He really does. This is just one of his many masterpieces: Alessandro as Lara Croft. Just when I was starting to get over my jetlag and moving towards acceptance of no longer being on my trip, Victor mailed out a link to over 600 pictures of temples, motos, ocean vistas, and, of course, all of us jumping off the top of a junk. Trip nostalgia hit like a ton of bricks.
I remember that I was pretty ready to come home. If anything, by the end of the trip, I was sad that I didn't have more time to hang out with Chris and John (ok, and the Dutch girls...ok, ok, and the French med students) but I was ready to be done traveling. I was tired of incessant offers of tuk-tuks, postcards, and, of course, "boom boom." I was over the gritty-mouth feeling of one too many moto/tuk-tuk rides. I could do without the gallons of sweat that poured out of my body each day. And being back at John's was such a relief from handheld showers with pathetic water pressure. It was hard on me to only feel honest-to-goodness clean maybe a handful of times on the entire trip. And getting clothes washed at some of our hotels (and that dastardly cleaner in Hanoi that stole/lost my brown shirt) just wasn't cutting it for me. By the very end, I was practically fantasizing about the opportunity to do laundry in my parents' high-tech washer.
But now I'd trade my fabulously clean body and immaculately pressed threads for another week or so of trekking through temples, sitting on the beach, or partying at sketchy afterhours bars with a motley assortment of Europeans. I guess it's particularly bad now since I'm just sitting in Jersey with rather little to do. I feel like I'm in a bit of a holding pattern until I return to DC. On the phone with Professor Schechter yesterday, the saying, "This is the first day of the rest of your life," came up. It took less than a second's thought to realize that it didn't apply to me. The first day of the rest of my life is Thursday.
The time between now and then? I guess I can spend it forcing people to look at Victor's spectacular trip pictures. Reliving the trip will definitely make me feel better.
A beer wouldn't hurt either.
2 comments:
[I was tired of incessant offers of tuk-tuks, postcards, and, of course, "boom boom." I was over the gritty-mouth feeling of one too many moto/tuk-tuk rides. I could do without the gallons of sweat that poured out of my body each day.]
I feel you, brother. Try doing this for a few years instead of a few months and see if you don't end up cranky like me (and Chris too!)
Guess you were too rural most of the time to get bugged by the 'sidewalk methodology' of stopping at random moments...
Loved seeing your perspective on life here in SE Asia -- I'll be sorry to not be reading anymore!
Just because I'm not traveling doesn't mean that there won't be anything to read! I promise to continue being as entertaining as possible, even from the dreary District.
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