SWEET RELIEF: (Southeast Asia)

Arriving in Bangkok on route to Saigon, having survived two and a half months in India, we were met by helpful staff, signage to basic things like the departure gates and toilets, clean seats, safe food, calmness, and a sense that everything was going to be okay now. Everything felt so easy. We nearly cried. Arriving in Vietnam, things also felt like the knot had been removed from our stomach. It is reassuring to ask people questions when not only are they understood, but you expect they're telling you something useful and accurate. India has taught us to doubt everything! Now, we don't have to look where we're stepping in the street, the food is amazing and fairly safe. The first night, having remained vegetarian for pretty much the entire time in India, we gorged on meat. We met people who were overwhelmed by the traffic and the chaos when we were actually loving the newfound serenity, and  trying not to entertain secret smug thoughts of how we're far more hardened travellers than them. We laughed at all the funny and rude sounding place names and signs - some included for your entertainment on the photo pages. Neko got a hair cut, a major one. We have a new lease on life.

Great to see the Herberts again. As is the trend for weary travellers here in SE Asia, we went for a massage all together. George and I weren't entirely sure if we'd been slightly violated when all the masseuses were in mini-skirts. It is quite probable we were in a more than amenable establishment. Jolly good massage though. Neko candidly informed her Vietnamese masseuse that she was American, then proceeded to receive the firmest massage she'd ever had. Most likely a coincidence.