What flows from Sapa wine...

I was chatting to my lovely Irish mate R. on skype this morning, and suddenly an eagle-eye view of our friendship-as-landscape rose within me.


I was surprised. The path so far looked so very short, weaving down the muddy hillside from the Vietnamese town where we met, to this place six years on. Indeed, from that sudden vantage point above it all - earth laid bare - the track barely registered. Instead, it was surrounded by a vast expanse of untravelled ground, fresh and new and awaiting exploration.


For he is an old friend, and this morning I saw that such friendships work both in forwards and reverse: Not only is there ground behind you, but a world ahead. A world shared.


And it is beautiful!