Good Morning Hanoi

by Iain Finlay, Trish Clark

Returning once again to Viet Nam, where more than thirty years previously they had been correspondents during the Vietnam War, Iain Finlay and Trish Clark take up the job of coaching a team of young Vietnamese people at the Voice of Vietnam radio network in Hanoi. Here, Iain and Trish describe their experiences and their encounters with the New Viet Nam. They describe with warmth and humor the various people they work with, and the personalities they meet and get to know in and around the small courtyard where they live. This is a warm, fascinating book about modern Viet Nam, as revealed through the lives of ordinary people.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

392 pages, Paperback

Published November 21, 2006

About the author

Iain Finlay was an Australian author, journalist, television host, and humanitarian. He was known for his work as a foreign correspondent for ABC News.

Reviews

[JoAnna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is standard journal-turned-travelogue fare. Two Australian journalists volunteer to work at a broadcasting network in Hanoi for the year, and this is their month-by-month account of that experience. I was intrigued to read the book because I traveled through Vietnam, and I was curious to compare their experience to mine. I found much of the minutiae of their experience to be pretty boring to read -- the personal journal just does not make for a very good book -- but their experiences dealing with bureaucracy and red tape-esque expectations in a burgeoning workplace in the context of a communist country were interesting.

[Susanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book a little difficult to get in to but it did pick up towards the end. It is a great story of two married Australian journalists who volunteer for a year at a Vietnamese radio station. The book is a little different in that the chapters are divided by months, rather than topics. While it included some interesting events and observations, it really didn't touch on anything I hadn't heard before. A decent read but not the best journos-working-overseas story I have read.

[Di · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tow retired Australian journalists spend a year in Hanoi as volunteers for the Voice of Vietnam radio station. A fascinating insight into life in Vietnam in 2003

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice summary of life in Vietnam for a couple of Aussie expats. Provides some insight to the complexity of Vietnamese culture and political machinations. Makes me want to go back to Hanoi...