Various pictures along the way

Since I'm a bit behind on my blog posts I'll just post a few pictures until I have time to write a full update

Halong Bay

At times I felt as if I was in another world. Though I enjoyed Hanoi, my time in the city brought about mixed experiences...little did I know what was in store. On June 14th we boarded a bus to head to Halong City, where we would board a boat to tour the islands. We decided to take a 3 day/2 night tour of Halong Bay. We spent the first night on the boat and the second night at Cat Ba island, one of the many islands in Halong Bay. Along the way we had the chance to explore several of the treasures in the area (which included kayaking, swimming, visiting the floating villages and viewing several caves)

The floating villages were quite interesting...these people literally live in houses smaller than most house boats and the entire town is comprised of this. It appeared that the livelihood of these people was based on us tourists!

After kayaking and swimming we anchored for the night...we were extremely lucky because we had a great group of folks on our boat. Most were between the age of 23-31 and came from all over the globe. If I am remembering correctly, there were people from England, Ireland, France, Germany, Denmark, Australia, Canada and America...pretty impressive! It made for a fantastic night and the scenery could not be beat!

The next day we got up for an early breakfast and then headed to Cat Ba island for the day. Meera and I were supposed to go trekking, but some how this got lost in translation and we didn't get to go...frustrating, but not much we could do. The island is a cute little beach town that thrives on tourists. In the afternoon we headed to the beach for a couple of hours...It was absolutely fabulous! White sandy beaches and the water as warm as bath water. At first we had the beach entirely to ourselves, but within an hour the scene quickly changed when tons of others joined us...I've never seen anything like it...

Vietnam Adventure - Week 1

So I realize I've been absent for a while, but it's been so busy since I arrived in Vietnam. Since leaving San Fran I've technically visited four cities, though I'm not sure an airport stop-over counts. We (my partners in crime for the next 6 weeks, Meera and Christy - both class mates from Haas) all arrived in Saigon within a few hours of each other...Christy and I met in Tokyo and we then met Meera at the Mme Cuc hotel in Saigon; a hostel in the backpacker district. It's super cute the staff are super friendly and love to practice their English.

We decided to take it easy our first day and let ourselves gradually get used to the time change and heat. After a quick cup of coffee at the hostel (coffee with condensed milk...I'm pleasantly surprised by how tasty this is) we headed out for a day of exploring, but first we satisfied our hunger with what soon became our morning breakfast...streetside egg sandwiches with cilatro and chilli sauce on a baguette...so tasty! and only 10,000 dong (about 80 cents). We also found a cute smoothie bar called the Juice Box and discovered a wonderful drink called Sinh to (can't go wrong with fresh tropical fruits!)

During the rest of the day we made our way around the city visiting the Reunication Palace, the War Remnants Museum, the local city market (for a few local goodies) and the Notre Dame Cathedral; while doging motorbikes in the streets...this city is crazy...one tour guide told us that the population in the greater Ho Chi Minh City area is about 10 million and there are 5 million motorbikes...at times the streets are wall to wall with just motorbikes, forget about driving a car in this city. We soon learned that the bus companies allocate atleast an hour to leave the city.

After a whirlwind tour of the city we ended the day at the Vietnam Traditional Massage Institute, which was coincidentally a few doors down from our hostel. Little did we know the Institute is co-located at a school for the blind, so I just got one of the strangest massages of my life from a blind Vietnamese women.

Stay tuned for more from the first week (and I promise to post pictures)...Mekong Delta, Cu Chi Tunnels, Hoi An and Hue!!!

Graduation Weekend

Well the time has now come and gone. I'm now an MBA!!! Hard to believe that I could jam so many things into 2 years time. It feels like only yesterday that I packed my car and made the drive south to Berkeley. So much has happened in the last two years, from classes to case competitions to exciting travels around the world...Business School has definitely been an adventure!

Graduation was at the Greek Amphitheatre on the Berkeley campus on Friday, May 16th. The weather was gorgeous, perhaps a little too warm. We all melted under our black robes during the two hour ceremony. Bengt Baron the CEO of V&S Group (Absolut Vodka is one of the most well-known brands) gave the commencement address.

After graduation there was a celebration by the clock tower. It was great to see everyone with their friends and family. My mom and sister made the trip down for the weekend and my uncle even flew up for the day. After the reception we headed to the Claremont Hotel for a cocktail before my uncle had to leave for the airport. Later on, Jean, my mom and I had a fantastic dinner at one of my favorite spots, Wood Tavern.

Check out a few picts from graduation.

A few more pictures from the weekend

Amusing Running Article

Though most of you may think I'm nuts for running as much as I do, there are a few folks who understand my love for the sport. While I was searching for upcoming races, I came across an article that describes 10 types of 'runners.' I hate to admit it, but I've seen most of these types of runners at some point in my running career...take a look and vote for your favorite or perhaps most obnoxious runner.

1) The Frightened Dog Swatter - love the description (especially the tiny pack of Paris Hilton purse dogs)
2) The Human Cybertron
3) The Loud Runner
4) The Desalination Machine
5) The Salination Machine
6) The High Five Twister
7) The Stink Bomber
8) The NBA Pro
9) Doctor 90210 - perhaps the most amusing
10) The Gazelle and the Sloth

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/The_10_Types_of_Runners.htm

Upcoming Races

Race Calendar for the Spring

Thought I'd start a post tracking my race activity and results for the spring

Race Date Time
Marin Trails 20k March 8th, 2008

Battle of the Bay Tri Relay April 5th, 2008

Napa Sprint Tri May 5th, 2008

More info and picts to come!

Race N Case

Race N Case

Case competitions are often a common experience in business school. Teams from business schools across the country against one another on various topics ranging from finance, strategy, marketing, ethics and other business topics. In most competitions, teams are presented a case and given 24-36 hours to prepare a solution and power point slide deck that is presented to a panel of judges.

The Race N Case competition was slightly different. Hosted by the University of Denver, organizers decided to put their own twist on the competition by dividing into two parts. The first part consisted of the typical case competition, though teams were given a case ahead of time and asked to prepare a slide presentation on a business ethics situation. In our case, an investment fund was forced to decide whether to divest when an investment company did not meet requirements of the fund. In our first presentation we discussed our analysis and recommendations to a panel of 5 judges. In the afternoon we presented to the entire panel of judges (over 30 in total)...

The second part of the competition was a ski race. Saturday morning we all boarded buses (one day late, thanks to high winds which closed I70 for much of Friday) and headed to Vail ski resort. Not only did we get to ski Vail for the day, but we also got to race against the other teams. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into...Though we were all experienced skiers/boarders we could not compete with the likes of UCBoulder, UDenver and BYU...some how the Colorado mountains just don't compare to the Sierra's

In the end, we just barely missed the top three, due to our ski performance, but we all had a great weekend. The competition came to an end on Saturday evening with a catered dinner at a restaurant at the top of the Gondola. Oh, did I mention that we stayed at a Vail resort with its own ski lift...let me tell ya, it gives a whole new meaning to skiing! :) Nothing like waking up and being on the slopes 15 minutes later!

Since we made the journey to Colorado the team decided to take advantage of an extra ski day on Sunday before we all headed back to Berkeley.

I think everyone would agree that it was a great weekend. Check out some picts from Denver, the UDenver campus and Vail!