Two copies in Bali, one copy in the USA. "I first read this book when I was a young Australian engineer in Singapore in the 60's. It (and an earlier even better book "The Chinese Looking Glass") had an enormous impact on my understanding and appreciation of the Chinese people. By this time I had lived in Singapore for several days and just did not realise how little I understood the world I lived in. I have never since found a more readable book on the subject. I am at this site looking for a copy as I made the mistake of lending mine".

I first read this book when I was a young Australian engineer in Singapore in the 60's. It (and an earlier even better book "The Chinese Looking Glass") had an enormous impact on my understanding and appreciation of the Chinese people. By this time I had lived in Singapore for several days and just did not realise how little I understood the world I lived in. I have never since found a more readable book on the subject. I am at this site looking for a copy as I made the mistake of lending mine.

Southeast Asia observed, 1954-1970. Tucked between India and China is a bulge known as Indochina, and south and west of this bulge are the Malayan Peninsula the Three Thousand Islands of Indonesia, and the seven thousand islands of the Philippines.
If you are a young person in Southeast Asia you must read this. It gives you a totally different perspective than our school textbooks.
Jan 17, 2009 Carolyn rated it really liked it
Shelves: nonfiction
Read anything you can find by this guy. He's damned entertaining.

Bloodworth was the Observer's correspondent in Singapore in the 1950s and 1960s, and he gives us a good journalistic overview of southeast Asia