Worth A Thousand Words

Well folks, I am back on Terra Firma Canadien. And I do declare it's good
to be back.

I landed in Vancouver at 12:25 today, right after lunch. That was after
leaving Hong Kong at 4:45 pm on the same day. So if you only go by what the clock says, I left Hong Kong four hours after I got to Vancouver. I still don't know what day it is .. all I know is that I got on a plane in Colombo, Sri Lanka at 2:30 am a couple of days ago, spent another 7 hours on a plane to Hong Kong, then boarded another plane for Vancouver which took another 12 hours. All in all I figure I have gone almost 40 hours with no sleep except for the nod-offs I could get sleeping curled up in a little ball on 2 airline seats (it wasn't a full flight, so at least I didn't have to share a seat).

So now it is 12:31 at night and my body is telling me it's the middle of
the day. Which is what it would be on the other side of the world. Who knows how long it will take me to readjust to Canadian time... All I know is, it sure felt good to have a bath (no bathtubs over there) and to lie flat in a comfortable bed for a few hours).

And now ...

I have so many reflections, so many things to digest. All in all, it was
a wonderful trip. Very challenging too, but challenging in a very good way. I feel
like I have received a whole new knowledge of the world that I didn't have before. As I write and compose my radio stories (which is the big job now), I will share more of my perspectives.

So now I am in Vancouver, planning to stay here for about 10 days, then catch a plane back to southern Ontario (cheap Air Canada fares right now). I am figuring on
being back somewhere around Nov. 13, and have work to do and friends to visit in
the Hamilton-London-Windsor corridor. Then I think I'll spend the winter in
the northland at my parents' place zipping around on the snowmobile -- I have always wanted to spend a few winter months up there so it's a good place to be while I work on my radio works and my book.

All this is subject to change, of course. Because that's the story of my life.

Before I sign off this last post of my epic adventure, I need to say a
big, big, huge thanks to my wonderful friend and production partner Dave Kattenburg. I wouldn't have done this trip if Dave hadn't given me the gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) push and said "no, really, Victoria, you can do this. You have to do this". And was also there for me every step of the way. Some of my favourite moments .. hearing his voice all the way from Canada when he called me in Kashmir, which was again, a great experience but an intense one because Kashmir is usually known as one of the most intransigent conflict zones in the world. I really needed his reassuring words right about that point). And then in the airport in Hong Kong today (yesterday? What day was it?") ... I found an internet cafe and was sending emails out ... Dave appeared and said "hey, I'm on-line. Let's chat." We sent about eight emails back and forth to each other in the space of a half an hour, and it was almost like we were sitting next to each other talking face to face. From half a world away. Amazing. So thanks, my pal, my buddy, my friend, for creating this opportunity for me. You are the best and a friend til the
end of time. And thanks for being our project manager .. it's a pain in the ass job and I'm so glad you're doing it and not me. I'll take my turn next time ...

For the rest of you, thanks for your encouraging words and the emails you
sent and the comments you posted on my blog. Every email from you was that little bit of home that was so welcome. As for the next steps, you can hear the results of all of this (my stories and everybody else's) on The Green Planet Monitor, on-line starting December 1st.

Well, that's it. My adventure is over. It's good to be back.

In good reporter style, here's the official closing tag ...

"From the heart of south Asia and back, this is Victoria Fenner, Small But
Vital Reporter,signing off ..."