Hitchhiking Vietnam: A Woman's Solo Journey in an Exclusive Land

By Karin Muller

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0762702575
• ISBN13: 9780762702572
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Globe Pequot Pr
• Length: 311 Pages
• Weight: 1.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.3" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Contemporary Vietnam

With our renewed rapport with Vietnam, it would be good to view or review that area of the world. This is a diary of sorts of a seven-month trip around Vietnam. Not one of those glossy government or fancy travelogues, but a personal trip that was documented with letters. As with any experience, there will be differences of opinion as to the environment and people. My Vietnam of the '60s was vastly different from the war movies of the time. Some parts may be gory to some people during food preparation times. Others would be appalled at the wanton destruction of forests and wildlife. I was reading the book after viewing the film with my wife to show her a little bit of what it was like when I was there. She immediately said that the villages (especially the huts) seemed surprisingly like the dwellings in the Yucatan. Even though this was a well-put-together documentary, I was disappointed as my time there was mostly in the central highlands of Pleiku, An Khe, Kontum, and thereabout. And when she went up the coast, she missed all the high spots. The Montagnards she interviewed were Mongol invaders; they were not the Montagnards I was acquainted with. The Montagnards of the central highlands are approximately 14 to 16 separate people who were in the highlands before the people who call themselves Vietnamese invaded from China thousands of years ago. In essence, they are to the Vietnamese the equivalent of our native Americans. The book is one of the rare descriptions of today's Vietnam and is worth reading, as I was able to be in places that I missed on my tour, and imagine the rundown state of the country today.

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. I was inspired to take off again although I dont usually need much prodding!

A compelling Tale

Karin Writes incredibly well -- her thumbnail sketches of the people she meets along the way are priceless. She learns the language, takes her time and makes a lot of (local) friends. This is what travel writing really should be. A page-turner from start to finish. She is non-judgemental, gutsy and obviously genuinely interested in the country and its people.

Vivid and wonderful-what a journey!

I have had the good fortune to talk to the author and can attest to the fact she has a very bright future. Ms. Muller did what most of us only dream of and she did it very well indeed. It is a misnomer to call this a travel book- it is so much more. I am looking forward to the results of her next journey! If you cannot wait that long then check out her documentary of the same title. It too is first rate.

Made me want to drop everything and hop on a plane to Saigon

I've always wanted to do what Karin Muller did. So what a joy her book proved to be! It's inspiring, thoughtful, and is clearly the product of someone who travels with an open mind and an open heart. I wish I could follow in her footsteps!