2002, May 3rd: we've just left back the door of our home in Milan. Less than eight months have passed since the terrorist attack against the Twin Towers in NY; China is just on the run towards the economic world leading quest; American troops have just invaded Afghanistan; Maoist rebels control most of Nepali land; India and Pakistan atomic escalation is at its own top; Pakistan is facing with the refugees emergency coming from Afghanistan and lot of terroristic internal attacks; the former old Soviet Republics, now new States born from the USSR implosion, are a XXI century far-west where laws and official borders are mainly ruled by the local corrupted police, army and absurd bureaucracy.
Within most of these countries tourism is formally set to zero, due the world events.

In this global stage, on that early spring afternoon, we were about to take a train in Milan, heading to Moscow.

Our six months wandering across Asia will take us from the Transiberian highway to the Mongolian steppes, from Gobi desert to the Great Wall, from Tibet to Everest base camp and then going through Himalaya. And then, Nepal and India, from Taj Mahal to mythical Karakoram Highway, from the legendary oasis of Kashgar to wonderful Samarqand and the impenetrable former-USSR republics in Central Asia, and then down, to Iran and the Middle East, and finally back home crossing Eastern Europe. Deserts, mountains, infinite steppes. The highest peaks on Earth and the largest sand planes of the planet. The big capitals of the East, lonely villages along the Silk Road, nomad camps populated by Chinggis Khan descendants.
And the closed echoes from surrounding wars will come with us all the way long, forcing us toward a hard decision.

REVIEWS:
Corriere.it, July 2009
Venerdì di Repubblica, July 31, 2009
Terra, September 8, 2009
Il Cittadino di Monza e Brianza, October 15, 2009 (with an interview to Carlo)
Mangialibri.com, November 2009
Maire Claire Maison, November 2009