Down The Road In Thailand, Cambodia And Vietnam – Book Review
May
There are few people in the world brave enough to give up the security of their modern-day lives and dedicate themselves to traveling around the world on a bicycle. But that’s exactly what Arizona couple, Tim and Cindie Travis, have done!
After traveling for more than three years across North America, South America and Southeast Asia, Tim and Cindie Travis have self-published three separate books about their bicycle touring adventures.
Their first book, The Road That Has No End, is about the couple’s decision to leave home and their first few months on the road. This book is the Travis’ most interesting in my opinion.
Their second book, Down The Road In South America, is a good account of their travels in this particular region of the world, but lacks some of the life-changing magic that their first book contained.
Finally, Down The Road In Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, is the third, latest, and (possibly) final book in the series, and I found it to be short, simple, and targeted largely at arm-chair travelers.
Down The Road In Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam is by far the shortest of the couple’s three books. While the paperback copy of the text is actually 228 pages long (also available on the Kindle), many of these pages are padded with large black and white photographs, over-sized text and additional information that many readers won’t want or need (such as a list of the equipment used on their travels, photos of the couple’s bikes and gear, etc).
I’m not the fastest reader in the world, but the brevity of this book allowed me to breeze through it all in three short sittings. After reading the book, I know that Tim and Cindie spend several months in this corner of the world, but the length of the text made it seem as though they may have only been there for a couple weeks.
Like all of the books in the “Down The Road” series, this third book about the couple’s travels in Southeast Asia is equally easy to read. In my review of their first book, The Road That Has No End, I stated that “the book is so simple and so down to earth, however, I often times thought it may have been written for a small child or possibly an elderly grandparent.” The same can be said for the second and third books as well. The writing is so elementary that, while I know some people will appreciate the ease with which the book can be devoured, I found the tone of the writing to be somewhat offensive – as though I were stupid and knew nothing about the world.
I’m sure, of course, that Tim and Cindie didn’t mean for the book to come across this way, but instead wanted to make the text appeal to those who know very little about the world and have possibly never traveled for themselves. I, however, read for the challenge, inspiration and to learn something new… and this book was lacking in those three departments.
While Down The Road In Thailand, Cambodia And Vietnam is certainly short and easy to read, there were a few stories sprinkled throughout the text that I did enjoy. The couple’s encounters with hotel thieves, street people, and crazy Asian traffic was exciting to read about. The rest of it, however, felt a bit dry and devoid of flavor.
In the end, the Travis’ third book about their cycle touring adventures is a good short, but not super memorable.
My Overall Rating: 6 Out Of 10
Learn more about this book at: Amazon.com
