The five authors are genuinely intrepid travellers who know the region well. Their activities, ranging from motorbiking through Northern Thailand, to taking a slowboat up the Mekong river, are graded according to a challenge rating ranging from 1-5; only the seriously fit adventurer would want to undertake the most difficult journeys. The photographs throughout the book are exquisite, and convey the dramatic beauty of the region and its peoples. Each trip is chronicled via personal narrative, which brings warmth and authenticity to the text. The descriptions of white water rafting in northern Sumatra, following the headhunters' trail in Sarawak, or trekking to the northern hill tribes of Thailand, bring mountains, rivers and ancient ruins alive, and made this reviewer long to see what lies beyond the tourist enclaves.--Philippa West