Long Way Round
Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman (with Robert Uhlig)
Time Warner books $275
We've all dreamed about making a romantic journey across continents. Actors McGregor and Boorman got off their backsides and did it, albeit with some distinctly unromantic concessions.
Long Way Round chronicles the preparation and adventure of their round-the-world expedition, starting in London, heading east through Europe, Central Asia, Russia and Mongolia, and then from Alaska to New York.
After ploughing through thousands of kilometres of mud, gravel and rivers on non-existent roads across Asia, McGregor and Boorman reached their main target of Magadan in Mongolia. It says something about the relative hardships of their journey that of the 304 pages of the story, 273 are devoted to Europe and Asia. The book's focus makes sense. After bribing Russian police, dining with gangsters in Ukraine and managing only 40km a day in parts of Mongolia, descriptions of riding perfect blacktop across a country with roadside diners where everyone speaks English might lack drama.
McGregor in particular was entranced by Mongolia, the friendliness of its people - a stream of truck drivers always ready to help ford rivers, a ger on the horizon always full of food and good cheer.