What did you do today? HAWAII

After eight long days crossing the Pacific, we finally had a little time
in port. (Twelve hours or so in fact)

It was such an odd feeling being in the United States after so long
especially after the whirlwind tour of Asia. Since I had cell phone
service for the first time since January, I was up at 5:30 and did some
intense phone calling. This actually continued throughout the day. It
was nice to be able to actually have a conversation with some of my
friends and family.
I got off the ship around 8 or so, which is by far the earliest we’ve ever
been able to get off in awhile. As soon as we were set free in Hawaii, my
friend and I took the bus to Pearl Harbor. We didn’t get to go out to the
Arizona Memorial, but we looked around the museum and met a couple of
survivors. It was cool to see where it all happened. After going to see
war museums in Vietnam and Japan it was really tame. It was a unique
experience traveling from Hiroshima to Pearl Harbor. I’m very glad I
spent a few hours and saw it this time around.From there we went and had a delicious lunch at Nordstrom’s Café then went
on a Walmart shopping spree. Exciting I know, but you have no idea how
amazing it is to see food, be able to read the label and know what it will
taste like. It’s very nice. Also, American Diet Coke… how I missed you.
No more metallic flavored coke light that the rest of the world has. Haha.
We continued the errand trend and went to a Starbucks and a post office.

From there we took a nice long walk to Waikiki beach where I saw the hotel
I stayed at when I went in eighth grade. We laid out for awhile, enjoyed
some Pacific Ocean, and some Hawaiian sun. We met up with a couple of
other girls at Cheeseburger in Paradise where I had my first chicken
fingers in FOREVER. Oh my gosh. Walked to the beach and watched the
sunset. Then we went to this amazing little ice cream shop where the
chocolate chip cookie dough pretty much had actual cookies in it.
Delicious. Unfortunately, the night was drawing to a close, and we had to
head back to the ship then.

I never thought that I would view Hawaii as being so much like home, but
it WAS.
- crossing the street is not like playing human Frogger
- the cab driver speaks English and doesn’t say “yes yes” no matter what
you say
- but then again cabs cost more than five dollars
- not every white person you see is from SAS
- not every is spicy or noodly
- you can open the stall door confident there will actually be a toilet
in there
- you don’t have to convert to US dollars… which was lame because that’s
like spending real money
- you can wear whatever clothes you want

It’s too bad we only had one day there, but I definitely enjoyed those
twelve hours off the ship.

Flashing...lights lights

I was only in Japan for four days, and I could easily spend a couple of
weeks there. The mountains were beautiful, and the city lights were
blinding.

In Ho Chi Minh City, I bought a Japan Rail Pass which meant that I had
access to most bullet trains and subways throughout the country. If you
ever go visit Japan, GET A RAIL PASS. It was more than worth it just in
convenience, and it definitely paid for itself. Some of my friends and I
decided to try and make the most of our few days so it was a busy trip.

When we docked in Kobe, we underwent the most difficult customs yet and
didn’t end up getting off the ship til around 1 pm unfortunately. Before
heading to the train station, we decided to take a little walk around the
port and ended up getting some delicious Kobe beef. It was the perfect
lunch to start off the trip… and a good foreshadowing of the ridiculous
amount of food we consumed in Japan. Anyway, we headed to the station and
got on the bullet train to Tokyo! My friend had booked us a hotel room
for two nights in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. When we got off the
train, we realized that we had no idea how to get there, and we didn’t
really want to pay forty dollars (or 4000 Yen) for a taxi. We stopped to
ask a couple of Japanese college students if they could write down the
name of our hotel in Japanese characters so that we could ask others for
directions even if they didn’t speak English. Nori and Toshie ended up
guiding us through the subway and right to our hotel in Shinjuku! They
were very nice, and I don’t think we would have made it without them.
Once we got to our hotel, we found out that we actually DIDN’T have
reservations. Awesome. But they were very helpful and got us a night at
a nearby hotel. By now it was at least 10 pm or so, and we were starving.
We found a nice restaurant and had delicious tempura, and I tried some
eel! Just a bite though… it was gross. Haha. Afterwards, we just walked
around, and I was amazed by the lights and the amount of people just
walking around at 2 am. It was craziness.
The next day, we discovered that our hotel was all booked for that night
so we had to find a new place to stay. We ventured over to an internet
café, decided that we didn’t want to stay in Shinjuku again (aka drag
queen central), and searched for a new hotel. We couldn’t find ANYTHING.
Eventually we just picked a new district. So off we went to Shibuya.
After about a four hour search, we got a hotel! By now it was time to
head to the Tokyo Dome to see a Tokyo Giants baseball game. It was a lot
of fun, and some people got really, really into it! There were a ton of
SASers there, and it was just a good time in general. Unfortunately, the
Giants lost. Boo. There were lots of Yankees shirts and hats being worn.
Haha yay!
We still wanted to get some shopping in so the next day we went to the
Harajuku District (think Gwen Stefani). It was so cool seeing people
dressed up so much! Some girls looked like little bo peep, but everyone
was dressed very fashionably. Plus they are all tiny. And they love knee
high socks, boots, and short shorts even though it was SO cold.
Everything was super expensive, and I wasn’t in the shopping mood, but I
found a sweatshirt that I have worn just about everyday since. It’s
SUPPOSED to say “Rise Above Get the Absolute.” However, the English is a
little off so it says “Rise Avobe Get the Absoult.” Needless to say, I
love my Japan sweatshirt. Haha. That afternoon we got on the train to
Hiroshima (thank you Rail Pass) and found a hotel within thirty minutes of
being there! Hallelujah! But it was 11pm on a Sunday night, and we were
hungry. After quite the search and actually being rejected from one place
because we didn’t speak Japanese, we found a great place and had some
teriyaki and a chicken liver (accidentally).We got up early(ish) the next morning and headed to the Atomic Bomb Dome
and the Peace Park/Memorial/Museum. The park was beautiful… if it weren’t
for the dome, you would never even guess that the city was destroyed only
sixty some years ago. It was very touching to be there… unlike the War
Remnants Museum in Vietnam which was very biased and anti-American, this
Peace Museum focused more on the evils of nuclear weaponry than on the
evils of America. The pictures and exhibits still made me nauseas, but it
was more about begging for protection of future victims than condemning
past incidents. Your heart still breaks for the victims though.
After going through the museum, we jumped on the train back to Kobe. That
afternoon, my friend and I went shopping and had the most amazing piece of
steak known to mankind. It was cooked hibachi style and basically melted
in your mouth. Sorry Outback… don’t worry I still love you. I was a
little worried about the food in Japan because I hadn’t liked it at home,
but the real thing is WAY better. The five pounds I gained in four days
are a very good testament to that. Haha I wish I was joking :)

I am so glad that China and Japan came at the end of my voyage. I can’t
imagine them being the first places you go (like the Fall voyages). The
language barriers made it so much more difficult to get around, and Japan
was truly a test on how good of a traveler I am. I think I passed! In
Japan, everyone I met up with seemed very helpful and eager to assist us…
although sometimes they didn’t know what they were talking about and
didn’t speak much English. But there were definitely English speakers
that helped us with all sorts of things.Overall, Japan seemed to be the most modern and international country I’ve
been to on this trip. There were Subways and Dennys and Outbacks oh my.
McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and KFC are EVERYWHERE by the way. Seriously, I
have not been in a port and not seen all of those. And they have saved my
life a couple of times. Haha. OH and they were heated toilet seats!
Random but amazinggg hahaha

The worst part of Japan was realizing that it was the last real port on my
voyage. Since March 11th, I have been on the ship ten days. This last
month, I am only on land three days and on the ship twenty-one days. It’s
going to be rough. On a kind of cool note though, we had two April 15ths
since we crossed the dateline. So now I am behind you all and can say
that I will experience 367 days in 2008. Lucky meeeeee. Haha just
kidding. It’s really weird to think though that my trip is on its last
leg. I don’t like it at all. Yeah, I still have a day in Hawaii and two
days in Costa Rica, but those are basically just breaks from being on the
ship for so long. On the other hand, I am getting excited to see you all…
and eat a Wegmans sub. Or twenty. Either or.

What does the trout eat?

The more I think about the time I spent in China, the more I appreciate
the time I spent there.  I was there for six action packed days and
crammed in a ridiculous amount of sightseeing and fun.
The ship docked in Hong Kong, and I instantly loved the city.  It was the
first really international city I had been in for awhile.  Skyscrapers and
bright lights surrounded the port, and we were right next to a HUGE mall. 
As I walked down the streets, neon lights jutted out from the buildings
over the street, and people were just everywhere.  Some of my friends and
I decided we wanted to go to Ocean Park, supposedly a really popular
amusement park in Hong Kong (supposedly being the key word there).  For
being so popular, I’m not sure where all the other people were, but I
still had a fun time.  I went on two roller coasters and a few rides
before seeing a dolphin show and PANDAS!  That night, I had the most
delicious Chinese food EVER and went out along with about two hundred
other SASers downtown.  It was a crazy night but so much fun.  I wish we
could have had more time in the city.

Now for China, a group of ten of us decided we wanted to travel together
and do all sorts of crazy things.  We planned the whole trip by ourselves,
and it ended up being awesome.  But I had a little bit of a rocky start
haha.  We were supposed to meet on the gangway at 8 am.  After a solid
four hours of sleep, I get up at 7:45 am … and I still haven’t packed.  Of
course I start throwing everything I can find into my backpack.  And then
I can’t find my wallet.  Because obviously that is the best thing that
could possibly happen when I only have fifteen minutes.  Now I knew I had
my wallet (which had my money, credit card, and ATM card) when I got on
the ship because I paid for the cab and then got into my room with my ID
that would have been in my wallet.  I search and search and could not find
it anywhere.  Of course I start doubting that I brought it in my room.  At
this point it was 8:15.  My ferry was at 8:45, and the ticket read that
boarding stopped fifteen minutes before departure.  I get to the gangway,
and my friends have left because I am so late.  Are. You. Kidding. Me.
There I stood with no money and no way to get to the ferry station.  I
start LITERALLY running through the streets of Hong Kong.  I ran into a
fellow SASer and was like, I’m SO sorry but I have no money and I need to
get a cab.  She pretty much saved my life and gave me twenty HK dollars. 
I made it to the station at 8:40, RAN through, and managed to MAKE THE
FERRY!  Proudest moment of my life, and 10 out of 10 of us began our trek
through China!

We took the ferry from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, a part of mainland China. 
From there we flew to Beijing.  Our taxi drivers took us to the Templeside
Hostel where we stayed for two nights.  They dropped us off on the street
and just pointed to this alleyway.  We were completely sketched out and
were like what in the WORLD did we get ourselves into here??  It ended up
being super cute, and everyone was really nice.  On the roof there was a
table and some chairs, and it was a pretty cool hang out spot.  We asked
where we could find some good food and were directed down the street. 
Now, I was a little nervous about Chinese food because, although I love my
garlic chicken and broccoli from Evergreen Express, I wasn’t sure how the
real thing would be.  Everywhere we ate, we sat at a round table with a
lazy susan in the middle, and we ate a TON of food.  Every meal we had
rice, water crescent (which I now love), pork, chicken, beef, and fish of
some sort, lots of veggies, and watermelon.  It was all really good,
pretty spicy, but I can now use chopsticks! Finally!  After dinner, three
of my friends and I decided to take a walk.  The Forbidden City was about
a thirty-fifty minute walk away so off we went.  It was beautiful to see. 
We couldn’t go in, but we walked around the perimeter which was quite a
ways.  The walls and pagodas were lit up beautifully especially with the
reflection off the water.  As we walked by the back entrance, we heard
music and noticed all these old Chinese couples dancing.  We walked in a
little bit to watch, and this old man grabs my hand and starts teaching me
a traditional Chinese dance.  It was so random and SO much fun.  :)

The next day, our tour guide, HILDA!, came to the hostel at 9 am to pick
us up and start our explorations of Beijing.  We had a twenty person bus
for the ten of us which was really cool.  That morning we drove to the
Summer Palace which had this beautiful lake and just the most picturesque
scenery… and the longest corridor in the world (thanks Guinness book of
world records!)  We drove by some of the Olympic village and arenas, which
by the way is SO publicized there and a lot of places were being renovated
in preparation for the games this summer.  We went to Tiananmen Square
(largest square in the world, thanks again Guinness) and the Forbidden
City.  It was a weird feeling to BE there… like you see all the pictures
of Mao’s face at the entrance and stuff like that, but it’s an odd feeling
to be like I’m standing RIGHT there.  It was neat.  After exploring for
awhile, we went to a silk market and a pearl market and did way too much
shopping and money spending (thanks to my friends who paid for all my crap
during the trip since I had no wallet).  Then we went to a hot pot
restaurant where you sat down and had a pot of boiling water in front of
you and raw meat and veggies.  And you just go for it.  Now… I don’t cook
anything at all so I am surprised I didn’t get Avian flu from some raw
chicken (knock on wood).  After dinner, we went to a Kung Fu show!! It was
SO cool.  They did acrobatics, dance, and martial arts.  Some of the moves
were RIDICULOUS, it was so awesome to watch.  I don’t know how they did
some of that stuff…

The next morning we packed up our bags and left the hostel with Hilda and
headed to the Ming Tombs.  Some thirteen emperors or something are buried
there, but it really wasn’t that interesting.  Then we walked through the
Sacred Way which was lined with weeping willows and stone animals, so it
was really pretty.  Went to another awesome lunch and did some more
shopping.  Then we started the three hour drive to the Great Wall.  I kept
expecting to see it on the horizon, but it wasn’t really visible from the
road in the area we were at.  When we got there, we were in this little
village… most definitely not the touristy section of the Wall.  Yet again
… I now FULLY APPRECIATE the Western toilet.  I don’t know why people in
these countries are so into squatters… but anyway, the bathrooms in the
village were probably built at the same time as the Great Wall and not
cleaned since then.  Ick.  We went to this man’s shop/home, and he gave us
tea before we started our walk.  We took about a twenty minute walk up the
wall to watch sunset.  It was beautiful and that surreal feeling kicked in
again.  After sunset, we had a huge, delicious meal at the man’s house and
then bundled up for our night sleeping on the Great Wall!!

I wore about twenty thousand layers and, armed with my flashlight, hiked
about fifteen minutes to the watch tower where we slept.  It was so cool. 
It was just a stone tower, and I’m sure that there would have been an
amazing view during the day time.  Our guides provided us with mats,
pillows, and sleeping bags for the night… and a pee bucket in the corner,
but I’m not even going to get into that.  Haha.  Surprisingly, I wasn’t
that cold, I just cocooned myself (like a silk worm?) in my sleeping bad
and was good to go.

At 6:30 the next morning, I woke up to our guide (Max) yelling “We must
get up! Hurry!”  Refusing to get out of my warm bed, we had breakfast and
coffee, and were then forced to take off a couple layers and start our
climb.  Now… this section of the wall has not been restored or renovated
so it was falling down in parts, stones were missing, the side walls were
nonexistent… it was very decayed.  We saw NO one on our hike… it was
AMAZING.  As we began, Max kept saying “Choose every step as if it’s your
last… I’m not trying to scare you, but take a bad step and you will never
see your mommy and poppy again.”  Ohhh good.  He wasn’t a very comforting
guy, but it was funny.  “Don’t fall or you’ll smash your face!”  It was an
actual climb, not just a walk on the Great Wall, and it was perfect.  I
have a horrible fear of falling… so tiptoeing down the mountainside on a
rock wall was a little scary for me, but it was such an amazing feeling at
the end looking back and knowing that as far as we could see we had
walked.  At the end of the three and a half hour climb, we ZIPLINED down
the rest of the hill.  That was just the cherry on top… so now I can say I
have SLEPT on the Great Wall, CLIMBED the Great Wall, and ZIPLINED down
the Great Wall.  It was AWESOME.

After ziplining, we had our last traditional Chinese meal (awww) and drove
back to Beijing.  Once we got back, we had a 90 minute foot massage set
up.  We were all in this big room, laid back in recliners getting
massages.  It was so funny, and it felt amazing after our walk although we
all felt bad because showers were scarce during our trip in China haha. 
My guy was a little feisty.  And we watched Star Trek.  Then we ate Subway
for dinner.  I don’t even like Subway, but it was the closest to a
Wegman’s sub I’ve had in way too long so it was perfection.  As always, I
had a pound of extra mayo to wipe off.  (haha if you have eaten subs with
me, you understand).  Hilda took us to the rail station, and we boarded
our overnight train.  Our train from Beijing to Shanghai was twelve hours,
and I slept like a baby.  I thought it was fun, but a few of my friends
couldn’t sleep at all.

We arrived in Shanghai at 7:30 am and got a taxi to the ship.  It was so
nice to see the ship and be “home.”  After eating and showering (thank
god), a couple people and I went out for the day shopping and exploring. 
One of my friends was thinking about getting a tattoo so we spent a lot of
time looking a tattoo parlor, but it ended up being way too expensive so
she didn’t end up getting it.  It rained pretty much all day which was a
bummer… kind of reminded me of the weather I’m SO glad I’m missing at home
haha.  It was the first rainy day we’ve had in port this semester!  Before
getting back on the ship, we hung out at a cute little coffee bar and
enjoyed our last hours on land!
The hardest thing about China was the language barrier.  It was really
hard communicating because very few people spoke English.  Some might be
able to say hello and stuff like that, but they couldn’t actually
understand us.  This was especially hard with taxi drivers.  Thankfully,
one of my friends took Chinese for a semester so she was at least familiar
and could make pronunciation attempts and she always had her Mandarin book
handy so THANKS! Haha :)

The more I think about everything I did in China, the more I realize what
an amazing time I’m having.  I loved the trip I took in China… it was so
much fun being with all of my friends and not having to deal with drama or
traveling with people who have different priorities than you.  I can’t
think of a group of people I would rather have climbed the Great Wall with
or eaten so much family style Chinese with.  Or taken jumping pictures
with, played trout tag with, and taken fifty peace sign fam pics with.  I
mean… helloooooooo this is RICE!

<3

The heat is on in Saigon

Vietnam.

Upon arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, five of us decided to go to the Cu Chi
tunnels.  Used during the Vietnam War (or the American War as it is called
here), a network of tunnels and rooms are open for tourists to explore.
The tunnels are small with only enough space to crouch and kind of stumble
through… not to mention that it was like an oven in there.  After being in
the tunnels literally three minutes, I was sweating as if I had just
worked out for two hours.  The humidity in Vietnam is ridiculous.  I don’t
know if I’ve sweat so much in a five day period before!  Being at the Cu
Chi tunnels was an intense experience.  As I walked through the jungle, it
was surreal to know that the war had occurred right there.  Covered by
leaves, a small square hole in the ground provided a hiding place for Viet
Cong soldiers.  A guide showed us various hidden methods used to injure
American soldiers as they ran through the jungles surrounding Saigon.  A
U.S. Army tank sat abandoned and destroyed in the middle of the jungle.  A
shooting range on the grounds gave tourists a chance to fire rifles used
in the war, and shots rang through the air adding an eerie sound effect.
I had never been anywhere before and not wanted to admit that I was from
America before… it was an odd, sobering feeling.

One day, I went to a school for children with disabilities.  It was hard
to communicate, but we had brought toys, crayons, and coloring books so
that helped.
I sat on the floor surrounded by little kids, handing out stickers and
coloring.  The facilities were very nice, and the students seemed well
behaved.  The kids were so adorable.

I also went to through Semester at Sea to the Mekong Delta which is south
of Ho Chi Minh City.  We visited a Buddhist temple and got to witness a
service going on.  The people were knelt on the ground chanting while the
leader played a drum.  Outside there was a huge Buddha, probably about
twenty/twenty-five feet tall.  It was pretty cool.  We continued on until
we got to the Mekong River.  The boats sat so low in the water that they
looked as if they were about to go under.  Eventually we were on four
person row boats going through narrow waterways surrounded by a canopy of
greenery.  It was absolutely beautiful.

At the post-port meeting after Malaysia, one girl talked about how she
spent the whole time by herself traveling around the country.  There were
a couple of days that a lot of people were on trips out of Saigon so I
thought it might be a good opportunity for me to spend some time exploring
on my own.  I think that most of the time I associate being alone with
loneliness so I was a little nervous.  I am SO glad that I took the plunge
because I had an awesome two days.  I didn’t see anyone I knew, and I
enjoyed spending some time by myself just doing whatever I wanted to do.

I booked a hotel room through expedia.com and walked off the ship, duffel
bag in hand.  There were no taxis just motorbikes.  Now, the first time I
was ever on one in my life was Mauritius, and I hung on to my friend like
my life depended on it.  The first night in Vietnam we discovered that
scooters are THE way to get around.  But this time I had my duffel bag
with me.  I put it in between myself and the driver and off we went.  It
was about a thirty minute ride to the hotel which ended up being really
nice.  I ended up being a huge loser and spent the evening calling my
parents and spending too much time on the internet.  (It’s about 40 cents
a minute on the ship)  The next morning I woke up early and walked around
the area outside my hotel.  I broke my camera in Malaysia so I was hoping
to find a new one, but the Canon store seemed to be about 2 years behind
and double the price so no luck.  I definitely got a lot of weird looks as
a white girl walking around HCMC but whatever.  Everyone was really nice.
I went back to the hotel and had a delicious breakfast then headed to the
spa.  I got a forty-five minute facial and a sixty minute massage for
150,000 dong which is ten dollars.  Amazingggg.


After that, I hired a motorbike driver to take me around the city.  I went
to a huge market and did a lot of souvenir shopping.  Then I went to the
War Remnants Museum.  It was intriguing because it tells the other side of
the Vietnam War or the “War of American Aggression” as it is called here.
One picture of a Vietnamese woman crossing a river with her children in an
attempt to flee from American bombs was heartbreaking.  You could see the
fear and anguish in the woman’s eyes as she tried to get her children to
safety.  Another picture that stuck out in my mind was of a small old man
crouched on the ground in fear.  The caption next to the picture was from
the photographer.  It read that after he took the picture and walked away,
he heard gunshots.  The same was said about a second photograph of a
terrified woman and her family.   Just looking at the pictures knowing
that less than one minute later those people were killed was heartbreaking
to me.  The queasy feeling in my stomach only grew as I walked to the
“Tiger cages.”  The small, stuffy cells would have been crowded with
prisoners.  Even with four fans in the small area, it was still scorching
and humid making even walking through and reading the signs almost
unbearable.  Pictures covering the walls illustrated various torture
techniques that were employed by the American soldiers to interrogate
suspected Viet Cong.

There was also an exhibit by a photojournalist who has traveled the world
to some of the most war ravaged and impoverished countries.  The amazing
photographs were from places such as Laos, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the
Congo, and Bosnia.  Some of the pictures showed young boys with guns or
knives ready to perform their duties as child soldiers.  Other pictures
showed the consequences of mine fields.  One little boy missing a leg
walked with crutches.  The caption read that the father had set up the
mine in their yard for protection against enemies, and yet his own son had
stood on the mine.  Several photographs were of teams of people whose job
it is to de-mine these areas.  One statistic read that 20% of a certain
team were missing limbs due to mines.  That could quite possibly the
scariest job to have in the world.  Semester at Sea’s Students of Service
group supports the “Adopt a Minefield” program which de-mines such areas
of the world torn apart by war and violence.  I definitely want to look
into what they do once I get back home.

Going to the War Remnants Museum was an intense experience.  I usually
have a pretty strong stomach, but being there literally made me feel sick.
It was difficult for me to look at these photographs and know that these
atrocities were committed by U.S. soldiers.  As Americans, we don’t like
to think of the bad things we do in the world.  But there I stood looking
at a picture of a GI holding up the mutilated body of a Vietnamese man or
at the picture of a naked nine year old girl screaming and running down
the street to escape from American soldiers.  I know that evil acts were
committed by both sides of the fighting, but it was eye opening for me to
see the extent of the violence that occurred.


The rest of the afternoon I continued my ride with Tam.  He told me about
some Vietnamese history and took me to two pagodas.  As we walked through
the temples, he explained some Buddhist traditions to me and told me about
how he practices it himself.  We went to the largest silk market in HCMC
and to Chinatown.  It was just a really cool day riding around and seeing
everything.

I had a great time in Vietnam.  Had you asked me a year ago, I never
thought I would have been going to Vietnam.  That first night riding
through downtown Ho Chi Minh City on a motorbike it kicked in, and all I
could think was wow, am I seriously here right now?  It’s just such an
unreal feeling to be experiencing all of these countries.  And now I’m on
my way to Hong Kong and Beijing.  This is so crazy.

It's all about the thumb

Before getting to Malaysia, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Come to think of it, I’m not even really sure if I had even seen a picture of it. For some reason, the only image that came to mind was “jungle” which ended up being kind of correct.

We anchored off the coast of Penang, Malaysia. Penang is a small island state off the mainland. We were only a few degrees from the Equator so the weather can be described as hot, humid, and hazy. (By the way … I hear it was snowing in New York) Since we were anchored offshore and not docked, we had to take tenders to the pier (a.k.a. take the lifeboat shuttles). Malaysia was the first time we’ve had to use tenders, and it was a pain because you couldn’t just get on and off the ship when you wanted.

The first three days I spent on a Malaysian home stay. When we arrived, we were greeted with music and refreshments. Right away it was clear that everyone was extremely welcoming … and unable to speak English. Unfortunately, my Malay isn’t exactly up to par either. Four of us were put up in the community center because our family’s home was being renovated. At first, I was excited because we were staying right there at the meeting place, but it wasn’t until later that I realized we weren’t actually living with a family which was a little disappointing. Luckily, my host parents had an eighteen year old daughter named Shima! Shima spoke English fairly fluently, and she was a great “sister” to have for a couple of days. That first afternoon, Shima gave us a little walking tour of the town. We saw some goats, and then headed over to her relatives’ home. (I think). The house was very nice. I think it was the first time I’d been in a real living room for about two months … odd … watched a little English CSI: NY. Haha. We also went to an herb farm and drank lime juice that is “good for the body.” That evening, the town put on a cultural show and dinner for our whole group.

Now … Malaysian food is delicious. I would say it’s a mix between Indian and Chinese food. While we were on the home stay, I felt the food was closer to Indian. There was lots of rice, vegetables, fish, and chicken. And, of course, there is curry on EVERYTHING. Everything was pretty spicy. I’ve discovered that I have a fairly strong stomach, so I’m lucky because (Boozy, this is for you) I don’t think my thigh muscles would have been strong enough to endure three days of being sick, considering we did not see a western toilet for three days. Sorry, that is disgusting. But anyway, whenever we had a meal in our “home” a bunch of women would come prepare it for us and then sit and watch us eat it (with our hands of course… it’s all about the thumb push). They would prepare like seven bowls of food for us to put over our rice. One day there were whole fish sitting there. We were told it is rude to leave food on your plate so I piled on that curry and was stuffed. One morning for breakfast there was SO much food. I had eggs, crepe things, and delicious corn balls which kind of reminded me of the corn casserole we have all the time at home. I hadn’t really eaten any of my rice that morning, and one woman kept pointing at this bowl of fishy goop. Now … I am not a big sardine fan so I kind of just smiled and said no thank you. Eventually she was like “good fish!” and puts some on my plate. And then I had sardines for breakfast. Since they were watching us, I don’t think anyone wanted to finish first so we just ate and ate and ate.

Wow, that was a lot about food so back to the “cultural show.” Several children’s groups performed dances or songs which were adorable and pretty impressive. After that we found a flea and went to sleep. Haha…

The next day we were bused around to see different aspects of Malaysian life. We revisited the goat farm and went to an ostrich farm, batik factory, rice paddy, fishing village, and the beach. Now, one of the best parts of the day was the air conditioned bus so by the time we got to the beach a lot of us girls (myself included) were annoyed that we could not get in the water. (Malaysia is a very conservative Muslim country. In fact, all the women and most little girls wore head coverings in the town.) So we get to the beach to play “traditional Malaysian games.” For being traditional, they held a surprising resemblance to games you would play at a camp in the U.S. We were split into four teams for relay races. Game 1: using three bricks as stepping stones, make your way across the beach then pick them up and run back. Game 2: potato sack race. Yes. Potato sack race. Game 3: run to the ocean and then, using a sponge, fill up a plastic bottle with bottle with sea water. Game 4: twenty m&m-like candies are in a bowl buried with flour. Without using your hands, find two candies and put them in the container next to the bowl. Now, by the end, there were balls of spit in the bowl, and we were absolutely covered in flour. But whatever, my team won so it was all worth it. And that’s how we won the Malaysian Sea Olympics. Haha

That night, after a nap and showering with a ladle, my family went for a little drive. They took us to a scenic viewing area, and I could see the whole valley below us. It was breathtaking. Then we went to a night market where the street was lined with vendors selling food mostly. I had spring rolls, sweet corn, and ice cream. It was quite the dinner. We ate as we walked around the other vendors selling shoes and t-shirts. Then we drove to Georgetown and around the island for awhile. I had been asleep on the bus ride to Balik Pulua so I hadn’t realized how big Georgetown was. We ended up in Batu Ferengi. There was a huge night market there with hundreds of vendors selling movies and music, knockoffs of everything you can think of, food, and knick-knacks. After exploring there for awhile, we got back in the car and headed back towards our town. Before we got there though, our dad asked if we wanted to stop and get something to drink. We ended up getting this really good food. It was similar to naan except a little softer and more shredded. Anyway, you dipped it in this delicious curry sauce or you could put sugar on it. I couldn’t decide which way I liked it better so I did half and half. It was SO good. The next morning before we left, the families gave all of us little gifts. That last night going to the night markets and just spending the time with my host family definitely made the trip for me.

The next day back in Georgetown I decided that I needed something to wear to church on Easter since good old laundry day wiped me out of all my smelly skirts I wore in India. After a yummy Thai lunch and a milkshake, the shopping adventure began. Now, food in Malaysia was ridiculously cheap (and Georgetown’s seemed more Thai or Chinese style than on my home stay). However, clothes were expensive for some reason. After a couple of hours, we had Easter Sunday outfits ready to go so we got some Auntie Anne’s pretzels to celebrate. Yum. We headed to Penang Hill only to discover that tickets to take a tram thing up to see the temples were sold out for a few hours. Disappointed, we headed to the Botanical Gardens which were beautiful and reminded me a lot of the rainforest in Puerto Rico. There were monkeys everywhere just jumping around and walking in the paths. Now, I like monkeys. I think they are cute. Apparently I looked one straight in the eye. All of a sudden it opens its mouth, and I am an idiot and was like oh he’s smiling! Then he lunged at me. Well not really but it felt like he was about to attack. The friend I was with got the scariest picture of the killer monkey’s teeth. I walked away and there was another monkey sitting in the middle of the path. I froze. It stared me down, and I ran away from it. Yes I ran away from a monkey that was ten inches tall. Scariest monkeys EVER. No longer do I think they are just cute and fuzzy. No. Killer monkeys. Anyway, I ended up back in Batu Ferengi and did some intense market shopping which included about sixty movies. Now I have something to do in between Japan and Miami! Haha

The next morning was Easter Sunday. My friend and I had decided to go to church in Georgetown. Of course, as usually happens when I mean to go to church, I overslept, but I made it right in the nick of time. (is that right? Oh well.) We ended up getting off the ship way early and had time to walk around for a bit and get some caffeine in us before the service. We went to St. George, the first Anglican Church in Southeast Asia. It was a beautiful building; I think they said it was almost two hundred years old? That could be wrong. We sat next to a Malaysian woman and her Canadian husband and talked to them for awhile before the service started. It’s interesting… we were told not to discuss religion or politics in Malaysia and everywhere I went I was asked whether I wanted Clinton or Obama to win the election. McCain isn’t a factor to the rest of the world apparently. The service was really nice… the priest that gave the sermon was actually visiting from Singapore which is cool. He was funny and told little jokes which made me miss dad. (love you) I had never been to a Catholic mass before so I wasn’t quite used to all the readings, but I got the hang of it. A kid’s group did a couple songs and dances which were cute. It was a really nice service, and I’m glad I got to go to it. After the service, there was a huge brunch of rice and noodles, chicken and fish, and this ridiculous dessert of shaved ice and sugary syrup over a bowl of beans, coconut, corn, and a bunch of other random ingredients. I admit I did not eat that. Haha.

That afternoon I went on a service visit to the Chesire Home. The facility is home to about thirty residents with varying physical and mental disabilities. It was interesting to see the cultural differences in how people with disabilities were treated. After that, my friend and I went to TGIFridays for a little taste of home and then went back to Auntie Anne’s. Normally I don’t think I would admit that I went back, but the cashier recognized us and knew our orders from the day before. Moral of the story: people know me. Around the world. Then our taxi driver didn’t speak English, and we got lost. Whoops! But I am alive and well on the ship so all’s well that ends well.

I had a great time in Malaysia. It was more beautiful and green than I could have even imagined, and even the cities seemed well kept and clean. The people I met were all kind, and I never experienced any anti-American feelings which may be the first port I haven’t seen any. Even though my home stay wasn’t exactly what I had expected and I probably wasn’t as open minded as I should have been, I think it was a really good experience for me to have under my belt. I think that sometimes I’m so focused on having the “best experience” in each port that I forget that it is the little things that make a trip. I also forget that perhaps the most cultural experiences aren’t the ones of how the native people lived hundreds of years ago but what their live are like now. I feel like I made progress in learning about their culture but also about myself and how I deal with situations that are presented to me.

I’m happy.

I just posted a lot of pictures on previous entries so be sure to check those out!

I live in the (last place) Sea of Peace and Love

Life at sea is still awesome. For the next month we spend most of our time on land and then the last three weeks we basically are at sea the whole time. It will be quite the finals week. The internet has been a little iffy lately hence the gap in entry times. A lot of times I’ll have it written and then this website won’t work for me- so sorry. I’m still alive. Obviously. But because of that I’ve missed updating on some fun stuff I’ve been doing onboard!

First of all, each semester there is the Sea Olympics. There were a bunch of seas: Yellow, Red, Bering, Adriatic, Aegean, Baltic, Caribbean, Silver, Arabian, and Mediterranean. I was in the Med Sea, and our captain chose the color pink out of a hat. So our team color was pink. My hall is not very enthusiastic about this sort of thing and we ended up getting tenth place… out of ten. Hahhaa I had a lot of fun though. There was a full day between Mauritius and India that we didn’t have class. Instead, there were events from 9 am to 9 pm. Some events were synchronized swimming, swimsuit relays, (mashed) potato sculpting, limbo, slippery twister, scrabble, poker, global studies trivia, extreme musical chairs, dodgeball, soccer, and volleyball. I was in (extreme) Pictionary, Hawaiian bowling (it involves soap and a Caution: Wet floor sign, and it is probably my life calling), and lip sync. Lip sync was by far my favorite part of the day. All the seas had five minutes each to do a little performance. Most of them were really, really funny and well done. For the Med Sea it was me, three other girls and four guys. We decided to go the cross dressing route. Our songs were “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, “I’m Too Sexy”, “Dontcha”, “Pimpin’ All Over the World”, and “My Humps.” It was SO much fun, and it ended up being really funny. Med Sea didn’t suck at something! But we still got last place overall. The sea that won the Sea Olympics gets to disembark first in Miami. Grrr. Oh sorry, by the way seas are our halls. Like, I live on the third deck port side. Half of that hall is the Med Sea. There are about five halls split in half basically.

The night after Sea Olympics was Mr. Semester at Sea (aka Mr. SASsy). There were a bunch of guys that competed in a fashion show, talent competition, and an open ended question section. It was really funny to sea the different sides of people and how creative some people are. It was an entertaining couple of days.

After India, we had the Crew Talent Show. The crew on the ship is AWESOME, and they work so hard. They are constantly doing this or that, and it has been fun getting to know some of them. Anyway, there was a fundraiser for them and there were about 17 different acts, I think they said. It was soooo much fun. Some songs were just actually really well done while some did the most ridiculous (and sexual) dances I have ever seen. After all that air humping, it’s impossible to look at them the same ever again. Hahaha Basically, I have not laughed so much as I have at these three events. It’s so great when everyone squeezes into the union and just has a fun time. I love it.

While being at sea is great, I really, REALLY want a Wegman’s turkey sub… but what else is new? But since that is the worst problem I have in life right now, I think I’m doing alright!

Hope all is well on the other side of the world! (Seriously though! I am now 12 hours different than you guys! Ah!)

I didn't even see rats!

I don’t even know what to write about India- so much was crammed into five days. India was definitely the biggest culture shock I have experienced on the trip so far. There are 1.1 billion people in India, and I honestly feel I saw at LEAST half of them. The streets everywhere were constantly bustling and crowded.

We docked in Chennai which is on the southeastern tip of India and is a very non-touristy, industrial city. I think SAS was trying to save on dock money because usually when we dock the view is really pretty once we get in. This time, I looked over the edge and saw rows and rows of cars. It looked like the most monstrous car dealership I’ve ever seen. Later we realized they were waiting to be loaded onto a cargo ship, but it wasn’t exactly a sweet first view of India. Customs getting on and off the ship were a lot different than what I had experienced in the other countries. We all had to have two different forms everywhere we went and had to sign in and out of the gate. It was a little bit of a hassle but not a problem. Since I wanted to see a lot of India while I was there and not worry about any of the details, I signed up for a SAS trip to travel to Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur which are all in the northern part of India. My group had about seventy people total but thankfully we split up into buses so I was really only with about twenty people. I didn’t know anyone going on my bus, and it ended up being really nice because I feel like I met a lot of different SAS people. We left the first afternoon to catch a flight from Chennai to Delhi. It was only a two and a half hour flight, but the drive to the Chennai airport was an hour or so in itself. It was evening by the time we got to Delhi, so we headed to our hotel (Ashok). It was really nice. I had a delicious Indian buffet, ate a TON of naan, and listened to amazing music. After dinner, some girls and I hung out and watched BBC world news. It was the first time I’ve watched television since home, so it was awesome to watch English news and see what was going on in the world.

The next morning we got up super early to make our train to Agra. After two hours or so, we arrived and headed to yet another hotel for breakfast. Finally, I got in my bus (bus 2!) and set out for the Taj Mahal. When we arrived at the gate, it was nothing like I had expected. Beggars and vendors surrounded the entrance asking you to buy things or give them rupees or food. Graffiti and posters covered the gate as you walked into the entrance. Once we got inside and past all of the vendors following us, the buildings were beautiful. I took a million pictures in India As we walked through an arch, I got a glimpse of the Taj. I can’t even believe I was there. It was so magnificent- it was unreal. The Taj Mahal was probably the site I was most excited to see on this trip, and it was completely worthwhile. The story of the Taj goes that one emperor (I am sorry but there is no way I can remember his name so google it if you really care) who was very much in love with his wife. When she died, she made him promise to never marry again and to build a monument of his love for her that everyone would admire. After twenty-two years of labor, the Taj Mahal was finally completed. It’s marble, and there are intricate jewel designs laid inside. In all of my pictures, it looks like a backdrop. It looks as if I just super imposed myself onto this picture of the Taj Mahal. It feels unreal to have been there. After leaving the Taj (boo), my guide, D, took us to a shop where they do marble and jewel work like that used on the Taj Mahal. It was interesting to see how much work is put into even the smallest piece. No wonder it took twenty-two years to build. Once we left there, we headed to Agra Fort. It was at this fort that the emperor whose name I still can’t remember was imprisoned by his own son. (The power hungry son wanted the throne for himself so he imprisoned his father.) We saw the room/balcony where he was held. From there, you have the most amazing view of the Taj Mahal. It must have been heartbreaking yet comforting at the same time to see the magnificent building that he himself had built to symbolize the love he had for his wife. After a delicious lunch, we headed out for Jaipur (about a six hour bus ride from Agra). Part way through our trip, we stopped at the Ghost City. This city was suddenly abandoned centuries ago, and no one is really sure why. Most guesses are that the water and the heat were just so bad and unbearable- they just got up and left. It was beautiful though, and some of the woodwork was unbelievable. and most of them are just buildings and architecture because the designs, carvings, and jewel work were so intricate and stunning.

The next morning, also known as my twentieth birthday!, we started our day in Jaipur with French toast (not as good as your French toast, dad, no worries). Now, after the first two days I was starting to wonder if I should have done a different trip or gone independently or something, but Jaipur ended up being great. We started out early and headed to the Amber Fort. On our way there, we drove through the city which we had only seen in the dark driving through the night before. In the 1800s, the Prince of Wales traveled to Jaipur, and the maha raja wanted to celebrate his arrival so he painted the entire city pink. It’s really more of a terracotta color, but it’s been called the Pink City ever since. Even though it was still dirty and poor, Jaipur felt a lot different from the other cities I visited. I guess it just felt a little more like going back in time. I don’t know- it’s hard to explain.

So anyway, we drive out of the city a tiny bit and suddenly see this huge fort. Supposedly it is the most difficult fort to get to physically. I don’t know what it’s compared to, but it looked hard to get to so I believe it! Right next to it was the Amber Fort which was the one we were going to see. It was so big, I really wasn’t expecting it. Right away, I knew that Jaipur had been a good choice. We had gotten there before eight so we got in line for our elephant ride up the hill to the fort. The elephants’ trunks were brightly painted and had a two person cushion seat on its back. My elephant’s name was Bubbly! Riding up the hill on Bubbly was a lot of fun, very bumpy, and a little scary because I was pretty sure I was going to fall off and plummet to my death in India. Thankfully I did not! I just had an amazing view of the city, the fort, and had a lot of fun. Once we got inside the fort, there were some people playing music up in one of the buildings. If you know me well, you know I have a thing for Indian music, so I pretty much loved it. Anyway, I had a great time exploring the fort. In this fort, the king had twelve different wives and lots and lots of concubines. Pretty interesting. On our way down from the fort, there was a snake charmer on the side of the path! It was awesome!

After the fort, we went shopping. By shopping I mean expensive SAS shopping because our guides get commissions. But it was cool to see how things were made. First we went to this textile shop. They showed us how the use printing blocks and looms. Then they gave us a demonstration of all the carpets. The patterns were so detailed and beautiful. (Think the magic carpet from Aladdin.) Then we went to a jewelry store where we didn’t even look around much because most of us aren’t exactly in the market for diamond rings right now. After lunch, D took us to the palace of the maha raja. Interesting side note, up until India gained its independence in 1947/8 whatever it is, there were hundreds and hundreds of kings throughout India, each with his own land, currency, and army. So we went to the king of Jaipur’s palace basically. A different bus from my group actually met him in the market- pretty cool! We looked around there for a bit and did some shopping. All day we had been begging D to take us to a market because we all wanted really cheap souvenirs and stuff like that. I bought an awesome skirt for 150 rupees which is approximately four dollars! I was pumped, but the market quickly became very overwhelming as vendors were all around you, asking to show you this or that or telling you you’re beautiful or whatnot. Side note: there is a crew member on the ship who is from India, and he told me that if anyone gave me trouble I should just open my eyes as big as I can. He said that they are so huge and light that it would freak any Indian out. It didn’t work, but I still thought it was funny.

Moving on, three guys, one girl, and I decided we were done with our shopping excursion. There were cricket fields right next to where our bus was parked, and there were tons of kids playing and running around. The boys decided that they wanted to go play so they went over and were talking to the kids. My girl friend and I decided hey we want to go over to! We walked over and they all were like take our picture take our picture! We did, and we introduced ourselves, and everything seemed fine. We walked around the fence, and as soon as we stepped out onto the field, at least twenty boys ages 8-16 surrounded the two of us girls. They started throwing the cricket ball at us, kissing our arms, grabbing us in all sorts of inappropriate places, and were shouting things in a different language which everyone would start to laugh at. It all happened so fast. The guys we were with didn’t even know what to do and pretty much just grabbed us and walked us back to where we could get back to the bus. As we sat in the hot bus, we watched the guys be treated fine by all the little boys. It was the first time I have ever really experienced something like that, where because I’m a woman I can’t participate or do something that I want to do. It was the first time on this trip that I had ever felt so uncomfortable, which might sound funny because they were such young boys but it was very unsettling.

After that interesting experience, we went out to dinner and got back to the hotel around nine or ten, I’m not really sure. We had to leave at 2 a.m. for our six hour bus ride back to Delhi. It was decided that we would just stay up, so I finished up my twentieth birthday at the bar/restaurant on the roof of our hotel. I requested Indian music (duh) but they would only play American classics like Will Smith and some Hips Don’t Lie. Then Happy Birthday played, and it made me happy. As the night went on our group kept getting bigger and bigger. We ended up meeting some old Indian men who were also up there and two Bollywood dancers. We were all dancing, and I had a ton of fun. It was a great way to finish up my birthday. (And yes, I did use the “It’s still my birthday in America!” line) I got lucky because I was nervous about going on the trip with no one I knew, but everyone was super chill and fun. It was by far the best birthday I’ve ever had.

The next day, (yes that was all in one day) we basically traveled all day long back to Chennai. When we got back, practically the whole Jaipur group went to the snack bar and ordered hamburgers and pizzas. It was delicious. I showered and napped... perfect post-traveling afternoon. That evening I met up with a couple of my friends and went out to eat and ended up getting eaten alive by bugs. Surprise surprise.

For my last day in India I slept in (lame, I know) then went to go shopping. We took an auto rickshaw, and my driver’s name was Babu. The auto rickshaw was a lot of fun and very scary at the same time. Driving in India is madness. There aren’t really lanes, and traffic lights aren’t exactly followed. So it’s a little scary. When we got to the shopping center, we stopped and our drivers told us that we couldn’t go in because there was just a murder inside. Uhhhhhhhh… Supposedly there was a huge gang fight with knives between the Kashmirs and the Tamil, and someone was killed. We decided to bypass that shopping center, and ended up driving around in the rickshaw all day long and not getting much shopping done. I thought it was fun anyway though. I definitely saw a lot of Chennai!

Overall, I really liked India, but a lot of people didn’t. I wouldn’t say that I would never come back. I mean I would never go for a vacation or anything, but I definitely would go back and do some service work or something like that. However, some people just couldn’t get over how dirty it was. It was extremely dirty, and the smell is probably the most memorable thing about India. Well maybe not but it had some intensely bad smells. Such as human feces, cow dung, and hard boiled eggs that have been sitting out in the sun for two weeks. Just to name a few. I can’t imagine being there in the heat of summer when the smells must be intensified. Yum!

One aspect of India I cannot handle is the everyday conversational usage of phrases such as explosive diarrhea, the T. D., addicted to Imodium, or popping the pepto. Boozy (I don’t want to say your real name right now because I am trying to protect your identity), I think of you whenever a conversation such as this comes up. I will no longer have any problem with your bodily function talks because I have heard more graphic details than you can even imagine. Thankfully, I have not gotten sick, but India is doing a number on some people. Ewwwwwww. Boozy, I miss you hahaha.

On our way to India, we talked a lot about the role of women in India. We discussed female infanticide and different religious customs that restrict women throughout the country. My guide, D, has two daughters ages five and two. Someone in my group asked him if he wants a son. He said he is glad that he has daughters because one day, when they each get married, they will go off to their husbands’ families and cause trouble for their mothers in law. He said he’s glad that no one will be entering his family and causing trouble for his wife. It was a really funny explanation, but I wonder how much of that is how he truly feels and how much is more of a defense mechanism story. I also noticed that in most of the advertisements the women were in western looking dress, but I did not see one woman not in traditional clothing while I was in India.

Even though India wasn’t exactly the cleanest or best smelling place I’ve ever been, I’m so glad that I got to experience everything that I did. Yesterday marked the halfway point on my trip. I can’t even think about that right now because I already know that I’m going to be a mess and a half when it’s over. The first half of this trip has been amazing, and I have been to five distinct and beautiful countries. I’m so excited to see what the rest of the ports have in store for me. I’m excited for this second half because we are in port a lot more often (aka a lot less time spent on the ship and in class). Also, I feel like these next few countries are a lot less about partying than really going and taking in all that country has to offer. I have met so many cool people, and I really value even the smallest of the friendships I have made thus far. I’m still meeting people every trip I take, and it’s a lot of fun to walk around the ship and recognize so many people from all over the place. I feel like I’m learning a lot about myself and about how I relate to others. After visiting India, I realize how much I take for granted what people in other places can’t even imagine. As they told us in global studies, this trip is costing more than most people in India will ever see in their lives. We’re the lucky ones. It was really an eye opening experience.

I’ll wrap up this monstrously long entry with a quote that someone shared at our post port meeting:

India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true. It's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid. It's all the extremes. India defies understanding, and for once, for me, that's okay.

–Sarah MacDonald

Love and miss you all!