It’s 1951. Most of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (together called Indo-China) is under French colonial influence and the rest under Communist supported Viet Minh rule. There’s a full blown war going on between the French and the Viet-Minh. Three more years till France officially quits Indochina and four more years till the 19 year long Vietnam War starts. That’s when Norman Lewis decided to visit the place.
The author is British born journalist, and so he succeeded in being objective and unbiased most of the time. But he went so far to be unbiased, that his writing felt emotionally detached and unempathetic. He also didn’t do a very good job describing places and his experiences. I couldn’t picture things very well, and it was really irksome to read the book.
But he goes out of his way to give the readers information, and he travelled as far into the country as he could possibly go. To give a wholesome picture he even contacts the Viet-Minh, ventures into the Viet-Minh controlled territory and lives with them for a little while.
It was fascinating to read about the various tribes in the area and their weird (to us) practices. I also liked reading about the spread of different faiths in the region: Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity, and finally Communism too.
booksandtheopenroad.travel.blog 