End of RTW2

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I am currently winging my way back home. I flew from Athens to Amsterdam yesterday evening and this morning boarded a nonstop to PDX. (I spent the night at the Hilton airport hotel in Amsterdam.) This has been another good trip. The high points included Japan, especially seeing Kyoto for the first time. I can see why people get deeply involved in Japanese gardens. There is something compelling yet restful about them. I’m glad to have visited Beijing, especially the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, but I will not be in a hurry to return to China. Cambodia was the unexpected high point of the trip. I loved Siem Reap and visiting the Angkor sites. Bangkok struck me as a big modern city with some worthwhile sights and I might try to go back there someday. My India experience was generally positive, but it pushed the limits of my tolerance for chaos. I enjoyed seeing the many historic sights in Delhi, Agra, and Mumbai, but just crossing the street is a hazardous endeavor in India and I felt uncomfortably alien much of the time, even with a guide. Dubai was mildly interesting and a pleasant place, but it’s really more of a resort destination rather than a historical one and I don’t need to travel to the Persian Gulf to find a resort. Greece was great. It was a thrill to be back in Athens and see the big sights there, but I also found Nafplio and the Peloponnese a pleasure. And so that concludes my second trip around the world (RTW2). I will look forward to more traveling adventures in the future.

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