Halong Bay
We spent the last three days on a trip through Halong Bay and just got back to Hanoi. Halong Bay is in the North East of Vietnam and is a huge body of water with thousands of rocky islands rising out of it. We left Hanoi in the morning and caught a bus out to Halong City where we boarded a boat. For the next three days we cruised around between the islands and stopped at different places for swimming, kayaking, and cycling/hiking on the islands. It was a really relaxing time and the scenery was beautiful. We basically didn't have to do anything since we had a tour guide that organized it for us. We were on the boat with about 8 other people -- 3 ladies from Australia and a group from Malaysia. It turns out the guys from Malaysia worked for BMS and had just come from a conference. I immediately thought about the 'ABC' and tried to sell them on quality GenoLogics products. Unfortunately they worked in sales and just couldn't grasp the value of an integrated lab and scientific data management system for systems biology research.
On the second day we went cycling around one of the islands. You know it's a mistake when all the locals are lying in the shade looking at your riding by and shaking their head. It was insanely hot/humid and I had to bow out midway through the trip. I was literally sweating buckets. I don't know how the locals always wear long pants and shirts in this heat and manage to look good. Marc and Elise cycled further into the jungle to look at an abandoned French colonial village (or something like that). In the end I was glad I didn't go along and just relaxed in the shade with some of the other people.
Tonight we're staying in Hanoi and tomorrow night we're taking the night train to Hue. That's about it for now. I've attached some pictures to this post and the others.
