Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

In the days preceding our arrival in Vietnam, we were all aware that we couldn't possibly go there without first addressing and discussing our history with this country, namely, the Vietnam War, and the controversy behind it. I have to mention that one of the most interesting and heartbreaking Global Studies classes we had was just a few days before Vietnam, where we had three speakers talk to the class. Two were Vietnam war veterans, one who had willingly volunteered for the war and one who had been drafted, and one person who had been an avid protestor during the war. I was extremely surprised to find how little tension there was between these men who had such passionate opposing opinions on one of the most controversial wars our country had ever fought in. The thing was that these men didn't disagree on whether or not the soldiers in the war fought valiantly, but rather their divide rested in whether or not our presence in Vietnam was valid and necessary. Was our attempt at preventing the spread of Communism worth the lives of 50,000 young American men and as many as 3 million Vietnamese (most of which were innocent civilians)? It was difficult for me to wrap my head around these numbers, and it was one of those moments that I felt I was born in the wrong time. I began to wonder what it would have been like to grow up during the Vietnam War. Where would I have stood on this issue?

I think the best answer to the question was spoken by one of the veterans: "Even if you don't support the war, support the troops." This was the same veteran who went on to tell us how, after all he had endured serving in the war, he had to come back to a country that hated him. As he told us about how he had had urine thrown on him, and about the countless times he had been called a Baby Killer, his statement rang true in my mind. No one deserves that kind of treatment, especially someone who has served our country as loyally as he did.

Although it was a heavy-handed class, it was also a very necessary one. Before that class, I knew next to nothing about this period in our history. Now I feel I am more informed about the Vietnam War than the war we are currently fighting, which, I'm not afraid to admit, is not only sad on my part, but also I think true for many people of my generation.

The morning of our arrival in Vietnam, Ali and I, once again, met out on the deck at 6:30AM, and I have to say, out of all the countries we had done this for, this sunrise coming into port has been my favorite up to this point for the entire trip.We stood and watched as our ship trekked slowly down the Saigon River, a narrow waterway surrounded on both sides with only low-growing trees, between which there were still smaller rivers winding away in the distance. Occasionally, we passed people in small, wooden canoes and a couple of fishing boats, but besides that it was just our ship and a beautiful sunrise. Looking ahead of us, we could just make out some buildings in the distance that we knew to be Ho Chi Hinh City. We went back inside to get ready.

At the diplomatic briefing in the Union, representatives of Vietnam informed us about all the things we need to be wary of in the country, such as drive-by theft (AKA someone grabbing your bag off your shoulder from a moving motorcycle), and the general traffic, which is erratic and unpredictable, to say the least. They gave us advice on different things to eat, such as Fo (pronounced "Fuh"), which is this noodle soup dish that you can get with chicken or beef (delicious), and the coffee, since Vietnam is the second largest exporter of coffee in the world (well of course, as a coffeeholic, I had to try it! It was also amazing.). On a more important note, we were told that the Vietnam we knew from our history books would not be the same Vietnam we would soon be experiencing. In the years following the war that devistated Vietnam's economy, the country had rebuilt itself, becoming one of the fastest-growing in the world, which I thought was really good to know.

Once we were finally cleared by customs, two friends and I stepped off the ship and felt the heat and humidity of midday Vietnam. We hopped on a shuttle bus that had been provided for the SAS students to take us into a more central part of the city. After being dropped off, we set out to find a tailor to have dresses and a suit made, since in Vietnam this is a very inexpensive thing to have done and we were all going to need dress clothes for the Alumni Ball at the end of the semester. Of course, finding the tailor meant we would have to cross the street, which in Vietnam, is an experience in and of itself. We were told at the briefing that road signs and street lights are rarely, if ever, followed, and that when you cross the street, you are supposed to walk slowly but confidently, never changing your pace and never attempting to dodge the motorcycles, but allowing them to go around you. This was probably the hardest part for me, to go against my natural instinct of getting out of the way of a motorbike that is speeding directly toward me, but their advice was dead on. As long as I didn't make any sudden movements and walked slowly, the motorcycles would swerve around me. I got the hang of this after awhile, but the first time I crossed the street in Vietnam is one that I will never forget.

By the time we found a good tailor, we were all famished, so we went to a restaurant which was almost directly above the shop. We, of course, had Fo, and dessert crepes, which were filled with fruit and topped with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Yeah. AMAZING. I know. What's even more amazing is that I had a glass of wine, an appetizer, an entree, and dessert for around $13 American. Gotta love that exchange rate!

Afterwards we were each fitted for our dresses (and suits), which didn't take all that long. All we had to do was flip through a magazine, find the design we liked, pick out the material, and have our measurements taken. The whole thing took only about half an hour. We spent the afternoon bumming around the city in the markets, which had just about anything you could possibly want, from clothes, to bootleg DVDs, to luggage, to jewelry, and every kind of souvenier you could possibly want. I bought 4 DVDs, which came out to about 50 cents each (score!) and I couldn't resist being a complete tourist as I bought a straw rice hat to wear around.

That evening, we met up at the ship with a few more friends, and went out to dinner, then to the Night Market, which consisted of stands being set up in the middle of the street. It was a lot of the same thing I had seen during the day, so I wasn't too interested in this, although I did manage to buy a pair of earrings and shoes to go with the dress I was having made for me. We called it an early night, which I was grateful for, since I had to be in the Union at 3:45 AM to go on my 3 day, 2 night SAS trip to Nha Trang.

We decided that the cheapest and fastest way to get back to the ship would be to take... motorcycle taxis!!! It was one thing to cross the street in Vietnam, but to be amid the craziness of the traffic on the back of a motorcycles was another thing entirely. We were required to wear helmets, which was good, and my driver actually didn't go extremely fast, so I felt relatively safe. We all got back to the ship safely, and personally, I couldn't wait to take another ride! I thought it was so much fun, although not everyone in my group shared my opinion.

Hong Kong

Our plane landed in Hong Kong around 9:30 PM, collected our bags, went through customs, yet again, and headed for the bus in silence. We were all too exhausted to say much to each other. The only thing really worth noting about the airport was that the big clocks over each baggage claim area said Rolex on them. We had just entered a country that have Rolex clocks in its airport. I had a feeling that Hong Kong, though in a way it is still part of China, would be very different from the place I'd just left.

 

I was right about that. Some of the obvious changes included a different flag, different currency, and we were back to people driving on the left side of the road (I was so confused when I first stepped onto bus from the left side). It was strange to see the familiar ship after my 4 day trip. I couldn't wait to take a shower and sleep in my own bed, in my own cabin..and it was then that I realized that I've strangly come to consider the MV Explorer "home." I didn't venture into the city that night because I was just too tired, so I decided to get an early start the next morning.

 

Okay, so the "early start" thing didn't exactly happen, but around 11:30 AM, I set out with a few girls to explore Hong Kong. Our ship was berthed at a port in which we had to walk through a HUGE mall in order to get out into the city, then we had to take a short ferry to get onto the mainland. As soon as we got off the ferry, we quickly found the bus station, hopped on a double decker, and headed out to a place called "Repulse Bay," which, although its name may imply otherwise, was an exceptionally beautiful beach. The water was clear and very green, so, seeing as this was the first time since Hawai'i that the port country has been warm, we walked down the beach to the water and put our feet in the water. I was so happy in that moment, as I realized that I wouldn't have to deal with cold weather until I am back in Ithaca for the fall!!

 

After messing around, climbing trees, taking pictures and just enjoying the comfotable weather, we crossed the beach to the dock on the other side, and I noticed that the boardwalk behind the beach on this end had many colorful Buddhist statues and other intricate religious structures. We walked around here for a bit, walking among that crowd of people, all of whom were admiring the statues as well.

 

By this time we were pretty hungry, so we decided to eat at a close place, which ended up being a Pizza Hut! Before you judge me on this decision, let's get something straight. I was SICK of Chinese food!!! Period. I needed something familiar in my stomach, and so did my friends. Plus, it didn't look like the Pizza Hut I had gone to as a kid. This place was like any other normal, slightly upscale Italian restaurant. I was so surprised, and the food was amazing, a change of pace that I desperately needed.

 

After lunch, we walked around some more, then took a bus back to the bus station we had left from. I walked around there with a couple of the girls just to see what kind of stores were around there before heading back to the ship. We ended up getting slightly lost, but hey, it's all part of the experience of travelling. New city, new sights, new ways to get lost and find your way back. On a side note, I think taking this journey has been really good for my sense of direction! (If you're reading this and you know me, you know that usually, I can get lost in a paper bad with written directions AND a GPS. Go ahead and laugh. You probably already are.)

 

After reboarding the ship, I ran into my good friend on the ship, who were all eating an early dinner in the dining hall. I was so happy to see them!! I didn't realize how much I missed them during the days in China that we were all on our separate trips. My friend Bailey asked me if I wanted to go to a floating restaurant called Jumbo later that night, and of course, I did. A floating restaurant?? Hell yes! So I quickly showered, got ready, and met them at the gangway.

 

We jumped on the ferry, then jumped on a bus, and headed to...a boardwalk. We walked along it a little ways before reaching a dock with a bright sign over it that said JUMBO. This is where the taxi boat picked us up to take us to the middle of the bay to the restaurant. I could see Jumbo in the distance from the taxi boat. It was a large building lit up by thousands of light bulbs, and it was, you got it, floating in the middle of the water. It was actually a very classy, very PRICEY place, so since we had all eaten already, we just got drinks and desserts on the top floor.

 

After getting off the taxi boat, our group split up and I, along with a few others, went to Hong Kong's "bar street," which is where we ran into...every other SAS student on our ship. Or it seemed to be anyway. I felt like I was running into everyone I knew! It was so much fun, bar hopping and catching up on everyone else's experiences in China. I also got into a really good conversation with a Swiss guy who spoke impeccable English, and ended up talking to him for much of the night.

 

Since we got back rather late that night, we decided to sleep in a little before going out for our last day in Hong Kong. We decided to go to Victora Peak, where we could see the most scenic view of Hong Kong Island. We got our tickets and got on a tram, which took us up to the Peak Tower. And when I say "up," I mean it felt like the tram was going almost straight up at a 90 degree angle. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it was very steep, and kind of nerve-racking. When we got to the building, we skipped through the stores, all of which were full of the same souveniers that we'd been seeing for the past week, and tried to find a good balcony in which to look out. The view of the water in the distance and the apartment buildings (where the wealthier people in Hong Kong must live) was pretty spectacular.

 

After taking the tram back down, we went to a restaurant called "The Modern Toilet." That's right, a bathroom-themed restaurant. Where we sat on toilet seats and ate on glass tables, under which were real sinks, and we were served food on mini toilet and sink plates. I even ate chocolate soft serve that looked like poop! We all got a good laugh out of it.

 

After our late lunch, unfortunately we had to head straight back to the ship to avoid dock time. The last thing that I saw of Hong Kong was its world-famous lazer light show, which happens every night at 8 PM. Hong Kong holds the Guiness World record for largest permanent light display, and I got to see it from the ship as we sailed away from the city. We were on our way to Vietnam, where we would be in just 2 days' time.

 

 

Beijing / Great Wall of China

Before I get started on my experiences in Beijing and on the Great Wall, I would like to take this time to note some of the key differences that I noticed between China and Japan. Let's just say, that although there are, of course,  many customs that these two countries share (in the past, the Japanese took many Chinese traditions and made them their own), I would go as far as to say that these countries are polar opposites in many ways. As I walked the streets of Beijing, several of the things I had noticed in Shanghai became much more apparent to me.

 

For instance, I noticed that the Chinese do not value cleanliness in the way the Japanese do. I wouldn't say there was more litter than normal, in fact the condition of the city reminded my strangely of NYC, but it was clear to me that I was not to expect a spotless street the way I expected in Japan. Also, I couldn't help but notice that people spit...a LOT. Everywhere I looked, people were spitting as they walked. I felt like I was constantly dodging it, as people would spit right on the ground in front of you and think nothing of it (although at times, I felt that they waited until I was close enough to spit right in the path I was walking. Not sure if that was my imagination or not). I suppose this spitting custom stems from the fact that almost everyone smokes cigarrettes.

 

Another fact that I found even more annoying than the spitting was the fact that it is cars, not pedestrians, who have the right of way on the road. Every time I crossed the street, I nearly had a heart attack from the number of cars blaring their horns at me and zooming by. Even at a crosswalk when I had a crossing signal, I had to be careful of cars making righthand turns, because they would literally just start turning into a crowd of people attempting to cross, expecting them to jump out of the way. This law, to put it simply, seemed ASS-BACKWARDS to me. Why the HELL should I be responsible for the actions that a person in a CAR is taking? Doesn't it make more sense for the person in the TWO TON MURDER VEHICLE to be on the lookout for people on the street?!  My experience walking around in China was stressful and frustrating, to say the least.

 

The language barrier in China was much more difficult to deal with than in Japan. In Japan, not only do most people speak at least rudimentary English, but they will go out of their way to attempt to speak it to you, and help you in any way they can. In fact, if you ask a Japanese person for directions on the street, you can expect them to more or less drop what they are doing and WALK you to your destination. It was absolutely incredible how hospitable these people were. In China, not only could you not expect anyone to speak English, but they will simply start speaking Chinese to you, even if they are fully aware that you have NO idea what they are saying. In Japan, the language difference was a challenge, but in China, it was simply a barrier. It was extremely frustrating because I WAS interested in talking to these people, I WANTED to get to know them, and get their inside and views of the world. I wanted to learn from these people, but unfortunately, it was pretty much impossible to carry on a conversation.

 

 

I had to be in the Union at about 5 AM, so I don't know why I went to bed at all after my evening out Go-Karting in Shanghai. After about maybe an hour and a half of sleep, I got my sorry butt out of bed, got my backpack together with my eyes half-closed, and dragged my body to the Union. There were several other students on my "Hike of the Great Wall" trip there who I had gone out with the night before, and we all sat catatonically on the couches, waiting to be led to the busses that would take us to the airport, where we would board for Beijing. That entire morning seems like a dream..I hardly remember it at all because I was so exhausted. I think we were all grateful for the 2 hours we had to sleep on the plane.

 

After getting off the plane and getting our large group togehter (I would guesstimate there were about 50 of us on this trip), we were led out to our 2 busses, the ones we would more or less be living on in the following days. On my bus, bus B, I sat down and we were introduced to Michelle, our tour guide for the journey. Her english was near perfect, and she was extremely friendly and informative. The first thing she did was take us to lunch, where we met the tour guide for the other bus, Marco, Michelle's partner-in-crime.

 

After lunch, we were taken to our "Five-Star Hotel" in some random outskirt of Beijing. It was a strange area, not the big, colorful city that I had imagined at all. I got a sort of abandoned vibe from the street we were on, but maybe that was because it was still Chinese New Year, so many of the stores were still closed. However, our hotel was very nice, and our rooms were huge. It was awesome to have a Queen-sized bed all to myself, after I had gotten used to my tiny bed in my tiny cabin back on the ship. We had several hours of free time before dinner, so my roommate Emily and I decided to explore the hotel and the area around it. The only thing we accomplished was to get laughed out of 4 different banks in my vain attempt to exchange my travelers' checks. Not going to lie, it made me kind of bitter toward Chinese people in that moment, and I wished I was back in Japan, where people are so incredibly helpful.

 

Anyway, we went back to the room and napped before dinner, which was right down the street from the hotel. It was more or less the same oily Chinese food that we had at lunch. Already, I was starting to get tired/feel sick from the food. Afterwards, I walked with a few other people to a nearby grocery store to get some snacks and drinks for the evening. We were all pretty tired, so we just sat on some comfy couches in the sitting area on the 15th floor, where my room was, and had some wine before going to bed. As we sat there next to the huge window that faced the street, we had a perfect view of fireworks going on right outside the hotel, literally just about fifty feet away! After the display, we all went to bed early, since we had a big day on the Great Wall in the morning.

 

After a breakfast that did NOT consist of traditional Chinese food (YES!!), our group hopped on the bus for the Great Wall. Despite still being tired from the day before, I was practically jumping out of my seat in excitement. Walking on the Great Wall of China has been on my "bucket list" of things to do for a very long time. Upon seeing the Wall for the first time, at a distance from the bus, I immediately started snapping pictures. We pulled up to a small hostel, where we used the bathrooms and collected our bag lunches. We were all itching to get up to the Wall, but before we did, Marco and Michelle had us do some stretches, telling us that the day's hike was not only going to be very long (we were hiking 6 miles that day), but also very steep. My friends and I kind of made a joke out of the stretching exercises, and man, do I wish we hadn't. Within the first 20 minutes of the hike, I had taken off my sweatshirt, my hat, my gloves and my scarf, because I was getting so overheated from the climb.

 

*Side note!! At the beginning of our hike, we saw a group of SASers who were on the ChinaGuide trip (a tour that was not through SAS), and they were zip-lining off of the Wall, across a huge, glassy lake to the other side, where we had started our hike. I was so jealous that we were not going to be doing that! I think I found another thing to put on my "bucket list."

 

As we continued our hike, climbing higher and farther, across a rickety bridge and up staircases so steep that you had to look directly up to see the top of them, I looked back at one point, my legs burning and my body aching...and all of the air suddenly left my lungs. The Great Wall of China literally took my breath away. I could see miles behind me and miles ahead of me, this great stone wall, thousands of years old, standing alone through the middle of an otherwise brown, barren mountainside (I've been told that the area surrounding the Wall is much prettier in the spring). I started falling behind in the hike because I was taking so many pictures. Everywhere I looked, there was something scenic and beautiful that I felt I needed to be captured so I could remember it forever, although I must admit (and I've felt this a lot in my travels), none of the pictures I took really did justice to how powerful and beautiful the Great Wall truly is.

 

We spent about 7 hours on the reconstructed part of the Wall that day, going up and down the trecherous and steep stone steps between each beacon. I could have spent even longer there, I was enjoying myself so much. But eventually we made our way down, back to the busses, and I was surprised to see snow on the path we were walking. I had forgotten it is still winter, especially since I had just spent the day being overheated from the hike. A friend of mine from Hawai'i had never seen snow until that day, so we spent some time making snow angels on the path. Normal, I know. Needless to say, we all slept very well that night, and readied ourselves for the Great Wall part 2 that we would be hiking the next day.

 

After breakfast (which was quickly becoming my favorite meal of the day simply because it lacked Chinese food), we left for a different section of the Great Wall. We had to park the buses and walk through a small farming village in order to get to this part of the Wall. As we walked down the dirt path, past small houses on one side and piles of hay with chickens running all over the place, we saw people coming out of the woodwork to watch us passing through. It's a strange thing, feeling like an alien all the time. I'm sure these people rarely, if ever, see white people, and so to watch a gaggle of us walking right past their homes was very strange for them.

 

We passed the village and soon found ourselves going uphill, our path slowly becoming steeper the farther we walked. I found myself wondering when we were going to reach the Wall, when I realized that what we were climbing WAS the Wall. We had reached it and I had hardly noticed because I was expecting to see the same Wall I had seen the day before. This day, however, we were walking a part of the Wall that had NOT been reconstructed; the "ruined" part of the Wall. Looking ahead, I finally saw the familiar beacons and the stone structure that I had been expecting, but it looked different somehow. The ancient structure seemed almost part of the landscape around it.

 

The walk was much easier than it was the day before, not nearly as steep, but just as treacherous. You had to be especially careful walking downhill here because of all the small, loose rocks that you could slip on (and that I DID slip on, several times). We ate lunch inside one of the larger beacons, which consisted of...(drum roll please) MCDONALDS!! That's right...we had hired locals to backpack McDonald's up to the Great Wall for us. I ate fast food on the Great Wall of China. What a story.

 

Anyway, we reached the farthest we were allowed to walk before the Wall became a military base and got down off of it for the last time. Walking down the hill back toward the buses, I took one last look back at the Wall, feeling nostalgic about the time I had spent on this amazing structure over the past two days. The Great Wall was everything I had hoped it would be and more. It presented its challenges, some nearly impossible slopes and steps. It tested my balance, my stamina, and my determination, but in the end, it rewarded me with its incredible view. I had an amazing time on the Great Wall, and I would go back and do it again in a heartbeat.

 

That night, we stayed at the Marriot in a new area of Beijing. We were finally in the bright and colorful part of Beijing that I had imagined. We went out to dinner at a restaurant that was fancier than the ones we had been going to the last couple of days, and of course I was still gross from a day of hiking when we went there. But the food, although there were still many repeat Chinese dishes, was better than I expected it to be. We had duck, which was SO good. After that, we went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for a night out in Beijing!

 

Note to self: Do NOT drink and bring your cellphone out with you in China. You WILL be pickpocketed and you WILL lose your cellphone!!!! Yeah. Not the greatest night for me. However, I didn't let this one mishap ruin the whole trip for me, especially since it was my fault to begin with. So I decided to go back to the hotel and just get some sleep.

 

The last morning of the trip, we got up wayyyy too early to check out of the hotel and go to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was strange to be in the middle of the Square, after watching so much footage of the history of this place, that massacre that occured here, and NOT be allowed to talk about it. According to Michelle, the Chinese police don't allow the people to discuss the events that took place here. It was strange to me to have that freedom of speech taken away from me, and in that moment, I began to appreciate that not everyone in the world is blessed with the same freedoms that I have come to expect as an American.

 

We walked through the Square and followed our tour guides down a tunnel in order to cross the street and get to the Forbidden City, which once served as the imperial palace, where the Emperor of China would live, and now houses the Palace Museum. Walking through this expansive structure, with its intricate and colorful architecture, I was surprised each time we passed through another set of doors which led to yet another huge quad surrounded by even more walls. The palace seemed to stretch on forever. One of our tour guides, Marco, asked us, "If you were born in one of these rooms, and from that day on, you spent in a new room every night, how old would you be when you made it back to the room you were born in?" After several guesses, he told us, "You would be 26 years old." That's because there are 8,707 rooms in the Forbidden City.

 

After our tour through the Palace, we got back on the buses and went to a traditional Tea Ceremony. We sat around a few tables and got to sample many different teas, and all of them were fragrant, sweet and delicious in their own way. Then we had our last meal of Chinese food for lunch (Thank God!) before heading to the airport, where we left for Hong Kong to meet up with the ship.

Shanghai, China

As I did in Japan, I got up and went out on the deck at 6:30 AM with my friend Ali as we docked in China (Ali and I have decided that this will be a tradition as we get to each country). As the sun was rising, our close-up view of Shanghai's Pudong skyline was beautiful, with the blues and purples of early morning fading as the first rays of light reflected off the buildings. It was lovely, but extremely COLD, as I knew it would be. Needless to say, we didn't stay outside long. It actually hurt to be outdoors in just my pajamas and a sweatshirt. We went inside and started to get ready for the day.

 

Customs, as usual, took forever, and even though we had been through Cultural Preport the evening before, the entire ship was required to go to yet ANOTHER meeting in the Union so that MORE speakers could get up and talk about things that we had been told over and over again already. I understand that they want us to be as informed and cautious as we can, but when it starts to take away time in the countries, it gets to be very frustrating. My group and I were not able to get off the ship until around 11:30 AM, and we were eager to get walking (out of excitement as well as cold).

 

One of the coolest, yet hardest things about being in China was the fact that we arrived while the country was in the middle of celebrating Chinese New Year (it is now the Year of the Tiger). For a good hour, my group and I wandered around trying to find an ATM or a bank so that we could get yuan, the Chinese currency. Until we did that, we couldn't even get a cab to get where we wanted to go. Strangely enough, many of the stores in Shanghai were closed for the holiday, which was definitely a bummer. I assumed it would be the opposite, and that the city would be more busy and alive with the holiday, not less. Apparently, many people close shop to go home and spend the holiday with family.

 

This small downer was made up in the extreme amount of over-the-top, colorful decorations that were everywhere you looked, as well as the fireworks that went off constantly. And when I say constantly, I mean it was day and night, all the time, you would be hearing explosions coming from everywhere around you. I can now say that I have seen fireworks in the middle of the day. The funniest thing about it was that the SAS students were the only people around who were amazed by the fireworks; everyone else walked around, barely acknowledging the amazing displays going on everywhere around us.

 

The first day, after getting our currency and a quick lunch (we successfully did the point-and-order method at a restaurant and had some delicious Chinese food), we walked around "The Bund" for a little while, which is a famous market in Shanghai. After that, we took a short taxi ride to the Nanjing marketplace, where we spent the afternoon with some sketchy characters, buying knock-off handbags, DVDs, Northface backpacks, and Ugg boots (which I happily bought for myself since I had NOT brought the warm footwear that was necessary for the cold weather).

 

My friends and I went out to dinner that night, and when we walked in, the first thing I noticed was the tanks full of bullfrogs and small turtles, which are delicacies here. Though I was pretty grossed out by that sight, I soon got my appetite back when we ordered 5 or 6 amazing Chinese dishes for our table. One of our friends, Shelly, is actually from China, so she was able to interpret for us and make sure we were getting some great food. At all of the restaurants I went to during my time in China, all of the food is placed in the middle of the table on a glass turn-table, and everyone shares the dishes and samples everything. The best part was that because of the exchange rate, the huge meal came out to about $3 American per person!

 

On the way back to the ship, we saw a group of Chinese people who were trying to send up a paper lantern, which a Chinese New Years tradition. We had been seeing them going up all day, these strange lights scattered all over the sky, so it was cool to watch the tradition in action. It looked much harder than I thought it would be!They had unfolded the large, red lantern and attached the candle beneath it. When we saw them, they had already lit the candle, which was flaming beneath the lantern, exactly like a hot air balloon. They were having some trouble keeping the lantern from catching fire and getting it up in the air because of the wind. After watching them for awhile, we decided to buy our own lantern and try our luck at getting it up in the air, but unfortunately, a police officer came, successfully ending our good time. So we decided to be silly and run with the lanterns flying behind us instead!

 

The following day, I went out with a few friends and did some souvenier shopping around The Bund. We went to a restaurant and ordered what in english said "Chicken Casserole," which turned out to be a hot pot filled with...the entire chicken, with the feet, skin, bones..everything but the head. It was certainly a new cultural experience for me. According to my friend Ben, the reason that the whole chicken is used is because at one time, the country was going through a famine, so they began utilizing every part of the chicken that they could. Overall, not my favorite meal in China, but definitely got a good laugh out of it.

 

That night, I went with a big group to a Go-Kart bar. Yes, a bar where you can LEGALLY drink and drive. It. Was. AMAZING, sooo much fun. We stayed there a couple of hours, then decided to go to a different club. On our way out, as we were walking down the driveway from the bar, I looked around and asked out loud, "Is that dynamite on the ground??" As soon as we were across the street, a HUGE firework display started going off right at the end of the driveway, directly over our heads. We all got so excited, we just started dancing in the street! Looking up and behind the bar, I saw apartment buildings, and people were setting off fireworks from their balconies! It was complete insanity, and in that moment, I could not feel more lucky that I got to be in China for Chinese New Year.

 

We went to a club called Zappatos, which was packed with mostly European people, and they played almost all American songs. We drank some more and danced the night away. Unfortunately I had to leave a little early (around 2 AM) because I had to be in the Union at 6 AM to go on my Hike of the Great Wall trip. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night.

 

So that just about sums up my 2 days in Shanghai. I'll write again soon to tell you about my time in Beijing and Hong Kong.

Japan - Part Deux

So as I said, I, along with 150 or so other students/faculty, sailed with the ship from Yokohama to Kobe, which took away a day in Japan, but I am not sorry I decided to do it. First of all, I needed a day off from the travelling, I was more tired than I can say. Second of all, it poured. All day. At sea, and apparently, on land. Plus, since so few people sailed, we had this amazing 5 course dinner in the main dining hall, and my friends and I got all dressed up for it. It was fun!

 

We got into the Port of Kobe at 7 AM the next morning. Thankfully, customs was a breeze since we'd already been through the whole process in Kobe, so my group and I slept in a little and got off the ship at our leisure. We exchanged some money, got a map of the area and subway system, and hopped on a subway to go immediately to Kyoto. Once there, we got on a bus and went to the Kiyomizu Temple, which is this beautiful, expansive temple built on a steep hillside. To get to it, we had to walk up a a steep road, lined with little shops, which was a little touristy, but had some cool stuff. We walked around there for a long time despite the cold, just taking in the view both around and below up (we were high up and could see much of Kyoto). There were people lighting incense and putting them in this big potlike thing and it smelled amazing, and there were several beautiful buddah statues which I watched many people touch and bow to. There were also some beautiful fountains with long ladles laying across them that people used to pour water on their hands before entering the temple. On the way out of the temple we saw a geisha from far away, but we couldn't approach her because she was with a tour. Luckily, as we walked back down the road, we saw two walking the opposite way, and they let us take pictures with them! I was so excited, they were beautiful.

 

After a lunch of ramen noodles (can't seem to get enough of them!), we wandered around for a few hours, up and down some interesting streets, and in doing so, we were able to get away from the touristy areas and see the way Japanese people live. Going up the narrow, brick side roads, there are many people who own small shops that they live above. One thing I noticed that was different about Kyoto was that many people, women especially, walk around wearing traditional Japanese clothing, such as kimonos and the socks with wedge sandles, their hair up in buns. There is a much larger connection to their cultural history here than in Tokyo, which is much more modern and trendy.

 

After awhile, we headed back to Kobe and got on the ship to get ready to go out that night. We were on a misson to try the imfamous Kobe beef. Apparently, what they do is feed the cows beer and massage them, which makes the meat taste a certain way. It is carmelized and very fatty, and evidentally, DELICIOUS...but predictably expensive. Eventually we opted out of Kobe beef and went into a cool restaurant where we had to take our shoes off before we sat down. Since the menu was only in Japanese, but it had pictures, we had to do the "hmm, that looks interesting, I wonder what it is," point-and-order method, which we had done several times during our time in Japan. It's a hit or miss method, and that night, for my friend Bailey and I, it was miss. We ordered what looked like popcorn chicken, and turned out to be what tasted like the cartilege part of a chicken wing, the part that most people don't eat. We laughed it off and ordered other things, along with plenty of sapporo. Hey, it's part of the experience!

 

After dinner, we went to this tiny bar that comfortably fit the 7 of us, the bartender, one other patron, and that's pretty much it. It was a great, tequila/darts/dance party kind of night, and that's pretty much all I have to say about it.

 

I got up far too early after the interesting night I had, and went to Himeji with two other girls to go to the Himeji Castle. The castle is, of course, huge, and all white. The architecture was incredibly detailed, I took several pictures of the roof shingles, which all had interesting designs on them. I took a picture with a man dressed as a real ninja, which made my day, and he let me hold a ninja star while my two friends held swords. After seeing the castle, we went to the Hemeji garden, which was so peaceful and gorgeous I didn't want to leave. The sun had come out by this time, and the trees and little waterfalls were lovely. There was also a pond with literally hundreds of coy, which were HUGE and so diversely colored. We got to watch them get fed, and it was a feeding frenzy! So cool.

 

We got back on the subway and got closer to the ship, and walked around just to use up the rest of our yen before getting back on the ship. This included going into pastry shops, which had some delicious junk food, and buying myself a warm hat, which I am DEFINITELY going to need when I am on the Great Wall of China. BRRR. We got back to the ship just half an hour before dock time, whew!

 

A couple hours later, we sailed away from Japan, which was bittersweet. I had an incredible time. The people, the food, the music, the CULTURE.  Amazing. I would love to go back again if I ever get the chance.

Yokohama & Toko, Japan

I know I said I would post a blog about my time spent in Hilo and Honolulu, but as you can probably tell, I am very bad at writing promptly. I would like to change that right now by jumping immediately into Yokohama & Tokyo, Japan while it is fresh in my mind. I will post about Hawai'i at a later date. However, if you really are interested in hearing about Hawai'i, you can email me about it! anschiralli@semesteratsea.net. I would love to hear from you!

 

I got up and went out to the deck at 6:30 AM on Tuesday, Feb 9 with my friend Ali, because that is when we were told we would be able to see land. We were not disappointed! On the starboard side of the ship, we looked out and saw the most incredible sunrise over the low mountains directly in front of us. Ahead we could see several small buildings in the distance through the morning fog, and looking up, I noticed that we were flying the Japanese flag.

 

Although I knew we still had several hours before we could get off the ship, I couldn't go to sleep when I got back to my cabin. So I got up, showered, and started packing my backpack, as my group and I planned on spending the night in Tokyo. Going through customs was, as we were promised, incredibly slow, deliberate, and organized to the T (I would soon realize that this is a trait that is consistent in almost everything that the Japanese do). Students were let off the ship according to what "sea" they belonged to. On the ship, students are grouped according to deck number as well as what side they live on and whether they are toward the bow or the stern, and are assiened a Sea, such as the Yellow Sea, the Carribean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, etc. I myself am a proud member of the Bering Sea! Anyway, I found myself standing around with most of the other students, waiting for my sea to be announced. It took so long that the crew began serving lunch at 11:30 am. I was just about to get food, of course, when my sea was finally called, so I grabbed my things and rushed to deck 5 to disembark.

 

I swiped my ID card at ship security and made my way down the gangway. I was given my passport, was fingerprinted and photographed by Japan customs, and finally let into the country. I found my group of 5 other students waiting for me, as all of their seas had been called before mine, and we immediately set out because we were already off to such a late start.

 

We made our way down the street in Yokohama, taking in the beautiful day! Although Japan is in the middle of winter right now, the sky was clear, it was sunny and very warm. We got in on the perfect day for walking around. As we searched for the train station to take us into Toyko, we were talking and laughing excitedly...which is when I realized that we were the only people around making any sound at all. Although Yokohama is a city, it was almost eerily quiet out on the streets. The people keep to themselves and walk in silence, the only noise really coming from passing cars. Suddenly I felt like that loud, obnoxious American that I had been warned not to become while in port, and I understood what exactly that meant.

 

We stopped at an ATM to get Japanese currency and made our way down to the subway, which at first could not be more confusing to us. Luckily, we were armed with our simple Japanese phrase sheets so we would ask a local for directions, which we did...often. One thing I can say about the Japanese is that they are almost always happy to help a lost foreigner, especially if you attempt to speak the language. Generally our encounters involved saying hello in Japanese ("Konichiwa!"), a lot of pointing at maps, and saying thank you ("Arigatou," a phrase I found myself saying a LOT). We hopped on the subway, which was just as quiet as the streets above us. Although many of the trains we took between the two days we spent in Tokyo were packed, hardly anyone says a word. I couldn't help but think of New York City, and how different my train experiences had been up until this point.

 

Of course, this was not the only difference between American and Japanese cities. Not only are the people friendly and approachable. but the entire country, everywhere you looked, was immaculate. The city streets, the subway, the public bathrooms, were all spotless, not one piece of garbage to be found anywhere...which was strange, considering you were hardpressed to find a trash bin anywhere. Wanting to be respectful, I kept stuffing any garbage I had into my jacket pockets until I found find a garbage can, which was not until we got to the hotel where we were staying in Toyko.

 

A little on the hotel...we stayed the night at the Ritz Carlton. The mother of one of my friends, Briana, has a friend who works at the hotel named Linda, who gave us an amazing discount. We got two rooms, one for the 3 girls and one for the 3 guys, on the 50th floor (out of 53). According to Linda, the Ritz is the tallest building in the city, which was apparent when we looked out our windows and could see all of Tokyo. The view was breathtaking.

 

Linda showed us around the galleria on the first floor of the building, directed us on where to go to do karaoke, then took us to a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant to get a late lunch of real Ramen noodles, where she left us. Afterwards we got on another subway and went to the Senso-Ji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo's oldest temple, which was beautiful. The temple is set back from the street, and to get to it, we had to walk down a long alley lined with shops filled with all sorts of souveniers, fans, kimonos, Japanese dishes, electronics, Japanese food and candy, etc. After seeing the temple, we wandered around the shops for awhile before heading back to the hotel to get ready for a night out.

 

On the way back to the Ritz, we stopped to get some champagne to celebrate our first night in a different country! When we clicked our glasses together, we said "Kung-pie!" (which means "Cheers!" in Japanese). Then we headed out to a karaoke bar to see  what the Japanese love so much about it. We rented out a room for an hour and had an absolute blast. After that we went to a real bar and got our dance on with some really awesome locals.

 

Even though we didn't get back to the Ritz until about 2 AM, we were up at 4:45 AM to go to Tokyo's world-famous fish market to see the tuna auction. Well, 4 of us managed to get up and go to it anyway. In my opinion, it was by far the coolest thing we had done in Japan. Not only was the auction interesting (the tuna were HUGE!! I got plenty of pictures and a few videos of it), but there was every kind of fish you could imagine there, many of them still alive to keep them as fresh as possible. There were buckets of squid, crabs, lobsters, mussels, tanks full of pufferfish, sea cucumbers, salmon and flounder and sundry other fish on ice...it was incredible. Even though it was freezing at 6 in the morning and I was quite underdressed, I didn't want to leave because it was so fascinating. It's hard to believe that this fish market goes on every day except one day out of each month, with that amount of fish.

 

After the fish market we got a quick breakfast of, you guessed it, Ramen noodles, then went back to the hotel to go back to sleep for a couple hours. Around 11:30 AM we finally checked out and went to the Imperial Palace, which is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It's a spacious, parklike place surounded by high walls and a moat. We saw buildings where the samuri once stayed, and the famous cherry blossom trees that Japan is famous for (which was lucky because they are not supposed to bloom until April). It was a beautiful place.

 

The last place we went before returning to the ship was called "Electric City." As soon as I stepped out of the subway, I was bombarded by what seemed like a million different lights and sounds coming from all of the different electronics shops. It was anime galore and the air was filled with a genre of music known as J Pop. After walking around for awhile, we went into a conveyor belt sushi place to get some lunch, which was really cool. What you do is sit at the bar and the sushi comes around on a little conveyor belt with 2 pieces on each plate.

 

By that time, it was starting to get dark, cold and rainy, so we decided it was time to head back to the ship. It's funny, after the two days of taking subways to get everywhere, the subway system, which at first was impossibly confusing, now seemed second nature to us. We got back to Yokohama with no problem at all! Once we were all warm and dry, we went back to one of the cabins and started exchanging pictures, which was great because my camera battery died right after the Imperial Palace.

 

Anyway, right now I am sailing from Yokohama to Kobe with just 152 other passengers because many of the students decided to travel independently and meet the ship at the next port. Since there are so few of us sailing with the ship, there is a special dinner for us tonight and a few other special activities going on. I'm glad I decided to come back. After all the walking and lack of sleep from the last two days, I was absolutely exhaused! We should be getting to Kobe around 7 AM tomorrow, and I will be ready to do some more exploring. I'll post again and let you know how it went! Overall, it was a great first experience in a new country. I could not be happier, or more tired.

Hello from the middle of the Pacific Ocean!

I suppose I should start off this blog by apologizing for not posting sooner. It has been a crazy, wonderful first couple of weeks on the MV Explorer, and such an overwhemling amount of things have happened, I'm going to have some trouble sorting it all out. All I can say is that I've never felt so out of my comfort zone, yet so excited and exhilerated about the things I'm doing. This really is turning out to be an experience of a lifetime, and it has only just begun.

I'll give you just a quick overview of the boring details so I can catch you up on the much more interesting things I've been up to. I flew to San Diego from Islip, which took 9 and a half hours, ugh. Spent the night at the Sheroden, and hopped on a coach bus with a bunch of other students to make our way down to the Port of Ensenada, Mexico. The first time I saw the ship in the distance, I nearly jumped out of my seat. I couldn't wait to get off that bus and get this trip started.

The first couple of days on the ship were jampacked with things that all of the students were required to do. Orientation...worst day ever. basically we sit in the Union (big circular room with a bunch of chairs and a stage thing where my Global Studies classes are held) and listen to person after person go over safety rules and each person repeats what the last speaker just said. I was so happy when classes began the next day.

I'm actually glad that I'm only taking 4 classes this semester, because they've been pretty rigorous so far. My global studies class especially has been very eye-opening in the way we are informed about the economic and environmental states of each country we are visiting. The hunger and poverty rates, infant mortality rates, the number of people without access to clean water, the list goes on. I'm not even going to touch on all of the environmental issues that humans are responsible for. After every class, I ask myself "what can I possibly do to help us turn it all around?" I won't go into all the details, but I will say that if things don't change soon, we will be in some serious trouble within the next few years.

Aside from global, I'm really enjoying my drawing class. I'm finding that I'm not completely horrible at sketching, and I actually find it very fun and relaxing. Whenever I want to avoid doing the reading for my english or oceanography classes, I will just draw a picture instead! It's real work, I swear!

Except for the classes and the food, the ship does not resemble college life at all. I spend most of my time just getting to know people, sitting around on the decks, soaking up the sun, doing yoga, reading, sketching, and doing a LOT of planning for the countries we will be going to. In Hawai'i, my friends and I all invested in walkie-talkies, which is probably the best idea we've ever had. Once we left Honolulu, our cellphones became completely useless, so now the walkie-talkies will be our main mode of communication. We're already having a little too much fun with them on the ship; we all have code names based on random, funny things that we've said. Not going to tell you my name, as it's a tad inappropriate.

On a side note, I LOVE all of the people I've been meeting so far. One of the coolest things about this program is that there are students from not only all over the United States, but from many other countries as well. I have a couple of friends from Canada, a friend from Puerto Rico, a friend from London, etc. Once this trip is over, I'm going to have friends from all over the world, which is a pretty amazing concept.

I often find myself wondering what kind of person I will be when this voyage is over. One of my biggest concerns is that I don't leave after this program as ignorant about the world as I was when I came here. I hope that this trip will not just become a conversation enhancer, but that I will actually take something meaningful away from this experience and become a more aware, knowledgeable and compassionate person. The world is in serious need of more people like this, because in many ways, I feel like we are all obsessed with our own comfort, our own individual lives. We have become jaded, apathetic to worldly issues, even though they indirectly affect us all. My point is, I don't want to be ingorant anymore. I'm going into this experience with an open mind and an open heart.

We left Hawai'i a few days ago, and we are now slowly making our way toward Japan. I will not be on US soil for over three months, which is a strange/scary/exciting feeling. This voyage is definitely going to be a test of my independence. I've already surprised myself with how much I've been able to handle. For example, I've come on this trip with just 2 suitcases, a minimal amount of clothes, jewlelry, makeup, etc. I thought this major downsizing was going to be very difficult for me, but I'm surprised at how little I'm missing these material comforts. The other day, I washed my clothes in the sink because the laundry service is so expensive. HAHA. It's so strange, I really don't mind this at all.

Well, that's the general overview of my life here on the ship. I will post soon about my experiences in Hilo and Honolulu. MAHALO!