By fate or by destiny my grandmother decided that I would be named "qui Dieu," the Vietnamese word for "Eagle." Little did she know how appropriate the name would be, for the eagle has come to symbolize my life - through all of my journeys and aspirations to fly above the rest and thrive in spite of the challenges that have come before me - in both the East and the West. My first flight across the Pacific was for education. My last flight across the same ocean was for survival. According to Rudyard Kipling "East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." But I have asked myself, when "East meets West, then what?" Since the melding of East and West has truly defined my life, I have chosen to tackle this question by sharing the story of my life - from my childhood in the Mekong Delta to the latter half of my life in San Francisco, where I ended up after coming to America as a refugee following the Vietnam War. ...
The reader will note this book contains many photos of U.S. landmark sites, which will be familiar to all Americans, and thus wonder why the need for such photos. My answer is that my book is to be translated into Vietnamese and distributed among Vietnamese readers, many of whom will not be familiar with these American landmarks.
It has been a worthwhile and exciting journey. Let me now tell you my unique and personal story of "EAST meets WEST"- My flight of the Eagle from the shores of the Mekong Delta to the San Francisco Bay. ...