expedition prose
Dichroa. Diaries of Tibetan Wanderings
Maxim PrivezentsevAbout the book
The story of the 2019 expedition retracing the route of Russian traveler Gombojab Tsybikov into early-20th-century Tibet. How Tibet has changed over 120 years — and how its perception by others has shifted.
Who it's for
For lovers of the East, of expeditions, and of reflection on life and death.
Contents
- 01Prologue. September 2019. The St. Petersburg Library of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts. Darina. The House on the Moika. AndreiFree sample
- 02January–April 1900. Kumbum Monastery. The Prophecy of Lonpo Chökyong
- 03September 28–29, 2019. Flight to Tibet. Lhasa. Meeting the Group. Altitude Sickness…
- 04February 1900. Labrang Monastery. New Prophecies
- 05September 30 – October 1, 2019. Potala Palace. Barkhor Market. A Yogin from Drak Yerpa Monastery
- 06Summer of 1900. The Road to Lhasa. Bandit Attack. Cheshoe and Yeshe
- 07October 2–3, 2019. The Road to Basong Tso. Accident at Maya Pass. Drone Trouble. Nangtri
- 08August 1900 – January 1901. Arrival in Lhasa. First Impressions. Tinjol. Glad Tidings from Dashi
- 09October 4, 2019. On the Way to Gyantse. Conversations with Greenberg About Photography. A Broken Phone. Tea
- 10February 1901. The Potala. An Audience with the Dalai Lama. The Promise
- 11October 5, 2019. The Drunkard. Conversations with Greenberg about Life and Death. Tsuseng and Hopes for Dichroa.
- 12July 1901. Illness. A Night's Lodging on the Road and Another Mention of Dichroa. Ebra Monastery. Farewell to Iondan
- 136–7 October 2019. Samye Monastery. Insurance Woes. Forced Return to Lhasa. Minus Two
- 14July 1901. Brebun and Sera Monasteries. Ampil. Dikhroya
- 15October 8, 2019. The Difficult Road to Yamdrok Tso. Tsybikov Pass. The Lama's Accident. Pyatigorsky
- 16August 1901. Apathy. A Corpse in the River. A Short Visit to Zetan
- 17October 9, 2019. Pelkor Chöde. Shigatse. Tashilhunpo Monastery. Thangka Artists and a Book on Tibetan Medicine. Dreams of Tibet
- 18August 1901. Return to Lhasa. Preparations for the Journey Home. Yondan's Debt
- 19October 10, 2019. Prophetic Dream. "Pepsi". Exercises at the Pass. Damxung. Conversations with Greenberg on the Quantum Computer. "Tibetan Verse"
- 20September 1901. The Road to Kyakhta. Another Bandit Attack. Death of Servants. Memories of Tinjol
- 21October 11, 2019. Namtso Lake. Hermit Monk. New Hope to Find Dichroa
- 22September 1930. Aginskoye Datsan Hospital. The Last Meeting with Ampil. The Missing Head
- 23October 12, 2019. Dikhroy. Gabala
Founder's Pass
Lifetime access to all current and future books, audio, and early access.
What to read next

Lighthouses of Sakhalin
Not a travelogue and not field notes. The book fuses autofiction, expedition documentary, and philosophical prose. The lighthouses become living characters; memory flares in personal recollection, where the myth of the Blue Bear sounds beside the voice of Bronisław Piłsudski and the living voices of the crew.

The Smoke Merchant
The history of tobacco, told through the tangled relationship of Albrecht Dürer and Christopher Columbus, is woven into a detective plot set in Nicaragua, 2024, during the thirteenth wave of the pandemic — as a nightmarish past catches up with the Spanish cigar seller Luis Sánchez.

Pontograph
Amid the intricate nuances of the modern world unfolds a story where authenticity and artifice subtly intertwine, leading us through an endless carnival of reinterpretation. Names, places, and escapades play their whimsical roles, enchanting us like jesters in the grand play of life.

Dervishes on Motorcycles. Caspian Nomads
A novel based on Maxim Privezentsev's travel notes from his 2017 motorcycle journey around the Caspian Sea. One of its storylines draws on the famous 1933 Moscow–Kara-Kum–Moscow automobile rally, in particular the diaries of its participant Boris Semevsky.
