Aussie Wendell

Well, I'm happy to have made it back to Sydney relatively intact, a few pounds (kilos) lighter, a bit jet-lagged, having only one item stolen during the trip, with very few material souvenirs but a huge array of memories to reflect upon.

The trip was amazing and I could go on and on about the various places visited, the people encountered, the culture, music food, etc...I could just as easily be a jaded American tourist and talk about the unbelievable heat, the street hustlers, the attempted robbery upon arrival in Cambodia, the incredible shopping or the poverty, but that would undermine the beauty and mystery of both Vietnam and Cambodia.
Instead, I'll just leave you with a few images from my trip...from top...me at the War Remnants Museum (I thought their version of "Historic Truths" was very interesting), young and old at Haan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, a farmer taking rice from his boat to the pottery kiln on the Mekong Delta, a boy in front of a Hanoi statue in front of my hotel (The Viet Minh declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam with Hanoi as its capital in 1946), and school children visting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.

It is strange to be back in Sydney, walking on the left-hand side of the road once again on pristine streets, not a motorbike in sight, the air not visible to the eye and free-flowing, drinkable water. I might not feel as tall as I did the past two weeks, but I definitely feel more greatful for what I/we have...