We are just back from our 12 day Indochine Writing Journey in Vietnam and I have to say it was more than wonderful. We being: a YA writer, a couple of memoirists, a novelist or two and a non fiction writer. Hanoi injected us with all her chaos and bustle before we headed north to Mai Chau, a lush rice growing valley dotted with villages belonging to the White Thai people, one of the 54 ethnic minorities of Vietnam. We were looked after superbly by Madame Chung and her mother Mrs Vuoung, staying in a communal stilt house and having our workshops in the cool underside by the fish pond as Madame Vuoung went about her daily duties; weaving, gardening, washing, cooking, grand-child minding. Surrounded by green, green ricefields, which we could walk and cycle through any time we liked, we slipped into the quiet village rhythm, adding our morning writing workshops and pre dinner readings into the mix; most productive time! See pics here.
For the first part of our second week, by day we were in retreat around a lily pond and salt water pool at Villa Hoa Su outside the historic town of Hoi An, then spent the evenings roaming the streets of the ancient city, which is famous for its full moon lantern festivals.
The finale of our adventure was an exploration of the Mekong Delta, in particular the towns where French writer Marguerite Duras lived and set her novella The Lover. From our riverside homestay we travelled by riverboat to Sa Dec and visited the Lover’s house, his tomb and a school where MD’s mother is said to have taught. On our last night there, our guide Song and our homestay host told moving stories of the American War. Next day we headed back to Saigon and celebrated our last night with a wonderful meal at The Mandarin (á la The Lover) and said our goodbyes.
I had an extra week scheduled for my own writing retreat at the end on An Bang Beach, where I met up with A.D. Scott for a mapping session on her next novel: murder mystery number six ! A.D and I have worked together in an ongoing mentoring relationship for a number of years and she presented me with a gift of number 5 – The Low Road, just out in bookstores, a perfect book for my trip home. I finished it off as we landed in Sydney and I highly recommend it. Apart from being another great story set in 1950s Scottish Highlands, being immersed in this world with all its nuance of Scottish society of those times is a terrific way to pass the waiting time in planes and airports.
A.D. lives and writes from her riverside home at An Bang Beach and knows the importance of the rice paddy view. She regularly takes herself off to the beach and for long rides through the rice fields on her motorbike. On my last day there she had spent the entire day installed at her favourite beachside cafe with just her notebook, pen and the view. And for sustenance, a few local delicacies from the Soul Kitchen.
