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

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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.


From Booklist
Warmbrunn joins a fine group of Mountaineers Books authors with this compelling memoir of her 8,000-kilometer bike trip in 1994. She reveals the awe and frustrations of a woman traveling alone through remote and often dangerous routes of Mongolia, China, and Vietnam. While biking through mud and barren tundra permits a certain freedom and independence, she encounters government officials questioning the legality of her enterprise and curious children who sometimes lose control. Many villagers seek her out like an American celebrity, eager to test their English. A heartwarming chapter revolves around her month spent teaching kids in Arshaant, Mongolia. Most striking are her encounters with strangers who shower her with overwhelming generosity and willingly offer their home, bed, and food. Warmbrunn captures the natural beauty of the people, landscapes, and customs by opening herself up to their lifestyles on their terms. Guaranteed to appeal to adventurers, international travelers, or anyone who has taught overseas, this well-written book is for all who aspire to venture beyond their traditional frontiers. Brenda Barrera
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
"In the middle of the night I crawled out of my tent into a silvery vastness truly unchanged since Genghis Khan and his hordes loped west more than half a millennium ago. There was no glow of city lights on the horizon, no ranger station at the edge of the next valley, no quaint general store, no paved road. There was nothing but space, unbounded and untamed. A brilliant moon lit the blackness crystal clear. Moonshadows of every blade of grass danced silently in the wildness. It was the emptiest, quietest place I had ever been. I threw my arms out wide and spun slowly around and around in the dazzling clarity of the night, the stars blurring into ribbons of light above me." Mongolia. It was Erika Warmbrunn's dream. To escape deep into parts of Asia inaccessible to tours and guidebooks, to abandon herself to the risks of the unknown. And so, with only a bicycle named Greene for a traveling companion, she set off on an eight month, 8,000 kilometer trek that stretched across the steppes of this ancient land, on through China, and down the length of Vietnam. Freed by Greene's two wheels from the tyranny of discrete points on a map, she found that the true merit of travel was not in the simple seeing, but in flowing with the unexpected adventure or invitation, in savoring the moments in between-the daily challenges of new words and customs, the tiny triumphs of learning a new way of life, the daunting thrill of never knowing what the next day would bring. Wanting to ride a Mongolian horse and finding herself in the saddle for four hours, herding fifty head of cattle. Asking for a hotel in a Chinese village and being taken into a family's home to share their grandmother's bed for the night. Pedaling into the Vietnamese highlands and being stopped along the muddy road by a father asking that she join his two-year-old son's birthday party. Accepting a Mongolian village's invitation to stop pedaling and stay for a while, to live with them and teach them English. In the doing and the telling, Where the Pavement Ends is a much richer experience than any line on a map can show. Where the Pavement Ends is the recipient of the Barbara Savage Miles From Nowhere Memorial Award.


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Warmbrunn's account of an eight-month, 8,000 kilometer journey describes parts of Asia inaccessible to tourists. She recounts her encounters with the people and cultures of Mongolia, Arshaant, China, and Vietnam, as well as the sense of freedom and adventure she discovered while traveling. The narrative is intensely personal, focusing on the experience of traveling. Black-and-white and color photographs are featured. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


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