Monday, March 13, was a day at sea. We had breakfast in bed, and then attended three lectures.

The first one was by speaker and “local resident” (he used to live in Singapore and now lives in Hong Kong) Tim Wade on “Ho Chi Minh City” (very brief History of Vietnam).

The second one, and much more interesting and in depth, by Bob Donaldson (former US State Department Advisor, former President of Tulsa University and Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Political Science and Foreign Relations Professor and Administrator at Vanderbilt University and City University of New York) titled “Global Threats in the Twenty-first Century – Part I: How Did We Get to This Place in History, and Why Does It Seem So Dangerous Here?” (Cold-war dynamics, post-Cold-war and non-state actors).

The third lecture was by Denise Heywood (Asian Art lecturer at University of London and University of Cambridge, writer, photographer and journalist) “Vietnam: Land of the Ascending Dragon – Part I” (religious rituals substituted by secular spectacle).

In the evening we attended a private by invitation only magic performance by a member of the famous Magic Castle.

Before dinner, we watched “Good Morning Vietnam” in the movie theater, and later enjoyed the full moon reflected on the East (China) Sea and the sea breeze on our faces.