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So, what did I miss when I was away? News was limited on the steep slopes of the terraced hills of Sapa in northern Vietnam. This trip, I decided to pass on the customary all-you-can-eat e-sim that would have kept me in the loop, preferring instead to focus on what was immediately in front of me, not what was happening back at home or in the troubled Middle East.

This was necessary not just for my sanity but for my physical wellbeing as well. The tracks we took were perilous, each step requiring a full measure of focus. The phone only came out for photos before being pocketed again.

No notifications or news alerts to distract me from being present in the moment. Ears open to the cicadas in full song in the bamboo forest and eyes to the dreamscape of rice terraces backdropped by dragon spined mountains. I'd go back in a heartbeat. For the views. For the mindfulness. A wise colleague had counselled before I left, a break from the relentless news cycle would be restorative - and it was.

When WiFi eventually caught up with me in a bustling Asian capital on the way home, I discovered a fair bit had happened - and hadn't happened - while my eyes were averted.

Peace had broken out and the Strait of Hormuz was open. Then it hadn't and the strait was closed. Iran closed it. No, wait, the US did.

The price of Brent crude plunged then soared again.

Peeved at Pope Leo, Donald Trump had posted a Christ like image of himself healing a sick man then denied it had anything to do with Jesus - he was dressed as a doctor and he made people better, he claimed. (I'm sure I'm not the only one who's never seen a........

© Canberra Times