Honour

Post date: Dec 02, 2012 12:27:23 AM

Looking forward to being home even if Tony has aged in my absence!

I have enjoyed Vietnam,

; if I ever get a chance to return there is much much more to see. But if this is the only taste of Vietnam I get in my lifetime it is one I have savoured and will treasure.

At gala dinner last night the thank you speeches lasted literally all through the meal

Every person who presented at any stage - and there were 2 conferences running simultaneously - was given a gift. It is a beautiful glass map of Vietnam. The country is described as looking like an elongated S

The concurrent conference was on spine surgery. Last night I shared my meal with a lovely orthopaedic surgeon from Hiroshima. He was telling me how much he was enjoying the conference but his English was better with medical terms than the sessions on advocacy and public engagement. There seemed an irony to me that it was harder to comprehend engagement than surgery.

Photos show some of the presenters hopefully you get a sense of the formality. The 2 of us from NZ and my gift.

Even dress code for weekend conference was business suit for most.

It is indeed an honour to be part of something like this.

Formal part of conference now over. There are networking meetings today (Sunday) and then I leave for airport mid afternoon. There are much shorter transit. Times on the return so all going well 24 hours after leaving hotel I will land in Wellington. This conference, like my only 2 other experiences of Asian conferences -Tokyo and Manila- has much more formality and protocol than European events - does make NZ conferences even with powhiri look relaxed.