Describes the world of the Mekong, rehabilitating a traumatised geography
while recreating the historic voyage of Garnier in 1866. This book presents a
story of both a dramatic journey retracing the historic voyage of France's
greatest 19th-century explorer up the mysterious Mekong river, and a portrait
of the river and its peoples.This is the story of both a dramatic journey retracing the historic voyage
of France's greatest 19th-century explorer up the mysterious Mekong river, and
a portrait of the river and its peoples today. Any notion of sailing up the
Mekong in homage to Francis Garnier has been unthinkable until now. From its
delta in Vietnam up through Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma and on into China,
the Mekong has been a no-go river, its turbulent waters fouled by ideological
barriers as formidable as its natural obstacles. But recently the political
obstacles have begun to be dismantled - river traffic is reviving. John Keay
describes the world of the Mekong as it is today, rehabilitating a traumatised
geography while recreating the thrilling and historic voyage of Garnier in
1866. The French expedition was intended to investigate the 'back door' into
China by outflanking the British and American conduits of commerce at Hong Kong
and Shanghai. Two naval gunboats headed upriver into the green unknown, bearing
crack troops, naturalists, geologists and artists. The two-year expedition's
failures and successes, and the tragedy and acrimony that marked it, make
riveting reading.
