The Siamese Trail of Ho Chi Minh

    This is   the story of Ho Chi Minh's adventurous journey across the mountains and jungles of northeastern Siam in 1928 and 1929. It narrates how cleverly Ho managed to evade his enemies wherever he went, through subterfuge, meticulous planning, and resourcefulness. At the Port of Bangkok, disguised as a Chinese businessman, he slipped past Inspector Arnoux of French security by the skin of his teeth. Little could the inspector, who was waiting to arrest him, have known how close he was to changing the course of history. For an arrest would have meant certain execution for Ho.

    The book also recounts Ho's early revolutionary beginnings and the tumultuous times in which he lived. His mission in Siam was to build militant cadres of resistance from the Vietnamese immigrants, to one day join him in his struggle to fight the French colonial government. This is the untold story of Uncle Ho's sojourn in Siam, a highly clandestine operation, and how his experience in the rough terrain of northeast Siam helped hone his political and revolutionary skills. It ends with the attainment of his dream: a free and independent Vietnam.

    It is also the story of Wong, a young Thai-Viet idealist who falls under the magnetic spell of Uncle Ho. We follow Wong's progress from his home town of Phichit to the battlefields of Vietnam. On his travels, he meets several historical figures in the Free Thai movement and is trained to be a guerrilla. He ends up becoming Ho's special political agent. Although Wong is a fictional character, the historical events that shaped his life are real. Was Ho Chi Minh a hero, or a cruel, calculating dictator? That argument will no doubt continue to be debated by historians for a long time to come. Meanwhile, The Siamese Trail of Ho Chi Minh will hopefully reveal the man behind the legend, and perhaps even help the reader understand him better.

Part I Ho's Journey
1. Bangkok. The Fugitive
2. Paris, Moscow, Canton, The Revolutionary
3. Nghe An, Saigon, Hong Kong, Europe. The Chameleon
4. Phichit. The Teacher
5. Lom Sak. The Guerrilla
etc.

Part II Wong's Journey
1. The Beginning
2 .Wong, The Boy
3. Tran Van Minh's Story
4. Wong, The Youth
5. Tran Tri Quang's Story
etc.

- For a start, the Siamese Trail of Ho Chi Minh blurs the boundary between history and novel. The first part is history, based on original sources, but with the addition of dialogue and emotions that come from an author's imagination and give the story more human depth. The second part is pure story, but woven round the history. An engrossing book that explains much, not only about a near-mythic figure, but an important period in Southeast Asian history. By painting a comprehensive backdrop, Teddy explores a universal: the quest for national independence and freedom from colonial regimes.

 "Teddy has given us an enlightening glimpse into a half forgotten world...intriguing, fast moving, well researched, informative, easy to read and never dull. Although basically a historical account of uncle Ho's time in Siam, it read more like a novel...and a page turner at that." 
    -- Axel Aylwen --
author of The Falcon of Siam

    "It's good to have an account of Ho Chi Minh which is neither Propaganda nor hagiography. Thanks to Teddy, Ho comes across as a human being and not an icon. The story of Ho Chi Minh's sojourn in Thailand joins our country to Vietnam. Teddy's latest book is a worthy contribution to the ASEAN community" 
    -- Tej Bunnag --
former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand

    "An engagingly interwoven historical and fictional evocation of a turbulent, decisive period in the dramatic history of South East Asia." 
    -- David Fall --
former British Ambassador to Vietnam, Thailand and Laos

    "As a U.S. Army officer and later a corespondent during the Vietnam War, I naturally got to know something about 'Uncle Ho.' But there were, and still are, gaps in our knowledge. Teddy has admirably filled some of them, not only with details of Ho' time in Siam, but by imaginatively bringing alive this opaque persona of most history books. It's also a very enjoyable read." 
    -- Denis Gray --
Associated Press correspondent