I sometimes envy writers such as Hemingway, who could live cheaply back in the 1920s in wonderful cities such as Paris. Today, such places are quite pricey, but there just may be substitutes.
One such option might be Hanoi (or perhaps Saigon) in Vietnam. I thought that after reading Michael J. Totten’s dispatch from there in World Affairs:
worldaffairsjournal.org/blog … me-vietnam
Here’s an illustration of its appeal for a writer with a limited budget:
There’s even the stress but creative boost that can come from living in a very different culture, such as this about how to cross a street:
Modern, stimulating, but inexpensive. That’s hard to find.
The downside is the tropical climate and the monsoon season. To capture what that feels like, you might want to watch the marvelous film Three Seasons.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Seasons
The film is set in Saigon, but apparently the climate is similar to that of Hanoi. The title comes from the fact that Saigon has three seasons:
Warm and humid
Hot and humid
Hot and dry
So, while much else might be like living in Paris in the 1920s, the climate is not going to be that of Paris in the spring. Of course, as you can tell from the DVD with that Three Seasons article in Wikipedia, there’s always the lovely women of Saigon in those attractive white pant-suits to make up for the heat. And if the film is true to its locale, the city is beautiful, flowers and all.
What do you think? If you’ve lived in or visited Vietnam, I’d be interested in what you have to say about Vietnam as a locale for expatriate writers.
–Mike Perry
One final note. At several points in the movie, attention is briefly directed at a novel the bike-cab driver likes to read. At the end, the cover is shown and it’s apparently a novel by a well-known Vietnamese author. I haven’t been able to find out what link that novel has to the story though. It seems to have some connection with the flowers on the trees in that last and marvelously beautiful scene, the one featured on the DVD cover.
Anyone know?
