A Sarong in My Backpack : Adventures from Munich to Pushkar

by Ayun Halliday

Ayun Halliday explores the hi-octane underbelly of the low-budget backpacker lifestyle From drug-induced Apocalypse Now re-enactments in Vietnam, trouble in the red light district in Amsterdam to an unexpected encounter on a camel in Pushkar, Ayun offers an armchair portal on the experience of the shoestring traveller. With a knack for inserting herself in to bizarre situations around the globe, Ayun shares the travel stories most are too self-conscious to reveal.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, India

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2005

About the author

Ayun Halliday is the Chief Primatologist of the long running, award-winning East Village Inky zine and author of the self-mocking autobiographies No Touch Monkey! And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late, The Big Rumpus  Dirty Sugar Cookies: Culinary Observations, Questionable Taste, and Job Hopper.

She collaborated with illustrators Dan Santat on the picture book Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo, and Paul Hoppe on Peanut, a graphic novel for young adults. Luddite vagabonds may remember her as the author of the analog guidebook, The Zinester's Guide to NYC.  

Those seeking inspiration and a creative push (or creative solace) should check out Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto and its interactive companion Creative, Not Famous Activity Book: An Interactive Idea Generator for Small Potatoes & Others Who Want to Get Their Ayuss in Gear.

Ayun's latest book is Panther City: Tales of a Gen X Grade 3 Class Project Run Amok, an adult comedy of elementary school manners, illustrated by her then-8-year-old penpal, Leni Yow-Fairs.

Ayun is also an improviser and theater maker. More about that here: theater-of-the-apes.com/

She lives in East Harlem with the playwright Greg Kotis.

Reviews

[Abilouise · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were moments of this book that I really enjoyed, and other moments that seemed problematic to me. I just read a comic that explains the yucky-to-read aspects of this book better than I can: http://bitchmagazine.org/post/a-comic...

[E&A Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A total gem of a book!! From start to finish this book was captivating and made me want to meet the author in my travels. She has spunk, she is a tad crazy but absolutely brilliant. I'm a low budget traveller and wouldn't try 90% of the stuff she did but admire that she did it. We should all have a sarong in our back pack. :)

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd actually forgotten about this book until a recent chat with a friend.
I seem to recall being underwhelmed because it contained a lot of overlap with "No Touch Monkey!", which I'd read earlier and enjoyed more. Oh well.