The Foreign Service Journal, November 2005

overcome and incorporate those traditions in her work, and the despair she sometimes felt over the intrusion of the modern world make this a complicated but also con- templative book.” Sarah Erdman, the daughter of an FSO, grew up in seven countries. After graduating with a history degree from Middlebury College in Vermont, she served as a Peace Corps Health Volunteer in northern Cote d’Ivoire. She is currently a placement officer for Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Jordan at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. Monks and Motorcycles: From Laos to London by the Seat of My Pants, 1956-1958 Franklin E. Huffman, iUniverse, Inc., 2004, $23.95, paperback, 328 pages. In 1956, 22-year-old Frank Huff- man 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, Huffman shares his experiences and emo- tions over two years as a French interpreter for a commu- nity development team on the Plain of Jars in Laos. At the end of his Laos tour, he buys a motorcycle and sets out for Europe, with only a National Geographic map of Asia and the optimism of youth as his guides. We go along for the ride as Huffman motors up the road to Mandalay in what is now called Myanmar, is chased by a motorcycle-hating cow near the Taj Mahal in the northern Indian city of Agra, 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. He shares his insights on the culture and society of the coun- tries he visits, from Laos to the U.K. Huffman’s sense of humor and fluent writing style make Monks and Motorcycles an enjoyable read. Franklin Huffman was a Foreign Service officer with F O C U S N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 33