Warmbrunn - Where the Pavement Ends: One Womens Bicycle Trip Through Mongolia, China and Vietnam

WHERE THE
PAVEMENT ENDS

One Womans
Bicycle Trip
Through
Mongolia,
China & Vietnam

Erika Warmbrunn

2001 by Erika Warmbrunn

All rights reserved

First edition, 2001

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published simultaneously in Great Britain by Cordee, 3a DeMontfort Street, Leicester, England, LE1 7HD

Manufactured in the United States of America

Project Editor: Amy K. Allin
Developmental Editor: Mark Long
Copyeditor: Kris Fulsaas
Cover Design: Helen Cherullo
Book Design: Ani Rucki
Layout: Alice C. Merrill
Mapmaker: Michael Friel
All photographs by the author

Cover photographs: The authors bicycle, leaving Irkutsk, Russia
Frontispiece: Horseman on the Mongolian steppe

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on record at the Library of Congress.

Leaving on a Jet Plane, Words and music by John Denver
Copyright 1967; Renewed 1995 Cherry Lance Music Publishing Company, Inc. (ASCAP) and DreamWorks Songs (ASCAP). Worldwide Rights for DreamWorks Songs Administered by Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, Inc. International Copyright Secured.
All Rights Reserved

Harvest Moon, by Neil Young
1992 Silver Fiddle
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission
Warner Brothers Publications U.S. Inc., Miami FL 33014

Printed on recycled paper

ISBN: 978-0-89886-684-1
e-ISBN: 978-0-89886-918-7

THANKS TO

Becky Barnett and Ann Bernheisel,
without whom I would not have made it to the plane.

Everyone who took the time to write letters.
They mean more than you know.

Greg Palmer and Rene Wayne Golden,
who believed that I could write a book.

Grace and Jim and Alice and Bob,
whose roofs gave me a place to start writing.

Ten Eyck and Leslie Swackhamer,
whose generosity and dining room table made it possible for me to finish,
and who are truly the patron saints of this book.

Frank Corrado,
who had time and wisdom when I needed it.

And now to Peter,
for putting up with me; for everything.

But above all, to the people I met along the way from Irkutsk to Saigon.
They are the life and landscape of this story,
and I hope that I have done justice to their hospitality
and overwhelming generosity.

A Note to the Reader

Because the countries visited in this narrative use the metric system, all distances and other measurements herein are given in metric units. For conversion, see the Appendix at the back of the book.

In transliterating Russian, Mongolian, Chinese, and Vietnamese, I have attempted to adhere to consistent, standarized systems, but have made some concessions to conform to widespread usage, and some to reflect local pronunciation.

At the turn-off to Erdenet. Five boys dashed their horses up the prairie for a closer look at Greene and me.

Two members of Lkhamsrens family

Basaanjavd (second from right in back row) and her extended family

Learning the ancient script

A young boy and a foal at Lkhamsrens

Inside a well-to-do ger in Arkhangai Province

In front of one of Arshaants three or four shops

With Sarantseteg in front of my ger

A motorcycle marmot hunter

The insta-crowd, in China

Somewhere north of Lenshuijiang

The Great Wall. The storied serpent of ancient brick felt alive, immutable, and more impressive than anything I had ever imagined it to be.

Beijing

A village street near Yangshuo

At work in the rice paddies along Highway 1 south of Hanoi