This picture dates back to 1937, before Vietnam was invaded by the Japonese, the beginning of a war state that would last more than 30 years.It may have been taken in Cap Saint Jacques, a fashionable resort were a mixed society - meaning the French and the locals - fled the heat from Saigon.
Amongst his numerous children - he finally had 11 - my grandfather had picked that day my 2 years old daddy, with his nanny, for his first fishing lesson.
I never knew my Vietnamese grandfather who died in 1975, since my father, after completing his studies in France and marrying my French mother in the 50's, never went back to Vietnam.
According to my father's telling, he had a very bad temper, spoiled by the use of opium, and spent his time hunting, fishing and collecting orchids. A long gone way of living.
