Rating: 
Summary: a little too touristy for me
Review: As a fan of Mongolian culture and a bike rider, these aspects most appealed to me. I was surprised that she would go on such a long ride with such little bike repair knowledge. The parts of Mongolia were kind of fun, but really just confirmed what I already knew, though it was good to get such first hand accounts. Once she got to Beijing and was going through China, I felt it was just becoming more of a travel journal and not much more. By the time she got to Vietnam she also seemed to be tired of the whole trip and in my opinion there was not much new content aside from sights she saw. Nice recreational reading, though don't expect much profound. I would give it 3.5/5.0 rounding up to 4.0
Rating: 
Summary: A Hologram? Holograph? Both!
Review: Erika Warmbrunn's virtual images -- vivid, insightful, three-dimentional word-pictures -- make for great reading! Her superb command of english makes this a trip you'll not want to forego -- even if you think you have little interest in Mongolia, China or Vietnam, and no desire to discover these countries for the first time, alone and by bicycle.Try it. I finally did. And I "pedaled" all the way without stopping.
Rating:
Summary: A Hologram? Holograph? Both!
Review: Erika Warmbrunn's virtual images -- vivid, insightful, three-dimentional word-pictures -- make for great reading! Her superb command of english makes this a trip you'll not want to forego -- even if you think you have little interest in Mongolia, China or Vietnam, and no desire to discover these countries for the first time, alone and by bicycle.Try it. I finally did. And I "pedaled" all the way without stopping.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: An Inspiration
Review: Fabulous trip, exquisite tale.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing
Review: i anxiously awaited the arrival of this book, as i plan a bicycle tour of mongolia in 2003.
note: too fixated on being the "first".
too whingey.
too dependent on the charity of rural folks.
too "journally". it was as if she didn't grow after the trip, merely transcribed her journal.
please note that i felt her endeavor phenomenal.
Rating:
Summary: A Pageturner!
Review: 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 for there to be 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.
Rating:
Summary: A Pageturner!
Review: 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 for there to be 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.
Rating:
Summary: A Travelogue to the Unknown
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring idea
Review: I picked up this book in anticipation of summer travels and was looking to get a woman's perspective on some of the places I will be going. I enjoyed reading about her different adventures, but ultimately was a little annoyed and bored. Her story was inspiring and what she did was amazing, but the way it was written was rather flat. And, I feel that if you are going to include pictures in your book, they should have accurate labels as to who they are of and when they were taken. In all, an okay book but not a stellar read.
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