"An utterly charming and engaging travel book that offers vivid portraits of unusual corners of Asia told by a skilled raconteur whose eyes were open wide." --Los Angeles Times Book Review Warned by a Hong Kong fortune-teller not to risk flying for an entire year Tiziano Terzani--a vastly experienced Asia correspondent--took what he called "the first step into an unknown world. . . . It turned out to be one of the most extraordinary years I have ever spent: I was marked for death and instead I was reborn." Traveling by foot boat bus car and train he visited Burma Thailand Laos Cambodia Vietnam China Mongolia Japan Indonesia Singapore and Malaysia. Geography expanded under his feet. He consulted soothsayers sorcerers and shamans and received much advice--some wise some otherwise--about his future. With time to think he learned to understand respect and fear for older ways of life and beliefs now threatened by the crasser forms of Western modernity. He rediscovered a place he had been reporting on for decades. And reinvigorated himself in the process.
