DESCENDING THE DRAGON
My Journey Down the Coast of Vietnam
NY TIMES BOOK REVIEW
I went to Vietnam the first time because I knew so little about the place, especially its people. During seven years I returned four more times, spending most of my time exploring its long coastline, where one-third of Vietnam's 85 million live. Along the way my teams and I spent days with rich and poor, fishermen and entrepreneurs, almost all beach dwellers who live and depend on the sea. For many, we were the first Americans they had ever met. During our longest exploration, in 2001, I was accompanied by photographer Rob Howard who made beautiful portraits of many of those we met.
Perhaps my most compelling travel was done with Ngan Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee who'd fled the south with her family in 1975 and had grown up in the U.S. Traveling with her, especially through what was North Vietnam, was eye-opening for us both. The most emotional day for Ngan was when we kayaked along the Ben Hai River which had been the man-made demarcation separating north from south. The river symbolized for us all the tragic loss of more than 3 million Vietnamese lives, as well as more than 56,000 Americans ... which still today seems hard to rationalize, no matter where in the world you were born.
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Ngan Nguyen's Departure from Vietnam
On our departure from Vietnam in 1975, I was only three and a half years old...
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Since the end of fighting in 1975, Vietnam has boomed and ebbed and is booming again today. The first time I visited, in 2000, fewer than 1 million visitors were coming to Vietnam each year; today more than 4 million, putting a new stress on the routes they follow whether on land or sea. Now is time to watch Vietnam as it changes, and changes fast.
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