Customer Reviews

Where the Pavement Ends: One Woman's Bicycle Trip Through Mongolia, China & Vietnam

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The good news is, I really liked this book. The bad news is that when I finished it I quit my job, sold the house, drained my IRA and bought a bicycle.

If you have ever traveled in the third world and experienced the mixed emotions of being a rich American in a poor country you will recognize yourself in this story. From the priceless experiences she has with people who let her into their homes and into their worlds, to those who have had much more experience with wealthy Western travelers and make their livings from them, she captures the two sides of this kind of travel.

This is a book about a journey, not an expedition. Unlike so many books of this genre, the author parks her ego at the door. While riding a bike, especially as far as she does, is an athletic accomplishment this is not a book about an athlete. She does not try to impress us about how many kilometers she rides a day or how difficult a particular mountain pass was to climb. This is the story of a journey by an intelligent and introspective woman who is interested in getting away from the hippie travel circuit and seeing places she is told not to go and learning about people you will not see from the train or meet in the tourist hotel.

How wonderful it must be to have all you really need with you on your bike and not really care that you don't know exactly where you are.

Erika's story is inspiring. The amazing people she met all along her trip, the problems she encountered all make for fascinating reading. She so wonderfully puts into words an amazing experience. Regardless of if you like to travel to foreign countries, bike long distances, or just to read a great book, you'll love this one. I found myself just stopping to think, "Wow" so many times. Absolutely wonderful!

The author did a wonderful job of describing the people, places, and different foods that she encountered on her trip into Mongolia, China, and Vietnan. After reading this book, I became slightly envious of the author having the guts to make such a trip. I wish I had it in me to pack up my things and venture out on a bicycle into the far-off regions of the Far East. If you like positive roadtrip stories, check this one out. You won't be disapppointed!

I found so much interesting firsthand information about Mongolia, China, and VietNam in this interesting book and for that I am grateful to the author.

I did feel, not far into the book, that she was rather impetuous in her decision to take this 5,000 mile journey and was not very well-prepared at all. Right away, trying to cross the border into Mongolia was an issue for her and something that I thought she should have found out about beforehand. She also made some serious safety mistakes, as when she was accosted by the two young men on horseback in Mongolia. She could have easily lost her life.

Her writing beautifully captures the natural beauty of the lands through which she traveled and also the basic goodness of the people whom she encountered during her journey.

A good reading experience.

I was so absorbed by this book from the first page that I didn't want it to end. Not only does Ms. Warmbrunn have a gift with words that captivates you from the beginning, she obviously has an insight about people that will make you understand cultures that are worlds away. I highly recommend this book!

This book is wonderful, I was entranced it was like being there, a definate must read!

I enjoyed this book and oftentimes found the narrative absorbing. I was astonished by the contrasts particularly between Mongolia, with its frigid weather, expansive plains, and childlike adults, and Vietnam, with its tropical beaches and aggressive, war-weary toddlers! Attention to detail really enlivened the book. I particularly liked the linguistic asides and descriptions of different foods. I always looked forward to the pictures, although I sorely missed a photo of Beijing. The chapter about the author's trip over a dangerous Chinese mountain on her way to Xiangning was loaded with suspense! But then there was no resolution. After her harrowing experience, we needed to see her actually arrive in Xiangning.

The book needed an epilogue, with the author safely ensconsced in her apartment in Vladivostok or Seattle, observing her surroundings and providing the reader with a final sense of perspective.

And it would've been great to have an index in the back, so the reader could easily look up a word or reference that might've appeared 100 pages hence. I had to stick a post-it on page 42 so I could keep looking up the word "orom"!

I hope the author elects to do this again in a completely different part of the world.

Although several of the 5 star reviews sum up the better qualities of this book, I have to agree with the 3 star reviews. As one 3 star reviewer pointed out there are sections that are insightful and original, the writing is somewhat tedious at times that I had to put the book down.

The writer's best experience appears to have been in Mongolia, as her disdain grows from China to Vietman.

Also the text is very small that it is apparent the publisher was trying to cut down on costs. Similar to the small text in Robert Lovett's book detailing his cross-country adventure.

I also found it annoying how the author whines about some getting ripped off, yet expresses her knowledge that the locals view foreigners, such as Americans, as rich. Well when you compare our living standards and our availabilty of goods to Mongolia, China and Vietnam we certainly are "rich" to those people living in felt huts or cement walled buildings with no glass windows.

Seems like most places the author stayed for free she didn't offer anything to the hosts when she was fed.

The author's distress about being touched or ridiculed in China and Vietnam, can't come as a surprise, although she expresses such.

Finally, no epilogue contributed to my 3 star rating. It would have been nice to know what happened after this trip and her way back to the states, afterall she acknowleges she wrote most of the book from recalled memory. And an index would have also been nice.

This book had sections that were very original and insightful but others were tedious and repetitive. I ended up skimming sections where the same descriptions of different places started, they should have been eliminated by the editor. One of the most annoying was the obsession with whether or not she was getting ripped off or the maybe it was her condemning of people who thought they were always getting ripped of. I couldn't really tell, she says at one point that she thought she was above it and it was irrelevant then spent way too much time in many sections talking about it.

The sample sent from Amazon was brilliant writing so I now she is good but I think it got to the point of filling up pages after awhile hence the three star rating.

THE WRAPPINGS WERE STILL ON MY LAP AND I WAS ALREADY IN MONGOLIA WITH ERIKA AS SHE WAS DEALING WITH HER FRUSTATIONS OF LACK OF PREPARATION AND PHYSICAL TRAINING. BUT SHE WAS APPRECIATING THE BEAUTY OF THE COUNTRY, THE HOSPITALITY OF THE NATIVE PEOPLE, THE CUSTOMS, THE FOOD,THE QUESTIONS THE PEOPLE HAD ABOUT AMERICA. I HAD NO IDEA THAT PEOPLE OVER THERE DIDN'T KNOW THAT WE HAD ANIMALS, HOUSING, DIFFERENT FOOD AND CUSTOMS. RATE ME AS A NUMBER ONE DUMBELL...I HAD STUDIED GEOGRAPHY IN GRADE SCHOOL AND READ NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, WATCHED EDUCATIONAL TV PROGRAMS. DIDN'T EVERYBODY? I WOULD LIKE TO "BE THERE" BUT AGE AND HEALTH DON'T ALLOW IT; HOWEVER ERIKA MAKES IT POSSIBLE THRU HER METHOD OF WRITING AND DESCRIBING HER FANTASTIC JOURNEY. MANY PEOPLE WRITE BUT THEY ARE SO DRY IN THEIR DESCRIPTIONS THAT ONE LOOSES INTEREST QUICKLY. I THINK THIS JOURNEY IS TERRIFIC AND I'M GLAD I GOT TO "GO ALONG." I HOPE YOU DO TOO!