 The article revealed the site as neglected and overgrown with vegetation.Apparently, Malraux, before he left France, made a detailed study of the applicable laws and determined (at least to his own satisfaction) that the site was abandoned property to which no one could stake legal claim.In the summer of 1923, at the age of 22, he set out for Indochina with his wife, Clara, and a colleague, Louis Chevasson.