Hello again from sunny Saigon. I came here this time from my native Australia for a number of reasons which included an appearance on VTV3, the largest TV channel in Vietnam for their program, Trong Tim Toi, Vietnam In My Heart. It turned out to be an interesting experience indeed with a very professional Vietanmese crew.

The focus of course was about my books, in particular, The Last Cyclo to Thanh Da set in Vietnam where our redoubtable hero Steve Conway, a Vietnam war veteran returns to look for an old war-time friend, falls in love with a Vietnamese girl and then all kinds of complications follow with cross cultural difficulties, a jealous local suitor and a deranged ex marine stalking our hero with murderous intent.

The director of the TV crew for this program cleverly decided that since there was a cyclo in the title of the book, the interview should take place on a cyclo. So for the best part of three hours the interviewer, Nguyen Khang and I rode around District 1 of Saigon on separate cyclos for the interview. It had its moments because anyone who has ever been to Saigon knows just how heavy and how crazy the traffic can be. At times one felt rather vulnerable as cars, buses, heavy goods vehicles and a million motorcycles roared by within inches of our fragile three-wheelers. Khang admitted it was the scariest interview he had done. We finished strolling in a park with the famous Reunification Palace as a backdrop.

Part One of the program went to air on Saturday September 7 all over Vietnam. Part Two followed the next day. I am pleased to say the feedback from Vietnamese people I have spoken to and who have contacted me by email and sms, has been positive.

Following the VTV3 interview I was contacted by a producer from another TV channel, VTC10 for their program “Vietnam Impressions”. We did a three-day shoot in various locations, including my apartment in District 1, and Thanh Da on the outskirts of Saigon. The final scenes were shot in District 2 looking across at the impressive cityscape in the final rays of the setting sun. I think these scenes could well be a highlight of the program. I will post the link to this program on this site and in my Facebook pages, John J Pullinger Author and John Pullinger.

My VTV3 interview is available in the “News and Events”section of this website.

Thanks again to all my loyal readers for their support. I love you all and I promise to be a little bit more regular with my blogs.

Saigon 5^th October 2013