Goodchild, Michael F.; Gopal, Sucharita
The extraordinary Murphy, with a host of travel books to her credit and now well over retirement age, decided one day that she would hike through the high mountains of Laos. This is the chronicle of her adventures. It is also a window on a country unknown to most outsiders and from which the communist government barred tourists until 1990. The trek proved anything but straightforward - time afte time, she encountered obstacles put in her way. The ability of the highly suspicious Laotian government and its all-reaching bureaucracy to impede Murphy's free passage through the country caused a tussle of almost Kafkaesque proportions. Then, to cap it all, she tore some ligaments in a foot. Anyone else would have called it a day there and then. Undaunted, she merely bought a bicycle. The bike was barely serviceable but by an indomitable spirit and the generosity and goodwill of the ordinary Laotians she met, she forged on. One Foot in Laos is not only the story of a remarkable woman's incredible journey but also the tale of a unique culture whose days are numbered and whose disappearance will be a profound loss to us all. (Kirkus UK)