'Beautifully written and very funny, the perfect combination of Hanoi, sexual taboo and gender politics.' Emily Maguire (Bestselling Australian author)

'Original and quirky, a warm-hearted and very funny tale of noodles, sexual longing and cultural misunderstanding in the new Vietnam' Mark Dapin (Journalist, columnist and author)

Sydney-based musician Carolyn Shine moves to Hanoi virtually on a whim, expecting to find romance and available culture. She's in for some big surprises.

Funny, warm and engaging, her travel memoir introduces us to a cast of memorable Vietnamese characters as well as her fellow foreigners searching for love and adventure. From teaching English, sub-editing a propaganda news sheet, to forming a blues band, against the backdrop of a world seemingly alive with the promise of romance, this is a beguiling evocation of Hanoi and its people: pungent, earthy and sensual.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Carolyn Shine studied Fine Arts and Linguistics at the University of New South Wales and went on to become a musician, songwriter and music educator. As a freelance writer she has been published in various publications, including the Sydney Morning Herald. She moved to Hanoi on a whim in 2002, expecting available culture and romance. Her disappointment propelled her to seek satisfying answers to questions on culture that until then she'd never dared ask.