I Have Re-Surfaced Down Under!

Greetings, archaeo-blogosphere! I have triumphantly returned from a successful conference and fieldwork trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. The IPPA conference was a smash hit, and my panel on the illicit antiquities trade in Southeast Asia garnered much more attention than I expected, to my great honour. I feel that this topic is finally "on the radar" for our region, so that documentation, research, and advocacy will increase.

What's more, it was fun to participate in the "live-Tweet" team, organized by my colleague Noel Hidalgo-Tan. We successfully, I think, covered a wide spectrum of talks and topics during the conference as they occurred! I had never done this before, but will do so again.

My time in Hanoi was also very productive. Besides catching up with old friends and colleagues, there was much learned and some (I feel) very important data gathered. While there is not much I am really at liberty to blog about at the moment, I'm sure that as time goes on, this might change.

It was lovely to be in Vietnam again for the Tet New Year (Year of the Horse), and I look forward to my next chance to visit and continue this project throughout the country someday. For now, I look forward (with trepidation) to the two months to come, where "organized chaos" will rule my life as I prepare for an international move. Wish me luck! Until next time.