East of Siam : Ramblings in the five divisions of French Indo-China

In this vivid travel memoir, a curious wanderer sets out from the bustling ports of Saigon to explore the five distinct regions of French Indo‑China. He weaves together encounters with French colonial soldiers, bustling market towns, and the mist‑shrouded ruins of Angkor, all while noting the strange blend of French, Chinese, and native customs that shape everyday life. The narrative is peppered with the author's own photographs, offering listeners a rare visual glimpse of remote villages, jungle‑covered highlands, and riverine traffic.

He moves northward through Annam’s river valleys, spends a month in Hanoi, and then ventures over the mountains into the largely untouched kingdom of Laos, where Buddhist rituals and river commerce paint a picture of a world barely touched by modernity. Along the way, his modest, self‑effacing humor softens the stark contrasts between French authority and indigenous traditions, making the journey feel both educational and intimate. Listeners will come away with a fresh sense of the cultural crossroads that defined this forgotten corner of the early twentieth‑century Far East.