Edward Gargan

A friend recommended this book as he knew I had travelled to about three-quarters of the destinations travelled by the author. Perhaps that is why I was less excited than I thought I would be when I finished it. Some of the sites along the Mekong I had travelled twenty-odd years ago, others as recently as last month (Luang Prabang), so there was a mix of both romantic nostalgia and small irritations. This is perhaps unfair to the author as The River's Tale is a personal travel diary and therefore does belong to a specific time--late 1990's/early 2000's (I confess I don't remember the actual year) and place. But readers should be aware that Asia has probably changed more in the past 10 years than any other time during its history, so many of the descriptions of both the terrain and the people and their dreams/concerns has changed, some radically. I am specifically thinking here of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam which have all exploded with tourism and its accoutrements.… (más)