Book launch Destination Saigon Adventures in Vietnam by Walter Mason

by StreetCorner Staff
05/03/2010

The official launch of Destination Saigon, by Walter Mason was held last night at the Unitarian Church, East Sydney.

In front of a crowd of 120 people gathered to hear Maggie Hamilton launch the book and heap praise on Mason as a person, friend and amazing writer.

Mason was encouraged to write this his first book and spent 7 months researching and living in Vietnam, a country he knows very well having visited there on many occasions and speaks the language.

Walter jumped up and ordered the doors to be locked until everybody there brought a copy of his book, which wasn’t necessary as all the books were sold on the night.

Get a taste of the real Vietnam and its people on a sometimes funny, always fascinating journey from the bustling cities to out of the way villages, into Buddhist monasteries and along the Mekong - a real delight for armchair travellers and those contemplating their own adventure.

From the crazy heat and colour of Saigon to the quieter splendour of Hanoi, Walter Mason gives us a rare, joyous and at times hilarious insight into twenty-first century Vietnam. Seduced by the beauty and charm of its people, and the sensuousness of its culture, we can almost taste the little coconut cakes cooked over a fire in a smoky Can Tho kitchen, or smell the endless supplies of fresh baguettes and croissants just out of city ovens.

As colourful city cafes and bars make way for visits to out-of-the-way shrines and temples, we take an impromptu visit to forbidden fortune tellers, and glimpse a little of the Cao Dai religion, made famous in Graham Greene's The Quiet American. Escaping on impulse to a far-flung province, a brief imprisonment culminates in an invitation to local wedding celebrations.

Travelling off the beaten track to far-flung villages and lesser-known towns, we cruise along the Mekong, board hopelessly overcrowded local buses or perch perilously on the back of motorbikes. Behind-the-scenes visits to Buddhist monasteries reveal a quieter and more transcendent world beyond the busy day trips of tourists. And in the process we begin to see the country through the eyes of its people.

www.adyar.com.au

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