Bob's final thoughts

I too, wanted to share some of my final thoughts on our trip to Vietnam. Before I started typing this, I went back to our first post and read the complete blog. All I can say is "Wow!". As time went on during the planning, I forgot how much thought we put into everything we were taking. I think if we could go back in time, there would have been some things that we wouldn't have bothered taking, adversely, there would have been things we would have thrown in the bag that we never thought about. Then it comes to things that we wanted to see. Obviously, we really didn't see the things I wanted too (if you don't get that joke, go read my first post), but we did manage to see everything we truly did want to see. Everything we wanted to see, and much, much more. The next posts had to do with camera gear, I'm glad we took what we did. There were several times that Sep mentioned he would have changed his configurations a little bit, but overall, I think we did pretty good on camera gear.

I then got into the posts from when we were actually there. But, after reading the posts I realized that everyone reading couldn't get a good sense of the amazing things we saw, heard, tasted, felt, and etc. We saw so many amazing things that pictures can't justify. Yes, you can see a picture of Ha Long Bay and notice that it's absolutely beautiful. But, you can't get a good sense of the depth. You can't see the 360 degree view of having 3,000 islands around you. The water. The way the mist would reveal island after endless island as we chugged forward in the boat.

There is no way for a picture to capture the sounds of all of those scooters zooming around Hanoi or Saigon. There is no way for a picture to portray the magnitude of the Sapa valley and seeing the incredible terracing that the Vietnamese people did. There is no way one picture, a million pictures or hours of film can portray the beauty.

I can go on and on about everything that pictures can't do. But, let's get back on the positive side. The several thousand pictures that we took do give you a sense of some of the things we saw. They show you the landscape, the sights, the people, and some of the culture. We tried very hard to be descriptive while writing, but that is no easy feat. Also, we either wrote the blogs during the morning or night. It was very difficult sometimes to find the words to describe things, or to remember all of the wonderful sites and sounds. If we did a day tour, but wrote the blog at night, there were many times we would forget to mention something amazing from the morning. It only makes sense though, the afternoon highlights were fresh in our mind.

You're probably saying to yourself "Bob, just tell us what you thought already!". Okay, fine! I thought Vietnam was great, amazing, stupendous, superb, gorgeous, beautiful, and blah blah blah. I really have nothing bad to say about the trip. The Vietnamese people are great! They would always return a smile or wave. They were always willing to help and make sure things were okay. I didn't meet a single Vietnamese person that wasn't happy or willing to help. We met some great people from other corners of the world. People that were total strangers, that have become friends.

Upon returning, I've talked with a lot of people about the trip. One comment that I've heard several times "Sounds like a once in a lifetime trip!". That is true to a point, it was a truly memorable trip. However, I would always respond to that statement with, "No, it was the first of many trips of a lifetime." Meaning, I will definately visit Vietnam again.

As the weeks move forward, Sep and I will be working to collect our favorite photos and videos. We have talked about publishing a photo book and making a short film to share with everyone.

So, thank you all for reading our blog, looking at our photos, and generally following along with our trip. We have already discussed some possible destinations for our next and future trips, we will keep everyone posted!

Thank You!

Bob