This is a great book. I recently bought this to read again but I got swept up in a spontaneous book review to a friend and I got so overwhelmed that I lent it before reading it. Unfortunately said friend then moved to New Zealand. I kinda don't mind the idea that my books (I do feel ownership over them) are traveling round the globe making people happy and this book is after all a travel book. The author Tiziano Terzani consults a fortune teller who warns him not to fly for a whole year. Skeptical but up for a challenge he spends a year traveling South East Asia by foot, boat, bus, car and whatever mode of movement he can find. Being the Asia correspondent for Der Spiegel makes this a particular challenge. It is part travel adventure, political satire and philosophical mediation. Time to buy it for the third time.