Book excerpt: In "So Long! I'll Be Back in 30 Years", author Margo McCutcheon takes readers on a 30-year journey through Asia and an array of unique characters, adventures, disasters and life-changing encounters. Open the book randomly and step into the life of a Filipino girl living and thriving in a city garbage dump, an Aussie retiree dwelling in a Sinai desert cave, a 50-something married American woman living in Malaysia who discovers she's gay, and a colourful assortment of locals and expatriates calling Asia home. Join the author as she and the other characters you read about experience life in remote places from Bangladesh to Borneo, cheat death in the Himalayas, encounter high living on the international aid circuit, and survive landslides, tsunamis and more. The stories, many previously published in newspapers, include some controversial pieces. Touting Singapore's political system and dispelling misconceptions about the country, the author writes: "What's the world's third richest country? France? Nope. Russia? Nope. Brazil? Nope. Answer: Singapore ... which is not the dull, authoritarian place it's sometimes made out to be, but a dazzling model of what a country can be under dedicated leadership." Part-memoir, part-mishap and adventure, this book, featuring more than 20 colour photographs taken by the author, places readers directly into situations celebrating the weird and wonderful that is Asia.