Lydia Laube worked as a nurse in Saudi Arabia in a society that does not allow women to drive, vote, or speak to a man alone. Wearing head-to-toe coverings in stifling heat, and battling administrative apathy, Lydia Laube kept her sanity and got her passport back.

Who else but Lydia Laube would climb the Great Wall of China waving a pink parasol while riding a donkey? On her way to fabled Outer Mongolia. Lydia travels by ship, train, and bone-shaking bus through Indonesia and China, venturing to places where few westerners have ever been.

Thrown off course by a chance conversation on the Trans-Siberian Express, Lydia Laube, author of Behind the Veil: An Australian Nurse in Saudi Arabia and Slowboat to Mongolia heads for the hills of South China in search of a passage to Vietnam. Exiting China by pedal power, and entering Vietnam on a motor bike, she careers through the weird and wonderful world of Vietnam to produce this look at a unique landscape and culture.

Markets, beaches, mountains, killing fields, temples, and restaurants are among the stopovers in this travel memoir of a woman's journeys through Cambodia. A mode of transportation called the tuk tuk and distinctive dinner menus that serve such appetizing dishes as "Soap" and "A Fried Monk" are described with a writer's eye for detail and insight into Cambodian culture. This compelling narrative offers an inspiring tale of a woman's experience traveling solo in an ancient, beautiful country that has only recently been opened to tourists.