Monks And Motorcycles: From Laos to London by the Seat of my Pants 1956 to 1958

[Morningrider]

An interesting book for GT Riders might be linguist Franklin E. Huffman’s Monks And Motorcycles: From Laos to London by the Seat of my Pants 1956 to 1958 (2004) about his transcontinental motorcycle journey on a 15-horsepower 1957 BMW R26. He was 22 and used National Geographic maps for Asia. Only one highway in Thailand had been paved at that time, and none in Laos.

Photos of Thailand and Laos, from the book (the book also has photos of Malaya, Singapore, Burma, India, Iran, Turkey, Italy, France, Monaco, Germany, Austria, Holland, and England):

Ranong:

Korat-Bangkok Friendship Highway:

Bangkok Royal Temple:

Hmong Girls with the Author:

Xieng Kouang Bridge:

Xieng Kouang Village:

Travel in Laos:

Plain of Jars Family Water Buffalo:

Phonsavan Movie Night:

Vientiane Ministry of Justice:

Huffman went on to get a PhD and become Professor of Linguistics and Asian Studies at Yale and Cornell, teaching Thai and Khmer, and then a U.S. Foreign Service Officer. Only when he was forced into mandatory retirement did he have time to write his memoir. He self-published it when he was seventy. Franklin is frank, even detailing how he lost his virginity in a Singapore brothel.

Huffman wrote the first Khmer-English dictionary to be published in the western world (1978), which is still used today. Ten years ago he told me that his dictionary remained one of the most popular books in Cambodia, but nearly all copies sold there are pirated.

Monks And Motorcycles is here, in paperback and eBook formats:
MONKS AND MOTORCYCLES

Huffman died three months ago at ninety-one:
Mr. Franklin E. Huffman Obituary (2025) - Silver Spring, MD - Rapp Funeral & Cremation Services - Silver Spring

 

[Franz]

Very good recommendation Morningrider !! That must have been a real adventure, no bigbike shops whatsoever, no spares, no support and this on the R26. I used to ride one I borrowed from a very good Thai friend in Pats. The acceleration was incredible and most of all the deceleration 555555 Like braking the MT09 from 200 to zero with just the rear brake and no engine or front brake. Will get that book, must be real entertainment to read if one keeps in mind how pampered we are today. Time when he finished his trip, I was still not even in the planning stage 55555

 

[Morningrider]

I had the same bike for a few years. It was a fine motorcycle.

Fifteen horsepower (increased to 18 in the final R27 version) was enough to go around the world.

If you PM me, I can help you with the book.

 

[Franz]

I had the same bike for a few years. It was a fine motorcycle.

View attachment 161885

Fifteen horsepower (increased to 18 in the final R27 version) was enough to go around the world.

View attachment 161886

If you PM me, I can help you with the book.

Thanks ! Just looked it up e-book costs just 6 $ so will order online.
Unimagineable for us today to travel the planet on such a low powered motorbike but as i used to rebuild some old bikes myself, it was their simplicity that made such a trip feasible. Still remember the old Puch175 - 2 piston 2 strokers my dad used to cheaply buy from the Austrian army to be rebuilt......