Monks and Motorcycles

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Monks and Motorcycles: From Laos to London by the Seat of My Pants, 1956-1958.

In 1956, 22-year-old Frank Huffman embarks on a journey that will take him from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to the exotic Orient, and eventually around the world. In this fascinating tale of adventure, Huffman shares his experiences and emotions during two years as a French interpreter for a community development team on the Plain of Jars in Laos, Indochina. At the end of his tour in Laos, he buys a motorcycle and sets out for Europe, with only a National Geographic map of Asia and the optimism of youth as his guide. He takes us along for the ride as heclimbs the fabled Angkor Wat in Cambodia, cycles up the road to Mandalay in Burma, floats up the Chindwin River on a river boat, is chased by a motorcycle-hating cow near the Taj Mahal, participates in a mutiny on a ramshackle bus in the Pakistani desert, thumbs his way across Iran to Turkey, and carouses through Europe in a Simca with pilfered sleeping bags and C-rations.