Kiddie Sandals and Travel Reading

Yesterday I picked up a couple of used travel tomes at Powells, an essential staple as important as malaria phophylaxis and underwear. The two titles could not be more diametrically opposite. The first is "Novel Without a Name" by Duong Thu Huong, a Vietnamese writer who was one of only three out of 40 to survive in her volunteer troop in the Vietnam War. I've read another book by her, "Beyond Illusions", which was excellent, and "Novel Without a Name" provides a Vietnamese perspective on the war. It's kind of ironic that I'm reading a Vietnamese author, as the bulk of my travels will be in Thailand and there is no love lost between the two countries. It's tiny Cambodia that acts as a buffer and gets beaten up by its two bigger neighbors on a regular basis.
The other book is Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer", a foul-mouthed but hopefully amusing invective which chronicles Miller's move to Paris as he aspires to be a published writer. He was 30 at the time. The only parallels I can think of between our lives-- two young aspiring writers go abroad for inspiration. In a way, "Tropic of Cancer" seems like requisite reading for me as a soon-to-be MFA student, especially when you consider the expansion of freedom of speech laws that were enacted as a direct result of this book.

On to my other mundane topic. I ordered a pair of used size 10 Teva sandals in the mail, via Ebay, and I was pleased at the sweet deal I got-- $10 including shipping & handling. Well, they came in the mail, and apparently I ordered a pair of kiddie sandals (at least they're size 10). If I were six years old, they'd be perfect. So much for being prepared for this trip... Maybe I'll get sandals over there.