I always like to have a reason to travel. Many of my past journeys, while I may not have realised it at the time, had often been pilgrimages to places writers lived or wrote about. In 1974 when my best friend Ruth Maddison and I took off to the USA, we headed straight to City Lights Bookshop in San Francisco where Ferlingetti and the Beat poets used to read and imbibe various substances late into the night. We were a few years too late but we could still sniff the walls and scrape some grime from bookshelves and benches where famous hands had rested: Jack Kerouac, Gary Snider, Dianne Di Prima, Michael McClure, Allan Ginsberg and all the other motely crew.
This time I was taking off on a whim and the recommendation of a friend who just back from a Vietnam holiday, had actually been to Sadec, the Mekong town where MD lived the last years of her growing up, and where The Lover was set. My friend showed me pics of her trip and gave me the name and address of Kim's Travel, the agent in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) where I could book. I could do a delta day trip or even take two days to travel all the way up the Mekong river to Phnom Penh. Perfect; another reason for travel in these parts was to visit my godson and his family who had recently moved there.
Of course I could have googled this info, but it's as if I needed tangible evidence, a reportage from a reliable witness that yes, these places did exist and yes, I too could go there. I also heard first hand around a dinner table that Hanoi was a delightful town to visit and MD had lived there too, so my Indochine itinerary was set: Hanoi, Saigon, Sadec, Phnom Penh.
Jan Cornall began writing in the 70s. She has written plays, musicals, screenplays, a novel, short stories, and three CDs of songs. Since 2004 she has led writer's retreats in inspirational international locations including Bali, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, Morocco and Fiji. In 2014 she is planning a Vietnam trip following the footsteps of M.Duras in Vietnam. More info here.
(c) Jan Cornall 2013
This time I was taking off on a whim and the recommendation of a friend who just back from a Vietnam holiday, had actually been to Sadec, the Mekong town where MD lived the last years of her growing up, and where The Lover was set. My friend showed me pics of her trip and gave me the name and address of Kim's Travel, the agent in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) where I could book. I could do a delta day trip or even take two days to travel all the way up the Mekong river to Phnom Penh. Perfect; another reason for travel in these parts was to visit my godson and his family who had recently moved there.
Of course I could have googled this info, but it's as if I needed tangible evidence, a reportage from a reliable witness that yes, these places did exist and yes, I too could go there. I also heard first hand around a dinner table that Hanoi was a delightful town to visit and MD had lived there too, so my Indochine itinerary was set: Hanoi, Saigon, Sadec, Phnom Penh.
Jan Cornall began writing in the 70s. She has written plays, musicals, screenplays, a novel, short stories, and three CDs of songs. Since 2004 she has led writer's retreats in inspirational international locations including Bali, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, Morocco and Fiji. In 2014 she is planning a Vietnam trip following the footsteps of M.Duras in Vietnam. More info here.
(c) Jan Cornall 2013
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