The river's tale Book

This is a big book, or, at least the topic -- traveling down a 2,700 mile river -- is big. In fact, for a year's journey, the book is surprising slim. I know the author took copious notes, and I don't need to have a description of every meal he ate or flophouse he crashed in, but at times I craved a bit more detail. This is a very minor criticism of what was clearly a labor of love for him. And labor it surely was. Not just based on his ordeals but at times his 'voice' sounded weary as well. Part of this though I interpret as concern for the peoples, lands, and cultures he touched.

I would love to sit over a BeerLao or two and chat with Mr. Gargan about the changes wrought in the last decade-and-a-half. His journey -- completed sometime around Y2K -- is necessarily a snapshot. Having traveled to three of the countries he visited -- Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, and most recently Laos -- I have seen both the invasive and enabling effects of globalization. There has been some political progress: Lao PDR is no longer the paranoid state as described and the generals are finally not (completely) ruling Myanmar. But, incredibly, Hun Sen is still the Cambodian P.M. The more things change the more they stay the same. China too has bloomed into a global infrastructure-creating juggernaut. This is alluded to in Gargan's book, but what a difference 15 years makes! (We will see much more of this in the years to come as with the 2016 election we have abdicated our role and responsibility of being a global leader and China is eager to fill that gap.)

Back to the book...trained and working as a journalist, Gargan's language is generally descriptive but clear and concise. Only on occasion does he get 'poetic' and with the exception of one clunker (something about a boat's engine being as greased up as a California sunbather), his writing produces no winces.

This is neither a travel book nor a travelogue. Yes, he travels -- all 2700 miles and them-some considering his various mainly unexpected deviations -- and he does 'document' and comment upon what he sees and finds. (He is aided by this in his fluency in the Chinese language.) He is quite vocal in his skepticism of the various powers that play chess on the Southeast Asia board and his concern for all whom he meets is persistent and true. But this is also a journey where his personal history as a Vietnam War protester crosses paths with the lands those wars were fought over/on and the lingering effect it has had on the inhabitants. To his credit he acknowledges but does not harp on our (America's) deleterious impact (truly, no pun intended) on this patch of the world. Every player -- from the French to the Americans to Mao, Pol Pot and the current SE Asian governments have contributed to the general mess, poverty and ruination of the region. At least that is the take-away.

Things have changed since 2003 (the year of publication) and are continuing to do so, for better and worse. Having spent the intervening time resting up, I, for one, would encourage Mr. Gargan to consider a revisit and update with the writing of Volume II: Return to the River...One can hope!