Sparring with Charlie, Christopher Hunt
Sparring with Charlie, Christopher Hunt
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Sparring with Charlie
Motorbiking Down the Ho Chi Minh Trail

Author: Christopher Hunt

Narrator: Tom Parker

Unabridged: 8 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/08/2008

Synopsis

When Christopher Hunt set off in search of Vietnams notorious Ho Chi Minh Trail, he hardly expected to end up on a rickety, Russianmade motorcycle navigating 5,000 kilometers of paths rarely traveled by tourists and on roads missing from maps. Hunt left the United States expecting to explore the 1,700kilometer highway that was once the supply route for the North Vietnamese Army. He soon found himself roaming the Vietnamese countryside in need of help and direction. In the process, he found that being an American in Vietnam conjured constant reminders of the past and encountered a country and a people poised precariously between the ancient and the modern. With adventure, wit, and an eye for the absurd, Hunt goes beyond the newspaper headlines and myths about Vietnam to capture the color and complexity of Vietnam today.

About Christopher Hunt

Christopher Hunt was born in New York City and grew up in Beirut. He graduated from Dartmouth College and the London School of Economics before working as a staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the Economist. Author P. J. O’Rourke said of Hunt, “It is the job of the travel writer to have an awful time, and Christopher Hunt is an expert in his profession.”

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kathy

It took me awhile to get into this book....mainly because it took the author several chapters to actually begin his trip! Once he hit the road, I tuned into it. The author decides to ride a motorcycle down the Ho Chi Minh Trail from Hanoi to Saigon only to discover that there is no one main trail bu......more

Goodreads review by Amy

This book is about a journalist who goes to Vietnam in 1996 and travels the Ho Chi Minh Trail by moped. It’s an interesting concept, but the author just doesn’t follow through with an exciting read. I listened to this on CD in my car so it was something to pass the time away while driving; however,......more

Goodreads review by Eric

Hunt has produced a somewhat ersatz travelog of life along the Ho Chi Minh trail of Vietnam, and gives up a glimpse into the after-war years of that country. His journey on a Russian motorcycle through parts of the country that typically are not seen by tourists makes for very interesting vignettes......more

Goodreads review by Susan

Vietnam may have won the war but devastation and poverty still reign in a country still stepping on land mines, living with jungles flattened by agent orange and people scrapping by with missing limbs and no jobs. This is one seriously screwed up area of the world. I can only ask why were we fightin......more

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