Once Around the Sun

“Jessica Mudditt’s love letter to backpacking has every classic backpacker experience. On the banana pancake trail there are fried tarantulas in Cambodia and bia hoi (fresh beer) in Vietnam, followed by linguistic confusion in China, the odd stomach upset, a touch of altitude sickness and if it gets cold – well, there’s always some hunk to share your sleeping bag with. In fact, as every backpacker is likely to confirm, the kindness of strangers is generally on call.”

While nursing a broken heart at the age of 25, Jessica Mudditt sets off from Melbourne for a year of solo backpacking through Asia.

She has spent six years at university, yet still has no idea what she is going to do with the rest of her life. She just knows that she is profoundly curious about other cultures and hungry for new experiences.

Her willingness to try almost anything quickly lands her in a scrape in Cambodia. With the nation’s tragic history continuing to play out in the form of widespread poverty, Jessica looks for ways to make a positive impact.

She crosses overland into a remote part of Laos, where friendships form fast and jungle adventures await.

Vietnam is an intoxicating sensory overload, and the hedonism of the backpacking scene reaches new heights.

Jessica is awed by the scale and beauty of China, but she has underestimated the language barrier and begins her time there feeling lost and lonely.

In circumstances that take her by surprise, Jessica finds herself hiking to Mount Everest base camp in Tibet.

From a monks’ dormitory in Laos to the steppes of Inner Mongolia, join Jessica as she travels thousands of kilometres across some of the most beautiful and fascinating parts of the planet.