Description
Praise
About the Author

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.
“With diligent research and knowledge of the terrain, Teddy SPHA Palasthira demonstrates this was a formative period for Ho in learning jungle survival, while developing propaganda skills among the peasant farmers. Against the background of events in 20th century Southeast Asia, Teddy weaves in the lives of others who cross his path.”
—Robert Graham, author and former Financial Times foreign correspondent

“An engrossing book that explains much, not only about a near-mythic figure, but an important period in Southeast Asian history.”
—Steve Van Beek, author of Bangkok Then and Now

“This book retraces Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary grooming through a distinctly Siamese lens. Researched in evident depth and articulated in classy style, it is a gripping and absorbing read that wraps some fiction with substantial historiography.”
—Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Director, Institute of Security and International Studies, Chulalongkorn University
Teddy Spha Palasthira was born in London. He has served in the Thai diplomatic service, completed a long career in advertising, was a visiting professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, and is an honorary Barrister-at-Law at Lambs Chambers, Middle Temple, London. A recipient of the Italian Order of Merit, Grand Officer of the Republic, Teddy is now into his career as a writer. He has written two books on advertising, Addresses in 2010, The Last Siamese in 2013, The Siamese Trail of Ho Chi Minh in 2016, and Ode to Manuela of Trento in 2018. Most recently he published Siamese Anglophile with Talisman Publishing in 2022. He lives in Thailand with his wife and family.

Authors

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