Dervla Murphy One Foot in Laos

Annotation

Laos, caught in the middle of the Vietnam War, is one of the most heavily bombed countries in world history. It's where Dervla Murphy's 'inner-click' sends her in 1997, when the country had just opened its borders to the West. Her three-month trek is threatened by torn ligaments in her foot, but she makes no concessions to injury as she limps down drug-baron's trails and careers through gorges on a bike without brakes. She discovers Laos to be rich in ritual and culture, with a precious eco-system and a wealth of subsistence farming, and a people who are both kind and gentle. Yet the persistent problems bequeathed by the country's recent past are not yet behind them.