
Thursday evening everyone gathered at the Anya (or was it the Anya premier?) hotel for the banquet. Before dinner, we were fortunate to see a local troupe of young kids demonstrating traditional drumming and martial arts before scaring us all with a dragon! After the delicious meal it was time for dancing and partying.
After the conclusion of the conference on friday, about 30 people went sightseeing in Quy Nhon. First stop was the famous Thap Doi twin towers. They were built by the Cham people in the 12th century, with significant Khmer influence. As with all Cham towers, the only entrance faces east. Afterwards, we went to a buddhist temple and some of us continued to the beach after that.

The Bergen delegation was joined by Natalie Summers from NTNU, and she guided us to a local buffet restaurant in the evening. Quite an exotic experience, where the food was prepared by ourselves at the table.




As we were traveling home around noon on the saturday, many people from the conference met up at a bar called John&Paul, where a continuously expanding local band played a variety of western pop&rock, creating an unbelievable atmosphere. The lead singer and guitarist (left on the picture) also waited the tables in a most efficient manner.
Four separate flights awaited on saturday, taking us back to Bergen. The long one from Singapore to Copenhagen was an excruciating 13 hours. Fortunately, most of us were able to get some sleep. Even Hongbo, who sat next to a dangerous dragon.

An amazing week in Vietnam. Now we are eagerly awaiting news on where the next Ocean Optics will take place!