Travelogue
The Bình Xuyên – River Pirates from the Swamp of the Assassins - 10 March 2021
The history of organised crime in Cho Lon-Sai Gon (Anglicised as Cholon-Saigon and these days Ho Chi Minh City) last century can be told in stages. The 1960s was the era of the “Four Great Kings” so-called after the four dominant mobsters in the city who collectively ruled Saigon, the most prominent of which was Dai Cathay, leader of the Chinese mafia. There were also gangs in Cholon, the most prominent of which was led by an ethnic Chinese Tín Mã Nàm, nicknamed Ngua Diên or “Mad Horse” and schooled in Chinese marital arts—Shaolin kung fu and Choy Li Fut—which Bruce Lee thought was the most effective form for fighting more than one person and the only style (of kung fu) that travelled to Thailand to fight the Thai boxers and not been beaten. He rivalled another gangster in the area Hoàng Long or “Yellow Dragon”. Together they made fortunes through the supply of opium and heroin along with other illicit activities and casinos. Then in the 1990s came Truong Văn Cam (Năm Cam, also known and the Godfather) who amassed wealth mainly through gambling, extortion, and prostitution. That was until his arrest and execution in 2004 for the murder of a rival gangster following the largest criminal trial of gangsters (155) ever seen in Vietnam. But before them all was the Bình Xuyên (pronounced “Bin Soo-in or “Shon”). They were river pirates and guns for hire who became opium lords, but who started out like the local version of Robin Hood and ended up under the leadership of
East Coast, New Zealand - In Your Own Time - 10 February 2021
Go east they say, it’s the wild side of New Zealand. The East Cape (the Eastland) of New Zealand’s North Island stretches 344kms by road along route 35 from the small town of Ōpōtiki to Gisborne – there’s a shorter route through the Waioeka Gorge on route 2 but you miss all the fun – though the Waioeka has its own attractions. I have driven from
Bars I Have Known - 7 January 2021
Bars can be a great way to meet people, find work, make contacts and get the low down on the local scene where ever you are. They can be melting pots and social intersections. You can meet all kinds of people in all kinds of bars. I have come across: the well-travelled, the educated, the literate, the well-heeled and those not, the working and
'Our' Man in Tokyo, Richard Sorge - 8 December 2020
This Travelogue piece follows on from Richard Sorge; ‘The Spy from Baku’ and ‘The Spy in Shanghai’. Richard Sorge was a master of bluff and a manipulator extraordinaire as well as being a great actor, important for a spy. Being a spy also made him a born liar, the two sharing similar traits, and as with all spy stories the lines between
The Spy in Shanghai - 18 November 2020
This piece follows on from Richard Sorge, Part One, ‘The Spy from Baku’. Richard Sorge was arguably the greatest spy of the 20th century. Ian Fleming, a spy who become a writer, called him the “most formidable spy in history”. John le Carré, a spy who wrote books and later a bestselling author of espionage once called Fleming’s chief
Richard Sorge - The Spy from Baku - 7 October 2020
Richard Sorge had one of the greatest impacts on the outcome of World War Two of any individual, yet most people have never heard of him. He was not a politician or a diplomat, he didn’t command troops, fly planes, captain battleships or even fire a gun, and he never fought in any of the battles. What he had was access to key inside information
Milford Sound - 2 September 2020
Milford Sound lies in Southwest New Zealand in the Fiordland National Park, the largest and fourth oldest of the country’s 13 national parks, the fifth largest park of its kind in the world and part of the Te Wāhipounamu (Greenstone) World Heritage Site. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in an international survey, and
Australia versus North Korea in Phnom Penh 1965 - 1 July 2020
In 1965 Cambodians witnessed one of the more unusual footballing events; World Cup playoffs on home soil not involving their own country. The two matches between Australia and North Korea were played in Cambodia as neither country had diplomatic relations with each other and Cambodia was the only country with diplomatic relations with both
François Bizot's 'The Gate' and the Spirits of the Dead - 3 June 2020
I had never read François Bizot’s seminal book ‘The Gate’ but had always seen it for sale. Then a friend gave me a copy. It is said it should be numbered among the great post-Second World-War memoirs of incarceration and is noted for ‘its intense dignity, by its unexpected attention to beauty, and by a discretion which never shades into
