Eastward To Tartary

I got Robert Kaplan's Eastward To Tartary for Father's Day and have just started it. I liked his earlier Balkan Ghosts, which I may reread. But what caught me right away was Kaplan's start of his journey: Budapest, February 1998. Exactly when I went for the first time, and it is interesting to read him describing the things I saw. He is, as you may guess, not only a better writer but a better observer than I.