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.