It's been a while since I have written. The last few weeks have been jammed packed with stuff. We had three days between Vietnam before we got to China. Then, once we left China, we only had another three days before we got to Japan. So much has happened that I am just now getting the chance to sit down and write about it. Along with all the traveling, classes are winding down for the semester so I have a lot of work to do. These next ten days are pretty much like finals week. Plus, there will be another one after Hawaii. However, I'm not complaining. I am still enjoying the traveling.

In China I mostly hiked the Great Wall. The first day the ship made port in Hong Kong. I only had the one day in Hong Kong to travel but luckily I had a connection in Hong Kong that showed us the highlights. It just so happened one of my friends has an uncle living in Hong Kong. We spent the day riding the tram and seeing all the buildings in the city. We also got to have some Dim Sum and see Devil Beaters. Dim Sum is a lot like tapas from Spain. It's basically a bunch of smaller portions of a variety of foods. The restaurant we went to was supposedly famous but is being torn down very soon. After, lunch was the Devil Beaters. They weren't much of a sight but very interesting to see. They are older women who practice voodoo. It's a dying trade in Hong Kong but you can still find a few in one particular area. If you ever need to hex someone you go to the Devil Beaters with something of that person and they will perform a hex. Luckily for all the people I know, I couldn't think of anyone who needed hexed.

The second day in China I left for Beijing. Later that same day the ship left to make port in Shanghai. The ship would take a two day trip to get there and then stay one night in Shanghai. When we left Hong Kong it was near the 80's. It was hot. Just a few hour flight up north to Beijing it was below freezing. They had gotten their second snow a couple days before we got there. That made for a difficult hike on the Great Wall. The Wall is not in the best conditions in some areas so you pretty much had to slide down parts of it. Climbing up was even harder in some areas. Some parts were completely intact, but others hardly had stone in it anymore. Other times we had to completely get off the Wall and walk along it. These were the places where bushes and trees were growing through it. After two days of hiking, I was ready to go to Beijing. It was cold and tiring but very fun. It actually reminded me of Indiana. It had the corn fields and all. Made me miss home.

In Shanghai I mostly shopped. I feel like that's all you can do in most cities. The weather was not all that nice so it was hard convincing yourself to go out anywhere. It was cold and rainy the whole time. We actually had to extend our stay in China by one day to avoid rough seas. We were happy about that because it gave us one last chance to do it right in China.

After a few more days of class it was to Japan. In Japan I was traveling independently. (That is, not on an SAS trip) I did, however, get to do a home-stay. On the first night in Japan I was matched up with a student from Yokohama City University. There was a group of SASers who were escorted to the university by one of the students (Now). Once we got to the university we had a little program and were matched with our student. The student I was matched with was Hiromi. She lives with her older sister Kanae and her mother Emiko. They were extremely nice to me. Hiromi brought me to a Japanese book store because she new I liked to read. It was interesting to see what it was like. She showed me her favorite books which were Harry Potter. Had she not told me what they were I would not have know that they were Harry Potter books. In the States those books have a very distinct look to them. The ones in Japan looked nothing like those books. They seemed skinnier and the covers had a completely different kind of picture on them. It's funny what things can be different.

After the book store we went to Hiromi's home. Her Mom made us dinner which was excellent. It was a salad that had shrimp in it, some breaded sides (one of which was an egg; I loved it), chicken, sushi, and pineapple for dessert. We also sat at a kotatu after dinner. I had no idea what this was. I had never heard about it before but I loved it too. It was basically just a table. Not any table however, it had a blanket that went over it and a table top. Under the table was a little heater. It was low to the ground so you sat on the floor and put your legs under it. It kept you really warm while you conversed with your family/friends. We talked all night about many things. I also got to take a Japanese style bath. In Japan, you take a shower and then relax in a bath of hot water. It's almost like a hot tub but they do it every night. They only use one bath of water for the whole family. Since you have already taken a shower there is no need for soap or bubbles, you just relax. Then the rest of the family does the same thing with the same bath. After that I slept on a Japanese style bed which is a very comfortable mat that lies directly on the floor. The next morning I woke up and Hiromi brought me home. I was on my way to Tokyo Disney Land!

The last days in Japan were spent in Various cities and in Disney Land. Disney was so much like Disney in Florida. The only difference was that everything was in Japanese. They had Space Mountain, It's A Small World, The Tea Cups, The disney parade, and many other Disney favorites. One thing that made it different was the enthusiasm of the workers. They were ten times more excited when they directed you places. It's hard to believe they could be happier then the happiest place on earth but they managed. After Disney, we visited several districts of Tokyo; Shabuya, Nippori, and Asakusa. Then it was off to Kobe to meet the ship and head off to sea again.

Last but not least are my shout outs for Vicarious Voyage. I have been getting all of your emails and enjoyed reading them. I can't wait to get back and talk to all of you when I visit Valley in December. It's coming up!

Ka'de, you were saying that you were interested in knowing more about South Africa and that you are interested in football. Well, football (soccer) as South Africans know it is coming to Cape Town big time. Cape Town is going to host the next big soccer tournament. They have been developing their city and building a new city that you could see from almost everywhere in Cape Town. I hope you are able to catch the big game and relate to it a little after spending some time studying South Africa.

Jarret and Kaitlyn you two both wanted to know more about Hong Kong. I only spent one day there but i did learn a lot from my friends uncle. One cool thing to know is that the city is placed partially on a steep hill. It's so steep that they built and outside escalator that brings you up the street. It is super long too. Another cool thing is that you can take a tram up to the peak in Hong Kong. The tram brings right into a mall at the top of the mountain.

Brianna you wanted to know more about about Japan. You specifically wanted to see it because you haven't seen it before. This is an interesting place to see because it is so clean, organized, and the buildings are very advanced. You could see things like high tech car garages. When you pulled the car into the garage you parked on a large round disk. The disk rotated to get you in the right direction to pull into a spot. Once you pulled into the spot a huge machine lifted it up and out of site so that the next car could park. It was crazy.

Manny and Jordan you guys asked about Mexico and Canada. I wish that I could tell you more but I didn't really get to see much of either of them. In Canada I only stayed for a few hours. I did get to see Halifax which is a very pretty sea side city. As far as Mexico goes, I didn't get to visit it but the Mexico border is very close to San Diego. It's only about an hour drive away. Some people talked about visiting Mexico when we got back but it's not a good idea. Maybe I will get to visit it some other time or maybe you will have to go and tell me about it. I love to hear about peoples travels.

If any of you have any questions let me know. I will be back in the States soon and look forward to it.

Hello Vietnam!!!!!


Vietnam for me was two days of Ho Chi Minh City and three days of Cat Tien National Park. I had a great time and got a lot of shopping done. Also, I got a good amount of exercise out of the hikes in Cat Tein.

The first two days were my shopping and Ho Chi Minh experience. I'm really glad that I got a book about Vietnam on my flight to Halifax (Thanks Rex), though, I haven't been able to finish it yet. The book gave me a fairly accurate precursor to the city and culture. Everyone there rides motorcycles or anything similar to them. Compared to the amount of motorcycles there are very few cars and trucks. The traffic here is crazy. Nobody ever stops unless there is a light telling you to. At intersections that have no lights the crossing roads have traffic that acts like schools of fish. They flow together and apart with minimal bumping and collisions. Crossing streets like this is even more interesting. We had a little demonstration that helped us out before we got there. Basically, you wait for the best time to step out into traffic and once you start you do not stop. At a steady pace you continue through the traffic until you reach the other side. It can be pretty terrifying at times.

We got a good joke out of this situation. We had just gotten to Ho Chi Minh and we were a bit lost. We were more deciding where to go then lost. I was frustrated with our big group and it's indecisiveness. All big groups start out this way. While everyone was deciding, I went ahead and made the decision for myself and crossed the rode. While I was in the middle of the rode one guy asked me where I was going but I kept going. He crossed the road too and asked me, "Why did the Sam cross the rode?" I responded, quickly to my surprise, with, "Because he started and couldn't stop." You have to love the cheesey Vietnam jokes.

Both of the first two days in the city I spent shopping and treating myself to the high life. The high life is pretty inexpensive in Vietnam. The conversion was one U.S. Dollar to 17,586 Vietnam Dong. It was confusing at first because you felt like you were spending a lot of money. After a while we realized that the 40,000 Dong shirt we bought was really about two dollars. I got a lot of stuff here. I even went and got a Vietnamese message. We got one for an hour and thirty minutes and it only cost us thirteen dollars. In the U.S. cheap messages for one hour cost sixty dollars. We got a deal, for sure.

The last three days I was in the rain forest at Cat Tein National Park. The worst part were the leeches! They were everywhere and they were determined to get you. Every hike we went on we had to where leech socks. These are socks that that go up to your knee. You put them on over your socks, in your shoes, and over your pants. At about the shin you rub a special chemical that deters the leeches. When we first got there and saw all this stuff we did not take it all that serious, but after a few minutes on the hike we were thankful for the preparation. Other than the leeches the three days were great. We saw so many creators; spiders, snakes, beetles, frogs, birds, and many other things. The best time to hike was at night though, it was more dangerous. More animals came out at night that you would never see during the day.

After the whole five days I was exhausted once again. Two solid days of hiking was a great exercise, add city mayhem, little sleep, and traveling, we were bound to be tired in the end. Now on to China! I will mostly be hiking the Great Wall. Woot! More exercise.

P.S.
Alex was interested in India and I left him out in the last blog. He was saying that he chose India as his country of interest because they wear different clothes than we do. India does have some very interesting clothes. Many people still wear the traditional clothing but they also wear more western clothes. The western clothes are much like we wear; shirts and jeans. The traditional clothing for women are Saris, which are large pieces of cloth rapped around the body in a specific way. The traditional clothes for men are long shirts that go down to the knee and matching pants. The name of the outfit has slipped my mind. There are also many variations on these clothes, as there are in the west. I was able to buy the males outfit and I plan to wear it when I come to visit Valley Mills so you guys get to have a visual of the clothing.

I know it has been a while since I have written but I have been distracted with school and the aftermath of India. There was a lot to take in while I was there. Most of what I did while I was there was non-stop. The first day was a free day and I have an interesting story about it. For a large part of the time I went on a trip to the Taj Mahal. This was the non-stop part. SAS trips tend to be that way. The last day I took a trip to Mamallapuram and Kancheepuram. The trip was to see all the temples that these two cities are famous for. In the end I had a great time but it was exhausting.

The first day we started by going to the Georgetown Market. It wasn't much. It was mostly just a short street with western clothing for sale and a few local goods. The area also had a hotel with a great restaurant and a Hindu temple. You could find temples anywhere. After doing a little shopping and eating at the restaurant we went to the temple. An older man stopped us just before they were opening the temple back up for the afternoon. He was a nice old man but firm. If we were not supposed to do something, like take pictures of certain things, he would not hold back. He started us off with a crash course in Hinduism. I did not pay attention too much for two reasons. The first reason is following what the Hindus believe is very hard. It is so complex. That is not an excuse for not listening. I wanted to know more about the beliefs but I could not concentrate enough to appreciate it. I was distracted. All I could think about is why his man would just come up to us and be so helpful and informative. In the back of my mind he could not just being doing something to be nice. That was hard for me to understand for some reason. He did everything for us. He told us that we had to take off our shoes before going in and got them in a safe place where they would not be stolen. He showed us around the temple and explained every inch. Then, at the end he wanted money. We had to pay for each camera we used to take picture and we had to pay him. He was a tricky, sweet old man. I knew he wanted more than just to be nice. I think I knew that because it is so common every where in this world. We have to survive some how I suppose.

After the tour of the temple we met another man. We were getting our shoes from the "safe place" and that is when Nagu came up to us. He started talking to us about how he had met other people from SAS from previous voyages. He was also talking about us coming back to his house and meeting his family, which sounded like a bad idea from the start. I would hope that to all people this sounded like a bad idea. He was very informative and nice too. He wanted to help and being tourists with no idea we would take anything we could get. We wanted to go to an internet cafe (so I could get on my blog/facebook/email to talk to you). He wanted to show us. We followed him down a couple streets (well populated, no worries). On the way he bought us chai tea, India is famous for it. Once we got to the cafe he got us cheap prices. Had we gone in alone they would have seen that we were tourists an automatically charged us more like everyone else in India (and other countries for that matter). He got us the Indian man's price. He arranged to come back and meet us so that we could hang out with him. We were glad to get rid of him for a bit to talk it over amongst ourselves.

Our hour at the cafe was up. We had decided that Nagu was not that bad. He had been so nice and so helpful. Plus, we trusted the group we were in and had faith in each other to hold strong. Starting with a little reluctancy the night ended well. We ended up taking a rickshaw to a beautiful catholic church. He showed us around bit then we crammed back into the rickshaw. Then, we went to the beach and met up with some of his family. By time we got to the beach it was dark but that was when everyone relaxed. It was cooler during the night and a good time to wind down. We had Indian food from vendors, we got to see a parrot draw cards for a tarot reading, a friend of mine got to ride a horse along the beach, and sit by the water and talk. (By the way, this beach is one of the worlds longest beaches. It took a long time to walk across the beach to the water.) We also got to play a game. There was a wall of balloons set up. With a BB gun you shot at the balloons to see how many you could shoot. I think I shot the most. The beach was one of my best memories in India.

At this point we had spent a lot of time with Nagu and finally trusted him enough to go to his house (I would never suggest this. Although our experiences ended well). We took the rickshaw there. We met his mother and two kids that belong to his sister who had past away. They all lived in a very small room that was a kitchen. They had room for a sink, fridge, tv, a cabinet, and siting space. It really put things in perspective. In the end, the whole night was amazing. W enjoyed talking to Nagu's family and being with them for a few hours. It had gotten late and we had to get back to the ship. Nagu was nice enough to take us on the train that led us right back to the ship. And i did not mention but he paid for everything the entire night. He refused to let us pay anything but in the end we gave him plenty of money, plus some, for everything that he had done for us.

The rest of my trip did not compare to this day with Nagu. I even got to see the Taj Mahal up close and personal but the first day still trump all. The Taj was beautiful and we saw many other forts and castles that were much like it. In total, for the whole three day Taj Mahal trip I was only able to get about six ours of sleep. We were traveling so much and seeing so much that there was no time for sleep.

The last day I had another trip to see the temples. I was so tired that I struggled to appreciate them. The architecture was amazing, and so was the art. So much went into the temples. It was a fantastic bunch of places to see. The best part of the day was getting back to the ship and being able to sleep. A billion things were seen and done that it would take months to explain it all. I am very satisfied with this part of the trip but I will have to go back. There is so much more that I have to see.

Once again I am getting tired. Sleep is becoming more and more rare. I just don't want to miss anything. Tomorrow we wake up early to travel up river from the ocean to make port in Saigon. More adventures to come!