**spoiler alert** This book sparked my interest for travelling to the North Far East region of Asia especially along the border with Russia.
Erika does**spoiler alert** This book sparked my interest for travelling to the North Far East region of Asia especially along the border with Russia.
Erika does a terrific job adding geopolitic facts regarding the relationships of Russia with its neighbouring countries across the centuries.
I loved the chapter about the region of Manciuria and its uneasy history with both Japan and Russia.
Probably the most interesting was the Chinesse city of Harbin , city build mostly underground in case the nuclear holocaust would start , a city where one could spend its entire day underground and not see the light of day , also the city where japoanese had done Mengele-style experiment just before WW2.
I definetly want to visit the chinese far west province of Xianjiang , the home of Uighurs, turcik people getting discriminated and sent to concentration camps and their resistance via muslim apartenence.
I also enjoyed Erika-s journey in Kazakhstan , i understood the intricate ethnic composition of the population (russian minority in the north and Kazakh in the south) hence the leader moved the capital from Almaty to Astana to better oversee the russians. Also important sites like the Russian cosmodrome of Baikonur where Yuri Gagarin took off an Sputnik satelites made history.
I now have a more clear understanding of which regions are populated by turcik ethnical groups and where do the chinese start.
The Caucasus chapter was incredible , Georgia's fight and resistance against Russia , and how its border gets moved by a few meters everyday in the province of Abkhazia, or how Suhumi was a leader worldwide in medicine , having thousands of monkeys for testing. Armenia is also covered with its Nagorno Karabakh troubles
Ukraine is covered very well including the Donbass region (from both Russian and Ukrainian side).
The baltics were impresive , especially Lithuania and the utopia that the russians in Latvia are living.
Another very interesting part of the book was Finland complex history with Russia and also with Germany right before and during WW2. Being first under swedish rule , then its borders moved around , fighting Russia , then declaring itself friend of Russia.
A well made book full of juicy details, plenty of dialogues with the locals around the main subject of the book : how do you view Russia, how has Russia shaped your mentality and how has Russia influenced the state of affairs of your country along the centuries.
Its really incredible and many times shizophrenic how Russia's former subjects see its former big daddy.
Wonderdul book, well researched, i recommend it wholeheartedly !...more
While this is a good intro for people starting off i felt the title was misleading. Its not about what i thought: vagabonding in the real sense of whaWhile this is a good intro for people starting off i felt the title was misleading. Its not about what i thought: vagabonding in the real sense of what Jack Kerouac was doing , hitting the no money and sleeping under bridges , hitchhiking and basically being a hobo from time to time. This bokk is about travel , but its about mild travelling , there are enough suggestions on how to spare money and keep yourself on the road i didn't actually find that raw-ness that i was expecting. Thia being said there are some good advices on how to keep yourself busy on the road , avoid homesickness and sickness in general , how to behave with locals etc ( anyone lacking common sense or significant travel experience into more exotic-read dangerous places- would find this highly constructive).
A decent book , but not what i was looking for....more
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