'A Short Ride In The Jungle'

Book Review.

John Newman

• adventures
• JohnNewman

Back in the day my mate Dave and I were asked by a mutual friend who was a manager in a London social services department, if we would work with a bunch of kids who'd been 'up before the judge' for TDA. It stands for 'Taking and Driving Away', a common enough offence at the time.
We were given a budget, space in a council workshop, and use of a minibus. The idea was that we as credible motorcyclists, and having some experience of working with teenagers, would introduce them to riding and maintaining motorcycles off road as a diversionary activity from their previous nefarious activities. It worked too, but you'll have to take my word for it as it's a long but positive  story.
Our workhorses, and the introduction to riding on two wheels, was the humble but almost indestructible Honda step thru C50, 70 and 90. We'd trailer the bikes and kids out to various off road venues and turn them loose: some progressed over time to moto cross and trials bikes. These days you'd spend all your time on risk assessments and health and safety triple checks. But that was then and we had big fun, and no injuries.

Honda are reputed to have made sixty million of these bikes since in all engine configurations. I'll repeat that figure as a figure because it's a bit staggering. 60 million!  
These bikes have to be the ultimate utilitarian vehicle. In the developing world they have enabled reliable mobility where no other transport is available. And where would takeaway businesses be without fleets of these bikes on 'suicide' missions through urban traffic.
They've also been adopted as a cheap adventure mount by us fortunate westerners.


...is tagged with the sub-title 'The Ho Chi Minh Trail by Motorcycle' and tells of a solo C90 ride through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia by Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent; beginning in Hanoi and finishing in Saigon. The trail is the incredible supply line through jungles and across mountains, set up by the army of North Vietnam during the US invasion of that country from the early sixties to the fall of Saigon in 1975. It was a continuation of conflict the people of those countries had been subjected to since the mid 1800's when the French were the colonial power, and in the 1940's under Japanese occupation when thousands died from starvation.
Ant, as the writer likes to be known, was introduced to Vietnam and motorcycles when, as the producer of the BBC 'Worlds Most Dangerous Roads' series she spent a week riding pillion on the trail with Digby the 'fixer' for the programme, and a bike tour guide based in Hanoi.

She became transfixed with the idea of riding the trail on her own, and a year after her first visit was back in Hanoi at Digby's place taking delivery of a twenty year old C90 liveried in pink; and prepared by Digby's business partner Cuong 'the best motorcycle mechanic in Vietnam'. Who also tutored Ant in some of the basic mechanics she might need on her journey; especially the all important puncture repairs.
Vietnam is changing – check out the 'made in' label on your trainers or Primark T shirt – and rapid development has followed the end of the war and the reunification of the country. A network of surfaced roads and consequent traffic as Ant headed south to pick up the trail was to be endured rather than enjoyed. As a  rider finding your way in a new country without the benefit of the language, and on a small motorcycle it's easy to get 'blown into the weeds', but  in the early pages you soon get the impression that she possesses a courageous and undaunted spirit no matter what confronts her...she needed it.

What makes a good travel book? For me it's a combination of the author allowing you to be part of the journey with them, and through good research allowing the reader to understand something about the lands through which they are travelling. Like a novel it should have a story to tell with characters, drama, humour and tragedy, and 'A Short Ride In The Jungle' has all these attributes.
Ant's trip covers a distance of two thousand miles, but distance can mean nothing depending on the terrain you have to negotiate. She spent six weeks on the road, and during that time had the engine rebuilt four times, slept in brothels and in her hammock alone in the jungle. Ate food she could not identify. Navigated over and through three countries mountains and jungle despite any sense of direction - she thinks this might be a family trait. And dealt with characters who were hostile as well as those who extended hospitality.
On the fringes of jungle trails and roads there was a constant threat of UXO's; unexploded ordinance and land mines. The bland initials given to the thousands of as yet unfound unexploded bombs dropped in their tons on Cambodia and Laos by US forces. Now left to maim and kill local populations despite the seemingly puny efforts of brave individuals and NGO's.

One of my favourite and most dramatic chapters in the book is when Ant decides to shorten her journey by some 300 miles by taking a shortcut along the Mondulkiri Death Highway. A series of trails through the jungle that are often impassable when it rains. Travellers are advised not to attempt it, and the Lonely Planet travel guide says that only hardened bikers can make it when conditions are favourable.

Ant sets out carrying five litres of essential water. A local on a bike advises her to turn back even though she has been told by others the track is passable. What to do? She meets a couple of men on the trail whose truck is stuck, and lends one of them the bike to get help. It doesn't turn out well. The C90 gets stuck up to the handlebars in cloying mud, she only has half litre of water left...you'll have to buy the book to read the outcome.


Now that the dark nights are here and colder temperatures cannot be far behind. It's hibernate with a good book time, and you will enjoy this one.
'A Short Ride In The Jungle, the Ho Chi Minh Trail by Motorcycle' is published by Summersdale Publishers www.summersdale.co.uk @ £9.99 isbn 978-1-84953-5434
John Newman for Wemoto News