Rain Falling on Tamarind Trees: A Travelogue of Vietnam
A good travelogue is a pleasure to read, particularly if a long, expensive trip is beyond you. A Travelogue of Vietnam by C. L. Hoang is not that. Hoang returned to his native Vietnam after some forty years living in the US. We expected an extensive personal exploration of this country so rich in history, culture, spectacular sceneries, and fabled cuisine (a fusion of Vietnamese and French influences). Disappointingly, Hoang describes a guided tour he attended spanning eight days and plenty of travel by buses and airplanes. He divides the book into five chapters, exploring five major cities with the Vietnamese tour guide. The tour members don’t have too much time to freely explore the cities and take their reserved buses from tourist site to tourist site. This is what Hoang describes in his travelogue. His writing is not a page-turner but only fair and in places even boring when he quotes the tour guide’s usual monologues. He mentions a little history and culture but nothing about the unique Vietnamese cuisine–a disappointment to many readers. He illustrates his text with forty-three colored snapshots. Location maps, both of the country and described cities, would have been useful.
Author | C. L. Hoang |
---|---|
Star Count | /5 |
Format | Trade |
Page Count | 119 pages |
Publisher | Willow Stream Publishing |
Publish Date | 2017-Nov-18 |
ISBN | 9780989975605 |
Bookshop.org | Buy this Book |
Issue | April 2018 |
Category | Travel |
Share |
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.