Sparring with Charlie: Motorbiking Down the Ho Chi Minh Trail

As both a motorcyclist and a traveller, I found this book both an interesting read and useful for planning a trip to Vietnam.

As someone who enjoys motorcycle travel overseas, I found this book invaluable for planning my own motorcycle tour in Vietnam. Some reviews have said the writer is 'shallow' etc, but I think his comments are dead on.

While academics might look down on this witty work for merely touching on difficult questions, I found it the most useful preparation for a two week trip to Vietnam. Hunt gives poignant images of young people trying to survive in in a fast-changing country. They fantasize about the fabled suburbs of America - the land of infinite consumer goods, exciting movies, and Bay Watch. Yet the museums provide evidence of the long, brutal war known as "The American War."Hunt's Vietnam remains an odd, exotic country where anything can happen. How many places are there where police shake you down, negotiate a bribe, and then give you a receipt! I could relate to Hunt's twin desires to push the limits and explore the unknown while riding along the broken Ho Chi Minh trail - and being genuinely afraid. When does riding alone on a dark road become stupid? Can you trust the innkeeper? How can you transcend being the "rich" American in a poor country? What do people expect or want from you? What do you want from them? When are you being set up? Does evil lurk behind that smile? What topics, besides critizing Ho Chi Minh, are taboo? Where are the boundaries of speech in a corrupt police state? Is it fair for an American tourist to even comment on Vietnam's woes If you plan to see Hue, Saigon, Hanoi, or go to Laos, then this book presents awkward situations worth considering before visiting Southeast Asia. It's a travelogue, not an academic history of the area. Hunt critizes many aspects of Vietnam - he's judgemental. That also makes the book more real because I can't avoid, no matter how hard I might try, making judgements. You have to make choices, and Hunt shares his decision making process with us. I appreciated that! I looked at many, many books before my trip. I took Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide. This was the only book on Vietnam that I read cover to cover with delight.

Christopher Hunt went to Vietnam with the aim of traveling down the Ho Chi Minh Trail and gather ideas for a novel. He wrote a travelogue instead which details his adventures and the people he meets. If you find yourself interested in Mr. Hunt's writing search for him on the Web. Some of his fiction appears in ezines. Catherine Karnow did the cover photography. Forty-one of her pictures from Vietnam appears in the ezine @TLAS. Issues such as the MIA's, the faith of the Amerasian and the boat-people are addressed in passing. There are many individual portraits of people from all over the country.