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.

Talk and Signing at MCC Good Shepherd

Walter Mason will be talking about some of the more interesting spiritual adventures behind his book Destination Saigon at:

Metropolitan Community Church of the Good Shepherd
37 East St
Granville

Time: 6.30pm
SUNDAY MARCH 21

Copies of the book will be available for sale, and Walter will be signing books at the end of the service

Nova Magazine - Destination Saigon Review

DESTINATION SAIGON
WALTER MASON
ALLEN & UNWIN
REVIEW BY ROSAMUND BURTON
NOVA, March 2010

In Destination Saigon Walter Mason has combined his sharp eye as a foreigner with the knowledge of a local and the result is exquisite. Having visited the country nine times over the last 16 years and also fluent in the
language, Walter Mason takes the reader on a sensational journey through modern Vietnam.

Each chapter of the book is a vignette of one of his experiences and the anecdotes are very funny. Being a large man he describes how, with Vietnamese frankness, he is often addressed as "Fatty". Also, the agony when with great regularity, flimsy furniture, particularly plastic café stools, collapses under him, and the subsequent embarrassment when all the waiters in a place gather to erect a stack of stools deemed sturdy enough to take his great weight.

But there are advantages in being the "fat foreigner", one of which is that his presence is thought to be very auspicious. Not only he is considered a guest of honour at a wedding he is taken to by a junior policeman who is meant to be escorting him out of the district, but his presence is also seen by the groom as a sign that his bride will bear him many "fine fat sons".

Within the wonderful humour of Destination Saigon the realities hit home hard. Walter Mason describes how incredibly fortunate he is considered to be because of the freedom which the West offers him, not to mention his wealth. In Vietnam, he explains, the richest person always pays, and invariably coming from Australia, he is the richest person. People are working 14 hours a day seven days a week simply to survive. One Vietnamese friend tells Walter that he does not allow himself the luxury of having big dreams because he knows that in reality not much is possible.

Walter Mason describes himself as "a passionate, devotionalist, a believer in spiritual potential and a lover of most paths to the transcendent" and running through the book is a delight in the divine. He visits many Buddhist monasteries and regales the reader with many of the less than spiritual aspects of the monks' lives, as well as moments of pure devotion. He climbs up sacred mountains, discovers Vietnam's best known Catholic shrine to Our Lady, honours Kwan Yin, known in Vietnam as Quan Am, and even finds an old derelict Hindu Temple in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, which his friend, Kien, who owns a hairdressing salon, believes is dedicated to a god who is especially benevolent to hairdressers. Whenever he returns from a visit to it, business in the salon always picks up!

Between the soft chanting of ghosts, the mischievousness of fairies and a hysterical account of a night of karaoke with a group of fishermen this book is a gem.

MiNDFOOD (NZ) - Destination Saigon Review

MiNDFOOD Magazine (NZ)
March 2010

Destination Saigon
By Walter Mason
Allen & Unwin

Get a taste for the real Vietnam in this funny and fascinating travelogue.  Fluent in Vietnamese, Walter Mason provides a rare insight into Vietnam's rich history and culture.

Courier Mail, Brisbane - Destination Saigon Review

Saturday, 6th March 2010

Destination Saigon
By Walter Mason
Allen & Unwin

Off the shelf
Vietnam was about as alien a place to Walter Mason as Mars, but love prompted him to visit and after sitting in his Ho Chi Minh room crying for three days from shock, he ventured forth and found it was a country that drew him back time and time again.

From bustling restaurants to the quiet serenity of Buddhist monasteries, this is a fascinating and entertaining read about a people and a nation that never fail to leae their mark on visitors.

One thing Mason knows how to do is eat and it's his gusto for food, be it being beaten with a baquette in the back of a bus or taking a "pleasure jaunt" through an exotic Vietnamese supermarket, that is one of Destination Saigon's greatest pleasures.  It's a worthwhile buy of you're heading that way.

Herald Sun, Melbourne - Destination Saigon Review

Destination Saigon
By Walter Mason
Allen & Unwin
(Melbourne) Herald Sun, Saturday 6th March 2010

Those lucky enough to travel to beautiful Vietnam will readily relate to many of Mason's observations.  But it is his immersion into the culture, thanks to a Vietnamese partner, that provides some amusing anecdotes.  He finds himself well off the tourist track and attending various celebrations such as weddings.  Overweight, Mason is refresingly self deprecating as he relates stories of being ribbed when he goes to cafes because of his size.  He tells of one visit when a plastic chair collapsed under him.  On subsequent visits staff made much of piling plastic chairs on top of each other so they were strong enough to support him.  Some stories are funnier than others, but on the whole an entertaining insight. C. Hearney.

Verdict: colourful

Adyar Booknews Destination Saigon Feature: March - May 2010

Thanks to Tim and the wonderful people at Adyar Bookshop, Destination Saigon is the special feature for the March - May 2010 edition.

They've done a wonderful job!  Walter will also be doing a special event with them on Thursday, 25th March.