Pilgrimage: Tales from the Open Road

By Patrick Pfister

There is no frigate like this book to take the reader away to distant lands. In Penang, in Athens, in rural Germany and in the Himalayas, these nonfiction narratives always involve people as well as landscapes; giving the reader a strong sense of place and customs as well as striking insights into human behavior. Always traveling on the cheap, Pfister uses a variety of conveyances--trains, bicycles, rickshaws. He visits Southeast Asia where he takes part in the Buddhist festival of "Hungry Ghosts"--spirit creatures reincarnated because of unholy greed whose unsettling presence forces sinners to face up to their own desires. In a farming village in rural Germany, he shares the painful, yet loving lives of a very special family. Pfister introduces us to a wide variety of interesting characters.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0897334728
• ISBN13: 9780897334723
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A Journey Starts with that first step...

More than just a travel book, these Journeys take us into the territory of what it means to be human.Pfister at his best makes you wish you could have been there with him... and met those people whose lives have touched his.But he also dares achieve something few other travel books risk. He is quite willing to put you off going somewhere for ever. I crossed Morocco off my personal list of dream trips after reading Patrick's section on that country.I hear rumours of Volume Two.... and look forward to learning more about this born traveller's particular inner and outer travels.