In his 80th year, esteemed travel writer Thubron travelled 3000 miles along the Amur River from Mongolia to the Okhotsk Sea. For most of its length the river forms the often disputed border between Russia and China, and Thubron criss crosses the border regularly on his journey on horseback, hitchhiking, by boat, train and bus; all the while talking with locals in his revived Russian and Mandarin, surviving injury and arrest. The book casts a fascinating light on the tension and hostility in this contested border region, and gives the background to both countries territorial claims against the other, going back centuries. Thubron is a brilliant writer, in this book feeling his age, and reports with humanity and compassion on the locals, both Chinese and Russian, and their cruel treatment by the leadership of both nations. It's fascinating at a time when Russia's invasion of Ukraine appears to have the tacit support of the Chinese regime, to read the history of their relationship, and the centuries of distrust between them.