12 ratings | 4 reviews | avg rating:4.67

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Chris Tharp

Goodreads Author

Born

Tacoma, Washington, The United States

Website

https://christharp.journoportfolio.com/

Twitter

ChrisTharpExpat

Genre

Travel, Memoir, Fiction

Influences

Paul Theroux, Edward Abbey, Hunter S. Thompson, Jim Harrison, Raymond ...more

Member Since

August 2012

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Originally hailing from Olympia, Washington, Chris Tharp has called Korea home since 2004. He's a regular contributor to National Geographic Traveller UK as well as Asia Times. His award-winning writing has also appeared at Matador Network, The San Diego Reader, Green Mountains Review, and Foreign Literary Journal.

Chris has written two books, "Dispatches from the Peninsula: Six Years in South Korea" and "The Worst Motorcycle in Laos: Rough Travels in Asia," both of which are published by Signal 8 Press out of Hong Kong.

He lives in Busan with his wife and a fluctuating number of animals. ...more

Combine Editions
Chris Tharp’s books

Average rating: 4.2 · 99 ratings · 26 reviews · 3 distinct works • Similar authors

	Dispatches from the Peninsula: Six Years in South Korea 4.06 avg rating — 52 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Worst Motorcycle in Laos: Rough Travels in Asia 4.27 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 2011 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cuttlefish 4.70 avg rating — 10 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

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Chris’s Recent Updates

Chris made a comment in the group Goodreads Librarians Group — A book I didn't write is listed on my author page topic " Hello, There is a book that I didn't write listed on my author page. I have no idea how it got there, but it has no reviews and no ratings so I'm thin ...more "
Oct 08, 2025 09:10PM
Chris joined the group Goodreads Librarians Group
Oct 08, 2025 09:08PM · like
Chris rated a book it was amazing The Cuttlefish by Chris Tharp (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 08, 2025 09:07PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Cuttlefish by Chris Tharp. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Cuttlefish by Chris Tharp <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Chris Tharp (?)

“Korean people are proud of kimchee, and in some ways it perfectly represents the Korean character: spicy, sour, strong, unique, and difficult for outsiders to really fathom.”
― Chris Tharp, Dispatches from the Peninsula: Six Years in South Korea

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“Travel is often compared to a drug, and though it is a cliché, the analogy is a strong one. Traveling, like a mind- or mood-altering substance, is often exhilarating; it gives you a rush, and can be absolutely addictive. And like drugs, the more you do, the bigger dose you require to hit that special receptor in the brain-the place that made the experience feel so good the first time. In a way, you're always chasing that first hit.”
― Chris Tharp, The Worst Motorcycle in Laos: Rough Travels in Asia

tags: travel

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“For all the sickening stuff one finds below the surface, Japan is a very safe, civilized place. Maybe they had something figured out. Maybe it's better to recognize such taboo subjects and create a space to contain them, rather than suppress them to the point to where they burst out in more harmful ways. Maybe the Japanese are just more honest about our dark sexual impulses, and their seemingly lax attitudes reflect a more realistic approach to the problem-a kind of societal harm reduction-like experiments in drug decriminalization.”
― Chris Tharp, The Worst Motorcycle in Laos: Rough Travels in Asia

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