Tag Archives: Vietnam

A Strange Book to Inspire Vietnam Travel

Books, Destinations, Travel, Vietnam, , , , ,

Destination: Vietnam

Book: The Tunnels of Cu Chi by Tom Mangold and John Penycate

When I talked to Candy Harrington about writing a post for A Traveler’s Library, she apologized because the book that came to mind was ” a little dorky.”  Hey, any book that inspires travel fits on the shelves of A Traveler’s Library.

Candy writes much-needed informational articles and books about accessible travel. The third edition of, Barrier Free Travels: A Nuts and Bolts Guide for Wheelers and Slow Walkers hit the shelves June 16, and if you are one of those who hesitate to travel because you need help getting around, or if you know someone who fits that description, check Candy’s immensely helpful guide.

Now let’s see what she learned about Vietnam from her dorky book.

Good Morning Vietnam

I grew up hating Vietnam.

Booby-trapped entrance to a Co Chi tunnel, Vietnam
Booby-trapped entrance to a Cu Chi tunnel, Vietnam

My first recollection of the country was on the nightly news — something called the casualty report. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I knew from my mom’s reaction that it wasn’t very good. As I grew up and entered high school the war became more personal for me. My friends were drafted and went off to fight. Many never returned, and those that did come home were forever changed. I truly hated everything associated with this horrible event that took my friends from me — including the entire country of Vietnam. Continue reading A Strange Book to Inspire Vietnam Travel →

Vietnam in the ’50s by Graham Greene

Books, Destinations, Movies, New Orleans, Vietnam, , , , ,

Destination: Vietnam

Book: The Quiet American by Graham Greene

 

(I need to add a P.S. –although it’s at the beginning, not the end, so make that Pre-Script.) In thinking about what I wrote here, and watching the video above, I suddenly realized that the movie of The Quiet American was probably what instilled in me a strong desire to travel to Vietnam. So there you have it. A travel book/movie.

What struck me as uncanny about The Quiet American was how much the book foretold the next decade when the Americans were in Vietnam.  I had seen the 2002 movie with Michael Caine playing the cynical British war correspondent, but even though it came AFTER the war, I still missed the way that American behavior aped the failed attitudes of the French. Not that I accept Greene’s arguments.

The beautiful Vietnamese girl, Phuong, says little and reveals nothing about her true feelings–a perfect symbol for the inscrutable Vietnam that neither the French, the British nor the Americans can understand. Fowler, the Brit, willingly deals with the communists to get rid of his rival, Pyle.

A 1956 review of the book in the New York Times puts some of Greene’s political thinking in perspective. “He had visited the Communist territories and been much impressed by the Communist leader Ho Chi Minh.” they say.

In reading anything by Greene, you have to get past his obsession with Roman Catholicism.  The protagonist will inevitably be a non-believer who is closely related to a believer and is plagued with guilt over whatever…in this case infidelity. In this case he is pitted against an impossibly gullible American (the experienced and knowing British empire against the naive America).

And from the point of view of religion, what are we to make of the fact that the guileless, optimistic young American loses out to the cynical, opium-smoking Fowler? Perhaps who wins in life doesn’t count. It is only the afterlife that matters?

Meanwhile, philosophy and politics aside, Greene tells a good story with romance and adventure and crisp dialogue. It belongs in the travelers library for the light it casts on a Vietnam that is mostly, but not entirely in the past.

More Books on Vietnam

Books, Vietnam, , , ,

Vietnam at China Beach
Vietnam at China Beach

Destination: Vietnam

Books: The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh

Hell in a Very Small Place and Street Without Joy by Bernard Fall

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

Today I am giving you some more book recommendations for Vietnam, and a question. Have you recently seen the Continental Hotel in Saigon? Traveler’s Bro wants to know.

I received  such wonderful responses when I asked people to recommend books on ten specific places, that I want to share some more of them.  You may have seen the books on Vietnam, recommended by Andrea Ross of Journey’s Within tours and Bed & Breakfast in Cambodia.

With the previous post on Vietnam, I forgot to include a recommendation from Wandering Eds, so here is the link to an article about the book The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh, presented lovingly in a review by Joel Carillet.

Traveler’s Bro posted a couple of recommendations and a question for readers of this blog, and I post it in its entirety below.

“Other worthy works on Vietnam before the ‘American War’ there:  Bernard B. Fall’s  Hell in a Very Small Place and Street without Joy. These provide history lessons with literary quality. Graham Greene’s The Quiet American expresses the bitter old Euro-imperialist’s disgust with Americans’ brash optimisim about saving the Vietnamese for liberal democracy. Sadly, it can now be considered prophetic. (It led me to pay a visit to the old Continental Hotel during the late war. The open bar-veranda seemed to invite VC grenade tossing, but I was told the management bribed the bad guys to stay away. In 1969 it still had the old colonial “puka” feel about it: waiters in clean white jackets delivering cocktails to international patrons while a few miles away the war roared on. Anyone visited there recently? Has anything really changed or does it remain a restful cul-de-sac of colonial history?)”

Please let us know if you’ve been to the Continental Hotel in Saigon. And keep the recommendations coming. Thanks for all the help. We will be using reader recommendations for books on Scotland and Australia  and Sweden in upcoming posts.

Photograph by Amit K (Sydney) obtained through Flickr with permission of photographer. Click on the picture to see more by this amazine photographer.