Going it alone – a shadow in the jungle

(May 1975)

Between the painful farewell to his family and the reunion with his comrades lay a period of total isolation. Bun Thon was now on his own. The family man had to go to sleep so that the ranger could awaken again.

This chapter tells of the days and nights in the wilderness. It is a silent struggle against the elements, against hunger, and against his own memories. Without a uniform, but with the instinct of a trained forest ranger, he moved like a ghost through the undergrowth. He became one with nature—sometimes its adversary in the lashing monsoon, sometimes its pupil in the silence of ancient ruins. It was the test of whether his will was strong enough to keep the promise of his return.