"What a ride! In a death-defying taxi with no windows, I was flown along the roads in a howling gale. Horrible. I sat directly behind the driver hoping he would act as an air bag when the inevitable collision came. In that position I couldn't see the worst that was happening around us, like pedestrians peeling off our fenders." Lydia Laube is no stranger to near-death experiences, including several while travelling to, from and through Myanmar, or Burma as it was known on her first trip there. As ever, Lydia takes the route less travelled as she discovers this wondrous land, with its pagodas, markets and attractions - including the world's biggest python and book. Midst Myanmar's magic, she falls in love with a horse named Madonna, and manages to work through language barriers and poor directions.

A chance conversation on the Trans Siberian Express en route to Outer Mongolia causes Lydia Laube to veer off course and take a long way home. She heads south thousands of kilometres to the eerie mountains of South China, in search of a broachable pass into Vietnam. Lydia never takes no for an answer. Against all protests she finds ways to venture through rarely travelled parts of China, overcoming language barriers and standing her ground in crowded buses, boats and trains. She makes a meal of a snake and submits to the ministrations of the Dental Department of your worst nightmare. Leaving China by pedal-power, Lydia Laube enters Vietnam by motorbike and discovers a beautiful and resilient country. Sit tight as you ride with our brave lone traveller. Her adventures will amaze and impress you.

Featuring appalling rock overhangs, horrifying chasms, and waterfalls flanked by near-vertical precipices, this tale of travel through the wildest regions of the Andes is no Caribbean cruise story. The Panama Canal and the coasts of Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia are all described in a fast, furious fashion by a seasoned travel writer who survives a car ride along a mountain pass that claims an average of one vehicle a week. Also included are adventures to the last hideaway of the Incas, Machu Picchu, and a sail down the Amazon to the center of Brazil.About the AuthorLydia Laube is a travel writer and the author of Behind the Veil: An Australian Nurse in Saudi Arabia.