th century CE] from Silla, Korea, wrote his travelogue 往五天竺國傳 (Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Kingdoms of India) in classical Chinese. There’s a transl. named ‘Hye Ch’O Diary: Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Regions of India’ published by Asian Humanities Press and Jain Publishing company. That is also a useful account, by a Korean Buddhist bhikṣu, who studied in China, and then later journeyed to India. He doesn’t talk elaborately on the prevailing Buddhist practices though, in comparison to the travelogues of Yijing, Faxian and Xuanzang.
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