The Sydney Morning Herald calls "Destination Saigon" one of the most outstanding travelogues of the year

Thanks to the wonderful Belinda Jackson for singling out Destination Saigon as one of 2010's best travelogues in last weekend's SMH Traveller. She has certainly put me in some elevated company! Here's what she has to say:

"Destination Saigon, Walter Mason (Allen & Unwin, $24.99)

Love with a Vietnamese man eventually led to a love of Vietnam - but this is no rosy affair. Inspired by several prolonged stays, including stints in rural monasteries and language studies in Ho Chi Minh City, Cabramatta local Mason is a large Caucasian man and therefore a source of wonder and affectionate groping among the dense crowds of smaller-statured Vietnamese. Perched on the back of a motorbike behind a tiny monk friend, he's also a rich source for Vietnamese humour ("Check out skinny Minnie on the back of that bike!") or the ministrations of cafe owners, who bring out extra-strong chairs when he darkens their doorsteps."

FYI, the other titles she likes are:

Is That Thing Diesel?, Paul Carter (Allen & Unwin, $24.99)

A Food Lover's Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Dee Nolan (Penguin Lantern, $100)

A Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road, Christopher Aslan Alexander (Icon Books, Allen & Unwin, $22.99)

Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World, Seth Stevenson (HarperCollins, $35)

Three in a Bed in the Med, Ann Rickard (Radge Publishing, $24.95)

A Moveable Feast, editor Don George (Lonely Planet, $29.99)

Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, William Dalrymple (Allen & Unwin, $35)

Letters from the Caribbean, Andrea & Ian Treleaven (New Holland, $29.95)

From Here to There: A Father and Son Roadtrip Adventure from Melbourne to London, Jon Faine & Jack Faine (ABC Books, $39.99)

That should provide you with something of a reading list for the holidays, and good to see that the most-represented publisher is my very own, Allen & Unwin.

Traveller (Sydney Morning Herald, The Age) review of Destination Saigon

Destination Saigon, by Walter Mason
Allen & Unwin, $24.99
Reviewed by Bruce Elder,
Traveller, Sydney Morning Herald & The Age
Saturday, 13th March 2010

When it comes to evaluating and commenting on the nature of a soceity, there is no substitute for the thoughtful objectivity of an outsider who has fallen in love with the place.

This describes Walter Mason, an Australian who followed his Vietnamese partner, settled in Ho Chi Minh City in the mid-1990s and has since visited the country 11 times.  He understands Vietnam with a level of wry fascination and when it comes to the idiosyncrasies of the culture, he speaks the language and can ask a local exactly what is happening.

Consequently, this interesting and well written book, apart from being an engrossing narrative of life in Vietnam, is full of useful and practical insights.

For example: "If you are ever looking for a hotel in Hanoi, I recommend you check the room before you agree to the tariff.  Rooms with windows can be rare in the city, so it is easy to disappear into a black hole of a room with no circulation and ample damp, and quite possibly fall asleep for days, waiting for a dawn."

And one of my favourite insights: "for a foreigner, getting a legitimate massage in Vietnam can be quite a difficult thing and I had heard horror stories of notorious goings-on even in five-star hotel spas." Do you really want to know more?

An example of quirkiness - and this is what helps make this unusual book so engrossing - is Mason's description of a leprosarium, in Binh Dinh province, that the local tourist authority has tried to turn into a tourist attraction: "As leprosariums go it is quite nice, situated gorgeously by the ocean, replete with coffee shops and restaurants run by the lepers themselves." And then, with just the right level of eyebrow-raising, he adds: "But as a tourist attraction I think it's a abit of a tough sell."

Mason obviously loves the country and it's people.  In many ways, this is his love letter to Vietnam.  More than a guidebook, it's a story full of insights that will help visitors to understand the unique cultures of Vietnam.