Most travel essay books approach travel from the perspective of a lone traveler. Few are written by a vagabond family of four. Sihpromatum is a self-published book written by Savannah Grace, one of two sisters, a mother and a brother from Vancouver that traveled across China and Mongolia on the cheap.
Traveling 2nd or 3rd class, local-style, can be stressful as a lone traveler. Imagine the pressures a family of four would face traveling across China on packed buses with large backpacks. The family dynamics are what set this travel adventure apart. The author is transparent, sometimes uncomfortably so, about the familial frictions – but the book is enriched by these revelations.
The journey begins in 2005 Vancouver when the author is informed by the recently divorced mother that the family is selling the house, quilting work and pulling out of schools to hit the road for a year. Savannah, a teenager, does not take this well. She does not want to leave her friends. Within weeks though they have landed in Hong Kong where the mother almost ends the story early by stepping off a curb looking the wrong way. Haven’t all of us from right-hand drive countries done this in Hong Kong?
As they head north into China by train and bus Savannah’s incessant griping increases as the condition of the toilets deteriorate. Her college-aged brother, Ammon, has traveled much of the world as a backpacker and knows how to pinch pennies and negotiate. Through a series of hostels and overcrowded buses and trains they make their way through southern China’s karst landscapes and sweet dishes to spicy Sichuan where they catch a Yangzi River cruise.
Continuing north in the same fashion the family horse treks, hikes and buses through Henan and Shanxi to Beijing. By the time the family has crossed into Mongolia by train Savannah is starting to love the experience of travel and the mood improves despite the hair-laden fermented horse milk and mutton at every meal.
Many have written of travels in China but few have written about cheap travels in Mongolia the way the author does. The family travels all around Mongolia by Jeep, horse and a van that breaks down in the Gobi Dessert.
I enjoyed Sihpromatum. Savannah Grace has a keen eye for detail and a willingness to try anything. A Canadian/American teenager and her family turn into hard-traveling nomads over a few months on the road. This book ends in Russia, but the story keeps on going from there. The family eventually spent four years traveling through Tibet, India, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. The next book in this series is “Backpacks and Bra Straps” which covers travels in Russia, Western China, Tibet and Nepal.
You can see more about the book series at: https://sihpromatum.com/
