Our Taiwanese Finale - Musings from Ho Chi Minh City - Southern Vietnam - Day Two

It's certainly been a long time between drinks in terms of blog entries, online recordings of our musings and the daily grind. I sit here, somewhat guiltily in that regard, as the rain pours outside - in a manner which dutifully confirms our presence in South East Asia - and wonder how I'm to catch up on everything that's happened over the course of the past fortnight.

So, first things first. We spent our final working week cleaning, posting, loitering and generally distancing ourselves from our Taiwan experience. It was stressful, necessarily so. We felt mightily tense until we took the bus trip out to Taoyuan Airport to pick up Simon's parents last Saturday week. The ride allowed us a view of Taipei County previously unbeknowns to us. In that, the shift from resident to traveller flowed more smoothly, preparing us for a week of travel around the island.

The four of us visited the cities of Jiufen, Hualian (Taroko Gorge) and Puli (Sun Moon Lake). I'll surely get to all that eventually, but it must be said that it was a perfect blend of relaxation, spontaneous spending, hotel rooms and being out in the bliss of the natural environment - the perfect antidote to the ebbs of living in a big city. It was also a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the love of my life with the people who know him best.

Writing about Taiwan from the lobby of a cheap hostel in Ho Chi Minh City, Southern Vietnam, seems more incogrious than I'd envisaged. So I might leave it there for the moment, and allow another set of (promised!) postings of photos to narrate this tale on my behalf.

Apologies for the rambling nature of this post. We are thinking and feeling and coming to grips with the joy of travel, and it's quite heady. More on all later, but until then, all our love. x