05/09/07
ALOHA!!! We spent our day (yes, only a day…a little less than 14 hours actually) in Honolulu yesterday. The first and most surprising thing I saw was a woman holding a sign about free shuttles to Walmart. The most shocking thing was that she was speaking English. Strange right? I know, we’re back in the States where English is the most prevalent (though not the official might I add) language but it really was strange hearing someone outside of my social bubble speak to us in English.
We went to Burger in Paradise and had the biggest cheeseburgers ever! The best thing was the tap water though!!! We haven’t had tap water in three months and they have been scaring us the entire time so we have even ran from ice cubes and washed vegetables. The beach was right across the street so after lunch, we headed over and stayed there for the rest of the day. It was a relaxing break from studying for our upcoming finals. They begin tomorrow. The water was perfect and clear as could be. It rained about once an hour but it was my favorite kind of rain, the sunny kind. I have the goofiest tan line ever.
The most difficult thing was the conversion rate. Back to the U.S. dollar. It’s about 100 pennies to the U.S. dollar, crazy I know! It was ridiculously expensive. I can’t believe I’m home in a week. I can’t wait to see your smiling faces.
In contrast to the rest of the ports, there was no poverty, no deformities, no begging, no hungry children playing in the streets. Instead, I saw beautiful beaches, surfers, obesity, tap water so clean we could drink it, gorgeously tanned bodies, palm trees, ABC stores – about two per street block – and American cars equipped with steering wheels on the left.
For dinner we went to a Mexican Restaurant. We wanted to go to a Luau but it was going to cost nearly fifty dollars so we passed. The food was great! Closest thing we’ve had to Mexican food in three months.
I found myself fighting the urge to bow with a thank you, a Japanese custom, or give a thumbs up to a car that allows us to cross. I think the ‘thumbs up’ is the most universal sign of approval; at least it has been for the ports we’ve visited. So when I come home and bow to you all instead of saying thank you or give you kisses on both cheeks as a greeting to signify my “singleness” or try to bargain a cab ride from $50 to $5 or eat with my hands food I should be eating with a fork, just bare with me…I’ll come around and be “Americanized” with time…but hopefully not too soon ;)
I’m very sad to leave the people I’ve met on the ship. They are hilarious and crack me up on a daily basis. I don’t know what I’m going to do now that I won’t see them every single day, morning and night. I wish I could bring them all home so you could meet them all but I have plenty of video for you to watch. Granted it probably won’t be as entertaining as I find it but it will give you a face and person to the names I’ll say.
I hope everything is well and I will see you all sooooo soon I can’t even believe it! Love you guys!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Japan!
JAPAN!!!! I love Japan, it was absolutely AMAZING! I think this would be the port that I would choose to come back to…or South Africa, or Vietnam, or Malaysia…no, actually Hong Kong…hopefully I can start making my millions as soon as I graduate because I plan to go back to all these places!
We woke up early to welcome the land of the rising sun to only welcome fog and cold weather. I guess health regulations are really strict in Japan so everyone on the ship had to take their temperatures several times before disembarking. We had the opportunity to see a few Japanese people play the drums. It was great! They played the drums like crazy for like 10 minutes straight while incorporating their entire bodies to make the sounds and rhythms but hardly broke a sweat.
We followed our usual routine and just explored the city on the first day. I had to buy shoes for the Ambassador’s Ball (a ship formal) so we went to the mall. Luckily I found some that were on sale. Japan is extremely expensive. But I guess only in comparison to everywhere we’ve been. Prices are actually comparable to U.S. prices. For lunch we went to a 350 restaurant. We didn’t know what that meant at the time but it meant that everything on the menu cost 350 Yen which is about 3 or 4 dollars. The conversion is 116 Yen to 1 dollar. Val and I ordered sushi to share and for the first time, I actually enjoyed sushi! I’ve had it a few times but basically forced myself to eat it. I really liked it this time, hopefully it doesn’t become an expensive habit of mine.
The fashion in Japan is ridiculous (in a good way…kinda like bad not bad but bad meaning good…hehe). The women wear lots of shorts and heels with knee highs. I’ll try to bring it back to Colorado but I have a feeling I’ll be looked at like I’m crazy, especially since I’m not a very fashionable person to begin with. I felt like a slob in jeans, flip flops, and a hoodie. Everyone was dressed for the day like they would be for the club. They had full makeup and hair. And by hair, I mean HAIR! It was huge, curled, teased, crimped, “extensioned”, everything possible. They were gorgeous. The guys went for the fashionable grunge look.
The hip hop scene in Japan is just as huge as the hair. American hip hop was played in a majority of the stores we went in, which got me in a dancin kinda mood. We went back to the ship and got ready to go out. We had to take the subway/train everywhere we went in Japan which costs at least 200 yen each way so we spent quite a bit on travel alone. Taxis were much more expensive.
After wandering the streets for a little while (partly because we were lost), we went to a club named 2nd Chance. It was pretty tiny and filled with SAS students. There were a few crew members there as well but per SAS regulations, we are not able to associate with them too much. So other than hello, we had to both keep our distance. I understand the necessity to maintain a professional atmosphere especially while on board but I hate that we can’t talk to the crew outside of the ship. It makes it feel like their only there for our convenience which I guess in some aspects is the truth. I just feel like it takes their humanity and leaves them only as services when we aren’t able to associate with them. It’s hard to not form bonds with people that you see nearly everyday for 3 months, whether it’s in a classroom with another student or in the cafeteria with a crew member.
The rest of the night was fun. We went to another club that was just down the street and danced there for a little bit. A few people were hungry so we decided to leave the club and head to McDonalds. Even though I was craving Chubby’s – hahah!
I had a Japanese homestay the next day. My host mother met me on the ship at 11:00 am. There were many families there to meet students who they welcomed to their home to learn about Japanese culture. They are from the program HIPPO which emphasizes the importance of foreign language acquisition. They did their greetings in several languages including German, English, Korean, and Spanish. Children as young as four were learning at least two other languages. It’s strange to see how much other countries stress foreign languages so much when in the States it’s only a couple years in high school that is the minimum, and most likely the maximum, that one will take. One of the host mothers that was in my group spoke 6 languages and another man spoke 11. Embarrassingly, I am hardly proficient in English ;)
That afternoon, the two host mothers, another student, a professor and I went to a Saki museum and learned the traditional methods of making rice wine. The atmosphere was very relaxing with traditional Japanese architecture and a garden. We had to take our shoes off at every door entrance.
After the museum we went to a Japanese restaurant. I had pork and fried rice with some soup with extra slippery noodles. It was really good! I wasn’t able to finish it though, as hard as I tried. Even though my chopstick skills are on point (compared to where they were before), they still aren’t very good. The women finished every grain of rice in their bowl before I even finished half of mine. We were taking the same number of bites but I had a quarter of the food in each bite. It’s considered polite to slurp noodles here. To serve food, we are supposed to use the opposite side of the chopsticks (the one not in our mouths).
I stayed with the Nagata family. The mother’s name was Tami and she was a stay at home mother of two: Komiko a 13 year old daughter and Mark, 15 and very into professional baseball. Her husband traveled very frequently for work. The family dynamic was very interesting to observe. They had an arranged marriage and he seemed to be learning just as much about her past as I was when I asked questions. She studied abroad in England for a year and a half and worked at the airport until she was married and began raising a family. It was interesting to compare our first port, Puerto Rico, with this one. At the welcome reception in Puerto Rico, students were dancing with professors, greeting each other with kisses, and hugging. Here, it was much different. I felt like a hand shake was even forced in some instances. In pictures with the family, I’m the only one smiling with teeth. The others have a half smile with hands at their sides. The mother seemed more traditional in family lifestyle than the father. We took our shoes off at every door entrance and basically only wore shoes in the hallways. There were a different pair of shoes at nearly every door. Some at the back door, some at the bathroom door, kitchen and bedrooms. My room was beautiful. It had a tatami (not sure on the spelling) bed, which is mats on the floor with a comforter. The walls were like what I would expect with the sliding panes of wood and screen and I had a little garden just outside my room. The bed was VERY comfortable. She made a wonderful dinner for me and her family. It was broccoli and shrimp tempura with some sort of dumplings and other fried foods. I had some sort of cold soup, I’m not sure what it’s called. We went to a bakery earlier that day and had the desserts that I chose. I took a bath that night for the first time in ages! Showers aren’t very common in Japan and the entire family shares the same bath water. Since I was a guest, I was able to bathe first. I was relieved to go first as I’m not used to this custom. I don’t even like sharing a bathroom with my brothers ;) ha, just kidding. I miss them like crazy. Everyone is getting sick of me saying “I miss my bruders!”. I can’t wait to get home and fight with them. I wonder how long it will take for Tommy to intentionally get on my nerves. I bet about 15 minutes. I really look forward to one of their half hugs/ pat on the back.
The next morning we had a potluck with several other HIPPO members. At first my host mother told me we were having a potpourri with her friends. She confused the two words. I was able to try on a kimono. It was really tight and made me have perfect posture! I can’t wait to show everyone pictures! My camera is acting up and taking really blurry pictures for some reason. I was also able to learn a few chords on a Japanese harp. It was a great experience. We went to a Buddhist temple and rang the prayer bell and got fortunes. I had one of the only bad fortunes :( I guess not too bad, it just said that I’m experiencing bad fortune at the moment but it would get better with time and was better for the future, which could be relevant in some aspects of my life I guess. I guess the future is the best thing to look forward to so it is a good fortune after all!
We went to the train station and bid our host mothers farewell and headed back toward Kobe.
The next morning Greg, Michael, Celina, Val, Sam, Dan, my roommate Kristin and I went to Osaka to meet our friend Bob from CU who is doing an English teaching program. We got off at the OCAT stop. I could have spent all day at that subway. There were a couple young hip hop dancers who were amazing. I stood no chance at all. Even that little Missy Elliot dancer would be embarrassed dancing next to these girls. I have video of course. Later that night, the whole plaza was filled with dancers. Each style had their own corner. The break dancers could spin on their head for minutes on end and do things I never would have imagined possible. One of the young girls was still there several hours after we had initially saw her still dancing as hard as ever. She was dancing with some dudes about twice her age and was holdin her own! Like I said, Hip Hop was HUGE here, even more than in Kobe.
We went to a baseball game that afternoon. It was the Buffaloes (how ironic) vs. the Hawks. Val and I bought jerseys to be extra supportive of the Buffs :). They ended up losing but it was a great time. The subway stopped running at 11:00 and started again at 5 am so we decided to just stay the night in Osaka at our friend’s house. We went to a 280 restaurant (similar to the 350) then to a bar/club/pool hall. After dancing to a few songs, we headed toward Bob’s apartment. They sang karaoke for a while but I passed out on the couch. Next thing I knew, the sun was up and we were on our way to catch the first train. We were all a little out of it since it was so early and we hadn’t gotten much sleep, some of us none. It took us about an hour and 3 transfers to get home…or to the ship…which I have been calling home. Strange.
After napping for a few hours, we were up and on our way again. We basically did the same thing as the first day. We had a little bit of confusions and were lost in translation while trying to eat but everything worked out perfectly. We bought these delicious ice cream snacks. I’ve been dreaming about them ever since. We left Japan that night :( our last real port!!! I really can’t believe it. I am truly on the home stretch now and it has flown by. I can’t wait to see you all. I feel like I’ve missed so much. I bet Ari is walking all over the place, probably even running. Sarai has started taking steps I’m sure, I saw her lil pony tail the other day. Joey is probably speaking. Haha, just kidding but I’m sure he’s army crawling. Everyone should have received post cards by now…hopefully at least. If not, maybe your neighbor has it ;).
CRAVINGS:
Posole
Green chili
CHOCOLATE MILK
Chic fil a
Tamales
Nana’s beans
Steak
Family
Friends
I’ve missed some birthdays: Randy, happy birthday handsome! You’re getting old! I hope school is going well for you, I miss you! Auntie Boita! Daniela – super belated I know. I’m pretty sure I already told my Nina happy birthday but in case not, HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Grandpa Martinez. David and Julian. Auntie Jobobadeetendoten. Brianne’s is soon, unless I’ve missed it also. I’m not sure of today’s date. Randi, my babe. I’m sure I’m missing some. Boo hiss. Miss you all but I’ll see you soon.
We woke up early to welcome the land of the rising sun to only welcome fog and cold weather. I guess health regulations are really strict in Japan so everyone on the ship had to take their temperatures several times before disembarking. We had the opportunity to see a few Japanese people play the drums. It was great! They played the drums like crazy for like 10 minutes straight while incorporating their entire bodies to make the sounds and rhythms but hardly broke a sweat.
We followed our usual routine and just explored the city on the first day. I had to buy shoes for the Ambassador’s Ball (a ship formal) so we went to the mall. Luckily I found some that were on sale. Japan is extremely expensive. But I guess only in comparison to everywhere we’ve been. Prices are actually comparable to U.S. prices. For lunch we went to a 350 restaurant. We didn’t know what that meant at the time but it meant that everything on the menu cost 350 Yen which is about 3 or 4 dollars. The conversion is 116 Yen to 1 dollar. Val and I ordered sushi to share and for the first time, I actually enjoyed sushi! I’ve had it a few times but basically forced myself to eat it. I really liked it this time, hopefully it doesn’t become an expensive habit of mine.
The fashion in Japan is ridiculous (in a good way…kinda like bad not bad but bad meaning good…hehe). The women wear lots of shorts and heels with knee highs. I’ll try to bring it back to Colorado but I have a feeling I’ll be looked at like I’m crazy, especially since I’m not a very fashionable person to begin with. I felt like a slob in jeans, flip flops, and a hoodie. Everyone was dressed for the day like they would be for the club. They had full makeup and hair. And by hair, I mean HAIR! It was huge, curled, teased, crimped, “extensioned”, everything possible. They were gorgeous. The guys went for the fashionable grunge look.
The hip hop scene in Japan is just as huge as the hair. American hip hop was played in a majority of the stores we went in, which got me in a dancin kinda mood. We went back to the ship and got ready to go out. We had to take the subway/train everywhere we went in Japan which costs at least 200 yen each way so we spent quite a bit on travel alone. Taxis were much more expensive.
After wandering the streets for a little while (partly because we were lost), we went to a club named 2nd Chance. It was pretty tiny and filled with SAS students. There were a few crew members there as well but per SAS regulations, we are not able to associate with them too much. So other than hello, we had to both keep our distance. I understand the necessity to maintain a professional atmosphere especially while on board but I hate that we can’t talk to the crew outside of the ship. It makes it feel like their only there for our convenience which I guess in some aspects is the truth. I just feel like it takes their humanity and leaves them only as services when we aren’t able to associate with them. It’s hard to not form bonds with people that you see nearly everyday for 3 months, whether it’s in a classroom with another student or in the cafeteria with a crew member.
The rest of the night was fun. We went to another club that was just down the street and danced there for a little bit. A few people were hungry so we decided to leave the club and head to McDonalds. Even though I was craving Chubby’s – hahah!
I had a Japanese homestay the next day. My host mother met me on the ship at 11:00 am. There were many families there to meet students who they welcomed to their home to learn about Japanese culture. They are from the program HIPPO which emphasizes the importance of foreign language acquisition. They did their greetings in several languages including German, English, Korean, and Spanish. Children as young as four were learning at least two other languages. It’s strange to see how much other countries stress foreign languages so much when in the States it’s only a couple years in high school that is the minimum, and most likely the maximum, that one will take. One of the host mothers that was in my group spoke 6 languages and another man spoke 11. Embarrassingly, I am hardly proficient in English ;)
That afternoon, the two host mothers, another student, a professor and I went to a Saki museum and learned the traditional methods of making rice wine. The atmosphere was very relaxing with traditional Japanese architecture and a garden. We had to take our shoes off at every door entrance.
After the museum we went to a Japanese restaurant. I had pork and fried rice with some soup with extra slippery noodles. It was really good! I wasn’t able to finish it though, as hard as I tried. Even though my chopstick skills are on point (compared to where they were before), they still aren’t very good. The women finished every grain of rice in their bowl before I even finished half of mine. We were taking the same number of bites but I had a quarter of the food in each bite. It’s considered polite to slurp noodles here. To serve food, we are supposed to use the opposite side of the chopsticks (the one not in our mouths).
I stayed with the Nagata family. The mother’s name was Tami and she was a stay at home mother of two: Komiko a 13 year old daughter and Mark, 15 and very into professional baseball. Her husband traveled very frequently for work. The family dynamic was very interesting to observe. They had an arranged marriage and he seemed to be learning just as much about her past as I was when I asked questions. She studied abroad in England for a year and a half and worked at the airport until she was married and began raising a family. It was interesting to compare our first port, Puerto Rico, with this one. At the welcome reception in Puerto Rico, students were dancing with professors, greeting each other with kisses, and hugging. Here, it was much different. I felt like a hand shake was even forced in some instances. In pictures with the family, I’m the only one smiling with teeth. The others have a half smile with hands at their sides. The mother seemed more traditional in family lifestyle than the father. We took our shoes off at every door entrance and basically only wore shoes in the hallways. There were a different pair of shoes at nearly every door. Some at the back door, some at the bathroom door, kitchen and bedrooms. My room was beautiful. It had a tatami (not sure on the spelling) bed, which is mats on the floor with a comforter. The walls were like what I would expect with the sliding panes of wood and screen and I had a little garden just outside my room. The bed was VERY comfortable. She made a wonderful dinner for me and her family. It was broccoli and shrimp tempura with some sort of dumplings and other fried foods. I had some sort of cold soup, I’m not sure what it’s called. We went to a bakery earlier that day and had the desserts that I chose. I took a bath that night for the first time in ages! Showers aren’t very common in Japan and the entire family shares the same bath water. Since I was a guest, I was able to bathe first. I was relieved to go first as I’m not used to this custom. I don’t even like sharing a bathroom with my brothers ;) ha, just kidding. I miss them like crazy. Everyone is getting sick of me saying “I miss my bruders!”. I can’t wait to get home and fight with them. I wonder how long it will take for Tommy to intentionally get on my nerves. I bet about 15 minutes. I really look forward to one of their half hugs/ pat on the back.
The next morning we had a potluck with several other HIPPO members. At first my host mother told me we were having a potpourri with her friends. She confused the two words. I was able to try on a kimono. It was really tight and made me have perfect posture! I can’t wait to show everyone pictures! My camera is acting up and taking really blurry pictures for some reason. I was also able to learn a few chords on a Japanese harp. It was a great experience. We went to a Buddhist temple and rang the prayer bell and got fortunes. I had one of the only bad fortunes :( I guess not too bad, it just said that I’m experiencing bad fortune at the moment but it would get better with time and was better for the future, which could be relevant in some aspects of my life I guess. I guess the future is the best thing to look forward to so it is a good fortune after all!
We went to the train station and bid our host mothers farewell and headed back toward Kobe.
The next morning Greg, Michael, Celina, Val, Sam, Dan, my roommate Kristin and I went to Osaka to meet our friend Bob from CU who is doing an English teaching program. We got off at the OCAT stop. I could have spent all day at that subway. There were a couple young hip hop dancers who were amazing. I stood no chance at all. Even that little Missy Elliot dancer would be embarrassed dancing next to these girls. I have video of course. Later that night, the whole plaza was filled with dancers. Each style had their own corner. The break dancers could spin on their head for minutes on end and do things I never would have imagined possible. One of the young girls was still there several hours after we had initially saw her still dancing as hard as ever. She was dancing with some dudes about twice her age and was holdin her own! Like I said, Hip Hop was HUGE here, even more than in Kobe.
We went to a baseball game that afternoon. It was the Buffaloes (how ironic) vs. the Hawks. Val and I bought jerseys to be extra supportive of the Buffs :). They ended up losing but it was a great time. The subway stopped running at 11:00 and started again at 5 am so we decided to just stay the night in Osaka at our friend’s house. We went to a 280 restaurant (similar to the 350) then to a bar/club/pool hall. After dancing to a few songs, we headed toward Bob’s apartment. They sang karaoke for a while but I passed out on the couch. Next thing I knew, the sun was up and we were on our way to catch the first train. We were all a little out of it since it was so early and we hadn’t gotten much sleep, some of us none. It took us about an hour and 3 transfers to get home…or to the ship…which I have been calling home. Strange.
After napping for a few hours, we were up and on our way again. We basically did the same thing as the first day. We had a little bit of confusions and were lost in translation while trying to eat but everything worked out perfectly. We bought these delicious ice cream snacks. I’ve been dreaming about them ever since. We left Japan that night :( our last real port!!! I really can’t believe it. I am truly on the home stretch now and it has flown by. I can’t wait to see you all. I feel like I’ve missed so much. I bet Ari is walking all over the place, probably even running. Sarai has started taking steps I’m sure, I saw her lil pony tail the other day. Joey is probably speaking. Haha, just kidding but I’m sure he’s army crawling. Everyone should have received post cards by now…hopefully at least. If not, maybe your neighbor has it ;).
CRAVINGS:
Posole
Green chili
CHOCOLATE MILK
Chic fil a
Tamales
Nana’s beans
Steak
Family
Friends
I’ve missed some birthdays: Randy, happy birthday handsome! You’re getting old! I hope school is going well for you, I miss you! Auntie Boita! Daniela – super belated I know. I’m pretty sure I already told my Nina happy birthday but in case not, HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Grandpa Martinez. David and Julian. Auntie Jobobadeetendoten. Brianne’s is soon, unless I’ve missed it also. I’m not sure of today’s date. Randi, my babe. I’m sure I’m missing some. Boo hiss. Miss you all but I’ll see you soon.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
China!!! (Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Beijing)
04/23/07
Hello!!! I’ll start by saying if I have ever in my life said I was tired, I didn’t mean it in the least bit. Traveling through China has left me absolutely exhausted! Like I said before, we decided to travel independently. In comparison to the trips planned through Semester at Sea, doing it independently is a quarter of the cost, zero percent of the convenience, and a thousand times the adventure! The group I traveled with was Michael, Celina, Greg, Sam from Denver, Dan from…can’t remember…, Nick from Pittsburgh, and Jay from LA – hey that rhymes ;).
I woke up bright and early to welcome the Hong Kong port and I’m glad I did. The skyline of skyscrapers seemed never-ending. The air seemed extra salty for some reason. Maybe it’s because I’m sick again. To be honest, I think I have only been “healthy” for about a once consecutive week and that was right after and during Malaysia. The rest of the time I’ve been congested and had a sore throat but I do my best to not complain because that’s one of my pet peeves I’ve noticed. Especially while we’re encountering so many people that actually have reasons to complain. But again, I digress. Anyways, the sight was amazing and I couldn’t wait to get off the ship. The ship was only docked in Hong Kong for a little over 24 hours, which is a main reason why I decided to travel independently and meet the ship in Qingdao. If we would have stayed on the ship, we would have had to leave the following evening, sail for two days, dock in Qingdao for a little more than a day, then leave for Japan. Since we’re already well aware of the experience of traveling by sea, we decided to do it by land which consisted of a one hour train to Shenzhen, a 24 hour sleeper train to Beijing, 2 nights in Beijing, then a 9 hour sleeper train to Qingdao (at least that was planned…you’ll see what happened in a few paragraphs).
The first thing we heard the morning we docked in Hong Kong was the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Our Dean addressed the news during what would normally be our diplomatic briefing. Archbishop Desmund Tutu also spoke about it. The overall atmosphere was very depressed. It was all over the news in Hong Kong as well but the number of deaths seemed to changed according to the source. Additionally, CNN was playing on a local station but it was in Cantonese and the headings along the bottom of the screen were blurred out. I’m not sure if that had to do with the censorship in China or not.
Celina and Val went their separate ways so they could finish up their souvenir shopping and Michael, Greg and I caught the ferry to another island to walk around. We ended up meeting up with our friends Zeke, Jared, Shaan from Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, and Brooklyn respectively. Greg and I were in foul moods at the beginning of the day and even more so after we went to the internet café but our moods turned around soon thereafter. We went to a Chinese restaurant and I was, admittedly, a little apprehensive and scared to try “real” Chinese food because I have heard stories that it is not what we are used to or what is available as Chinese food in the States. Zeke and I decided to share something that was called ribs and an order of fried rice. Thank goodness we both didn’t order the ribs which was what we were going to do because the picture looked pretty good. I don’t really know how to describe what was served to us. They were about the size of cheetos and had the same crunch but didn’t have a bone or anything that resembled meat. I think they had something similar to barbecue sauce them. The rice was really good though. My chopstick skills have suddenly and drastically improved. I’m not sure why, maybe just because of the environment. Michael had some sort of cashew and spicy chicken dish; it was really good. Shaan had sweet and sour chicken which was very different from the States but still really good.
The rest of the day we just explored the city and went to the women’s market. I’m not sure why it was called that, maybe we weren’t even in the right place because the communication between us and our taxi driver was very limited. It was an outdoor market with a lot of cool clothes for guys. For the first time, they (the guys) had more of an option than I did. Usually there are a lot of clothes and items geared toward females and not so much for guys but this time it was the opposite. We started heading back toward the ship around 7:30 because there is a light show every night at 8:00. We took the subway back just in time for the show. It was really cool, the entire city lit up with music playing in the background.
Even though we had to wake up early the next morning to catch our 10:00 train to Shenzhen, we HAD to go out for our only night in Hong Kong ;). So we went back to the ship and got ready to leave at 9:00. Celina and Val got back a little later than us so they got ready and planned on meeting us at Dragon Eye. I didn’t bring many going out clothes so I ended up making a shirt out of a scarf I bought in India. I thought it was cute and an innovative idea that night but now that I look back at pictures, I wish I would have just worn a t-shirt or something. Haha. We went to 7-11 first to have a couple drinks because there was a rumor that the drinks were ridiculously expensive (like 13 US dollars each). After spending about 30 minutes there, we (Michael, Greg, Sam, Zeke, Shaan, Nick, Chingy, Jared and I) caught the ferry over to the city. Zeke, Shaan and Greg thought it would be a great idea to put on an impromptu concert for the city goers so they sang Usher acapella accompanied by great dance moves. Michael took great video of it! We got to Dragon Eye and met Val and Celina but for some reason, they wouldn’t allow our party in even though a huge group of semester at sea students went in just seconds before us. This is the third time this has happened to us and I find it hard to leave it to coincidence that the blondies get in without question but we’re left outside wondering why we can’t get it…The same thing happened in Malaysia. We were dressed according to the dress code and were willing to pay the cover charge but weren’t allowed in for some reason. Then Greg was told “No bargaining” when he was trying to order a drink and basically refused service. Coincidence? Hmm…I wonder. Despite that, I still had a WONDERFUL time even though we basically just hung out at 7-11 and in the streets of Hong Kong. We ended up getting home at 3 or 4 am and had to wake up and leave by 8:00 to leave for the train station.
We got to the train station without too much difficulty and were able to buy our tickets to Shenzhen with minimal confusion. Once in the train station in Shenzhen the confusion began. We had to go through about three security checks and were in a little bit of a rush to make the 1:00 train to Beijing but if we missed that one, there was another one at 3:00 that we could get on. It took us about an hour to find the place we were supposed to buy tickets. We waited in a line for about 15 to find out that it was the wrong line and we had to find the other ticket booth that was upstairs. We finally found the booth but both tickets were sold out. We had to get tickets for the next day at 11:00 am and it was an extra 6 hours being 30 hours long! And a hard sleeper!
After buying those tickets we had to find a place to stay in Shenzhen so we wandered around and found a guy who said he would take us to a hotel that would cost around 5 US dollars each. We followed him for a pretty long walk into an ally next to what looked like an elementary school. We went up to the room which had three medium sized beds and a couch. We figured that we could share beds and make do with it but the cost suddenly tripled. We were able to bargain him down a little but we decided to go find another place for a little bit cheaper. We walked around for a few more minutes and the same guy told us he would take us to a different hotel that was the original price he told us so we followed him again. The lobby of this hotel was really fancy but the room only had two beds and wooden floors so we would have had to get at least two rooms. So, again, the price doubled. We were getting tired of walking back and forth between hotels so we decided to get lunch then continue our search. Half of us went to McDonalds and the other half went to a Chinese restaurant. Greg and I shared fried rice, Celina had a moodle dish (it may have just been noodle spelled incorrectly), and I can’t remember what Nick had. All of it was really good though and there was no duck cartilage surprise like Jazmin had warned us about. The second we stepped outside of this restaurant, the same man was there telling us to follow him to different hotels for cheap prices but by that time we had lost faith in his low costs. Sam and Dan had ventured while we were eating and found a hotel in a really good area (near lots of city life) for a cheap price, I think it was around six US dollars. We ended up getting two rooms with three beds each. We took a quick nap and walked around the city to look for an internet café but could only find a Starbuck’s so we used their free wifi. There were a lot of people with physical deformities on the streets. It looked like muscular dystrophy but I’m not sure what exactly it is. Some even looked like what Agent Orange victims looked like.
Later that night we went to a Mexican restaurant that served Indian food. I order chicken enchiladas that was definitely not chicken enchiladas but it still tasted alright. I don’t even know why we decided to eat there but it was an interesting experience although kind of pricy in comparison to our other meals. After dinner, we went to a bar where we were the only customers but we got VIP service. Ladies had free drinks so Celina, Jay and I enjoyed a couple drinks that were well covered and paid for after all the guys ordered their beer. The owner brought us a fruit tray that was really fancy. We didn’t stay too late because we had to wake up for our 30 hour train ride – bleh! But after returning to the hotel we decided to play cards so we didn’t end up going to sleep until about 3:00 am anyways.
We woke up at 7:00 (without much sleep again) and went to the train station. We saw our friends Roberto and Mary (from Puerto Rico and Texas) and tried to get some breakfast for everyone. Sam, Greg, Nick, and I walked around to look for food while the rest of the group stayed with our bags. We were gone for about 10 minutes and when we finally found a place, I went back to tell them what was on the menu but everyone was boarding except our group. Apparently they were about to close the gate so I ran to get the other guys. We had to run through the train station and barely made it on the train.
The second we stepped onto the train, we all started sweating. There was no air circulation whatsoever and our rooms were a quarter of the size of our cabins on the ship but with six beds. It was hard to imagine being in such a small place for 30 hours but it actually went by really quickly. We played lots of card games and had good conversations. The most entertaining was a card game called camps. Good times! They turned the lights off on us at 10 pm so we laid down soon after but didn’t go to sleep for a while. I woke up the next morning to the stench of cigarette smoke and the sound of slurping noodles. Not a pleasant awakening. We taught one of the train workers how to play a card game. She caught on surprisingly fast. It was hard to believe that she caught on so quickly because we didn’t even speak the same language but were able to teach her through hand gestures. She even won a game!
The 30 hours passed quicker than we all expected. The moment we stepped off the train, we immediately tried to book our tickets from Beijing to Qingdao; we were afraid that those would be sold out also and we would be stranded in Beijing. NOBODY spoke English in this train station. We went to just about every counter possible. At one point we thought they were sold out again. A couple of us went upstairs to try to find the right ticket booth and finally found one that said “English Speaking” so we stood in line. The rest of the signs were in Chinese characters so there were no words that we could even attempt to translate. I anticipated it being difficult to communicate but this was no joke! Even the English speaking counter had VERY little English. Basically, all of China was a game of charades. We were going through this train station with about 20-30 extra pounds on our backs, which were all twisted from the lack of space in our hard sleepers. The tickets we were trying to buy were sold out and the only ones available were for seats rather than beds. The tickets only cost $12 US but I would have gladly paid the extra money to be able to lie down.
After buying the tickets, we caught the number 2 bus to our hostel: Jade Youth Hostel. It was much nicer than I imagined a hostel to be. They were set up in rooms with eight beds each but they didn’t have a complete room available so we had to split up four in one room and four in the other. Celina, Jay, Michael, and Greg were in one room and the other room was me, Nick, Sam, and Dan. They kind of reminded me of the dorms. There was a communal bathroom and shower with five stalls. We got ready and headed to dinner at a Chinese restaurant that was about a block away. Again, the food was really good. I had spicy sautéed chicken and fried rice and was very satisfied. I guess we just luckily picked good restaurants. After dinner we went to a street lined with bars. One of our roommates in the hostel was from England and had been traveling for nearly a year. He went to dinner and out with us that night. He was very interesting to talk to and to see his perceptions of Americans. He was so surprised that we could walk into a bar and dance without drinking. He said that he wasn’t used to that; where he comes from, people don’t usually dance and if they do, it’s only after several drinks. We ended up going home around 3 or 4 am (i know, irresponsible since we had to wake up at 6:30 to leave by 7 for the Great Wall but when’s the next time we can go out in Beijing?). I decided to use the internet café at the hostel instead of going to sleep right away. I ended up being on the internet for way longer than I expected and didn’t go to my room until it was time to wake everyone up. Everyone was rushing around trying to pack and get ready in the short amount of time. So I left to see the Great Wall of China without a wink of sleep. Luckily, it was two hours away so I was able to get a little bit of a nap time before. It was pretty cold when we got there. This was the first time we had been cold since the day we left. All the other ports have been extremely hot.
The wall was amazing! We took a cable car up instead of hiking since we were limited on time. We only had our driver for six hours including commute time. After we walked around for a while, we took an alpine slide down (I think that’s what they’re called). We accidentally kept rear ending each other. Jay didn’t pull up her break in time and gave Michael whiplash! I think Greg ran into Nick so hard that he actually fell off his cart and into the slide. I’m a responsible driver and didn’t hit anyone ;)
After the Great Wall, we went to Tiananmen Square and to the Forbidden City which wasn’t too far from our hostel. Our train left at 11:00 pm that night so we didn’t book a room for the next night since we were going to leave. We didn’t have a bed to take a nap in so we just hung out in the hotel lobby until we had to leave for a train. I took a short nap in a wicker chair and think I woke up more tired than I was before. We got to the train station in plenty of time to have run-around-confusion time. It turns out that a lot of SAS students were on our same train. One couple actually bought tickets to Mongolia by accident and didn’t realize till just a few minutes before they boarded.
I was sooo exhausted and not looking forward to this 9 hour train ride with no bed. Our seats didn’t even recline a little bit. Fortunately, we were all sitting together. Jay, Nick, and I sat next to a man from Qingdao that had been studying English for 10 years. He was very interesting to talk to and welcomed all sorts of questions. For Jay’s HIV class, she asked him if he thought AIDS was a problem in China. He replied that he didn’t think it was a problem at all and if anyone had a problem it was Chinese women and they got it from American women. I wasn’t too sure how to interpret this answer but I think he meant that they are influenced by our promiscuous behavior as depicted through television. He said that he had never met any American women and that the only thing he knew about them was what he saw on TV. He also said that he thought that American women were beautiful because they had big eyes and his girlfriend likewise. He emphasized big eyes when describing beauty and said that skin color played no part in physical beauty. He was able to communicate pretty well but sometimes we would have difficulty understanding each other. He taught us how to say happy birthday since it was Nick’s 21st at midnight. I’ve already forgotten :(.
After talking for a little while longer, we decided to try and get some sleep since we hadn’t had very much the past few nights. We all tried just about every position possible. At one point, all of us had our heads on the tiny table we shared. Another time, I was sleeping on Jay’s shoulder. Once, Jay had her had on my back which was bent because my head was on the table. Another time, I had my forehead on Nick’s knee who was across from me. None of which were very comfortable and we didn’t get much sleep again.
We got into Qingdao at 6:45 am and went straight to the port. It took us about an hour to find the ship though, nobody spoke English so we were just walking around. I doubted that we were even near the ocean because it was very industrial all around us. The only reason we stayed there is because there was a sign that said “Welcome to Qingdao Port”. We walked past train tracks, construction, iron rods, and huge tractors to finally see the ship in the distance. We had breakfast on the ship and took a nap until noon. Michael, Celina, Val, Jay and I went to the market which ended up being an indoor mall complete with a Wal Mart. We had Pizza Hut for lunch which was like a fancy restaurant. There was what looked like a Wedding exhibition going on with photographers and cakes and decorations but then there was Mickey and Minnie mouse there so I’m not quite sure what it was.
I’m getting really sad that the voyage is nearing the end. I’m excited to see everyone back at home but I don’t want it to end just quite yet.
Hello!!! I’ll start by saying if I have ever in my life said I was tired, I didn’t mean it in the least bit. Traveling through China has left me absolutely exhausted! Like I said before, we decided to travel independently. In comparison to the trips planned through Semester at Sea, doing it independently is a quarter of the cost, zero percent of the convenience, and a thousand times the adventure! The group I traveled with was Michael, Celina, Greg, Sam from Denver, Dan from…can’t remember…, Nick from Pittsburgh, and Jay from LA – hey that rhymes ;).
I woke up bright and early to welcome the Hong Kong port and I’m glad I did. The skyline of skyscrapers seemed never-ending. The air seemed extra salty for some reason. Maybe it’s because I’m sick again. To be honest, I think I have only been “healthy” for about a once consecutive week and that was right after and during Malaysia. The rest of the time I’ve been congested and had a sore throat but I do my best to not complain because that’s one of my pet peeves I’ve noticed. Especially while we’re encountering so many people that actually have reasons to complain. But again, I digress. Anyways, the sight was amazing and I couldn’t wait to get off the ship. The ship was only docked in Hong Kong for a little over 24 hours, which is a main reason why I decided to travel independently and meet the ship in Qingdao. If we would have stayed on the ship, we would have had to leave the following evening, sail for two days, dock in Qingdao for a little more than a day, then leave for Japan. Since we’re already well aware of the experience of traveling by sea, we decided to do it by land which consisted of a one hour train to Shenzhen, a 24 hour sleeper train to Beijing, 2 nights in Beijing, then a 9 hour sleeper train to Qingdao (at least that was planned…you’ll see what happened in a few paragraphs).
The first thing we heard the morning we docked in Hong Kong was the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Our Dean addressed the news during what would normally be our diplomatic briefing. Archbishop Desmund Tutu also spoke about it. The overall atmosphere was very depressed. It was all over the news in Hong Kong as well but the number of deaths seemed to changed according to the source. Additionally, CNN was playing on a local station but it was in Cantonese and the headings along the bottom of the screen were blurred out. I’m not sure if that had to do with the censorship in China or not.
Celina and Val went their separate ways so they could finish up their souvenir shopping and Michael, Greg and I caught the ferry to another island to walk around. We ended up meeting up with our friends Zeke, Jared, Shaan from Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, and Brooklyn respectively. Greg and I were in foul moods at the beginning of the day and even more so after we went to the internet café but our moods turned around soon thereafter. We went to a Chinese restaurant and I was, admittedly, a little apprehensive and scared to try “real” Chinese food because I have heard stories that it is not what we are used to or what is available as Chinese food in the States. Zeke and I decided to share something that was called ribs and an order of fried rice. Thank goodness we both didn’t order the ribs which was what we were going to do because the picture looked pretty good. I don’t really know how to describe what was served to us. They were about the size of cheetos and had the same crunch but didn’t have a bone or anything that resembled meat. I think they had something similar to barbecue sauce them. The rice was really good though. My chopstick skills have suddenly and drastically improved. I’m not sure why, maybe just because of the environment. Michael had some sort of cashew and spicy chicken dish; it was really good. Shaan had sweet and sour chicken which was very different from the States but still really good.
The rest of the day we just explored the city and went to the women’s market. I’m not sure why it was called that, maybe we weren’t even in the right place because the communication between us and our taxi driver was very limited. It was an outdoor market with a lot of cool clothes for guys. For the first time, they (the guys) had more of an option than I did. Usually there are a lot of clothes and items geared toward females and not so much for guys but this time it was the opposite. We started heading back toward the ship around 7:30 because there is a light show every night at 8:00. We took the subway back just in time for the show. It was really cool, the entire city lit up with music playing in the background.
Even though we had to wake up early the next morning to catch our 10:00 train to Shenzhen, we HAD to go out for our only night in Hong Kong ;). So we went back to the ship and got ready to leave at 9:00. Celina and Val got back a little later than us so they got ready and planned on meeting us at Dragon Eye. I didn’t bring many going out clothes so I ended up making a shirt out of a scarf I bought in India. I thought it was cute and an innovative idea that night but now that I look back at pictures, I wish I would have just worn a t-shirt or something. Haha. We went to 7-11 first to have a couple drinks because there was a rumor that the drinks were ridiculously expensive (like 13 US dollars each). After spending about 30 minutes there, we (Michael, Greg, Sam, Zeke, Shaan, Nick, Chingy, Jared and I) caught the ferry over to the city. Zeke, Shaan and Greg thought it would be a great idea to put on an impromptu concert for the city goers so they sang Usher acapella accompanied by great dance moves. Michael took great video of it! We got to Dragon Eye and met Val and Celina but for some reason, they wouldn’t allow our party in even though a huge group of semester at sea students went in just seconds before us. This is the third time this has happened to us and I find it hard to leave it to coincidence that the blondies get in without question but we’re left outside wondering why we can’t get it…The same thing happened in Malaysia. We were dressed according to the dress code and were willing to pay the cover charge but weren’t allowed in for some reason. Then Greg was told “No bargaining” when he was trying to order a drink and basically refused service. Coincidence? Hmm…I wonder. Despite that, I still had a WONDERFUL time even though we basically just hung out at 7-11 and in the streets of Hong Kong. We ended up getting home at 3 or 4 am and had to wake up and leave by 8:00 to leave for the train station.
We got to the train station without too much difficulty and were able to buy our tickets to Shenzhen with minimal confusion. Once in the train station in Shenzhen the confusion began. We had to go through about three security checks and were in a little bit of a rush to make the 1:00 train to Beijing but if we missed that one, there was another one at 3:00 that we could get on. It took us about an hour to find the place we were supposed to buy tickets. We waited in a line for about 15 to find out that it was the wrong line and we had to find the other ticket booth that was upstairs. We finally found the booth but both tickets were sold out. We had to get tickets for the next day at 11:00 am and it was an extra 6 hours being 30 hours long! And a hard sleeper!
After buying those tickets we had to find a place to stay in Shenzhen so we wandered around and found a guy who said he would take us to a hotel that would cost around 5 US dollars each. We followed him for a pretty long walk into an ally next to what looked like an elementary school. We went up to the room which had three medium sized beds and a couch. We figured that we could share beds and make do with it but the cost suddenly tripled. We were able to bargain him down a little but we decided to go find another place for a little bit cheaper. We walked around for a few more minutes and the same guy told us he would take us to a different hotel that was the original price he told us so we followed him again. The lobby of this hotel was really fancy but the room only had two beds and wooden floors so we would have had to get at least two rooms. So, again, the price doubled. We were getting tired of walking back and forth between hotels so we decided to get lunch then continue our search. Half of us went to McDonalds and the other half went to a Chinese restaurant. Greg and I shared fried rice, Celina had a moodle dish (it may have just been noodle spelled incorrectly), and I can’t remember what Nick had. All of it was really good though and there was no duck cartilage surprise like Jazmin had warned us about. The second we stepped outside of this restaurant, the same man was there telling us to follow him to different hotels for cheap prices but by that time we had lost faith in his low costs. Sam and Dan had ventured while we were eating and found a hotel in a really good area (near lots of city life) for a cheap price, I think it was around six US dollars. We ended up getting two rooms with three beds each. We took a quick nap and walked around the city to look for an internet café but could only find a Starbuck’s so we used their free wifi. There were a lot of people with physical deformities on the streets. It looked like muscular dystrophy but I’m not sure what exactly it is. Some even looked like what Agent Orange victims looked like.
Later that night we went to a Mexican restaurant that served Indian food. I order chicken enchiladas that was definitely not chicken enchiladas but it still tasted alright. I don’t even know why we decided to eat there but it was an interesting experience although kind of pricy in comparison to our other meals. After dinner, we went to a bar where we were the only customers but we got VIP service. Ladies had free drinks so Celina, Jay and I enjoyed a couple drinks that were well covered and paid for after all the guys ordered their beer. The owner brought us a fruit tray that was really fancy. We didn’t stay too late because we had to wake up for our 30 hour train ride – bleh! But after returning to the hotel we decided to play cards so we didn’t end up going to sleep until about 3:00 am anyways.
We woke up at 7:00 (without much sleep again) and went to the train station. We saw our friends Roberto and Mary (from Puerto Rico and Texas) and tried to get some breakfast for everyone. Sam, Greg, Nick, and I walked around to look for food while the rest of the group stayed with our bags. We were gone for about 10 minutes and when we finally found a place, I went back to tell them what was on the menu but everyone was boarding except our group. Apparently they were about to close the gate so I ran to get the other guys. We had to run through the train station and barely made it on the train.
The second we stepped onto the train, we all started sweating. There was no air circulation whatsoever and our rooms were a quarter of the size of our cabins on the ship but with six beds. It was hard to imagine being in such a small place for 30 hours but it actually went by really quickly. We played lots of card games and had good conversations. The most entertaining was a card game called camps. Good times! They turned the lights off on us at 10 pm so we laid down soon after but didn’t go to sleep for a while. I woke up the next morning to the stench of cigarette smoke and the sound of slurping noodles. Not a pleasant awakening. We taught one of the train workers how to play a card game. She caught on surprisingly fast. It was hard to believe that she caught on so quickly because we didn’t even speak the same language but were able to teach her through hand gestures. She even won a game!
The 30 hours passed quicker than we all expected. The moment we stepped off the train, we immediately tried to book our tickets from Beijing to Qingdao; we were afraid that those would be sold out also and we would be stranded in Beijing. NOBODY spoke English in this train station. We went to just about every counter possible. At one point we thought they were sold out again. A couple of us went upstairs to try to find the right ticket booth and finally found one that said “English Speaking” so we stood in line. The rest of the signs were in Chinese characters so there were no words that we could even attempt to translate. I anticipated it being difficult to communicate but this was no joke! Even the English speaking counter had VERY little English. Basically, all of China was a game of charades. We were going through this train station with about 20-30 extra pounds on our backs, which were all twisted from the lack of space in our hard sleepers. The tickets we were trying to buy were sold out and the only ones available were for seats rather than beds. The tickets only cost $12 US but I would have gladly paid the extra money to be able to lie down.
After buying the tickets, we caught the number 2 bus to our hostel: Jade Youth Hostel. It was much nicer than I imagined a hostel to be. They were set up in rooms with eight beds each but they didn’t have a complete room available so we had to split up four in one room and four in the other. Celina, Jay, Michael, and Greg were in one room and the other room was me, Nick, Sam, and Dan. They kind of reminded me of the dorms. There was a communal bathroom and shower with five stalls. We got ready and headed to dinner at a Chinese restaurant that was about a block away. Again, the food was really good. I had spicy sautéed chicken and fried rice and was very satisfied. I guess we just luckily picked good restaurants. After dinner we went to a street lined with bars. One of our roommates in the hostel was from England and had been traveling for nearly a year. He went to dinner and out with us that night. He was very interesting to talk to and to see his perceptions of Americans. He was so surprised that we could walk into a bar and dance without drinking. He said that he wasn’t used to that; where he comes from, people don’t usually dance and if they do, it’s only after several drinks. We ended up going home around 3 or 4 am (i know, irresponsible since we had to wake up at 6:30 to leave by 7 for the Great Wall but when’s the next time we can go out in Beijing?). I decided to use the internet café at the hostel instead of going to sleep right away. I ended up being on the internet for way longer than I expected and didn’t go to my room until it was time to wake everyone up. Everyone was rushing around trying to pack and get ready in the short amount of time. So I left to see the Great Wall of China without a wink of sleep. Luckily, it was two hours away so I was able to get a little bit of a nap time before. It was pretty cold when we got there. This was the first time we had been cold since the day we left. All the other ports have been extremely hot.
The wall was amazing! We took a cable car up instead of hiking since we were limited on time. We only had our driver for six hours including commute time. After we walked around for a while, we took an alpine slide down (I think that’s what they’re called). We accidentally kept rear ending each other. Jay didn’t pull up her break in time and gave Michael whiplash! I think Greg ran into Nick so hard that he actually fell off his cart and into the slide. I’m a responsible driver and didn’t hit anyone ;)
After the Great Wall, we went to Tiananmen Square and to the Forbidden City which wasn’t too far from our hostel. Our train left at 11:00 pm that night so we didn’t book a room for the next night since we were going to leave. We didn’t have a bed to take a nap in so we just hung out in the hotel lobby until we had to leave for a train. I took a short nap in a wicker chair and think I woke up more tired than I was before. We got to the train station in plenty of time to have run-around-confusion time. It turns out that a lot of SAS students were on our same train. One couple actually bought tickets to Mongolia by accident and didn’t realize till just a few minutes before they boarded.
I was sooo exhausted and not looking forward to this 9 hour train ride with no bed. Our seats didn’t even recline a little bit. Fortunately, we were all sitting together. Jay, Nick, and I sat next to a man from Qingdao that had been studying English for 10 years. He was very interesting to talk to and welcomed all sorts of questions. For Jay’s HIV class, she asked him if he thought AIDS was a problem in China. He replied that he didn’t think it was a problem at all and if anyone had a problem it was Chinese women and they got it from American women. I wasn’t too sure how to interpret this answer but I think he meant that they are influenced by our promiscuous behavior as depicted through television. He said that he had never met any American women and that the only thing he knew about them was what he saw on TV. He also said that he thought that American women were beautiful because they had big eyes and his girlfriend likewise. He emphasized big eyes when describing beauty and said that skin color played no part in physical beauty. He was able to communicate pretty well but sometimes we would have difficulty understanding each other. He taught us how to say happy birthday since it was Nick’s 21st at midnight. I’ve already forgotten :(.
After talking for a little while longer, we decided to try and get some sleep since we hadn’t had very much the past few nights. We all tried just about every position possible. At one point, all of us had our heads on the tiny table we shared. Another time, I was sleeping on Jay’s shoulder. Once, Jay had her had on my back which was bent because my head was on the table. Another time, I had my forehead on Nick’s knee who was across from me. None of which were very comfortable and we didn’t get much sleep again.
We got into Qingdao at 6:45 am and went straight to the port. It took us about an hour to find the ship though, nobody spoke English so we were just walking around. I doubted that we were even near the ocean because it was very industrial all around us. The only reason we stayed there is because there was a sign that said “Welcome to Qingdao Port”. We walked past train tracks, construction, iron rods, and huge tractors to finally see the ship in the distance. We had breakfast on the ship and took a nap until noon. Michael, Celina, Val, Jay and I went to the market which ended up being an indoor mall complete with a Wal Mart. We had Pizza Hut for lunch which was like a fancy restaurant. There was what looked like a Wedding exhibition going on with photographers and cakes and decorations but then there was Mickey and Minnie mouse there so I’m not quite sure what it was.
I’m getting really sad that the voyage is nearing the end. I’m excited to see everyone back at home but I don’t want it to end just quite yet.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
geez, my roommate!
gosh, my roommate is such a lush! and she never cleans the room!!!
haha, just kidding!!! she told me that her family found my blog so i just wanted to say hello and nice to *meet* you. she:s a great girl and a wonderful roommate! you raised her well.
p.s. i:m still having difficulty with this keyboard.
haha, just kidding!!! she told me that her family found my blog so i just wanted to say hello and nice to *meet* you. she:s a great girl and a wonderful roommate! you raised her well.
p.s. i:m still having difficulty with this keyboard.
Friday, April 27, 2007
hello family and friends and all those who care! i just wanted to apologize for the lack of communication. i tried to post a blog but i guess it didn:t show up. i:m now trying to figure out the japanese keyboard. it:s a little difficult.
i ran out of internet minutes but once i:m able to, i will catch up on all the blogs. hope all is ウェklfdfdfいsｓほぺ ほぺI messed it upaa again…sorry. I have to type I Microsoft word. Talk to you soon!
i ran out of internet minutes but once i:m able to, i will catch up on all the blogs. hope all is ウェklfdfdfいsｓほぺ ほぺI messed it upaa again…sorry. I have to type I Microsoft word. Talk to you soon!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Vietnam part II
04/15/07
Hello! I ran out of internet minutes so the only time I’m able to get online is while we are in port at an internet café so I apologize for the delayed/limited responses and postings.
Some LOGISTICS:
Currency: Vietnamese Dong
Conversion: 16.455 per US dollar
Port: Ho Chi Minh City
Religion: Predominately Buddhism
Clothing: It’s rare to see a Vietnamese person in shorts. Pants is the norm for both men and women. Our taxi driver busted into laughter when he saw an American student without a shirt and in swim trunks walking along side the road.
Random fact: Speaking loudly in any situation, especially by women, is considered rude.
Transportation:Walking, motorbike, or taxi. It costs 32,000 Vietnamese Dong (about $2) to get anywhere. Although the taxi drivers would always try to charge us A LOT more. One time they even tried to charge us $25 for a less than 10 minute driver. He explained to us that it was very far and he had to charge more. Little did he know, we had been there the day before and knew the short distance.
Where the heck is Val in all my stories???: Her sister met her in Vietnam so she traveled all over the place and according to her stories, she had a GREAT time!
We missed her :(
The rest of the time spent in Vietnam was just as great as the first couple days. We went to the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. It was emotionally trying to go through and made me feel shameful many times. The pictures were gruesome and very difficult to look at and imagine the lifestyle during and following the Vietnam War. I think the most difficult aspect was seeing those affected by Agent Orange and land mines because they both remain a pervasive problem today. Statistically, there are four deaths/injuries per day caused by land mines (according to my Global Public Health class). Many babies, born generations after the war, are forced to live with detrimental deformities caused by Agent Orange. I think it should be a requirement for all SAS students to visit this museum while in port. Unfortunately, it is not. Learning more and more about the Vietnam War, especially from the “other side of the coin”, makes me sad and ashamed about how little I knew, and know, about our history. And even the stuff I do know is very one-sided. I could also see many parallels between the Vietnam War and our current war with a shift from communism to terrorism. A few SAS students complained that the museum was too one-sided and unfairly represented both Americans and Vietnamese people with a bias. I guess they haven’t been to too many heroic American museums…or maybe they’ve been to too many.
We also went to the Cu Chi Tunnels on the last day. They are an underground system used to hide from U.S. soldiers. They are sooo small and difficult to maneuver through even though they were enlarged by a foot all around. Celina, Michael and I crept our way through the first tunnel. It wasn’t too complicated; we just had to crouch down and slowly walk our way through. It was almost impossible to see and the stuffy air suffocated us. Celina backed out half way through and took the “emergency” exit but Michael and I finished the entire tunnel. After that, we had some hot green tea (which wasn’t too refreshing in the stifling air) and something they called tapioca. I’m not too sure how closely related it is to the pudding but it tasted nothing like that and we dipped it in something that looked and tasted like crushed peanuts with salt and sugar. After a few minutes, our guide asked if we would like to go through a tunnel that hasn’t been enlarged. I was a little reluctant but we decided to do it. It was tough! We had to crawl through by hands and knees almost the entire way and it was 10x as hot as the first. At the last 20 feet of the tunnel, a bat came flying toward my head so I screamed a little and made Michael go first. Luckily, we had just passed a drop which allowed me to back up or else it would have been impossible to move around each other. Michael didn’t believe me and thought it was a leaf. He went first and scared it away, thank goodness. I was terrified going through the rest of the tunnel; i kept imagining hundreds of bats flying out from one of the side tunnels and surrounding us and laying eggs in my hair or whatever the rumor is…But we got out safe and sound, drenched in sweat, brown from dirt, and lookin an overall hot mess!
We also went to the Cao Dai Temple which is an indigenous religion that attempts to create an ideal religion through the fusion of the secular and religious philosophies of the East and West. We went during one of their daily practices which was very interesting but a little awkward because we were in there watching them pray and sing and chant, a time which I would imagine would be sacred.
After the temple, we went to a Vietnamese soldier cemetery. It was really sad. Not nearly as nicely kept as Ft. Logan. Actually, not even comparable but it was still beautiful. Especially the large tombs. I feel like I can’t really explain anything and I keep deleting sentences because I don’t really know how to describe everything I’m seeing and experiencing. But I’ll continue to try my best.
Next stop: China! I’m planning to travel independently (meaning not through Semester at Sea, NOT meaning alone) from Hong Kong to Beijing to Qingdao.
Hello! I ran out of internet minutes so the only time I’m able to get online is while we are in port at an internet café so I apologize for the delayed/limited responses and postings.
Some LOGISTICS:
Currency: Vietnamese Dong
Conversion: 16.455 per US dollar
Port: Ho Chi Minh City
Religion: Predominately Buddhism
Clothing: It’s rare to see a Vietnamese person in shorts. Pants is the norm for both men and women. Our taxi driver busted into laughter when he saw an American student without a shirt and in swim trunks walking along side the road.
Random fact: Speaking loudly in any situation, especially by women, is considered rude.
Transportation:Walking, motorbike, or taxi. It costs 32,000 Vietnamese Dong (about $2) to get anywhere. Although the taxi drivers would always try to charge us A LOT more. One time they even tried to charge us $25 for a less than 10 minute driver. He explained to us that it was very far and he had to charge more. Little did he know, we had been there the day before and knew the short distance.
Where the heck is Val in all my stories???: Her sister met her in Vietnam so she traveled all over the place and according to her stories, she had a GREAT time!
We missed her :(
The rest of the time spent in Vietnam was just as great as the first couple days. We went to the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. It was emotionally trying to go through and made me feel shameful many times. The pictures were gruesome and very difficult to look at and imagine the lifestyle during and following the Vietnam War. I think the most difficult aspect was seeing those affected by Agent Orange and land mines because they both remain a pervasive problem today. Statistically, there are four deaths/injuries per day caused by land mines (according to my Global Public Health class). Many babies, born generations after the war, are forced to live with detrimental deformities caused by Agent Orange. I think it should be a requirement for all SAS students to visit this museum while in port. Unfortunately, it is not. Learning more and more about the Vietnam War, especially from the “other side of the coin”, makes me sad and ashamed about how little I knew, and know, about our history. And even the stuff I do know is very one-sided. I could also see many parallels between the Vietnam War and our current war with a shift from communism to terrorism. A few SAS students complained that the museum was too one-sided and unfairly represented both Americans and Vietnamese people with a bias. I guess they haven’t been to too many heroic American museums…or maybe they’ve been to too many.
We also went to the Cu Chi Tunnels on the last day. They are an underground system used to hide from U.S. soldiers. They are sooo small and difficult to maneuver through even though they were enlarged by a foot all around. Celina, Michael and I crept our way through the first tunnel. It wasn’t too complicated; we just had to crouch down and slowly walk our way through. It was almost impossible to see and the stuffy air suffocated us. Celina backed out half way through and took the “emergency” exit but Michael and I finished the entire tunnel. After that, we had some hot green tea (which wasn’t too refreshing in the stifling air) and something they called tapioca. I’m not too sure how closely related it is to the pudding but it tasted nothing like that and we dipped it in something that looked and tasted like crushed peanuts with salt and sugar. After a few minutes, our guide asked if we would like to go through a tunnel that hasn’t been enlarged. I was a little reluctant but we decided to do it. It was tough! We had to crawl through by hands and knees almost the entire way and it was 10x as hot as the first. At the last 20 feet of the tunnel, a bat came flying toward my head so I screamed a little and made Michael go first. Luckily, we had just passed a drop which allowed me to back up or else it would have been impossible to move around each other. Michael didn’t believe me and thought it was a leaf. He went first and scared it away, thank goodness. I was terrified going through the rest of the tunnel; i kept imagining hundreds of bats flying out from one of the side tunnels and surrounding us and laying eggs in my hair or whatever the rumor is…But we got out safe and sound, drenched in sweat, brown from dirt, and lookin an overall hot mess!
We also went to the Cao Dai Temple which is an indigenous religion that attempts to create an ideal religion through the fusion of the secular and religious philosophies of the East and West. We went during one of their daily practices which was very interesting but a little awkward because we were in there watching them pray and sing and chant, a time which I would imagine would be sacred.
After the temple, we went to a Vietnamese soldier cemetery. It was really sad. Not nearly as nicely kept as Ft. Logan. Actually, not even comparable but it was still beautiful. Especially the large tombs. I feel like I can’t really explain anything and I keep deleting sentences because I don’t really know how to describe everything I’m seeing and experiencing. But I’ll continue to try my best.
Next stop: China! I’m planning to travel independently (meaning not through Semester at Sea, NOT meaning alone) from Hong Kong to Beijing to Qingdao.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Vietnam
First, Happy Easter!!! Or belated Easter I guess. I went to church on board with Archbishop Desmund Tutu. This time the whole student body was invited for a large service. The dinner was better than usual. We had turkey and ham and the usual pasta and potatoes. I’ve been trying to eat as much as possible because I’m losing weight for some reason. I bought a ceramic painted egg in
GOOOOOD MORNING
First, Happy Easter!!! Or belated Easter I guess. I went to church on board with Archbishop Desmund Tutu. This time the whole student body was invited for a large service. The dinner was better than usual. We had turkey and ham and the usual pasta and potatoes. I’ve been trying to eat as much as possible because I’m losing weight for some reason. I bought a ceramic painted egg in
We got in a couple days ago and just moments after stepping into port, we found a taxi driver who ended up taking us around town all day. The first stop we made was to a tailor to make custom-made suits for Michael and Greg. Celina and I ended up getting dresses as well. I’m not sure why but I guess a custom-made dress will always come in handy and plus it was cheap. We have to go pick them up tomorrow so we’ll see how they turn out.
While Michael and Greg were measured for their suits, Celina and I walked around and looked at different shops. We met a guy from
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