If you’re looking to escape the daily grind and relax on an exotic getaway, then you may not want to travel with Tamara Sheward. Her travelogue Bad Karma (Confessions of a Reckless Traveller in Southeast Asia) recounts her adventures with her best friend El. These two cocky anti-Birkenstockers manage to plant themselves into a variety of bizarre situations in every village and city they enter. Little to no traveling plans, shoddy tour guide books, and edgy attitudes may not provide for a relaxing vacation, but it sure makes for one heck of a fun read.
As Tamara and El ramble through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, readers will cringe as they foresee problems the travelers didn’t. Customs are accidentally stepped on (never leave your chopsticks standing straight up in your rice bowl) throughout the book. Tamara and El are well-seasoned backpackers, and while they’ve left their homeland of Australia on journeys many times before, they’ve never been to the foreign lands of Southeast Asia, and they find it’s a whole different world than what they’ve ever experienced before.
I love to travel, but I’m a serious researcher. I’ll read up on every little thing I can get my hands on (surprised?) before setting foot outside my country. That’s probably what made reading Bad Karma such an entertaining toe-curler. If I ever get the chance to travel to Southeast Asia, I’ll take this book along as a guide on how to avoid botched travel plans. It can double as an entertaining read when my Fodor’s just won’t do.
So if you’re ready to hop on a rickshaw and careen through the streets of Cambodia with Tamara and her friend El, I have an extra copy of Bad Karma to give away. You have until midnight May 12, 2008. Happy Trails!
3 Ways to Enter:
1.) Leave a comment telling me what interests you about the book. (Something more than “sounds good” is kindly suggested.) Or tell me YOUR travel horror story!
2.) Subscribers are automatically entered into this and all future giveaways. Just enter your email address in the little white box on the upper part of the right hand column. (Please make sure to verify your Feedburner subscription by responding to the email they send you. If you don’t receive it, check your junk mail.)
3.) Blog about this giveaway on your blog with a link back.
Do all three, and you’ve got three entries to win!
We were in Cambodia and Laos last year and fell in love with the people! I’d love to recapture that feeling with this book!
Ohh Man, the memories! I was in Mexico when I around 15-16, with my parents. They had left me behind sitting in the car while they went into a store. A guy came up to the window and started talking to me, in spanish. I just kept nodding my head and saying yea, yea. For some foolish reason I gave this guy my address and told him we could be penpals. (Remember this was the early 70′s) After I returned home a few months later I got a letter. He wrote better english than he could talk. He said he was glad I agreed to marry him and he was looking forward to coming to America! OMG! I about died! I could not believe it!
Thank God he never showed up but I was scared for a long long time!
Delightful and lovely book which would make entertaining and fascinating reading. Learning about their travels and escapades interests me.
I need this something awful
Interesting title.
I love to travel, but I cannot anymore, so I live vicariously. This book sure looks like a lot of fun to be had secondhand!
The title certainly grabs the attention–and I love travel books!
I traveled to Japan a number of years ago on business for the Coast Guard. My travel partner was previously in the Coast Guard so I let him handle figuring out exactly where we need to go. Bad idea. He assumed that since Coasties deal with water, then we obviously had to go to the Naval base at Yokosuka. Actually, the Coast Guard station we were headed for provided air support to small stations in the pacific rim, so we need to go to Yakota Air Base. Which happens to be completely on the other side of Tokyo. Since we had left the US with about 1 day’s notice we didn’t have time to ship our materials so we schlepped our suitcases and boxes of materials across Tokyo. Did you know that (at the time) Tokyo rail stations don’t have escalators, just lots and lots of stairs? And that none of the signs were in English? We had instructions from the Naval base and we were literally holding the instructions up next to the signs to compare the Kanji to make sure we were getting on the right trains. It ended up being a fun trip overall, but that first day of trekking across Tokyo was not the best way to start a trip.
I really believe that you make your own karma. I would love to read this book.
i will be expecting it
When I was 15 I went on a Teen Missions trip to Kathmandu, Nepal and there were many times of chaos… this book sounds like it would remind me of that time!
These are places that I have wanted to travel to and with this book I could sort of do that through them.
I subscribe to your feed too.
count me in
It’s the way I like to travel – experience the culture and the people and make mistakes. I’d love to read th book.
I never really got to travel very much. I think the furthest I have traveled was from New York to Florida. I would love to travel to Japan or England some day.
Been stuck in Malaysia, I want to see how the author got through her ruff travels.
Ooo! I love travel books. I would love to read about her travels in Cambodia and Vietnam. Thanks!
rambled through thailand myself
Hi. Linked my blog entry.
Thanks!
I was coming home from college for the first time and taking the bus. It was my first time taking the bus so I was a little nervous. I was slightly sick on top of that. The bus ride was supposed to take five hours, and I had to change buses once. At the bus station where I’m supposed to change buses I find out that the bus I was supposed to be on had just left. The next bus scheduled to leave for my hometown wouldn’t leave for five hours. It’s after 7 p.m. on a Friday night, I’m stuck in a bus terminal for five hours, everything is closed, and I’m sick. It was horrible.
I like to plan everything for vacations reading ahead to find out what and where and how to get from place to place. Still I’ve never been to a foreign country(except Canada when I was a kid). So, I think this would be a fun read. I like to plan, but I have fun reading about the escapades of those who don’t. Planning doesn’t always work either, but it makes me feel more secure to do it.
My friend and I have a plan to travel to Asia together on a big adventure trip, and reading this book would be a great way to get an idea of what we’re in for! Plus I love travelogues of any kind. Someday I’d like to write my own.
Wow! What fun! I love to travel. I haven’t been to Asia…yet! I’d really enjoy reading this book! I hope I win!
dbstout[at]juno[dot]com
Hi, When I was a senior in high school many moons ago, I was lucky to go with our French/German class to 5 European countries. While we were in Paris, a couple of friends and I ventured out. Before we knew it, we were in the
Red Light District! Boy, did we get some dirty looks from those women!!!!! “LOST”! That’s what we were. Of course, I couldn’t speak a word of French when I really needed to. Finally, we found a police dept. and went in for help. The policeman that helped us was gorgeous. Anyway, we eventually returned to our hotel. Thanks,Cindi
this is an area of the world that I have never been to but have heard so much about…and want to go to so badly…this book would be so interesting and fun to read for that reason…to learn more about this part of the world. THANKS
I love books about traveling, especially set in Asia.
I could tell you about misadventures in Turkey– but maybe I shouldn’t. Anyhow, it WAS the 60′s.
I travelled across country by bus for 60 hrs non stop. I met some really interesting people and had a great time. To travel like that you need to be prepared and I was glad I did my homework. Good contest!
I am “a seat of my pants” travellor. I wing it as I go. It is good to see I am not the only one.
it’s obviously the title that really attracts me most! i can’t wait to read it! hope i’ll win it! please count me in! thanks!
As a world traveler I love reading about other people’s experiences in countries where I’ve been.
I’ve gotta read this book, I’m definitely travelling to Southeast Asia at some point and I’d like to be prepared.
Love to travel and love to do research on the country before I go – would love to have the book!
this sounds like a great read
It’s summer – I need a good book t o laze my days away in the sun. This would be perfect.
I love travelling as well so this book definately looks like a fun read. I am also the type of person that researches almost every detail BEFORE I leave for a trip. I can’t imagine it any other way. I guess I’d have to read the book to find out how it all works! lol Thanks for the chance! Looks great!
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I have blogged about the contest on my site at:
http://carolbee.info/?p=10
I am now a Subscriber!!
I love to travel and love south east Asia, so this sounds great. Thanks!
Looks like a good read!
sounds very interesting
I would love to read this
x0jessiesgirl0x@aol.com
I live to travel, and if I’m not traveling, I’m reading about it! This book looks amazing, and if I don’t win it, I’m going to buy it anyway.
I’ll be travelling soon, and I could use this book to calm me down during unexpected disasters!
Having been to Japan, I certainly look forward to visiting more of Asia. There are few resources out there that tell you about the nitty gritty, so this sounds like it would be useful.
Karma and the Eastern world….I am interested in both!
i have backpacked thru southeast asia twice; once from thailand thru malyasia and to singapore and indonesia on java where i stayed at an orangutan rehab facility at bukatlouan and second time from thailand down the maycon river on a rice boat thru laos overland by bus from laos to hue in vietnam south to ho chi minh city and then into the macon delta and then overland thru cambodia back to thailand; this book sounds great; i could probably write a few books myself but i always love to read others experiences
I’d like to read it for the travel, I know it’s got to be fun because the places they’re going the customs are so different.
We’d love to have a copy of course
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