Singapore-Singapore Day 1

 

Feb 20^th

                We arrived in Singapore at around 7am and were off the ship at around 10 am. It takes a while for immigration to clear everyone. Cindy, Mike, two Chinese students and I wanted to visit Sentosa Island which is just outside of Singapore (about an hour away, mostly using the Subway system). Before getting onto the Island we stopped at a family style Malaysian food restaurant. It was pricy but we had been told it was one of the best. It  was really good, we had chicken and pork with rice and vegetables. Definitely different then the food I had had at that point in the voyage. We took our time eating and took in the atmosphere at was Singapore. Singapore is one of the most ethnically diverse places I have ever seen. In a matter of minutes you would see different ethnicities selling their products.

                After lunch we headed to the Island. Which is a very touristy place. It is set up as basically a resort because there is a theme park, hotels and more. But it was so beautiful. It is fairly newly built and most things on the island are new. It used to be a military island but was transformed into a place for tourists. We decided we wanted to do the Island zip line. It’s a zip line which begins on a small mountain on the top of the island and goes down past the beach and some ocean onto a platform. We took a small hike up to the zip line through the rainforest. We saw some pretty big spiders and some birds. Mostly spiders which was terrifying because they were huge. The zip line was truly amazing. It was only about two minutes of zip lining but the view was amazing and it was a fun ride down to the beach. We enjoyed the beach for a while and then decide to go to the aquarium which want as big as we thought, but did feature a cool dolphin show and an ocean tube you walk through and see sharks, sting rays and more. I had to be back to the ship by 5 to meet up with an SAS group for the night safari.

                So we left around 4 so we would make It back on time. Due to traffic though I ended up barely making it on time for the trip. Without having time to eat dinner I was so hungry during the night safari. But I didn’t let that ruin my experience. I still made the most of it. The night safari has all nocturnal animals which is really cool because most of the time at zoos the animals are kind of boring because they aren’t very active at day, for example the big cats. But at the night zoo we got to see the lions being fed, bats the size of my full arm hanging and eating fruit within a foot of my face. It was really cool to see so many animals and in such a different atmosphere. After we took the safari we headed for ice cream and I enjoyed a ben and jerry’s cone. (YUM). I got back to the ship at around 11 and got ready for my night out with my friends.

                We decided to go to a club called Zuke because it’s a new one that just came about and had amazing reviews online. Walking in we were asked if we were SAS and they gave us VIP because of it, it’s exciting for the club to get a lot of white people because everyone wants to party with the ‘”cool” Americans. So the club filled up really fast even though it was a wed night. The DJ was amazing, drinks expensive and dancing was a lot of fun. Me and friends even got onto the platform in the middle of the dance floor a few times which was pretty fun. We danced with guys which was different because of the harassment policy in Singapore. In Singapore if a man even brushes up against a women and she thinks it’s harassment he can get fined or jailed. So when dancing they stay at an awkward distance away from you, unless they aren’t locals. We left at around 4am and pretty much crashed in our beds.

 

Back on the ship. Enjoying a Snickers bar and some roomie bonding time

Today we got back from the Golden rock. It was in the top 2 of the most amazing experiences I have had so far during SAS. I am so happy I was able to go there. Now I am hunkering down with Bridget and were going to enjoy a candy bar while we watch how to train your dragon before an early bedtime. Tomorrow I have a service visit to an orphanage that is run by Buddhist nuns. I am nervous and excited to meet the kids but also I realize these children have had rough childhoods. I will talk to you all soon.

 

 

Love

Casey

Vietnam- Day 6 A Vietnamese Spa day and Reflection of Vietnam

                We slept in a bit, we only had one plan…spa day. We got breakfast at a local place. We all got 60 minute massages and Mani-Pedi’s. It was heavenly. All for 1/3 of the price in the USA. I have never had a massage before, but I am now in love. We headed back the ship after to beat the rush of people and also because it was BBQ night and we wanted our BBQ ribs, chicken and hamburgers, also baked mac and cheese… YUM. It’s a big deal for us

               

 

                Vietnam Reflection

                I was really lucky to have to opportunity to actually stay with a Vietnamese family and travel with one. The language barrier would have been much harder without it. The people were very  friendly and helpful. The food was good. I was not surprised by anything I saw. The culture was so much fun though and it was a real adventure. Especially crossing street which was an adrenaline rush because people walk whenever they want and don’t look for traffic. It was insane trying to get places with a lot of traffic. Overall I wish I am really glad I had the opportunity to see Vietnam and see the things I got to see. After Vietnam we had seem more countries than 95 percent of the world. We truly are very lucky for ass we get so see and experience.

 

Vietnam- Day 5 Ho Chi Min City and Chu Chi Tunnels

We woke up fairly early to get into the city. We stopped at a coffee shop for a light breakfast and some coffee (for those who drink it). We also stopped at a souvenir shop before we got into a Taxi for our destination of the day. The Chu Chi tunnels are about an hour away from the city and a 20 dollar taxi ride (split between 6 people). During the Vietnam war the Chu Chi tunnels were used by the Viet-Cong in battle against the south Vietnam and USA. Before even going we were warned that this is a pretty “anti- USA” place. They celebrate here the ways they killed Americans and the ways they won the war. But we all thought it was important to see the war from the other side.

We got to the tunnels which are literally in the middle of nowhere at around noon. We had troubles getting out tickets because no one spoke English, but we just handed them what we thought was a good price for a ticket and they handed one over for us. In the beginning of the tour they started us off with a video. The video was a short background of how the “devil American’s” (using their words) came and destroyed their families and homes but they decided to fight back. They talked a good 15 minutes just one people who got awards for their clever ways of killing Americans during the war. It was also scary because they showed actual video footage from the war, including those who had died. It was a real wake up call to what went on here and that it was not that long ago. After the 30 minute movie we were lead onto the jungle by a tour guide. It was very beautiful, all of the trees, animals and more. We saw small animals and lizards everywhere. Our tour guide spoke English, thank goodness. In our group we were also joined by a couple from Germany who were living in China.

Our group was lead into our first tunnel after a 10 minute walk. without having known it was an entrance, we would have walked right by it. It was scary how good they were at hiding their tunnels and their barricades while they had small holes to kill people. It really hit us hard because American’s died on this land in large numbers too. This is in a way a graveyard. We were lead to many tunnels, homes, clinics, meeting areas. It was crazy that they built a whole city under the ground. We saw bomb craters and traps people were killed in. it was a pretty emotional experience to see all of this, but overall interesting and educational.

After our tour ended they treated us to potatoes that you dip into a sugar and peanut filled bowl. It was alright. At that point it was food because we were hungry. We also ordered a fresh coconut that they cut open and stuffed a straw into. We also had a really lovely conversation with the German couple who was with us. They were really friendly. We talked a lot about China and living there. Nothing I feel comfortable putting on my blog though.

                We walked into the street to find a bus, we were told the bus comes every hour, lucky for us we didn’t have to wait long. The bus was interesting as we had to stand the whole time because it was full. People gave us looks and tried to talk with us but we just smiled and nodded because we couldn’t speak it. On our second bus into the city we had a seat in the back. We ended up being bombarded by adorable kids. They came and talked, made faces with us and laughed. A baby in front of us played with us too, it was adorable and we had a lot of fun with the kids. After our bus ride we ate some BK because it was next door, then we headed to a local night market before going back to the ship for bed.

HELLO FROM BURMA

Burma was amazing today for our first day. I will inform you all after I catch up with some other blogging! It is different from any other place I have ever been too. The people are overwhelmingly friendly, the city has some beautiful pagodas and since they don’t get many tourists the people are so curious to see us when we walk around. But they keep their distance and don’t bother us. They love to ask questions and see where we are from. Oh and we got scammed by a monk today, one bad experience, not a lot of money… details to come when I catch up blogging.

Anywhoo I am off to bed soon. Long day ahead tomorrow and I might try and blog a bit tonight before bed so I can catch up on Vietnam and Singapore!!

 

Love

Casey

Vietnam Day 4: Nha Trang Beach and Ho Chi Minh City

Today we will be pulling into Mayanmar (Burma) at around 2pm because of tides. So for now I am sitting in my room and enjoying a relaxing morning. Bridget (Roomie) just left to meet with her SAS family (At the beginning of the voyage you could sign up to be assigned an adult on the ship that is your SAS parent, you eat dinners or lunches with them and they treat you to free food on the 7^th deck). So she is up on deck 7 with her “family” enjoying free smoothies (So jealous), my other roomie (Kim) is doing schoolwork in the library, so I have the room to myself.

 

Feb 15^th

 

                We woke up early for a free breakfast buffet at the hotel. After we split into groups, one group who was going hiking and another going to the beach. So we split up and I joined the beach group because hiking is not my forte, especially in 90 degree weather with humidity.  So we went to the beach which was clean, empty and the tide was far. Which made it very beautiful. We ended up swimming with locals and laughing with them. I was with my friend Angela who speaks Vietnamese so she translated some of what they were saying and some for me, but for the most part we used charades or body language. They were really friendly… until they decided to start a splash war. In a pool I would say bring it on, but in the ocean… I hate salt water (and this salt water  was especially salty and burned your eyes).

                So needless to say me and Angela and her niece ended up swimming away and hanging out just us three. Which was fine because we just floated around and enjoyed the atmosphere. It was really nice being in the water because it was very hot outside. But after about an hour we had to get out to head back to the hotel, shower and get ready to check out. we arrived back at the hotel at around 10:30, and check out was noon but we wanted to be back before the hikers to shower.so I had the room to myself to shower and relax until they came back after their hike. Once they came back they all showered and got ready. Check out took a while because the go and check out the room before you leave and they take their time. After came lunch. What an experience lunch was.

                Vietnam restaurants have no health code.  Although the food everywhere we went was good, including this one, the conditions we ate in made it hard to enjoy the food. Trash piled high inter the table (including food trash), sitting in a very small space with many people, a table that wasn’t wiped down, our water pitcher had a bug in it and more. So I had a can of coke and ate my food with my eyes closed. The food was really good though! It was BBQ’ed out in the front and was fresh. After lunch we went back to the van and we found a place to go shopping. We all bought some souvenirs and once we were done it was around 2 and it was time to start heading back to the City. So we started our drive back, this time we were all pretty exhausted so we slept. Half way we stopped for a BR break, which bathrooms are also very different. There’s no TP or toilet seat. Also the sink is a glorified bucket that you just dip your hands into after applying soap. It amazes me how people live under these conditions but for them it’s normal. This rest stop was also where they sell “Vietnams best Milk and milk candy” we all bought some to try, loved it and ended up buying a lot of it and also some coconut candy which is also very yummy.

                We arrived back in the city at almost 5pm and walked back to the ship from downtown. Once back on the ship we noticed Kim our roommate was acting strange and our friend Cindy pushed her a little too hard to tell us what’s wrong and she kind of exploded in emotion and asked to be left alone for the night. So we left and went into the city to give her space for a while, Bridget, Cindy and I. We had BK for dinner and Vietnamese ice cream. I also picked up my traditional Vietnamese dress I had tailored. It came our really really nice! We went shopping also and stayed out until around 11pm to give our roomie space. We came back and made small talk with Kim, although she was still upset but we went to bed right away since we had long plans for the next day.

Burma- Thoughts

Feb 24^th 2013

 

My thoughts

                Tonight at our pre-port meeting the main thing I got from it was that Burma will be a place like any other place we will go to on this journey. With this I am so excited. I have seen some documentaries on Mayanmar (Burma), and in this I got a taste of the amazing country and I am even more fired up now to finally be going there for 5 days. This is a place that the government is taking over the lives of the people. People are in some ways upset that we are going here because our money is in some ways supporting the government, but in reality were also supporting the people. I am not really nervous, in fact I am sad we don't have more time in this country to see more.

 

What I hope to learn

More about Buddhism,  learn more about living in a poverty stricken country and also a country under hard control under their government, and learn more about/from the people here

 

What I am most excited about

The golden Rock- A major pilgrimage site

Visiting my first orphanage (Also really nervous)

The pagodas

 

 

What I am most nervous about

Nothing…

 

The tentative plan so far

Day 1- Dinner and exploring Rangoon

Day 2-  Rangoon

Day 3- Golden Rock

Day 4 – Golden Rock

Day 5- Orphanage Visit

 

 

Love

Casey

Cookie

T

Cassandra-Marie Jean Cole

 

Vietnam Day 3: Nha Trang Beach!

Feb 14^th

                In the morning we had to be up early in order to catch our bus to the beach town of Nha Trang. It was about a 2 hour bus ride out of the city, so for 12 of us we paid 20 dollars each for a roundtrip ride. Kim’s family (My roommate who has family in Vietnam that she met for the first time) booked us the bus which is pretty much a large van with a driver who travels with us. It was actually kind of weird because this guy who drove us was basically obligated to go everywhere with us and whenever we needed him he would come as fast as possible to drive us to our destination. It was weird in that sense because I have never had that kind of deal before. I actually didn’t like it, I felt bad for him, even though I am sure he is making a good amount of money it seems like a pretty crappy job.

                But anyway, we all got into the van and took off around 7 am for the beach. Along the way we stopped at a restaurant for breakfast, which is not the same as we Americans are used to. It’s customary to invite the van driver to eat with you so he joined us Our breakfast consisted of noodles in beef broth and for dessert a shot glass of yogurt. Me and Bridget (My roommate who is also from the Northeast USA) were the only white Americans on the trip and we felt very obligated to make sure we didn’t offend the other 10 Vietnamese travelers (Our 2 friends and their family). Being that I am the kind of person that doesn’t usually eat breakfast, eating at 7am was pretty early and it was the same dish I had for dinner the night before. We tried it and it was very watered down and had a funny taste. But we ate it all and enjoyed our yummy yogurt afterword’s. Our friends and their families finished their breakfast much faster but they understood I am sure that not only was the food different for us, but we had to use chopsticks which is also hard for us. Overall it was a cheap meal and I was glad to have something In my stomach.

                The bus ride was 2 hours so it was really cool because we were able to look out our window and look at the people (They were tinted so we wouldn’t look rude), which was really nice because we could look and observe people doing their daily activities. We saw a lot for strange things too. Such as families of 5 riding on a moped (motorcycle/scooter), a moped driven by a lady with a large stock of live chickens hanging off of the back (a little disturbing), little kids asleep on parents lap while going full speed down the road and rice patties! We also saw a lot of temples and small villages. The ride to the beach was almost one of the most interesting experiences in Vietnam because of this opportunity we had to see the outside of the city and see more of the urban life. We arrived at the beach around 11am and since we couldn’t check in we first went to a famous Jesus statue that is rested on top of a mountain. We underestimated how steep the stairs were and how many. It was a true hike up this mountain. It was really interesting though because on the way up there were many statues representing different parts of the bible.

                By the time we got to the top at around 11:45 we weren’t able to actually go inside of the statue because it was their lunchtime. But we took some beautiful pictures and enjoyed the beautiful view of the town and the ocean from the mountain. On the way back down we stopped for an ice cream, which melted really fast since it was almost 100 degrees outside and sunny. We met back up with the bus driver and checked into our hotel. The hotel was pretty nice, it had a twin and queen bed. Me, Bridget and Cindy shared a bed and our friend Ronald got his own twin bed. We didn’t take long at the hotel and went quickly to lunch in the hotels restaurant. I got a chicken that was friend and had some siracha sauce on it. It was amazing and of course some white rice on the side. After we headed to the beach, which I will be honest was a letdown at first. We arrived at a bad time, it was high tide. On top of that people at the beach don’t care about their trash so all of their trash was collecting in one very small area which was very gross. We still decided to go swimming though, and we had a great time. This was the first time we all really got to relax and enjoy time together in an exciting environment. We were actually on a beach in Vietnam, half way around the world.

                Once the tide became too high we headed back to the hotel. We all showered and got changed and then headed to dinner. We had a hot pot dinner. Which reminded me of a Vietnamese version of the metion pot. There was a pot of broth cooking in the middle of the table. Of course we were also given noodles and meat/seafood for the hot pot. It was pretty good and after we went back to the beach which had been cleaned and the tide was far back. It was much more beautiful at night. We spent almost 2 hours just walking around, enjoying the waves, looking at shooting stars and meeting people. We met some locals who gave us heart balloons for Valentines day, we also met a man from Australia who works in Ho Chi Min and gave us some life advice as a traveler. He was very friendly and rounded out a nice day with his kindness.

                Before bed we all laid down and talked about our experiences on SAS so far and in what ways we feel different. I know I feel mentally so free. I have changed so much in how I see the world and how the world works. After we talked about foods we miss. Which is the hardest because after a month of being away from American food and trying new foods almost every day…no comfort food you really just want food you’ve had your whole life. But also no complaints because we get to do something people dream of doing their whole life… to see the world.

Burma is coming up qucik

Last night we had a memorial service for a professor who passed away while we were in China. His wife went home to be with her family but came back to sail with us in Singapore. So last night  Archbishop Desmond Tutu lead the service with prayers and scripture readings, students and staff provided memories and students played the piano in remembrance. It was all done very well and we were all reminded how much of a shipboard family we truly are. I really do feel close to people on the ship even if I have only had a few conversations with them. Were all in on this crazy adventure together. We are all making memories together, experiencing things together. So last night Arch talked a lot about how Wade (The Prof) considered the MV Explorer his home and reminded us that as a community we are all in some way connected by this journey we are taking. After the memorial, we quietly all preceded to the back of the ship, walked down 2 flights of stairs on the back of the ship to the 4^th deck to be handed a flower we could throw off of the back. The flower was to represent all of those we have lost in the shipboard community in the past and those who we have lost in our life that have had a major impact on who we are. It was a really emotional experience to see over 500 people on the back of the ship, on every level, looking down on the lower deck where the flower throwing was occurring. I said a small prayer and threw my flower as in the background someone played a violin. I have so much respect for his wife (Jane) who came back to the ship and stayed strong during the whole service. Once about half of the people had thrown their roses, the ship began to make an infinity loop.

 

I am all caught up on school! My first mid-term was today (blah).. But I can now actually take time tonight to catch up on my blogging and mentally prepare for Burma which is going to be a very emotional country and a large culture shock. Because of tides we are arriving in Burma around 2pm tomorrow and we are being asked to leave the port 2 hours earlier than we were supposed to. So overall were losing about 8-10 hours in Burma which is a bummer but I am still glad to be going because were the first SAS voyage to be going there since 2005 because of the issues with the government and treatment of the people.

 

Hope all is well! I love emails J hehe

 

Love,

Casey

Wait, are we really on our way to Burma?

Yes, yes we are. I am actually really nervous for Burma.

 

I know I still have to write about Vietnam and Singapore. For now though I am trying to do schoolwork, because I forget I actually have school sometimes because were so busy.

Today I have my two classes and I also booked a service trip in Burma. I am going to visit an orphanage. This will be my first time being exposed to something like this, so I am nervous for how it will affect me. But I feel that it is important that I do this at least once while on semester at sea. Everyone who has done SAS before and has done an orphanage visit has said it was a major changing event for their voyage.

So for Burma, I will be in Rangoon for a day, visiting the Golden rock for 2 days and then the last day I will be at the orphanage.

But for now we have today, tomorrow and the next day to recover from Vietnam and Singapore. I still feel like I am in Japan.

Time is going so fast but I am having an amazing time and feeling really great. Not only mentally but physically I am losing weight and I have been feel healthier. I brought jeans that fit me before the voyage and are now too big and jeans that were tight and now fit perfectly. We arrived at our first country about a month ago and we have already hit half of our countries.

Burma-India-Mauritius-South Africa-Ghana-Morocco and Spain are left.

BUT my mom booked her flight the other day and is officially meeting me in Rome. Although it is right after SAS I am really happy I will get to travel with my mom, especially since she has never really been to another country outside of North America. She has been to Canada (awhile ago) and Turks and Caicos (but that was to a resort not for a cultural experience). So I am really glad I get to go to Italy, Greece, Turkey and Croatia with her and my best friends older sister.

Also she told me she had to buy me a round trip ticket form Rome because it was cheaper which means I have a ticket back to Italy in August………….. maybe I’ll win the lottery and go back to Europe.

So that’s what’s new in my life.

 

Oh and I have lost my debit card……….

I have my other banks card on the ship with me (My Oswego card) , although I don’t know why. I didn’t tell them I was leaving the country though…

 

                I DIDN’T TAKE IT OFF THE SHIP S IT’S LOST IN MY ROOM, SO I AM NOT REPORTING IT UNTIL I FEEL LIKE IT’S A PROBLEM. Once I report it I cannot book trips through SAS and buy things on the ship….

I am mad though because I had it in a safe place but while in port I moved it for some reason… ugh

 

 

Grandpa (since I know you will worry the most)- I have cash, mom is keeping an eye on my account. I  have a good amount of cash on me, enough ot get by. I will probably have to book things through SAS though so I don’t run out of cash

Mom- Thank you

Dad- refer to mom if you have any questions, she has my bank info that’s why she knows

All others- Hi

 

OK, New topic

 

 

 

I am like 80 percent sure I will be doing the South Africa Safari. I really want to do it now since I need to book SAS trips. I am so torn between doing it and spending the money or not doing it and saving. Also I need to decide what I want to do in Morocco since I am really nervous about Morocco too and I want to have a plan for that country (which probably means an SAS  trip). I found one I like for about 600 (2 nights and 3 days, on the Sahara). So… decisions decisions because I cannot afford to do the Safari AND the Sahara. I would choose the Safari over it though.

 

I am sorry this post was almost like a rant. I just am at the point where I have A LOT going on.

3 days to catch up on school (a lot to do)

Blog- need to catch up before I forget what I did and things I want to remember

Debit card

Money

Trips?

Country worries

 

 

 

Desmond Tutu not only speaks, but touches our hearts

In Vietnam Desmond Tutu made an orphanage visit  with SAS. He was so touched by what he had seen that he spoke tonight for us (which was his first time as a shipboard event). At 7:30 the whole ship came into the student Union (largest room on the ship). As he came out everyone instantly became quiet and waited for him to start. His speech was only 15 minutes long but it is one I will never forget.

He started off by talking about the children and the interactions between the kids and the students who were at the orphanage. How 5 nuns took care of 50 kids. He talked mostly though about how amazed we were that the students were showing so much compassion and how to be most “Human” we must be “humane”. Which made me really think about how true that was, how we as humans really come out at our best when we are acting humanely toward others. But in his 15 minute speech he touched our hearts the most when he ended with his religious message.

He started to say how god is so saddened by all of the things in the world that are inhumane. How children are abandoned and left hungry. How people fight wars for things not worth dying over. He said that god was crying and is asking the world why, but an angel came and wiped his tears. He said god is thanking us for allowing our voyage to change us, to open our hearts, to help us see how most of the world is living. In a whisper he ended saying thank you 4 times for us being there and showing compassion to those who needed it. He left the podium, the room in tears and we all quickly got up for a standing ovation as he left the room in shock. We didn’t know what to expect or do.

 

As I sit here, still in the union I am still in shock because of how heartfelt his speech was. Yes he started off a little funny and even danced a bit to make the room laugh hysterically. But in the end he left us all with a new view on our actions.

 

Thanks Buddha.

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

                                     Buddha

PRAISE THE DEBIT CARD GODS

I HAVE FOUND MY CARD GUYS, SO NO WORRIES!

 

I had it with my driver’s license in my medicine bag. I have no idea why I stuck it in there, BUT I HAVE IT

 

 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Vietnam Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City- A Day with Angelas Vietnamese Family

                                  “Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” – Confucius

 

Thought I want to remember: Everything in life is temporary, all we have is here and now. Don’t hold onto things in this world that can’t bring you true happiness.

 

DESMOND TUTU! He is going to be coming into my classroom right after India to speak with my class of about 20, so we can ask questions and see his opinion on major topics such as religion and more. I am so happy to have this opportunity.

 

I am debating on buying a Safari in South Africa or not, it’s something I really want to do but it comes with a large price sticker so if I do it I will have not a lot of budget wiggle room. Eep I don’t know. I don’t want to regret not doing it.

 

February 13^th

 

                We woke up at around 9am, went to Angela’s room and watched her pack and get ready for her aunt’s house. Since I hate mornings I packed the night before and didn’t have to get ready. She took a while so we just sat and chatted, Angela was pretty nervous because she hadn’t seen her aunt in over 5 years. After she got ready I  went with Angela and Chelsea to the shuttle into the city and once in the middle of the city we took a taxi to her aunt’s house. The taxi is so cheap. It costs around 60,000 Vietnamese Dong. Which 20,500 dong is 1 USD. It was about a 10 minute taxi ride. So for about 2.50 we got to take a taxi.  This is really for all of Vietnam that everything is very cheap. Most meals were less than 3 dollars and a bottle of water (which we bought a lot was 10,000 dong). So anyway, we got to her aunt’s house at around 11am. Her aunt’s house is on a narrow street in a district in the city. When we first got there it was overwhelming because of all of the people and the homes. The taxi driver pointed us in a general direction of the house and we had to find the right one. After asking locals we found the house and her aunt, niece and cousin came and greeted us at the door. The entrance of the house is very “outdoorsy”. They don’t have A/C so they have a large gate in front of the house which can close if there is rain. On the ceiling there was a large fan, even though there was no A/c in the house it was still cooler than the outside which was nice.

                We sat down at her aunts table and we took in the house. There was a table for 4 in the front, their two mopeds were in the entrance (the dining room also) so they would be safe from anyone trying to take them. Two of the major things I first noticed was there in the dining room there was two alters. One was dedicated to the Buddha and was decorated with flowers and offerings. The other was dedicated for ancestors or otherwise called an “Ancestor worship” alter. They had pictures of deceased relatives with flowers and offerings to keep them happy. It was so different for me to be in this kind of household because it’s different than what we are used to. We all sat down and Angela talked with her aunt (who spoke very little English), while me and Chelsea sat and smiled for a good hour. We spoke a little through Angela and we munched of coconut candy her aunt gave us while Angela’s cousin lest and came back  with fresh produce to make us lunch with. We were shown up to our room on the 4^th floor, we had two queen beds and a twin for the 6 of us to share (our friends were coming over later to stay). We laied on our beds and took in everything. Soaking in Vietnam and enjoying the view of the city from our balcony. It was so beautiful. A house like this is considered  middle class. Angela’s Aunt’s income is about 150 American dollars a month, but the house is paid off. This salary is about the average for those in Vietnam, but since the cost of living is much less, they can get by on that much.

                We laid in our beds and talked while her family made us a homemade traditional Vietnamese lunch. We were so lucky to actually have this experience. Her niece came and got us when they were ready and presented us with an amazing lunch. Everything was prepared so nicely. They made us a pork chop seasoned with a Korean style bbq sauce, white rice, soup and for dessert milk apples which was all amazing. I will show the pictures because that’s the only way to show how much they really went out of their way to not only make it taste good but look good. They decorated the plate and everything. After we ate, we helped clean the table and then went back upstairs so her Aunt could nap before an afternoon of shopping and dinner. We relaxed before heading out, because of Tet (Lunar new year) we didn’t do a lot of shopping but we did head into the flower festival and enjoyed the city, including ice cream J.  Her Aunt was so sweet and tried to help us bargain with the locals as we bought things. I didn’t buy much though because I wanted to save money. After shopping we headed over to a place with traditional beef and noodle soup and we also got mango smoothies which were freshly made and fantastic! We got back to the house and met up with our friends who were staying over also so we would be together for the night. Doing this would make it easier when the bus would come to her Aunts the next morning to take us to the beach! Se we all took showers and went to bed early. But first let me explain my “shower”, to say the least they don’t have a western type shower in Vietnam or toilet paper in many places. In her aunts bathroom was a faucet over a large bucket of water, next to the large bucket is a little bucket and you manually pour the water from the small bucket over your head and all over the floor which has a drain for the water on the other side of the room. It was actually very refreshing because of the heat. Not having hot water was different but at the same time it’s not really needed for them.

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow (today) is Vietnam and since I am out of time I will blog about my rest of Vietnam after! Keep an eye out for pictures!

Vietnam- Day 1: Ho Chi Min City

Let me just start off by saying that Vietnam was truly amazing..

I had an amazing time and it is my new favorite port.

Yesterday and today I have class and also went to the field office and decided to sign up for two SAS trips

One is in Singapore(our next port), it’s to the only night zoo in the world which hosts nocturnal animals

The second is to the Golden Rock in Burma a huge Buddhist pilgrimage sight there and a major landmark, this is an overnight and I am soooo excited I was able to get in on the trip because it’s going to be beautiful

 

 

Feb 12^th

 

                It was an early start of the day as we started floating down the Saigon river. The port captain was on the ship at 8am and we started our slow, windy way down a river that is not made for the size ship we were riding on. It was not a very big river for a ship holding almost 1,000 people. It took the ship 4 hours to float on the river and make it to our port. Since all 4 of my good friends on the ship had field labs on this day so I hung out with some other friends that I am not as close to, but they are all still pretty awesome. Chelsea, Beatrix, Eedan, and Pat. We all went into the city on the shuttle from the ship. Right after getting off the ship is became so obvious how hot and humid Vietnam is. It is technically winter for them, but it was so hot still. Around 90 degrees and probably 100 percent humidity. Instantly we started to sweat and we knew we would have to find water.  Although our original plan was to find a beach, two factors prevented us from being able to go, 1) it is Tet (Vietnamese new year, same time as the Chinese new year) and 2) the beach was 2 hours away so we needed to take a bus or Taxi. Since we were not allowed off the ship until almost 1pm, we decided to explore Ho Chi Minh. We got dropped off right in the middle of the city’s flower festival which was about a half a mile long full of decorations, fountains and more. It was so beautiful. Everywhere there were families taking pictures, women In traditional Vietnamese dresses and we were right in the middle of all of this. It was such a great “welcome” into the city.

                We walked the while festival and then after we wanted to find a tailor to get some cloths tailored. Vietnam is known for their handmade clothing and quick service in doing so. Chelsea and Pat wanted a tailored suit, while I decided I would rather have a traditional Vietnamese dress. So we went and got our measurements taken and  because we had plans for the next few days, decided to come back for our stuff on the second to last day in Vietnam. The ladies were all friendly and quick with how they got us in and out. so before we knew it we were off to our next (unknown) destination. We decided to split into two groups because Beatrix and Eedan only had one day in the city and we wanted to take our time and just wander around as opposed to seeing the major things in one day. So we headed in a direction and walked for about a mile before we came across a huge catholic cathedral. We went inside to check it out, it was beautiful and apparently is called “Notre Dame”. We then headed into a building nearby to do some shopping. After shopping we all started to get hungry and the place we found closest was Domino’s pizza, but we didn’t want our first meal to be Pizza, so we decided we would just get one pizza and then in an hour go and get an actual Vietnamese dinner. We arrived at Domino’s and ordered one small pizza to share (6 slices between 3 people) but when our order came out they gave us two pizzas, so we ended up having a lot of food and it quickly became our dinner.

                Although feeling guilty that we ordered American food in Vietnam we were still pretty happy to have full tummy’s. We walked toward the flower festival again so I could catch a bus back to the ship because I wanted to meet up with my friends after their field lab so we could figure out our plans better. On the way we ran into some amazing parties going on for the new year, music, dancing and more. Beautiful lights and people everywhere. It was so amazing to look everywhere and be under beautiful decorations for the new year. I arrived just in time for the shuttle back to the ship and met up with my friends right at the entrance. We went to my room and decided to change our plans because of emails from my friends Vietnamese families and moved our plans around. So here our new plans which stayed:

 

Day 1: HCMC

Day 2: Meet our friends Families who live in Vietnam and stay overnight

Day3: take a bus to the beach

Day 4: Beach and back to HCMC

Day 5: HCMC

Day 6: Spa Day

 

For those of you who don’t know Ho Chi Minh was originally called Saigon before the Vietnamese war in case you’re like “I have never heard of HCMC before”

Hello from Vietnam!

Today was our beach day! Such a beautiful area! Can't wait to write about all of my experiences later! It's been great!

Love
Casey

Pre-Vietnam thoughts!

                Tomorrow morning we will be chugging up the river to Ho Chi Min city at around 8am, but we won’t arrive until noon. Here is my pre-Vietnam thoughts. I know I couldn’t do it for china. But I have some time for Vietnam! So here is a small portion of the many thoughts I keep thinking as we get closer. I doubt I will be post much while I am in Vietnam. I will try though since its 6 days and 2 day after Vietnam were in Singapore!

 

My thoughts

Tonight was our pre-port meeting for Vietnam and honestly it made me really wake up and begin to worry about where exactly we are going. Vietnam is really our first port of which there are real dangers we need to worry about. Things I didn’t have to think about in intensively in other countries I really have to stay on my feet here. They warned us tonight of the diseases, danger in traffic and more. Vietnam may be beautiful but it is also going to be a wakeup call. Although I am kind of scared of all of this, I am also insanely excited. I want Vietnam to challenge me (in a healthy way), I  want to learn a ton, I want to meet people and swap stories. I am really really glad I have two friends that I am traveling with who both speak Vietnamese. Honestly it is going to make the trip a little easier than most people. But also takes away from the experience of not having any Vietnamese.

 

 

What I hope to learn

                I hope to learn a lot about the people, how they live, what their systems are like in the city. I hope to learn basic Vietnamese phrases. I hope to learn more about traveling, become a better traveler. i hope to learn more about myself and grow as a person, as a global citizen and take in every moment to the best I can.

               

What I am most excited about

                The food. The culture. The people. Shopping. Sightseeing. Learning more about Vietnam and having my previous thoughts about this place be challenged

                

What I am most nervous about

 

                Diseases. Being robbed. Getting lost

 

The Tentative Plan So Far

 

Day 1- Beach with Chelsea

Day 2-  Da Lat- explore area/ hiking/ parasailing?

Day 3- Da Lat-explore

Day 4- Ho Chi Min city- meet my friends family who lives there and spend the day with them

Day 5- Ho Chi Min City- see the city, the tunnels from the Vietnam war, war memorial                   

Day 6- explore the city, be back on the ship in time for barbeque dinner!

China Day 3 and 4- Hong Kong and Reflection of China

Hey Everyone! My schoolwork is pretty much done and just in time because tomorrow we pull into Vietnam!

February 7^th

                We pulled into port pretty early and went upstairs for breakfast. We were docked on opposite side of the main downtown area of Hong Kong and could see the city in full view from our dining area. Although it was foggy and humid outside, we still all became very excited as we realized we were actually in Hong Kong. They started announcing that we were cleared to get off the ship pretty early. By around 9am we were good to go. The port was attached to a really nice shopping mall which provided free Wi-Fi. We were all pretty happy to sit and enjoy Wi-Fi for a good 30 minutes before heading out into the city.

                Since the main art of downtown Hong Kong was located on the other side of the __(River, Bay?)… I honestly am not 100 percent sure. We took the Star Ferry to the other side. The ferry was really cheap but also a fun experience. It was pretty small compared to our ship, probably held about  150 people and only sail for about 10 minutes. Once we got to the other side we decided we would walk to our next destination: The shopping district and Dim Sum for lunch. We walked and took in the city around us. The crazy traffic, people J walking, and the huge advertisements everywhere. It was actually quite a modern city, although a lot of the city around us was new because we had never been here, I felt like It was a lot like any other modern industrial city like Tokyo or NYC. We walked about 3 miles and got to the shopping area. But it wasn’t open yet, we did find signs for an area nearby called “Times  Square” so we went in that direction to see what the buzz was about. It was just a large building, but did have a bunch of large TV’s,  lots of people and in the front was some New Year decorations, including a bunch of really pretty fake trees that had pink flowers and was on fake pink grass, all in front of the building. We stayed to take some pictures and people watch. People were so interesting. I found family interactions most interesting. Mostly how parents and children interacted.

                The parents were really into taking lots and lots of pictures of their kids and with lots of silly poses. The kids played a models and came up with a ton of silly poses that they smiled and posed for their parents with. It was so cute to see and overall was just a reminder how similar we are as humans. We left “Times Square” and decided we wanted food. Our friends who are Asian said that we need to try Dim Sum while we were at Hong Kong. Dim Sum is a meal that is family style, you order small portions of many different foods to try and you all share it. The place we found was decently priced and was also very nice. We could have probably dressed up a little more if we had known. We chose 11 different things to try because each food item was about 2 dollars and there was 5 of us. The Dim Sum we had for lunch was definitely one of the best meals I have had in Asia so far. I really enjoyed trying lots of different foods in small portions and being waited in for one of the first times.

                We ate our lunch, but took our time since we were really enjoying it. But after about 90 minutes we decided to head out and split up. 3 of us planned to go to Victoria’s Peak, so we could take a tram to the top of the mountain and look out. the other 2 had to go back to the ship because they had to meet up with another SAS group for a performance. Victoria’s Peak is the highest point in Hong Kong and on a clear day you can see out for miles. So we looked at our map and navigated our way around HK until we got to the tram station. We took the tram up the mountain which was about 10 minutes. That in itself was an adventure because they shove about 100 people into this tram made for like 50, so everyone crams to get in and get a seat. But we took it up and were bombarded by shops…which we walked around. We went outside to try and see out, but by the time we left the building there was fog, fog everywhere, it seemed like it was miles thick. So needless to say we didn’t stay long because we couldn’t see anything.

                We left the mountain by 6pm by Tram, then took a taxi to the ferry and then the ferry back to our port. We ate dinner at a small restaurant near the ship and then relaxed on the ship until our friends got back so we could go out for drinks. The 6 of us girls got ready and headed out around 11pm. We didn’t really have a plan of where to go, but after wandering around we found a place locally that had some other SASers and local people. We got an unlimited drinks deal for cheap and had a really nice time chatting with the locals, playing dice games and talking. We left sometime around 3am and went to bed after arriving to the ship around 3:30am.

February  8^th

                The next morning most of us had plans to get up at 7am, do some more exploring…maybe hiking and more. Buuuut that didn’t happen because getting out of bed was a really hard task the next morning. Both of my roommates were throwing up almost all morning while I tried not to. We ended up sleeping until noon, once we felt better though we made new plans, to head to the Art museum nearby which had an exhibit dedicated to Andy Warhol and his influence on the pop world. It was perfect to stroll around and see some of his famous works and learn about his life. Me and Bridget spent almost 2 hours here before heading back to the terminal/mall to have food. We walked by a pizza place and decided to be American and eat pizza. We were both pretty hungry, it smelled amazing and it had Wi-Fi. We ate our pesto pizza and bruschetta and then headed back to the ship because we had to be back on at 6 to be “on time”.

Reflection of China

                Although my first impression of China in Shanghai left me with bad vibes. I left Hong Kong really wanting to see more, especially Beijing. Hong Kong was truly beautiful and was such a nice modern city but still full of great culture. Some things I noticed was that the people were pretty “standoff ish” they overall stayed away from us or didn’t want to be bothered by us. Some people could come up, but overall it was rare. Advertisements were huge in china. In shanghai I was put off by how dirty a lot of the city was, but Hong Kong was very clean. i had a really good time in Hong Kong and Shanghai. I can’t say I met a ton of nice people but the ones I did meet were very friendly and helpful. I wish I had traveled overland to see more of mainland China, but I also enjoyed a few days of peace and also saving money. I really liked the food in China, although it was nothing like the American Chinese food, it was different of course.

                I feel like there is a lot more about China I need to learn, a lot more I need to see and next time I go I need more time. After all China is an enormous country and is such a big part of American life. China and America interact a lot and so with that I think it would be important to return someday. But for now I will prepare for Vietnam which happens tomorrow!

               

Hong Kong!

Times Square!

Me under pretty fake tree haha

The table set up for Dim Sum

Sooo good

Happy New Year!

Me, Bridget and Kim. My roommates!

Art Museum

As we left Hong Kong there was a light show! So pretty!

A great day for everyone to tan or enjoy the sun

But I'll be doing schoolwork.

It’s almost 80 degrees out today and sunny. But I am being a good girl and schoolwork J. I did go out for lunch! I am almost done though and now  trying to finish before tonight because they are showing the dark night rises in the Union with popcorn! So I really want to have my work off my shoulders and go enjoy it and then do some Hong Kong blogging before Vietnam and also do a blog about my expectations for Vietnam (I wasn’t able to do it for China L, but I loved doing it for Japan).

I might be posting later but we shall see.

Our clocks went back another hour last night to be ready for Vietnam time so were 12 hours ahead of you guys on the east coast now!

 

Keep in touch

 

Love

Casey

 

Schoolwork Overload

Between quizzes, papers and readings I won’t have any time to finish the China blog until hopefully tomorrow night or the day after. I really have to catch up on school before we hit Vietnam. If I post about China tonight, email me and shun me because I have a full 6-10 hours of schoolwork to get through tonight or tomorrow. Wish me luck.

 

Casey

Back on the ship and in transit to Vietnam!

So excited for Vietnam. So tired from Hong Kong. I will post tomorrow! In case you didn’t notice…I was able to put up like 30ish pictures from my first two days in Tokyo and my day in Shanghai! They are on my posts about those locations so backtrack to them! I was able to find a way to beat the system a bit and get pictures on here hehe

 

Enjoy

 

Love

Casey

China- Day 1 and 2 Shanghai

Now that I have finished Japan I feel like I can talk about China. I have 2 days in Shanghai and 2 in Hong Kong (I could have traveled overland for 2 days in-between but I decided to save money and stay on the ship). Yesterday I found out that two of my good friends on the ship who are both Vietnamese are Buddhist. Someone brought up is they believe in fate and people opened up about their religions. But on the good side this post makes me officially caught up in blogging! So no you all know what my life has been like J

Feb 3^rd

We arrived in Shanghai around 8am, me and my roommates have a cabin close to the engine so we know exactly when we are pulling into port because the engine rumbles really loudly then all of a sudden gets pretty quiet. We headed up for breakfast and immigration wanted us off the ship pretty quick so by 9am we were in our cabins waiting for our section of the ship to be called off. We got though immigration at around 9:30 and waited for our whole group to get through. There was 7 of us at first traveling together. My first impression of Shanghai was the smell and the sights. Automatically I could see and smell the difference between Japan and China. There was trash everywhere, we had to step over puke a few times and it smelled pretty bad. Our first stop was a bank so that we can exchange money or take out money. There was no banks open since it was a Sunday so we had to use an ATM. We wandered around attempting to use our map but we failed and ended up asking locals for help, 4 people walked by and wouldn’t even try (one of my friends even spoke Chinese and tried to get their attention but they kept walking). 

Finally after asking with no luck, we asked a couple and  they told us where to go. They also offered to walk with us because they were going that way too. Initially they told us to take a subway because it was a far walk but we walked with them. The couple was very kind and walked us about 2 miles to our first destination which was a museum that half of our group was looking for. We decided to split up and meet later at a specific time later. So me and 3 others went to explore while 3 others went into a urban planning museum. This ended up being a mess because the two people who spoke some Chinese ended up in one group and the rest of us with no Chinese background ended up in another group. The 4 of us left the museum and went to Starbucks  to get some water and a snack. The water in Shanghai we were told was not really good to drink and would probably make you sick. So I got a bottle of water and a muffin. We attempted to use the internet but because china is so strict it was hard to get it to work. We then decided to go to a touristy area nearby which had a bunch or stores and people selling things on the streets. We didn’t spend a lot of time there though because we soon had to meet up with our friends at the museum. So we waited and gave them 30 minutes (what we agreed on). While we waited a Chinese man came up to us and asked where we were from. We told him the USA and he started telling us how bad the USA is because the cooperation’s try to take over china. Me and my friend didn’t know what to say. So later when a man came and asked us where were from we said Canada so we wouldn’t have to deal with peoples negative views of the USA.

After we waited we left and went to find food. We walked about a mile and found a restaurant we decided to try. No one spoke English so we all agreed on three things in the menu we would point at and share. One was a friend rice, one was a sweet chicken and one was a chicken and pepper mixture which no one liked because there was lots of little bones in the chicken and it was really spicy. The rice and sweet chicken was amazing though.  On the way back toward the shopping district we were at before we ended up stopping at a burger king to try and use the restroom and they pointed us into a building next door which ended up being a large shopping area that you can haggle for things. We spent about 2 hours in this large shopping area overwhelmed because there was 4 floors and every single person in that building was trying to get your money. Two of the other girls had to leave to meet with a professor for dinner but me and Bridget stayed to shop for a while. I didn’t even buy much but the place was so big (4 floors and over 500 venders) that we really tried to see all that that they had. I ended up buying a pair of beats by dr. dre headphones for 15 bucks, les Miserable for 1.5 USD and 30 Rock season 3 for 5 bucks.

After all of that we decided to head back to the ship since it was almost a 3 mile walk and we wanted to take advantage of free dinner on the ship. On the way we stopped and took pictures by the pier with the Shanghai business district in the background. We made it back to the ship around 6 and ate dinner. The group mates that went to the museum ended up getting back much after. One of my friends Cindy on the ship has a friend from college that is living in Shanghai for vacation because she just graduated. Well this girl, Marie, has an aunt who owns a five star hotel chain that owns a hotel in Shanghai called the Pullman skyline. So Cindy invited us all out to meet up with her and go out for an night on the town. So we took a cab around 9:30 to the hotel (cabs are really cheap, 1 USD per person for a 15 min ride). We waited in the lobby for her. She showed us where the safe clubs and bars were and we ran into fellow SASers at the club. We didn’t stay long though because one of the girls almost got her drink spiked by a guy dancing. So we ended up leaving and we found a bar with a small dance floor and a DJ playing. All 14 of us SASers got drinks and we danced with the locals who were all sitting and doing nothing before we came. We pretty much brought the party haha. We had fun though and around 2am took a taxi back to the ship and went to bed.

Feb 4^th

We had to drag ourselves out of bed at 8am to go to breakfast. Cindy’s friend was meeting us in her hotel’s lobby at 9am so should could give us a small tour of some local areas. We arrived a little late but she was running a bit late too so it worked out. She walked us over to a small area nearby that was small streets of shops and markets. It was really cute and was decorated with lots of new year decorations. We then went into a market and got a real culture shock. Dried full animals hanging, dead animals everywhere, the smell of fish, and we even saw a chicken being killed and then de-feathered with a machine. My friend had to leave within second of going in because it was too much for her. It was pretty shocking to walk around and see all of this so we didn’t stay for long. We walked away and went down the street, there was a small kitty sitting and facing away so we tried meowing to see it and my friend who was still traumatized by the market was not very happy to find out that the small kitty had an eye missing and one foggy eye. So we decided we had enough of this part of town and went back to the hotel so we could move on. Marie (Cindy’s friend) had a personal driver who took half of us to our next destination and the other half took a taxi that followed the BMW. It was a really nice car and the driving was much better than the crazy cab drivers who drive like maniacs.

                                                                                                           

We arrived at a garden area around noon and found a food court to eat at. We split into groups and all got different foods that we could all try and share. I tried a lot of new foods that day including a crab dumpling, pork dumplings and some kind of almond jello. It was all okay. I enjoyed the pot stickers the best though. We sat and ate for a while because we ordered too much food and so we didn’t want to waste a lot of food. Eventually we left and went out in the main square of the gardens where there was a bunch of shops and huge decorations for the Chinese new year! It was really cool to see huge balloons and lanterns all over in decoration for one of their biggest holidays. It’s something we don’t really think about in the USA or it might be a small event on a calendar but in China it’s huge. I remember in elementary school making lanterns and learning about the Chinese new year and it really did blow my mind that I was actually there to see their actual preparations underway for their main holiday. By the time we finished walking around it was around 2pm and we had to back on the ship by 4 L. So we decided to go back to the shopping building because half of our group never got to go and wanted to haggle. We spent about an hour there and then went back to the ship. Since there is only about 160 people staying on the ship from Shanghai to Hong Kong it was a quick process to get back on. We all relaxed, ate dinner and then watched a movie before bed.

I will write a reflection after HK, even though shanghai and HK are really different from each other. Now it’s time to get some work done.

Love

Casey

Arrival in Shanghai

mmm lunch

New Years decorations

Shanghai Skyline

Out with Angela and Kim on the first night in China

Japan day 5- Kobe and Reflection of Japan

Today is our last day in Transit, tomorrow we arrive in Hong Kong. Again I am trying to stay caught up on my blog and also schoolwork. So excited for Hong Kong!

Jan 31^st

                The morning of Kobe we met our friends in the dining hall for breakfast at around 8am (we literally dragged ourselves out of bed). We were all exhausted but excited to see Kobe and enjoy our last day in Japan! We ended up leaving the ship around 10am after exchanging more money and then getting everyone through immigration. Once everyone was through though we walked about 2 miles to the nearest bank so someone could get money out and then the post office for people to send stuff out to family. While they did that though we got to use some Wi-Fi, which is like a treasure when we can actually get online and see Facebook, especially if its more than 5 minutes. But we didn’t stay long and kept moving on. Our first destination was a district that was known for its western style houses. On the way we came across a Shinto shrine so we stopped and explained the shrine to our friends who had never seen one before and also watched a ceremony that was happening in the temple.

                After we kept waking and came across a Japanese bakery, so we followed our senses and ordered  things we thought looked interesting. Everything from doughnuts, to some kind of maple cake, to my chocolate pastry I got that had a filling. We all tried each other’s and they were all really good. Each was fresh and delicious in their own way. We spent some time sitting and talking on the streets of Kobe while we enjoyed our pastries. We walked up a hill and came across a Muslim mosque and we stopped to take pictures and while we were doing this a man on a bike came up to us and asked if we wanted a group picture so we got a picture of all of us. I found it really interesting how diverse Japan was in their religious beliefs. Although most people were Shinto, Buddhist or Christian it wasn’t hard to find other religions also.

                We ended up giving up on finding the houses and decided to walk toward a shopping district so we could get food. Me, Angela and Kim all wanted to try some Kobe beef before we left. Unfortunately if you want Kobe steak it’ around 3,000yen per person or over 35 American dollars. So instead we settled and found a place that was serving a Kobe Beef Hamburger with gravy for lunch, which also came with potatoes soup and salad for a third of the price of the steak. It ended up being such a good choice. The salad was dark green lettuce with an orange dressing and some mayo, a miso soup and then our entrée. This ended up being a pretty big lunch but we finished every bit of it. It was one of the best meals I had while In Japan. The Kobe Beef hamburger was so juicy and delicious. We were all so glad we didn’t give up on it and still got to try it.  After we ate we walked toward the water because we were told there was good shopping. We ended up stopping and trying some crepes, I know they aren’t Japanese but I had still never had one so we all got our own. Mine was strawberry, banana and whip cream, it was so good.

                On the way to the shopping area we ran into our friends and took pictured with them in front of some famous Kobe buildings nearby. Some locals came up to us and asked us questions about where we were from and stuff, we were being pretty loud and joking around with each other so we drew people’s attention but they were laughing too. The group started walking back to the ship since we had to be on the ship by 6pm to avoid dock time. We thought we had plenty of time so we went off on our own. We shopped until 4:30 and then decided to take the train back to the ship. To save money we decided  to buy children tickets onto the subway, the security guard seemed to know we got children ones but he didn’t even care. We got down to the trains though and got confused about which way. So Angela and Kim went back up to ask, I waited for a bit but they didn’t show so I went up to check on them. It ended up that the guard made them exchange their tickets for an adult ticket. I had to do the same. They were not mad though they were laughing. It was funny though because buying a child ticket is not an easy thing to do you have to actually press separate buttons and everything so we couldn’t play stupid tourist. We had a few laughs about it though. Once we found our right train we realized it was 5pm and we had to be on the ship in 1 hour, not including if there is any line waiting for us. We literally ran to each transfer for trains and made it to our ship at 5:30 with a huge line. As we ran up the the line the executive dean said to me “don’t bother running you’re not getting on on time”. We pretty much freaked out because ship time is a total bummer. (for every 15 minutes your late you have to wait 2 hours at the next port before getting off). BUT at 5:55pm we walked through the gates of the ship and gave each other a nice big hug. We made it in time for dinner and so we ate, relaxed and pretty much headed to bed really early because we had class the next day.

Reflection.

                Japan we so different than what I expected. I thought the language barrier would be such a pain but it really wasn’t that big of a deal. There was never a person we met that was mean or rude. Everyone we met was happy to help or tried their best to help us. Some even going out of their way to help us. My impression of the Japanese is that they are very orderly. There is a way you do things and there’s a reason for everything. You take off your  shoes when entering a room to keep the floors clean. Everywhere we went the streets were always very clean and for major cities that’s not easy. They are also very big into recycling. Everywhere you go it’s very important to recycle. The thing I did have trouble with was that there was never any garbage cans! If you ever had trash you had to hold onto it until you could find one.

                The culture was so rich, I loved walking in the middle of a city and stumbling upon shrines and temples to be reminded of their history and their culture. Another impression I got was that they were accepting of many types of people, but just religions but I was a handful of cross dressers and people who openly walked the streets in costume. While they walked around no one seemed bothered by it and the people dressed up were not just in touristy areas either. I thought it was really interesting to see things like that, but at the same time 98 percent of the people we saw were Asian. We were always the minority (other than my Asian friends that were with us). My friend Bridget especially with blond hair was always looked at because she was so different. They didn’t bother her or anything it was just curiosity. Overall I would love to go back to Japan and see more. But with more time because 5 days was a tease.

Crepe

Kobe Beef

Left to right: Bridget, Cindy, Kim and me with our crepes

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Yum

Toilet (like 20% of toilets were this kind but most were really really nice)

Kobe!

The Port band playing their instuments before we left and waving us goodbye