I realize that people are just trying to be friendly, but I hate answering that question. The fact is, I don’t know. I don’t know how anyone can get a handle on what this country is all about.

India is one of the fastest growing economies on Earth, but the new skyscrapers exist next to abject poverty.

India gave us such incredible thinkers the Buddha and Gandhi and Indians are rightfully proud of that legacy, but the country is still cursed with tremendous discrimination and suffering.

The people I get into conversations with are evenly split between those trying to aggressively cheat me and genuinely warm and friendly individuals.

I don’t mean this as praise or criticism. You have to understand something before you can praise or criticize it. It’s just how I see it, and it’s the reason I feel idiotic when I have to answer the question with the insipid “It’s very nice.”

Killing a few hours in Bangkok before my flight to Delhi. Angkor Wat was amazing; beyond what I had expected. Cambodia itself has problems, but in many ways it reminds me of Thailand 20 years ago. I hope they do as well.

It always turns out the only time I can take a lengthy vacation is between engagements. So now that I have the chance, I’m off to Cambodia and India. Places I’ve been meaning to get to for years, but never got around to it.