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Living in Seattle and failing to make her mark as an actress, Erika Warmbrunn decides to chuck it all and go traveling. Her resulting novel,
Where the Pavement Ends, is an absorbing account of her ambitious eight-month solo bicycle trip through the countries of Mongolia, China, and Vietnam. While Warmbrunn's accounts of the travails of traveling in far-off lands doesn't necessarily break new ground, she writes with humor and candor. If you have even a twinge of wanderlust, you'll appreciate this book. Her adventure begins in Mongolia, where she cycles past curious onlookers in dusty towns with names like Khatgal and Moron. Abandoning her set-in-stone itinerary, she spends a memorable month in the village of Ashaant teaching English to schoolchildren and living in a traditional
ger (tent). In China she braves the cold and nerve-racking interrogation but is awed by the Great Wall and intrigued by fellow backpackers' tales, told over noodles and beer. By the time she reaches Vietnam, with the frenetic Saigon and its ever-present reminders of the war, she is psychically and emotionally spent. Four thousand miles is a long way to go--even when it's a journey in search of self.
--Jill Fergus
From Library Journal
In 1993, this 27-year-old American woman set off alone from Irkutsk in Siberia and eight months later ended up 5000 miles away in Saigon. Hers was not so much a test of endurance, although there was plenty to endure such as eating sheep's head in Mongolia, confronting bureaucratic hassles in China, and fending off overly eager children in Vietnam but rather a journey of self-discovery. She stopped for a month to teach school along the way and took public transportation a couple of times. She writes poignantly and frankly of the dilemmas caused by First World low-budget travelers in Third World countries. Should they pay more than locals, what hospitality and privileges should they expect, and what should their impact be on the people they encounter? She confesses to occasional bad behavior, exasperation, and a lack of sensitivity. Travels such as hers are not so rare today, but thoughtful, honest, insightful writing about the cross-cultural experience is. A fine addition to public libraries; highly recommended. Harold M. Otness, formerly with Southern Oregon Univ. Lib., Ashland
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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