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.