Customer Reviews

Descending the Dragon: My Journey Down the Coast of Vietnam

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just finished this book and while all in all it is a good read...the reader will know more about present-day Vietnam's people...it begs more details in the kayaking process of descending the Dragon's coast. I purchased this book in part because there are few books which describe kayak adventures, especially if far-away places like Vietnam. The beginning chapter does describe the hassles of getting permission to do this trip and mentions in brief the types of kayaks used. However after that it becomes a series of people portraits. These are well-described but I wondered as I read chapter after chapter, "Well, how were the tides? strong or week? was it difficult launching and landing the kayaks? were the launchings done from local fishing ports or from the beaches? Were there any incidents along the way? (hitting submerged rocks, hard landing, kayak problems?) Did they camp or stay in lodges? If they camped, where did they do so? where were the kayaks during the nights?
One may answer, 'well, it's the journey'. Maybe so, but readers lean a lot other people's adventures and are interested in the details of what constitutes a journey. That said, to recap, it is a wonderful read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Vietnam, either as an armchair traveller or considering going there to travel.