2 h 57 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 2 h 57 minPaperback · 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
You will enjoy this if you love travel tales told with humour, from one honest eyewitness. It suits readers who like ships, trains, jungle trails and colonial Asia.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A traveller talks his way through
- India unsettles his first expectations
- The observer can misunderstand the scene
- Singapore rewards asking the right person
- Java rewards a closer look
- Business reveals another struggle for power
- Snake hunting mixes danger with farce
- The voyage south becomes another comedy
- The storyteller deserves a second look
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Cheers — Buddha! in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Cheers — Buddha!
A Finnish traveller crosses Asia toward Queensland with a typewriter and knife, catching snakes along the way.
Challenging2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What does a Finnish forester do when he reaches the Indian coast with a knife, a camera and a typewriter, and no gun? He talks his way through.
Cheers — Buddha! at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 40 min2 h 5 min fast, 3 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 37,700 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The sea route to India brings first friends
Pekkola had planned to enter India by land. But unrest in Baluchistan made that road unsafe, and officials in Iraq warned that a gun permit would probably be denied. The summer heat and the cost of an armed escort settled the matter. He took the sea route and never regretted it, since friends come quickly at sea.
In Basra he boards the mail steamer Warsaw. After a month of desert dust, a cabin and a bath of cold salt water feel like paradise. He shares the cabin with a gentle Indian major and his adjutant, who sleep through most of the voyage. The adjutant also pesters Pekkola for a photograph. To end the nagging, Pekkola clicks the shutter on an empty plate holder, and for seven days the man asks when his picture will come.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 1 h 55 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Pekkola, Sulo-Weikko. Cheers — Buddha! Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/cheers-buddha.
Pekkola, S.-W. (2026). Cheers — Buddha! Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/cheers-buddha
Pekkola, Sulo-Weikko. Cheers — Buddha! Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/cheers-buddha.
@book{pekkola2026cheers,
author = {Pekkola, Sulo-Weikko},
title = {Cheers — Buddha!},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/cheers-buddha}
}
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What is Cheers, Buddha! about?
It is a travel memoir by Finnish adventurer Sulo-Weikko Pekkola. He journeys from Basra to India, Singapore, Java, Sumatra and Australia in the 1920s, telling comic and sharp stories about ships, trains, hotels, jungles and the colonial world.
Who was Sulo-Weikko Pekkola?
Pekkola was a Finnish forester and traveller who died in 1931. He wrote of his own travels with humour and plain detail, and he often mentions his forestry background, his typewriter and his camera.
Is Cheers, Buddha! a true story?
Yes, it is presented as a true travel account, drawn from Pekkola's own journey and diary. It has the tone of a storyteller, with jokes and exaggeration, but names real places, prices, dates and people along the route.
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