Finished small paperback I brought along. I highly recommend making room for several books on a trip to Vietnam, because it is hard to find any written in English. One needs reading materials when waiting for planes, trains, and rainy days in one's room. In Saigon it's the dry season, but in Qui Nhon it's the rainy season. I found a big book store in Saigon near the Caravelle Hotel that had some English books. There are also some pirated popular novels sold on the streets in Saigon that cater to the Ausie travelers, but in Qui Nhon there are none of those. Qui Nhon is about 100,000 people, but not the hectic pace of cosmopolitan Saigon. Anyway, asked the front desk of my hotel about a book store and they supplied me with an address. Went there and did not find but one! book in English. The one they had was about General Giap which I bought. They had biographies of Clinton and Obama in Vietnamese. Obama is very popular. See picture. More about English speaking people, later.
p.s. to Sigi: Thanks for the comments. You are probably right-on about the dismantling of Long Bien Army Base. I'm not sure how to answer comments on the blog, but this is one way.
p.s. to Sigi: Thanks for the comments. You are probably right-on about the dismantling of Long Bien Army Base. I'm not sure how to answer comments on the blog, but this is one way.
Can I read your book after you do? General Giap is one of the 20th century's greatest military leaders--beat both the French and the Americans. Last time I looked him up, he was still alive but in his 90's and as recently as 2-3 years ago, he was giving interviews with the international press,in French, of course. your note got to me. Can you tell I'm living vicariously through you?
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