Packing Up

There's a lot going on in this photo.  It's about 7:00 AM in Dong Ha and we are packing up the truck to head back to Hanoi. Mr. Thanh (see Kon Tum, A Palm, Two Botanists With Cameras) is on top of the truck tying down some bulk stem samples of Eurycoma longifolia Jack (Simaroubaceae), an important medicinal plant throughout S.E. Asia for its anti-malarial, aphrodisiac, anti-diabetic, and anti-pyretic properties. He is bringing the samples back to Hanoi to analyze them in the IEBR phytochemistry lab. 

The driver, Mr. Cuong, is standing off to the side doing what drivers do when they are not driving. The taxi driver to the right, convinced that the foreigner with the camera does not need a taxi, is having a cigarette and looking bored. [NOTE: The WIFI in the Hoàng Long Hotel was pretty decent].