For 7 months Karin Muller traversed Vietnam and reveals honestly and humorously, the culture, pace, land, scents, problems, and beauties of Vietnam.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
For seven months Karin Muller traversed Vietnam--sometimes by motorbike, often by foot--covering 6,400 miles from the Mekong Delta to the Chinese border. Along the way she survives 52 motorbike breakdowns, 14 arrests, and one awful bout with scurvy. She plants rice with farmers, saves a few leopard cubs from the black market, learns to drive a passenger train, and gets to know a lot of people on her Ho Chi Minh Trail trek. Told honestly and humorously, the culture, pace, land, scents, problems, and beauties of Vietnam are evoked as Muller and Vietnam interact. Snippets of letters home (like "I traded some of my antihistamines for Tampax yesterday. What a relief" and "Am I really blood type A? It's important") highlight the details, while the strong narrative holds them together. Her pictures are excellent, the story riveting, and the writing a pleasure--good reading for a flight to Asia or a day at the beach. --Stephanie Gold
From the Back Cover
Imagine being a twenty-eight-year-old single woman, working your way up the management consultant ladder, with your own expense account, a fancy gym membership, and salary to spare. Now imagine throwing it all away to hitchhike a country under the iron fist of communism, with a dubious grip on the language, accompanied by a colorful and sometimes frightening menagerie of characters, human and otherwise, and carrying an illegal video camera in your backpack. That's exactly what Karin Muller did. This title comes from the PBS documentary of the same name. PBS will be televising this film several times over the next three years and has an extensive site devoted to it at www.pbs.org which has developed a built-in audience. Karin has received thousands of e-mails asking, 'Where is the book?' Here it is at last!
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am the "Jay," mentioned through out the book. I traveled with Karin for four months in Vietnam. I was stunned, first of all, by the book's subtitle, "...solo journey...." During our travels together, it was a rare moment, when Karin was "out and about" on her own. On the other hand, aren't we, all, on a "solo journey," once we leave the womb? It is a fact, that many parts of the book are fiction and much of the truth concerning her travel companions and their adventures together in Vietnam are omitted. when the "solo" story line needs reinforcement, the travel companion, simply, get "left behind," when in fact, her traveling companion is right there, too! Perhaps if one were to read the book at it's face value, one would think, "Wow, what an adventure." Yet, when you know the truth, you might think, "Wow, what egotism!" Perhaps, this can be explained away by "poetic license." Isn't that what makes a good travel book? Some facts, some fiction, and many serious omissions.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Of the many miles the author allegedly traveled in Vietnam, contrary to the book's title, very few were by hitchhiking. Instead she traveled for the most part on the back of a more seasoned traveler's motorcycle (whom she met along the way) and to a much lessor degree by bicycle, train, or on foot. I initially liked the book because the author is a good writer, but was a little surprised at how many people around her, both other tourists and Vietnamese, were described as self centered, cruel, or complete idiots. I recently spent two weeks in Northern Vietnam and found the people very intelligent and friendly. She portrayed "Jay", the owner of the motorcycle and four-month travel companion, as being lazy and indifferent to the Vietnamese people (In truth, Jay has made six trips to Vietnam to experience their culture). In this book Muller takes credit for all that is good and blames others for all that is bad. After I read the book I saw the author speak at a National Geographic Lecture series in Seattle. She presented herself as a woman traveler constantly up against the odds of traveling "alone" in a hostile communist country. The first slide she showed was of Jay's motorcycle and then told the audience that it was her bike, stating that she traveled around Vietnam solo. That confirmed my suspicions that this woman is a phony. This book belongs in the fiction section!
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I watched Karin's video before I read the book, both of which were passed on to me by an acquaintance who is in the travel business. I'm always intrigued by women who have the mettle to travel alone, and the fact that she was in a country that is as mysterious to me as Vietnam was irresistible. I found Karin's writing style to be entertaining and descriptive, and I thought that she did an impressive job for a new author. However, I couldn't ignore some very evident inconsistencies with this work. The first is the title, claiming that she is on a solo hitchhiking journey. Hmmm. Sounds like she was traveling with Jay quite a bit. And I believe that the majority of the trip was done on motorcycle or train or bike. Where's the hitchhiking? Second, she seems to be trying to convince the reader that she is a seasoned adventurer due to her Peace Corps stint and European birth. Her narrative of her trip through Saigon and the Mekong Delta left me with the distinct impression that she was not a very savvy traveler. But, I am sure a new author wants desperately to make a good impression on her audience, so I believe that Karin is just suffering from the very human trait of self-consciousness. Perhaps she felt that her wanderings in Asia didn't measure up to what she thought was good adventure writing and embellished a bit here and there. I would tell Karin that good writing comes from within and doesn't depend on heroics to attract an audience. She's got the tools to be a good writer. With experience, I hope, will come insight, and the need for self-aggrandizement will naturally fall away.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A woman's solo journey?
Hitchhiking Vietnam - A woman's solo journey in an elusive land by Karin Muller has a few flaws. The first two are in the title. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Michael Valdivielso
Really most wonderful
With the exception of the title being a little misleading having just returned from 6 weeks in Vietnam many years after her book, I can only say little has changed in all the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by norman weiss
Hitchhiking Vietnam: A woman's Solo Journey in an Elusive Land
I served in RVN in the delta with the US Navy's Helicopter,Attack,Light,Three squadron during the final days of ground combat. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Doug
Inspiring
Several years as a U. S. management consultant convinced Karin Muller she did not want to be a part of Wall Streets world of inflated salaries, empty lives and inevitable ulcers. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Niki Collins-queen, Author
Most true & honest stories about Vietnam
The reason I read the book mainly because I missed Vietnam, and would like to read a book that was written by an "outsider. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Monkee
Exciting, interesting, inspiring. I loved this adventure travel book!
I love travel adventure stories and I truly enjoyed this tale of Karin's experiences to the exotic country of Vietnam where few women travel alone. Read more
Published on May 10, 2009 by L. Eilers
Honest journal
I think some reviewers are being too hard on the author. I didn't get that she was being egotistical and untruthful, but that the trip didn't live up to her expectations and she... Read more
Published on May 8, 2009 by C. Robinson
Interesting story
I thought this was a very well written account of traveling extensively through a country without a very developed infrastructure for foreign travelers (I'm sure this has changed... Read more
Published on March 19, 2009 by S. Horwatt
Disappointing!
After reading this book, I would never consider a trip to Vietnam. Ms.Muller showed no redeeming features to the country and there has to be some! Read more
Published on July 4, 2007 by Annette J. Fricke
Good effort
I applaud her for being a lone Caucasian female traveler which is hard to do in any lesser developed country. She is also a good writer and had her moments in the book. Read more
Published on April 5, 2007 by schmecher
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence:
Long ago, I used to fall asleep to my mother's bedtime stories of Africa. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
soup shop, permission papers, homemade whiskey, unhusked rice, animal market Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Youth League, Cuc Phuong, Tonkinese Alps, Buon Ma Thout, Lao Cai, Peace Corps, Anh Lac, Anh Thuy, Dien Bien Phu, Yen Bai, Nha Trang, Central Highlands, Mai Chau, Mekong Delta, Southeast Asia, Khe Sanh, Kim Cafe, South Vietnam, Thanh Hoa New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Long ago, I used to fall asleep to my mother's bedtime stories of Africa. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
soup shop, permission papers, homemade whiskey, unhusked rice, animal market Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Youth League, Cuc Phuong, Tonkinese Alps, Buon Ma Thout, Lao Cai, Peace Corps, Anh Lac, Anh Thuy, Dien Bien Phu, Yen Bai, Nha Trang, Central Highlands, Mai Chau, Mekong Delta, Southeast Asia, Khe Sanh, Kim Cafe, South Vietnam, Thanh Hoa New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
7
books
cite this book:
See all 7 books citing this book
- 365 Travel: A Daily Book of Journeys, Meditations, and Adventures by Lisa Bach on page 255, and Back Matter
- Making Connections: Mother Daughter Travel Adventures by Wendy Knight in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Travelers' Tales - Women in the Wild by Lucy McCauley on page 147, and Back Matter
- Lonely Planet World Food Vietnam by Richard Sterling on page 191
- So You Want To Write by Marge Piercy in Back Matter
See all 7 books citing this book
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Travel
- Books > Travel > Asia > Southeast
- Books > Travel > Asia > Vietnam
- Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Essays & Travelogues
- Books > Travel > Specialty Travel > Solo Travel
