East of Siam

Harry A. Franck's East of Siam is a vivid travel narrative through French Indo-China, from Saïgon and Cholon to Annam, Cambodia, Tonkin, and the little-known highlands of Laos. Inspired by curiosity about colonial troops, ancient ruins, and the meeting point of Chinese and Southeast Asian civilizations, Franck presents the region as a borderland of empires and traditions. His journey begins aboard a Japanese freighter from Hong Kong, where a child's funeral at sea lends the voyage an unexpectedly moving note before the steamer reaches the Mekong and the humid world ashore. On land, Franck brings colonial Saïgon to life in sharp detail: Rue Catinat's Parisian storefronts, French cafés, Hindu and Malabar merchants, rickshaw pullers, the cathedral, the Hôtel Continental, and the ritual of l'apéritif. He contrasts French comfort and bureaucracy with tropical heat, local labor, and the uneasy coexistence of empire and native life. In Cholon's crowded Chinese quarter and among Annamese customs, from betel chewing to ideals of beauty, he reveals a society shaped by domination yet marked by resilience, adaptation, and quiet pride. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.