Thanks for the good words :) As a travelogue, that might be fine, although it's not a travel diary, but more like memoirs, with a lot of interludes, sometimes only loosely connected with the travel. Also I wouldn't say that the author himself changes his mind and views, I see it more as an occasion for the reader to confront his own views with the author's, especially for the strong leftists (the author is conservatist, traditionalist and anticommunist, but I wouldn't say, that an extreme case ;) )