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Vietnam, Vidi, Vici: From Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh City
In Norse mythology, Balder was the God of Light and Purity. He was said to be so beautiful that light shone from his body and flowers bowed before him as he walked past. I don’t know who his modern day equivalent is, but as I marched out of the tailor in Hoi An in my custom made suit, I was willing to bet that it was me. My last piece on Vietnam ended in Hoi An, a pleasant canal-riven town. It offers markets and ornate bridges but most importantly, it offers tailors. Custom suits, typically the preserve of Louis Copeland and his cabal, are a volume business here and you’re in…
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Vietnam, Vidi, Vici: From Ha Noi to the Hai Van Pass
Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak. They carried infections. They carried chess sets, basketballs, Vietnamese-English dictionaries, insignia of rank, Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts….. They carried diseases, among them malaria and dysentery……… By daylight they took sniper fire, at night they were mortared, but it was not battle, it was just the endless march, village to village, without purpose, nothing won or lost.“ – Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried ‘The Things They Carried’ is one of the pre-eminent books about the Vietnam War. It is haunting and visceral in equal measure while affording the reader as comprehensive an understanding of war as can be gleaned from print.…
