"Fire and Monsoon. Indochina Up Close" - review of the book by Elżbieta and Andrzej Lisowski

Two reasons prompted me to reach for the book by Elżbieta and Andrzej Lisowski "Fire and Monsoon. Indochina Close Up" stemming from curiosity. Curiosity about the authors themselves and the titular direction of the world. Paradoxically, I personally do not feel drawn to Asian countries and their culture, but when I found out who the authors were, I did not hesitate to start reading. Firstly, because they are travelers from Krakow, so local patriotism came to me, but above all, I wanted to get to know their style, their view of the world and, I am ashamed to admit, finally catch up and learn more about their 40-year life on the road. Consequently, the thought came to me that if I was going to read a book about countries that are not high on my list of travel destinations, it would definitely be written by people who arouse my interest. And I was not disappointed. Exploring through the eyes of the imagination Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos Birmy through the Lisowskis is a pleasure. And for now that's enough for me.

The Coast of Vietnam and Phu Quoc Island

VIETNAM — Hanoi, Ha Long, Hoi An, Saigon, Phu Quoc

The Lisowskis' Indochina goes beyond geographical and historical boundaries. It is also connected with personal experiences, experiences, memories and impressions absorbed by all senses, and finally dreams, about Indochina. The travelers describe places and ceremonies from before the invasion of tourists, for example in even - it would seem - the least trampled Laos. They draw attention to the changes caused by the development of mass tourism, where they return after years, miss images from the past, grieve over the flood of consumerism in Chinese culture and regret the world that no longer exists, bringing closer the rituals of the ghost festival in Vietnamese Haiphong. On the other hand, they accept changes and rediscover their places.

The titular fire and monsoon are not only a direct reference to the elements of the ceremony and weather conditions that appear during the ceremony. travel around Asia Southeast. In Indochina, while they are still waiting for new documents after the robbery that befell them in Cambodia, just before the news from Poland about the fire in their apartment, they begin a new path in their lives. Symbolically – with Andrzej's visit to the hairdresser, a blessing from a Buddhist monk, a visit to her favorite cafe in Phnom Penh. It was there that Elżbieta noticed the word "thank you" written in many languages ​​on one of the walls. For the Lisowskis, it took on a strong meaning during a difficult time, after which a wave of help started from both friends and complete strangers.

This “personal tsunami,” as the Lisowskis often call it, is just a “microscopic drop” compared to what the countries they visited, such as the Cambodian nation, experienced. The book also contains many references to the history of individual countries, comparisons between them, also in the context of human mentality, which may seem surprising to some. Because how is it that all Asians are not the same?

"Fire and Monsoon" is not a chronological record of all holidays in Asia, but a skillful collage of memories, references, encounters with other people and their stories, recorded not only through the eyes of a camera and a photo camera, but with a sensitive look and an open mind of images, as well as flavors. Yes, this book is a real culinary feast in terms of stories about tasted and favorite Asian dishes. I admit, although I am neither an expert nor a connoisseur, the descriptions of simple dishes full of fresh vegetables and expressive spices make you almost feel their taste and smell. The Lisowskis' style is so colorful that when reading "Fire and Monsoon" you have everything they write about clearly before your eyes. The authors record all the images and transfer what they see onto paper in a truly masterful way. One thing is certain - after reading this book, pho soup, a dish with a hundred-year tradition, will always remind me of it.

Importantly, the authors do not bore with long-winded outpourings. All the content is so compact, and at the same time so exhaustively presented and skillfully interwoven, that there is no time to feel tired, even if the reader learns the history of the oldest conflicts - such as the Khmer-Siamese ones - or more contemporary ones - e.g. the Vietnam War - or discovers with the Lisowskis the pearls of ancient monuments and the architecture of cities. There is no room here for long-windedness, dynamically moving on to the next thread.

The whole story begins in Sihanoukville. It was here that Elżbieta and Andrzej received news from Poland about the tragic fire in their Krakow apartment, in which they lost almost everything, including three cats, documentation from all their travels, photos, films, souvenirs, guidebooks, books... As if that was not enough, before they received the dramatic information, they were robbed of their passports, money and credit cards, which made it difficult for them to quickly return to Poland, to their family and friends, who did not wait to organize help and were already implementing charity campaigns and fundraising. The worst happened to the Lisowskis, as they themselves say, in Indochina (this is also where Elżbieta learned about her father's death in the past), which, however, did not erase this region of the world in their eyes, to which they returned many times. They also describe these returns in the book. It is full of retrospections, memories, comparisons between individual trips.

So we wander with them through the nooks and crannies of the temple complex. of Angkor, through places laced with the history of intertwined influences of Hinduism, Buddhism and Khmer culture. On their travels, they meet monks, owners of street pubs, foreigners who have tied their lives to this piece of the globe. Here we have vivid descriptions of a floating village on the Tonle Sap Lake, we are presented with incredibly faithfully recreated images of Bangkok's architecture, thanks to the authors we learn about less and more famous temples and places of worship, we look at the figures of gods and goddesses. In a subtle way, they put stories about Buddhist funeral ceremonies and districts of debauchery next to each other. Thanks to this skill, it is difficult to feel any resentment or even distaste while reading. Be prepared for the fact that in this book the world of the sacred mixes with the profane.

The married couple speaks the same language in "Fire and Monsoon", their statements intertwine so that it is often difficult to tell which of them is the narrator. However, this does not matter at all, because the narration is so fluid that the book reads smoothly and without disruptions in reception. One can conclude from this that Elżbieta and Andrzej see the world almost identically, and their marriage is equally harmonious. At least that is my impression and loose reflection.

But back to the book: what else is not in it! There are iconic pubs (among them the one where the owner recalls the time spent in Siem Reap by the film crew of "Tomb Raider"), there are glasses of whiskey or bottles of favorite local beer, which - like the typical dishes served in different versions - taste like nowhere else but in specific places. On the one hand, the Lisowskis behave like tourists, watching a puppet theater on the water in a crowd of other viewers, on the other, time and again, they integrate with the locals, as when Elżbieta convinces herself to wear a yellow protective mask made of thanaka on the street, like Burmese women.

The Lisowskis also naturally draw attention to the influence of India and China on the native cultures of the countries they visit, whether in language (Sanskrit) or religion (Hinduism, Buddhism), as well as in the celebration of each New Year (Chinese, Buddhist, and even European). They talk about Buddhist myths and legends, superstitions that played a role in the history of Indochina, magic, the meaning of ubiquitous talismans, sold even at a special market. The reader learns about the significant difference in the approach to this topic in our and Asian cultures, where so-called superstition is an everyday occurrence, and even the press writes about ghosts. There are also many interesting facts and discoveries of lesser-known places (such as Chiang Saen in the north of Chiang Rai) and facts. During the cruise on the Mekong, we learn where old Buddha statues land, we are also brought closer to the tragic history of Laos as a victim of US war operations, and finally the reader is perhaps surprised by information about Poles who made their mark on the history of Asia. Who among you knew, admit it, about Benedict, a traveller who had arrived in Mongolian Karakorum before Marco Polo was born? Or about Kazik, as the Vietnamese call the architect Kazimierz Kwiatkowski, who even erected a monument to him in gratitude for saving the old buildings of Hoi An and the equivalent of Cambodian Angkor – the My Son complex – from destruction? It is also nice to read that the jazzman the Lisowskis met in one of the bars they visited knows the names and works of Polish musicians.

Journey to Burma - Burmese Mysticism

BURMA - Mandalay, Bagan, Inle, Bay of Bengal, Yangoon

It would take a long time to list everything that Elżbieta and Andrzej write about in their book, but I will stop here and simply encourage you to reach for it. It took three years to write it, emerging in their minds when the bad news from Krakow reached them. Suffice it to say that we read more about what happened in the authors' lives in the unlucky year of 2016 in the final chapter, and then the caption under one of the many photos included in the book takes on particular significance. It is a photo in which you can see Elżbieta looking at a ritual flame. The caption is very suggestive: "Fire has always had a cleansing power in the religions and cultures of the world." The words of an imam from Chiang Mai, whom I met during my trip, also proved prophetic, expressing the universal idea of ​​mutual help in the misfortune that befalls others, help regardless of religion and denomination. With this message I leave you, both those who love Indochina and laymen like me, and I recommend, once again, to reach for "Fire and Monsoon".