After seeing the tragedies of the world protected by the steel of warships, on which he served, Navy Officer Gaetano Appeso decides to put a backpack on his shoulders and cross Southeast Asia alone, land of wonders and misfortune, recording the entire experience down in a notebook. From big cities to indigenous tribes living in the hinterland, the author collects dozens of fascinating and bizzarre stories told by the people he met along the way, convinced that the reality of a territory can be told through the voice of the people who live there and through their life experiences.