Beijing, Day 2

This morning started out ordinary.  I woke up at 7am, went down to the lobby to get a massive breakfast.  Breakfast was great by the way, another buffet: breakfast spring rolls, bacon, sausage, ham, omelets, cereal, fruit, porridge, salads, pasta, fried rice, breads, waffles, you know, the normal everyday breakfast.  After breakfast we boarded our bus and took the 1.5 hour ride to part of the Great Wall.  As we entered the mountains we almost immediately saw it.  A tan line wrapping in and out of mountain peaks like it was laid there from the sky.  This must have been such a labor intensive project, let me tell you.  We parked the bus, got out, and were hit.  No, we were not physically hit, but we were hit by the blast of the cold.  It was cold, colder than center city Beijing.  After taking a group photo we were told that we had two hours.  We could try to climb to the top of the wall of that area, which takes about an hour and a half normally just to get up, so we were told that this was pushing it, but we were welcome to try.  Well, if I'm going to the Great Wall, I am going to hike to the top, you better believe it.  The stairs were steep and I am glad I had my long western legs – the Asian's seemed to be struggling more than we were.  You have to stop every once in a while to catch your breath, and while we started out in a group of 6, or numbers soon dwindled down to 4.  About half way up it started snowing.  Yes, it snowed as I climbed the great wall.  By this point, however, we had already taken off our top layer because the hard work was making us all hot.  Did I mention that I wore flip flops!  Everyone thought I was insane but I know me and I know my feet and I hate sneakers, I knew flip flops were more comfortable for me so I wore them.  I did not regret this decision once, my feet were never cold, and I was so comfortable!  Anyway, I got quite a few laughs from the locals about my choice of foot-ware.  If only I took pictures of some of the looks I got: "Look at the crazy American!."  About 2/3 of the way up we lost another to, and Dan and I were left to brave the top of the wall by ourselves.  I almost didn't make it to be honest.  It was so hard.  BUT, I did!  It was beautiful.  You could look across to the other side of the mountains and see another part of the wall which people were ascending.  I can't believe that I actually climbed the Great Wall!  We didn't' have much time at the top and we had to come down rather quickly, which wasn't easy considering how steep the Wall was.  My legs hurt, they still do, and I know they will tomorrow.  We got to the bottom just in time, and hopped on the bus for our ride back to Beijing.  When we got back to Beijing we ate lunch at some tourist trap.  It was a restaurant/shop where they charge a lot of money for crafts.  I bought two jade necklaces, one nice Jadeite necklace with a dragon, my lunar year symbol, and one not as nice Jade laughing Buddha necklace.  The only reason why I bought from there was because I knew that the Jade was real and that I wasn't buying a fake.  After lunch we went to the Summer Palace, a place where Emperors spent their summers in China.  IT was beautiful, and reminded me of Epcot in Disney World.   The traditional Chinese architecture was picturesque.  We didn't have much time to spend there, only about an hour tour before we had to head back to our bus.  It definitely wasn't enough time, and we were disappointed about that.  I didn't even have enough time to buy a sweet potato off of a vendor!  They all looked and smelled so good and so sweet.  When we left we headed to a spot on the highway where we could see the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games complex.  We could see the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube.  It was awesome to see someplace that I spent a few weeks watching on TV.  It was surreal, actually.  After our brief stop on the side of the road we continued back to our hotel.  We had the night for free, so a lot of people took naps and then were going out to dinner and then out to the bars for the night.  I didn't want to go out tonight, so I walked to a local mall a few blocks away by myself and had a nice, quiet dinner at KFC.  After my chicken sandwich and fries, I got a nice Sunday from Baskin Robbins.  Unfortunately, the Sunday was terrible.  I have been craving ice cream so badly lately, it isn't even funny, and I got so excited for this moment.  But no, the ice cream wasn't good; the toppings were stale, and blah.  Oh well, maybe better luck next time, right?  After I ate and walked around for a little bit I headed back to relax at the hotel.  I watched a movie on HBO, took advantage of the free WIFI, and am going to head to bed in a bit.  Wake up call at 6:30am tomorrow for a full day of stuff!  PS. I CLIMBED THE GREAT WALL!

China - Day 1; Hong Kong to Beijing

China Day One – Hong Kong to Beijing

 

We arrived in Hong Kong at 8am.  The view from the ship was incredible.  High rise buildings scattered around the base of beautiful mountains.  If I had one word to describe the city, "modern."  Familiar electronic company's buildings strung as far as the eye could see.  Unfortunately it was an extremely overcast and rainy morning so the view wasn't as clear as it could have been.  It was extremely humid and in the mid 70's when we arrived.  The ship was docked right alongside the most expensive mall in Hong Kong, and in order to leave the dock you had to go directly into the mall and through it.  My trip was the first trip to leave the ship, since we were the only trip that was flying out of Hong Kong on our first day.  It was kind of sad that we didn't have any time to explore the city, as it looked absolutely incredible.  I will have to add that to my list of places to go back to.  My trip left the ship directly after the diplomatic briefing, around 9:30.  We headed through the mall and straight to the buses.  About 50 students/staff/life-long learners in all, we fit into two buses comfortably and drove 45 minutes to the Hong Kong airport.  The drive was fascinating.  We passed around the mountains on a windy road, over bridges, under gondolas strung around the mountains, and then we finally reached the airport.  Check-in was relatively easy, and we had about an hour of free time before our plane was to board.  The airport was huge, and wasn't broken up into terminals as we are used to.  There are 80 gates, and they were organized by number in ascending order.  PJ and I grabbed snacks (him at BK and me at a cookie shop and then Starbucks) and then we headed to our gate.  There was free WIFI in the airport so I took advantage of that to check my Temple email and my Facebook.  The flight started off normal.  We got free soda!  But then, it started.  The turbulence.  I have never been so terrified in my life.  The flight attendant got on the loud speaker, panicky, and almost screaming in Chinese to put on your seat belt and put up your tray.  Turbulence normally doesn't scare me, but it didn't feel like normal turbulence.  It felt like we were loosing altitude quickly.  We were all scared, looking around, and wondering what was going on.  After about a minute it stopped, but we did have mild turbulence for the rest of the 3 hour trip.  I don't know why, but it was the roughest flight ever!  We were given a meal, which I haven't had on a flight forever.  It was really good: a noodle and carrot salad, pasta with shrimp and fish, a roll with butter, and an ice cream cup.  So good.  I could get used to that again.  When we got to Beijing we were all so shocked about how cold it was.  They warned us on the ship that it would feel like winter, but after being in the warm weather for months we couldn't really expect it.  BUT, it is freezing.  You can see your breath, during the day . . . AH!  We had a 40 minute ride to our hotel.  I was amazed that most of the high rises that you could see were all residential.  There are just so many people, you have to see it to believe it.  Beijing is extremely modern as well.  The architecture of some of the buildings is just so cool.   Geometric patterns, buildings that protrude out past their bases, different colors, shapes and sizes.  Our hotel is extremely nice:  comfortable, down comforters, flat screen TV's with HBO (English movies, hurray), and nice wood furniture.  After checking in we had about an hour until we had to meet the bus for dinner.  I got roomed with a girl named Taylor.  We had met on the plane because she sat two seats away from me, so I was happy that she will be my roommate for this trip.  As we drove to our restaurant we passed Tiananmen Square which was all lit up for the night.  It was incredible.  There were also various other building strung with lights that illuminated their distinct classic Asian style.  Dinner consisted of many, many courses.  There was a spring green salad with ginger, a spicy peanut salad, chicken and peppers, sweet and sour shrimp, soup, rice, and then the main course Peking duck.  Peking duck, prepared correctly, has a crispy skin.  The skin is extremely oily and fatty and tastes like the fat on bacon.  The duck itself has the taste of funky chicken.  I don't know if I liked it or not, I still haven't decided, but I ate it regardless.  They eat the Peking duck in tortilla like flour cakes, and stuff them with vegetables, onions, and sauces.  I tried this out, but preferred to eat my tortilla with sauce and rice instead.  For desert we had fruit.  Oh yea, I forgot to mention, we also had a mystery dish that we think was duck tongue.  This was actually my favorite dish!  It was extremely tender and full of great flavor.  After dinner we took the bus back to the hotel.  Many people headed out for the night, but I joined a group of 5 people who were going to walk around the block and come back.  We found a McDonalds and indulged in some fries dipped in chocolate shake.  So delicious.  I crave ice cream so badly, it is inhuman.  There were weird things on the menu such as Red Bean Pie!  It actually looked good, and probably was very sweet.  I tried to take a picture of the McDonalds menu but the cashier yelled at me.  They warned us about stuff like this . . . communist country.  They are weird about things like that, and are on constant look out to protect their system from whatever they appear to be a "threat."  Oh well.  After our American food we headed back to the hotel where I took a shower and then laid in bed watching Stomp the Yard.

Vietnam to China

So I was just looking at my calendar and I can’t believe that another week is over!  A typical week these days consists of 5 days in port followed by 2 days on the ship, the last day of which is when I must take my malaria pill (taking my malaria pill marks the end of my week).  There are only 5 more full weeks left of my trip, and I have already had 10 full weeks on the ship.  2/3 of the way done . . . wow.  I have to more full weeks of mostly in port before our long stretches at sea between Japan and Hawaii, Hawaii and Guatemala, and Guatemala and home.

 

The past two days went extremely fast, as they always do.  Yesterday I had all four of my classes and then I read a lot, did some homework, and watched a few movies.  Today after Global Studies I layed out for a little, savored a smoothie, and watched about 10 episodes of The Office.  Nothing too exciting.  Tonight we have Logistical Pre-port at 2000, and then they are showing two new episodes of The Office at 2200!  They rarely show new episodes of anything on the ship, so it is such a treat when they show episodes of The Office or of LOST. 

 

I am so, SO, so excited about China.  It feels like forever ago that China seemed like it was so far in the future.  I am doing my first large Semester at Sea trip.  We arrive in Hong Kong tomorrow morning at 0800 and my trip leaves at 0945.  PJ, from my group of friends on the ship, is on my trip also!  After we leave the ship we head straight to the airport for our flight to Beijing.  After a 4 hour plane ride we check into our hotel in Beijing and have the rest of the afternoon free until dinner, when we are trying the traditional Peking Duck.  Good food in China is expensive, so I am glad that I am on a Semester at Sea trips because almost all of our meals are paid for and they put us up in 4 and 5 Star Hotels that our gorgeous, luxurious, and almost always have a pool and free internet.  We have the night free, so I will probably find a group and wander around and maybe get a few drinks.  The next day we tour Beijing.  I really hope that we get to see the 2008 Olympic Stadium because it is the largest steal structure in the world.  We have our second night at leisure, and dinner is on our own.  The third day we have a short tour of Beijing before going to the airport and taking a plane to Xi’an, where the famous underground tomb with the terracotta soldiers is.  We tour around for the day, have dinner, and then the night on our own.  We do more touring and have more free time the 4^th day, and then the 5^th day we take a plane back to Shanghai, where the boat would have moved to.  AH, I’M SO EXCITED! 

 

Last day in Ho Chi Minh City

 

This morning during breakfast I met up with my friend, Celeste, who wanted to go shopping later in the day.  She was on a trip until noon so I just stayed around the boat and layed out all morning.  My parents called me at ten.  I love hearing from home, getting updates, and just showing people how much I appreciate this trip.  Thanks mom and dad, you gave me the world.  When Celeste got back we took the free shuttle into town, and then walked to the market and back.  I bought a few gifts, about 10 more DVD’s, and a set of earrings since I had lost one earring somewhere in Phan Thiet.  On ship time isn’t until 8 tonight, but having spent the rest of my money shopping, it was pointless for me to get back off the boat.  I spent my time uploading pictures, reading psychology, and writing a sociology paper.  Here’s to being an over achiever.  There is a BBQ on the 7th deck from 1800 to 2000.  I am sitting up here now, on my computer, waiting for 6.  There is a gorgeous display of fruit and such.  I'll prolly eat from 1800 - 1830, then take a nap, and then probably swapping stories with my roomate, Kayla, as we always do the first night after a port.  I really like her, we get along great.  ANYWAYS, I don't have much time to recover from being in Vietnam because I have only two days until China.  My life is a crazy and exciting adventure right now, let me tell you.  I love you ALL!

Phan Thiet

 

Phan Thiet, Day 1

I got tons of sleep last night, so I was ready to go at 7:30am.  We boarded a bus and left.  There are only 12 students and 2 adults on the tip, and one student never showed up, so there are only 13 of us.  Small trips are fun and are a lot easier.  On the bus we all got a whole row of seats to ourselves, 2 for our bags and 2 for ourselves to spread out on . . . a nice change from the cramped buses of past trips.  Also, the one girl who didn’t show up was supposed to be my roommate in the hotel, so I get my own room!  Excellent!  2 hours into the drive to Phan Thiet we stopped at a rest stop to refuel and use the restrooms.  Most of us bought iced coffee with milk, and we had our first taste of this strong, rich, super sweet delight.  Vietnamese coffee is amazing.  The coffee in India was almost as good, but loving sweet things, this coffee is at the top of the best coffee I have ever had.  As we drive father north the landscape completely changes.  Rows of rubber trees, palm trees, and other lush and vibrant green plants cover the countryside and the rolling hills.  The contrast between the rich green hills and the light blue skies is gorgeous.  Every once in a while you see a deforested area and can’t help to wonder how it got like that . . . is this recent damage, or a result of a defoliant from the war.  The drive was extremely relaxing.  Everyone was silent:  sleeping, reading, and listening to music.  Gives you time to think, to breath, to appreciate.  When we arrived at the hotel we immediately knew that we would have an awesome time.  The resort is actually small, with low buildings hidden amongst rich greenery and bright flowers.  They have an endless pool, the type that looks like it drops off into nowhere, and it is set up with lounges and a bar.  The water comes direction to a wall with steps . . . there is no real beach.  The water, however, is beautiful and warm.  We ate a 6 course meal with fish, squid, pork, rice, soup, and fruit.  After lunch we put our stuff in our rooms.  The rooms are nice . . . a nice bathroom, flat screen TV, free wireless internet, a lounge and sitting area, a patio area, and all for each room, which means I get it all to myself.  RELAXING!  We then left to take a boat tour.  Phan Thiet is a fishing industry village, so we took row boats, 2 people per boat, for about an hour on the river.  All the men in the fishing boats were fascinated with us, but we couldn’t understand what they were saying.  No one here speaks English.  After the boat tour we all got a cyclo tour.  We each got our own cycle, a bicycle with a seat on the front.  The tour guides took us around, showing us a few sites.  We went to a famous temple in town that is home to the largest whale skeleton in SE Asia.  The whale is considered holy in fishing towns such as this one.  After that we went to the market for a half hour (where I bought 8 more DVDs) before boarding our bus and coming back to the hotel to freshen up.  We left for dinner at 7pm and went about 10 minutes down the road to a restaurant.  We were served soup, pork, chicken, and then a pot of chicken, pork, fish, shrimp, and squid mixture on noodles, and then fruit for desert.  Yum.  While most people took the bus back to the hotel, Maggie, Erica (a girl who I had made friends with in Namibia) and I walked back to the hotel.  Some people got massages across the street for about $10 for an hour, but I decided just to relax in my room and watch the TV.  I think tomorrow I might get some spa treatments, we will see.

 

Phan Thiet, Day 2

I got a wake up call at 7am, when I normally get up, and had a nice relaxing breakfast by myself in the lobby.  We were given vouchers so that we didn’t have to pay.  The breakfast was buffet style, and like Thailand, had non breakfast foods such as noodle dishes as well.  I uncovered the secret to their great coffee.  Instead of using sugar and milk, they used condensed milk!  This makes it thicker and super sweat.  Yum.  After breakfast we were given the choice to either continue with the plan, a tour of some sand dunes, or to stay at the hotel.  Eric, Erica, Cayleen, and I stayed at the hotel, a choice that we made wisely.  Turns out the sand dunes weren’t great after all, and nothing compared to Namibia, and they fried to death in the heat of the sun while we swam in the pool.  I walked about 5 blocks to the nearest ATM around noon, to get out some spending money for the rest of my time in Vietnam and to have some money to buy drinks tonight.  On my way back I stopped and bought a mango for 10.000 dong, or about 65 cents.  Mango in the US is expensive, and is terrible and hard.  This was the best mango that I have had so far.  I had great mango in India, Thailand, and Mauritius, but the mango that I had from the street vendor was unbeatable.  The juice ran down my arms, a rarity with mango.  Yum.  I wish I could have that taste forever in my mouth.  I spent the rest of the day lounging around, and then I got a hair treatment at the Spa for only $6.  Some of us wandered over to a local bar for Happy Hour Mojitos, and then we went back to our hotel at 7pm for the BBQ dinner.  It was great, tons of food.  The brother of one of the guys on my trip, and his friends, decided to come to Phan Thiet for the night so after they arrived we all went out for drinks.  It was a great time.  When we came back to the hotel we decided to be European and about 15 of us went skinny dipping in the ocean.  We had seen some people do it during the day, so we knew that it wasn’t a taboo thing on this beach, and since it was dark we all felt comfortable with it.   It was liberating.  I went to sleep after that.

 

Phan Thiet, Day 3

We left the hotel at 9:30am and headed back to the ship.  The drive was super long because the traffic was pretty bad.  I think I will spend the night in the ship, I don’t feel like going out again tonight.

 

Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City

Good morning, Vietnam!  The past two days on the ship leading up to this port have been extremely emotional.  Many staff have memories of Vietnam that induce extreme emotional responses, and many lectures included tears.  As students, we had no clue what to expect.  We were not alive during the Vietnam War and we do not have those same memories.  Worried about our reception in the country, we were ensured that American’s are pleasantly welcomed in Vietnam; in fact, they enjoy our presence and aspire to be like us in many ways.  Many of us students have fathers, grandfathers, or in my case uncles who had fought in the war, and knowing that many of those individuals have never been back we feel an obligation to see the country so many years later.  Semester at Sea was the first non-military US ship to go up the Saigon River, and was also the largest group of Americans to enter the country after the war.

 

When I woke up this morning we were traveling down the Saigon River, an extremely narrow river with rice barges and small boats on all sides of us.  A few years ago, in fact, we hit and sunk one of those barges (but no one was hurt).  Our port here is nice, a lot nicer that places like Morocco and India.  There is a coffee shop right outside the port, a luxury I will enjoy early tomorrow morning before my trip leaves.  Vietnam is clean and modern, not as clean and modern as Thailand, but somewhere in between India and Thailand (closer to Thailand).  There are motorcycles EVERYWHERE!  The most common tourist injury is injuries caused by getting hit by a motorbike!  When we got on the ship Colleen, Jill, Stephanie, Connor, Matt W., Ian and I got a taxi to the War Remnants Museum, formally called the Museum of American Atrocities.  Words cannot describe the emotions that we all had, as we tearfully went through the exhibits.  They did have an extremely different view of the war as we did, but they had a whole exhibit dedicated to protests against the war around the war, a half of which was about American’s protests, burning draft cards, suicides, ect.  We were satisfied to see they reflected some American sentiment in the museum.  In the end, we only spent about an hour there, not wanting to hang out such a depressing but necessary site.  We all find it so hard to develop a perspective towards the Vietnam War.  Not being around during that time, we can only go off of what we see and hear.  It is hard to know what to think, so we decided just to take it at face value, an atrocity to all involved.

 

After the museum we walked to a cathedral in the city.  It wasn’t that big, but it was beautiful.  Someone was taking their marriage pictures there, and the woman was extremely beautiful.  What a pretty place to take wedding pictures!  After seeing the cathedral and relaxing outside for a short time we decided to get lunch.  We found a restaurant called Broken Rice (that’s the English translation).  We got to eat upstairs in a room by ourselves, and we had to take off our shoes before going upstairs.  We went up to find short tables, and we sat on the floor!  It was hilarious because the guys in our group were too tall to stand up, the ceiling was too low!  We ordered our drinks, and I got a fresh coconut.  I drank the milk and then ate the flesh with a spoon, so delicious.  We then all got a main dish, all of which are served with a mound of “broken rice” which is like a mix between couscous and rice and is big in South Vietnam.  I got an egg omelet as my main meal, and it was delicious.  I also got a soda, and my meal cost $3 US.  Speaking about money, it is extremely hard to convert money here.  $1US is equal to 17.000 (seventeen thousand) dong!  There are so many different types of bills, it is insane. 

 

When we were done eating we walked to the market, which is also on the way back to the ship.  The market was huge and had everything from food to fake Coach.  Most of the stuff was junk, but I bought a few t-shirts and bowls.  T-shirts are only $2US after bargaining.  This is also one of the first ports that’s accepts US dollars and quotes their prices in US if you ask.  I also bought 12 DVDs and the first 4 seasons of LOST and The Office, all for $20 US.  I watch so many movies on the ship, and my roommate brought about 40 and bought 10 in Thailand, but I am still running out.  Pretty much a movie every night is my rate now.  Even though they are bootleg copies, they are good quality.  It is funny because I got 12 movies and 2 series for the cost of 1 movie back home!  You can’t beat it.

 

After shopping in the market some of the boys got fitted for suits, and then we headed back to the ship for dinner.  Instead of having cheddar cheese cubes they had swiss cheese cubes, and it totally made for a great dinner.  I decided to stay in for the evening because I am exhausted and want to catch up on some sleep so that I won’t be tired for my 2-night overnight trip that leaves tomorrow morning.

 

 

 

 

Thailand

Day 1

Today was my first day in Thailand.  We are docked in a small town called Laem Chabang, about 30 minutes outside of Pattaya, where there are excellent beaches.  At 1300 pretty much all of my friends on the ship and I went to the Pattaya Elephant Village on an SAS trip.  This village is home to 33 elephants, three of which are males.  These elephants used to be used in the logging industry, but after the use of elephants in this industry was outlawed they had no where to go.  When we first got there we were given the opportunity to buy bananas, and I did.  We then walked over to the elephants, stood right next to them, and fed them out of our hands!  They are the most gentile creatures!  I was very surprised at how long their trunks were, and how the animals didn’t smell.  They are covered in this rough, pointy hair.  After this feeding students got onto the elephants to go bathe in the river.  Only about 15 students could do this, and I chose not to, but it was funny seeing everyone go chest deep into the dirty, poop filled water.  After the baths there was a short demonstration of the elephants.  We learned about their eating habits, watched them drag and push logs, and we even saw an elephant slam dunk a basketball.   One of their elephants used to work in a circus, so we watched him stand on two legs and do other tricks like that.  We then all got to ride on an elephants back.  It was so hard to get onto it, and I have a funny of Thai men pushing me onto this huge creature.  After another brief demonstration with the elephants, we were allowed to ride on them in pairs, but on the seat-like thing they strap to its back.  Stephanie and I got the small elephant and thought it was so cute.  After everyone loaded back onto the buses we came back to the ship.

 

Day 2

Early in the morning my Semester at Sea Bangkok Overnight trip left.  Emily and Nick were on this trip with me, so I was happy to know a few people who were going.  The bus ride took about 2 hours, and most of us slept the whole way there.  As we entered the city we were amazed at how much it looked like a city in the states.  It was huge, and there were skyscrapers everywhere.  One thing that I also noticed is that there are 7-11’s EVERYWHERE in Bangkok.  It is so much like Philadelphia in that aspect.  As soon as we got to the city we went to a port and loaded a long boat.  We road up the river a little to a temple called Wat Arun.  This temple is extremely tall and steep.  We got out at the temple and were able to spend about a half hour walking around, climbing up to the middle of the temple (which was shaped like a steep pyramid), and wandering around the area.  Emily and I, hot from our climb up the temple, shared a coconut (fresh coconut milk).  It was delicious.  We got back onto the boat and headed into the canal system that traverses the city.  We fed fish from the boat, saw traditional brightly painted boats, saw laundry hanging at every house, and I even saw an ice cream boat.  The ice cream wasn’t just any ice cream, though . . . . it is made from coconut milk (but made in a way not safe for tourist consumption)!  After we finished in the canals we went to the Royal Barge National Museum.  The Royal Barge is used in royal processions and festivals on the river, and is only bought out about once every five years.  After the museum we headed back to the port where we boarded our buses and headed to our hotel.  We were all amazed when we walked into the lobby of the most beautiful hotel I have ever seen.  Semester at Sea trips always put you up in nice hotels; this 5-star hotel surely fit that bill.  We at lunch at the hotel’s buffet.  The food was some of the best food I have ever, ever had.  It was amazing: sushi, pizza, soup with Asian mushrooms, pineapple, dragon fruit, mango, papaya, salads, deserts, cheeses, and meats.  It was quite the spread.  The rooms in the hotel were immaculate.  They were all dark wood, had huge mini-bars, huge showers and tubs, and being of the 23 floor we had the most beautiful view of Bangkok.  After settling into our rooms, Emily, Nick, and I walked around because we had the afternoon free.  I went to a tailor that was recommended to us by our tour guide, and went to get a dress made.  I could choose the fabric, the color of the fabric, and the style of the dress.  After I designed my dress, we left and walked around some more.  I took a bubble bath when we got back to the hotel, and Emily and I took naps before dinner.  We had a dinner/dance show where we watched traditional Thai dance.  Thai dance has much to do with the fingers, and the care they take in positioning their fingers is crazy.  After dinner we went back to the hotel where I had my dress fitting.  They had a rough outline of my dress that I tried on and they pinned it and left to finish it.  That night Emily, Nick, and I went to the night market.  On the way to the night market was saw an elephant on a leash walking down the sidewalk . . . . what?!?!  The night market in Thailand is known for its red light district, one famous in the world.  They warned us that the sex industry was alive and well in Bangkok, but nothing could prepare us for it.  Strip club after strip club after strip club lined the streets, and neon signs such as the one that said “Super Pussy” covered the street.  Men in suits come up to you with menus, but they were not menus for food.  Menus include “Open bottle,” “take rings off bottle,” “razorblade,” and other extremely disturbing stuff.  Use your mind and I’m sure you can figure out what I’m talking about.  You couldn’t walk two feet without having a menu shoved in your face.  Welcome to Thailand.  Nick was extremely uncomfortable so he headed back to the hotel, and Emily and I found a bar on a nearby street.  We sat there and had some wine, and being the only two girls and being surrounded by gay men came to the conclusion that it was a gay bar.  After relaxing and making friends with the British man next to us we headed back to the hotel for the night.

 

 Day 3

We had a 6am wake-up call, and went to the breakfast buffet at the hotel.  Like the lunch we had had the previous day, the buffet was amazing.  Not only was there normal breakfast food but there was noodles, soup, and lunch food as well.  On the way to our first stop of the day we passed through Bangkok’s China Town, the largest in the world (outside of China, of course).  We first went to Wat Rachabophit, a temple built in 1870 by King Rama V.  The temple is a mixture of local and western styles and reflects the new style of the times.  Here we talked with two monks, one who had been a monk for 23 years and one who had been a monk for only 5 days.  Next we headed to Wat Po Temple to see the Reclining Buddha, a 46-meter long gold-colored Buddha.  It was huge, that’s all that I can say.  The Thai Buddha is skinny because he starved himself, and does not look like the Buddha seen in China with the huge stomach.  Next we went to the Grand Palace, a focal point for the people of Thailand.  Built in 1872, the Grand Palace has extensive murals, gilded spires and fantastic architectural designs.  In one of the buildings you could see the Emerald Buddha, carved from a single piece of jade in the 15^th Century; moreover, this Buddha guards the sovereignty of the Kingdom and the religious beliefs of the people.  Next we had lunch at a local Thai restaurant.  After lunch the buses headed back to the port city, but about half of us on the trip signed off the trip to stay in Bangkok.  Emily and I were supposed to meet up with Matt, Laura, Steph, and Jeff, but Matt’s phone wasn’t working for the first time on the voyage, and we were unable to find them.  The two of us got a hostel in the backpackers district, which was one 4-block long strip covered in hostels, restaurants, bars, shops, and vendors.  We took a nap at the hostel before taking showers and getting ready to go out for the night, for St. Patrick’s Day.  The shower was hilarious: it was a hole in the floor in the corner of our bathroom and a European style showerhead coming out of the wall opposite from the hole.  So pretty much when you shower the whole bathroom gets soaked.  We went out to dinner at a Irish restaurant, and then headed to an Irish pub that was across the street from our hostel.  Since the whole area is for backpackers and tourists there were so many people who were celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.  We met a man from Amsterdam who “fancied” Emily, and he bought us a drink each.  He was very drunk and a little weird, but he had two nice friends who had had met earlier in the day.  They were 24 and were from England.  We hung out with them for the rest of the night and had a good time.  The one kid Anthony and I ate worms on a stick that some lady brought over to us.  Maybe not the best idea, but it’s a good story.  After a typical St. Patrick’s Day bash, we went to bed.

 

Day 4

After sleeping in, Emily and I paid for another night at the hostel and headed to Starbucks for a morning pick-me-up.  We then decided just to wander around for the day and to take it easy.  We took a tuk-tuk to the Grand Palace area where we wandered around the markets there.  We found a flower market, not far from the area, and I have never seen so many beautiful flowers before.  There were hundreds of them in bags and in containers lining the streets.  Since flowers are used to honor the gods, many individuals buy flowers daily.  After seeing the flower market we headed back to the hostel area and wandered around for a bit before taking a nap.  We got ready for the evening and headed into the city, not far from where our hotel was the first night.  We ate dinner on a side street, some of the best food I have ever had.  The food in Thailand, by the way, is top.  It is amazing.  It was our friend Amber’s 21^st birthday and she was on a Semester at Sea trip that was spending the night in Bangkok so we went to her hotel to meet up with her at 9.  There were about 20 of us in all that were trying to stay together as a group to celebrate her birthday, but at about 2330 the group split.  I ended up with PJ, Jeff, and Craig, and we found a small bar and relaxed.  Emily decided to go out with the other part of the group, and was going to stay in their hotel for the night but to take a taxi to the hostel in the morning to meet me.  Because I wasn’t drinking, I was extremely comfortable with that plan.  At the bar I had the best iced coffee I have had in a while and it made me extremely happy.  Jeff was too drunk, and I walked him back to his hostel a few blocks away.  When the bars closed at 2 PJ went back to his hotel, a few blocks from where we were.  Craig’s hostel and my hostel were in opposite directions of each other and were about 45 minutes away from each other, but both PJ and he insisted that Craig take the taxi to drop me off before heading back to his hostel.  I love that the boys here are so good about looking after you, it is refreshing.  When I got back to hostel I got a late night snack at 7-11, and then went to bed.

 

Day 5

I woke up at 800 and went to Starbucks and an internet café.  Emily met me in the morning and then we headed to catch the Semester at Sea bus back to the port.

 

India to Thailand

The past few days have been absolutely insane, so I haven’t really had much time to update my blog.  My reflections on India stop after my Erode Village Homestay, so that’s where I will pick up.  In the morning on my second to last day in India, I returned to the ship from my homestay.  After taking a glorious shower and eating some breakfast, my friend Colleen and I decided to explore the port city of Chennai.  We left the ship and started walking through the port (about a 1 km walk from the ship to the port gate).  When we got to the port gate we hired a Rickshaw, the little yellow motorized taxis that are seen in India and some Asian countries.  There were about 25 of them lined up, and every one of them wants your business.  We finally found a guy who was willing to take us the City Center Mall for 100 rupees, or $2 US.  You have to be careful with taxis and rickshaws because the drivers will tell you a price and then change it along the way, try to make you pay for gas, or take you to other shops before taking you to the correct one.  We got lucky and had an honest driver, and although he tried to charge us more he gave us no problems when we handed him a 100 rupee note and walked away.  The ride in the rickshaw was very interesting.  Rickshaws can squeeze in between buses and cars, and you often found ourselves in oncoming traffic.  I took a video of my rickshaw ride that you all will have to see when I get home. 

 

City Center Mall was a very western mall.  It was clean, and women were dressed more western than I had seen so far (they had on jeans and t-shirts).  Colleen and I were surprised to find out that it was National Women’s Day, evidentially a big holiday in India.  The mall had a small celebration, and we partook in the festivities.  First, we got some excellent tea.  We were given white roses, and got free henna on our hands.  There was a photographer and a videographer who enjoyed taking pictures of Colleen and I, and I am pretty sure that we ended up in a newspaper somewhere. 

 

We wanted to go to Spencer’s Plaza, a huge mall with hundreds and hundreds of stores.  We hired a rickshaw driver to take us there for fifty rupee.  We quickly realized that this was not such an honest driver.  We made 3 stops, one at a furniture store, all three extremely expensive.  The rickshaw drives can make commission off of bringing people to different stores, so this happens to just about everyone.  After one of the stores Colleen and I waited in the rickshaw while our driver went into the store.  He came out with a receipt that had the time in, time out, number of people, nationality, and other information about Colleen and me.  He got 150 rupee from the store, and we felt powerful with our ability to make someone money just by going into a store.  I wonder how much he would have made if I was Canadian, Irish, or German . . . He tried to take us to one more store but I said no, and insisted that he take us to Spencer’s.  He offered to go halves with us, giving us half of his earnings for the next store and not charge us for the ride.  He showed us his cross necklace and told us that he was a good Christian man trying to support his children and do the right thing.  It was pretty cool that he was Christian if he actually was, but I wondered how many necklaces he has around his neck . . . Although I thought it hilarious that I could actually make money by doing this, we wanted to go to Spencer’s.  The rickshaw driver finally told us that Spencer’s was closed (which it really wasn’t as we found out later), and he took us back to City Center Mall.  Back at City Center we got some cookies from this cookie kiosk, and they heated them up for us in the microwave . . . so delicious.  My favorite was caramel cashew!  We bought some groceries and decided to go back to the ship because we were both exhausted.  We hired another rickshaw to take us back.  I slept, watched movies, and relaxed for the rest of the day.

 

Our last day in India, Colleen, Jill, Ben, Connor, and I squeezed in a rickshaw and went to Spencer’s Plaza.  Spencer’s was very large and dirty, but you can bargain there and there is more “India-type” stuff than there was at City Center Mall.  We walked around for a while, bought some stuff, and ate at Pizza Hut.  Yes, Pizza Hut.  Pizza Hut was overrun with Semester at Sea students, in fact.  Every seat was taken up by hungry American college students.  The personal pan pizza that I had was excellent.  They called it Veggie Crunch or something, and it had onion and tomatoes on it . . . for only 75 rupee, of $1.50 US.  At Spencer’s Plaza I had bought some postcards, and had written them while eating.  When we left Spencer’s we hired a rickshaw driver to take us to the post office and then to the ship.  The post office was quite an experience.  Colleen came in with me while the other three stayed in the rickshaw.  The post office was extremely crowded and there were a million lines, each for something different . . . also, no one spoke English there.  It would have been easier if I was only sending postcards, but I was also sending two letters, each filled with pictures making them too heavy to send with regular postage.  After about 5 minutes I figured out that I had to go to a scale, weigh my letters, write the weight, and then go to get the correct amount of stamps.  My one letter had 4 different stamps on it!  I was in such a rush, too, because if I was in there longer the rickshaw driver said he would charge a bit more, so I threw the stamps on and we left (he didn’t end up charging anything additional because I was relatively fast).  We then went back to the ship.

 

A side note about the last day – It had been raining, and I was wearing flip flops because I didn’t want to ruin my sneakers.  I also had on white sweatpant-material capris.  I kicked up so much tar and dirt onto myself that my carpris are now Pokka dotted!  I had to wash my legs and my feet three times in the shower, continuously scrubbing. 

 

India is dirty.  It is littered with garbage and feces.  Men pee on the side of the roads, and children play in garbage.  But India is also littered with the bright colors of saris and the intricate designs of temples.  India smells like sewage and sweat.  The toxic rivers reek of the human feces that are daily dumped into the water.  But India also smells like beautiful flowers and fresh coconut milk.  India has extremely poor citizens who pitifully romp about the city, unable to make a better life.  They live in dilapidated tents, and sleep in their own filth.  But India has extremely poor citizens who have more faith and generosity than even the richest of men.

 

I have said it before, and I emphasize this point:  India is not a place you can write about or describe, it is a place you must feel.  The energy, hope, and happiness expressed in a single child’ smile makes a little piece of you come alive, a part of you that you didn’t know existed.  I feel more whole than I did before I had been to India.  I was unaware that I was incomplete, but now I feel more whole.  India changes you.

 

The day after India was a free day.  No classes, no required meetings, just sleep and reflection.  I slept until 1130, ate lunch, then slept from 1200 to 1500.  It was a relaxing day.  We then had four days of classes.  The first two days of classes I spent locked up in my room, studying.  I seriously only left to go to classes and to meals.  I also watched a few movies, and spent time with myself.  Sometimes I need time to myself to digest everything that is going on, my crazy life, my amazing experience.  I always find myself going back to the question, “who the hell am I?”  What did I do to deserve this?  I often feel frustrated because it is hard convey the change that is going on inside of me.  It is a change that you can’t know or comprehend until you too have traveled the world and seen the places and things that I have seen.  I wish that other people, my friends and family, could share in this experience.  I think about individuals daily, and relate my experiences to them . . .

Dad:  You would love South Africa.  Golf, wine, warm climate, and lots of relation. 

Mom:  You would love Spain.  Great pastries and fresh fruit, not too hot but not to cold, and a nap in the middle of the day.

Sabrina:  You would love Morocco.  Constant business, endless culture to be explored, fairs and bizarres, street shows, monkey, and last but not least, couscous.

Grandpa Kelly:  You would love India.  If you ever would visit there, I don’t think you would come home.  Yes, the poverty and filth would get to you, but the human spirit of the Indian people would steal your heart, and you would be in heaven if you saw the generosity of the people.

Rich:  Namibia would be perfect for you.  For the most part it is very modern and clean.  There aren’t too many people, and everyone is friendly with each other.  It is always hot, and would be an ideal location to set up a neighborhood ice cream shop.  Also, there are some very poor townships, remnants of Apartheid.  I think that you would enjoy doing some missionary work there.  Namibia also has giraffes, elephants, and zebras, and who doesn’t love those?

Don and Betty Helpa:  You would like a little of each.  For Betty, the shopping in South Africa and in Spain.  For Don the golfing in South Africa.  You both would love the Sangria in Spain, the vineyards and wine in South Africa, the great food in Morocco, and the excitement of the rickshaw in India. 

Aunt Fern: I think that you would love India, like my Grandpa.  The children there would touch your heart, and I think they would change you like they changed me. 

…those are just a few examples, but I do this with almost everyone I know, thinking about you all and how much you would love these countries.

 

On the third day of classes after India I had a Demography midterm at 8am (one reason why I had been locked in my room).  I felt very, very good about it but I got a call from my professor a few hours later in my room.  He told me that I had missed a question, so we met 5 minutes later and he allowed me to answer the question.  I thought, how cool is that . . . that my professor can call my room, my cabin and meet me 5 minutes later because he now knows me enough to trust that I legitimately missed the question and wasn’t spending my day looking up the answer.  Also, I got back a paper in poetry class.  I was unsure of it, because it was a interpretation paper for a poem, and my professor is so specific.  If you don’t see what he saw in the poem, he will give you a lower grade.  BUT, I got an A and it made me very happy.  That night I went to pub night with some of my friends and we had a very good time.  I am becoming quite the lover of Rose wines. 

 

Today, our final day before Thailand, I am relaxing.  After Global Studies I went to the field office to buy a bus ticket from Bangkok back to the ship, and then ate lunch.  Lunch was terrible, but they had chilled banana soup which I have learned to love.  It is somewhere between a smoothie and a juice, and is always delicious.  Now, as I am writing this, I am sitting in my room drinking hot chocolate and eating Otis Spunkenmier cookies, which are made fresh daily and sold 3 for $2 (expensive but worth it once in a while).    I think I may lay out for an hour later, it is a bright and sunny day.  I am trying to prepare myself for the next month.  In the next 27 days we only have 6 days on the ship.  We have 5 days in Thailand, 2 days on the ship, 5 days in Vietnam, 2 days on the ship, 6 days in China, 2 days on the ship, and 5 days in Japan.  Time in port always flies by, and the day before a port and after a port always fly by, so the next 27 days are going to be gone in an instant.  What is even weirder/scarier is that after this stretch I only have Hawaii and Guatemala left.  We do gain a day coming across the International Date Line, and coincidentally that day is Easter.  So, I will have two Easters this year (you will have to be sure to let the church know about that one, because I think it’s pretty awesome).  We have all been looking forward to our stretch of time in the Asian countries, and now it is finally here.  But in a way I don’t want it to be, because then it will be over soon, and then my trip will be over soon.  This is all too fleeting.  I really wish that I could stay on this ship forever. 

 

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving – we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

                        -Oliver W. Holmes

Erode Village Homestay, Part 1

So much has happened in the past two days since I wrote my first post about India.  In fact, my first impressions did not do this country justice.  India is an amazing and beautiful country . . .

 

At 8pm three nights ago my trip met in the Union.  We left the comforts of our ship behind as we boarded another bus to head for the Chennai train station.  India is bustling at night.  There are people covering the streets, and there are many food vendors who come out at night.  We were all overwhelmed when we got to the train station.  Thousands and thousand of people hustling about.  I felt like we were a parade because everyone just started at us Americans.  We were all shocked when we got on to the train.  Dirt, dust, and bugs.  The bathroom was a squat toilet, aka a hole in the ground with two designated places to place you feet.  We all went to the bathroom before the train started to move in order to avoid a catastrophe of sorts.  We all sat for about an hour until the train was schedule to leave.  We also prepared out “beds.”  My friend Allison, who I had met form my bus in Namibia, was in the bed next to me, and two girls named Zoey and Colleen were on the bunks on top of us.  The four of us had our little nook, and a curtain could be drawn to give us minimal privacy.  We also had our own light and fan.  Alison gave me some Nyquil, and I slept like a baby.  We arrived in Erode very early the next day, at about 6:30am.  At the train station some school children were gathering to get on to their buses.  We were once again the focus of everyone’s attention.  We loaded on to two mini-buses, and departed the station.  On my bus there were 10 of us, and on the other bus there were 16.  Our buses were to depart for the entire day, and to meet back up the next day.

 

Driving, I observed how many physically handicapped people there are.  This could be for the sheer reason that there are just so many people in India, but to me the streets looked like a Christian charity commercial.  It was sad.  I am afraid that the money a few well-meaning Christians could muster up wouldn’t even be the tip of the iceberg fro solving the problems of poverty in India.

 

We drove about a half an hour to a town called Gobi, where the 10 of us were staying with our host family for the day and night.  As we pulled up to the huge, gated house we could tell that our hosts had lots of wealth compared to their neighbors in shacks and dilapidated houses.  We were greeted with flower lays that smelled amazing and bhindis (sp?), the red dot of spices in between the eyes.  Different colored bhindi’s have different meanings, as we came to discover.  Our red bhindi was to welcome us and was a guiding eye for our insights into this new culture.  As our host, Dr. and Mrs. Shavari greeted us, they said “Welcome Home.”  I have never felt as welcome as I did, in fact.  Also, it is tradition for the Indian women to draw designs in rice flower outside of the front door.  These beautiful designs are sometimes colorful (but more so during festivals) and are for the ants and other bugs to eat.  Along with this design our host wrote “Welcome.”  What a great start for the day. 

 

Next, we were shown around the house.  A huge open foyer area led upstairs, where bedrooms were everywhere.  I counted 6, but there could have been more.  Dr. Shavari works at a local hospital, and Mrs. Shavari is the principle of the school next door, the school in which this couple owns.  We also met Dana, a 22 year old from Minnesota who graduated last June with a degree in world religions.  He has been staying with our host family for two months now, and has two more weeks left in India.  He is volunteering at the school, teaching English to the older students.  He was excited to see some Americans.

 

Breakfast was our first taste of amazing Indian food.  South Indian food, by the way, does not taste/smell like “curry.”  Curry, in fact, doesn’t really exist in India.  So no, the house did not smell like curry all the time, and neither did the people.  For breakfast we started with coffee.  This was the best coffee that I had ever had, ever.  It is made with fresh milk, not pasteurized or tainted with chemicals.  Also, it contained tons of sugar.  Lastly, the coffee beans were fresh, gown not too far from the town by a relative of my host family.  I had three cups, as did most of us.  We also had fresh lime juice and fresh orange juice.  There was dulce (like a thin pancake, or crepe), rice dumplings, and sweet bread.  To go with this there were a variety of sauces, or chutneys.  There was a cauliflower with coconut milk chutney (my favorite) and a salsa like chutney.  There was also peanut brittle, meringue cookies, shortbread cookies, and other sweets out for us.  So yummy!  After breakfast we all headed next door do the school. 

 

At the school (which is a private school) we were greeted at the gate by a marching band, which began to play as soon as we were in sight.  About 15 children marched and played the drums, trumpet, or fife.  They led us in procession to the morning assembly, which is held outside daily.  The 1,020 students were standing, waiting for us in perfect lines.  We had to sit in chairs facing the students.  We had so many eyes on us; it was truly an awesome feeling.  After we each introduced ourselves we listened to the students recite their mantras, or prayers.  After the assembly was over, children headed to their classrooms.

 

We were toured around the school, visiting various classes.  We were all amazed by how smart and well behaved these children are.  When they saw us coming towards their classroom, everyone stood.  They stood!  Silent as a mouse, no one said anything until told that they were allowed to interact with us.  The older students, on a regular basis, take botany, physics, zoology, biology, chemistry, computer, social studies, all studies of math, English, Tamil (their language), Hindi (their second language), and English (their third language).  Talk about well educated, well rounded students.  What struck us the most was how eager these students are to learn.  120 of the students live close to the school in a hostel because their homes are too far away.  They all wake up at 5am to meditate and to study.  The students have classes from 8am until 4pm, at which point many students stay until 8pm to study and to tutor other students.  The passion for learning is mind blowing.  The content of the material these students are learning at such a young age is beyond my knowledge.  It goes to show how cocky the American education system is getting, and how badly it needs a reform.  We are falling behind in America, we truly are.  Students take all of these classes from Kindergarten through 10^th grade.  At this point, students choose a concentration for their last 2 years.  After 12^th grade, students take an examination, almost like the SAT.  Students who score a 1180/1200 will be excepted into medical school, free of charge.   Others must pay, and it is difficult to get in without that 1180.  Other professions such as businessman have a sliding scale in terms of what you scored on the exam.  If you think about it, it is similar in America.  Almost all of the students at this school either want to be in medicine or engineering.  100% of students go onto college.  Amazing.

 

Side Note: At the school we were taught about the Silk Cotton Tree, whose seeds contain a white substance similar to cotton.  These seeds are used to make a rough cloth.

 

We left the school and walked to the house of a wood-worker.  We watched him carve out a bedpost or a table leg.  He sells to other individuals in the village, but his products do not reach much farther than that. 

 

After the woodshop we traveled to the village fabric shop, where we watched the noisy mechanical looms weave towels.

 

Next in the day, we got into the bus and rode to a place where they produce sugar.  First they grind the sugar cane, which is grown on the premises.  Next, they boil this liquid and skim off what floats on top, until there is nothing left.  What is skimmed off drains and starts to harden, and then it is turned with huge wooden paddles, similarly to fudge.  Lastly it is formed into medium sized balls.  This yellow, no-chemical-added sugar tastes like honey fudge.  It is amazing.  I wanted to buy a ball, but they wouldn’t let me pay for it and insisted that I take it for free.  We also chewed on some sugar cane before we left.

 

Continuing on with our journey, we went to house of a potter.  We watched him spin a pot, which he then lets it sit for three days.  After the three days he pounds the bottom for smooth it out, a process that we also observed him do.  This potter produces 30 pots a day, and each pot sells for R8, or less than $0.20.

 

Lastly in our “Trades Tour” we went to an organic farm.  He we enjoyed raw mango, guava, 2 varieties of gooseberries, coconut milk straight from the coconut, and coconut flesh.  The raw mango was interesting, but good.  It was not as sweet as the ripe mango but it does carry a stronger mango flavor.  This is how they enjoy their mangoes in Gobi. 

 

After the farm we went back to our hosts house to eat lunch.  There, we met the niece of our host, a deaf girl.  Our host was telling us how the niece can only speak one language, unlike the rest of the Indian population who can speak 3.  We were all amazed that she could even speak one language!  She speaks so well that you really wouldn’t even know that she was deaf.  It was incredible.  Lunch was another amazing meal.  We had these soft brown tortillas, rice, lentil chips, other chips (tasted like Bugles), beans and carrot salad, potatoes chutney, lentil chutney, egg mix (chutney), soup with spices, fresh yogurt, fresh lime juice, fresh orange juice, coffee, and a variety of sweets.  We finished our meal with amazing bananas, a different variety than you can get in America.  They are smaller, but sweeter and stronger.  My favorite thing about eating in India is that you eat with your hands.  You mix everything together on your plate using your right hand only and then shovel it into your mouth.  It is fun.  I think we need to implement this in the States.