The rainbow bridge Book

A long-read if ever there was one, and I enjoyed every minute and every mile.

For readers of travel literature there will always be favorite writers.

Some use a flowering language, making every sound and smell enjoyable - and in some cases not - to the reader, some are matter-of-factly in every sense of the word and some are spinning tales and elaborating on myths and hear-say they come across on their way.

However, the best travel writers are the ones without prejudice and the ones who are ready to admit to it when things en-route are difficult and challenging.

Peter Fleming is it all, he meticulously narrates from the seven months and about 3,500 miles long journey through Central Asia, leaving very little out of the tale, and when, mostly when he finds it a repetition or boring.
Compared to many of his contemporaries he is wonderfully openminded and very little damaged from the colonial mindset you will encounter when reading e.g. Evelyn Waugh and his relationship with and attitude towards the many different people he meet on his way is never based on a feeling of superiority in any way but only the immediate interaction between human beings.