2 h 57 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when chance, work and curiosity become your route through Asia and the South Seas?
In Cheers — Buddha!, Finnish writer and traveler Sulo-Weikko Pekkola presents himself as an adventurer rather than a tourist with a fixed plan. His journey leads through the colonial world of Asia and the Pacific, where ports, trains, temples and markets form the setting for encounters along the way.
This is travel writing from between the world wars, shaped by the European empires that rule much of the region. Pekkola offers a northern traveler's view of distant places. Reading him means exploring both the world he describes and the assumptions he brings to it, especially when local people appear through an outsider's eyes.
What you’ll discover
- A route shaped by chance Follow an adventurer whose movements depend on work, curiosity and whatever comes next.
- Ports and railway journeys Enter a world where steamships, railways and port towns connect distant regions with Europe.
- Buddhist Asia in view Explore the temples, monks and Buddha images that draw European travelers' attention.
- A Finnish traveler's perspective See Asia and the Pacific through a writer who brings distant lands to Finnish readers.
- The colonial lens Notice how the attitudes of an era shape what a traveler sees and describes.
Who will love it
Readers who love travel stories told with a wink, tales of rogues, animals and bureaucrats, and a bold narrator who steps into every scene. It suits anyone curious about the 1920s world beyond Europe.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A monsoon voyage and short friendships
- India seen from a third class bench
- Singapore: crabs, accordions and officials
- Java: temples, volcanoes and trouble in town
- Snake hunting in Sumatra
- Sailing to Australia and landing in Brisbane
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- Audiobook
- 2 h 57 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Prosit – Buddha!
A Finnish forester dynamites a cobra in Sumatra and smuggles a rat through Australian customs.
Challenging2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Cheers, Buddha! is the travel record of Sulo-Weikko Pekkola, a Finnish forester and writer who died in 1931. He sets out through the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and the Dutch East Indies, and ends up in Australia in the late 1920s.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A monsoon voyage and short friendships
The book opens in Basra, where the author boards the mail steamer Warsaw. He had hoped to cross to India by land, but unrest in Baluchistan and the summer heat make the sea route the sensible choice. He is glad of a cabin and a bathtub after a month in dust and Arab desert towns.
His cabin mates are two Indian officers, a major and an adjutant, who spend almost the whole voyage asleep. The adjutant owns five turbans and tries them on in the mirror. He also pesters the author for a photograph, and when the plate is empty he asks every day about the picture. Deck passengers cook on stoves, sleep on camp beds and leave scraps on the planks.
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What is Cheers, Buddha! about?
It tells of a Finnish forester travelling through Iraq, India, Singapore, Java, Sumatra and Australia in the late 1920s. The book is a series of lively scenes, from monsoon seas and railway journeys to snake hunting and customs inspections.
Who wrote Cheers, Buddha! and when?
Sulo-Weikko Pekkola, a Finnish forester and writer who died in 1931. He wrote about a journey he made in the late 1920s, and he describes it in his own plain, jokey voice.
Is Cheers, Buddha! a true story?
It is a travel memoir based on the author's own journey, with real places and events. Like many travel writers of his day, he tells his stories with exaggeration and humour, so his tone is playful.
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