I'm so sorry that I haven't had time to update my blog since I've been home. Here's a few pictures from Costa Rica and the Panama Canal.
KOBE, JAPAN!!!
DAY 1
The immigration process in Japan is pretty intense and they warned us that it would take a long time to get everyone cleared and off the ship. I got to be in the first wave of people getting off because I had a homestay that left pretty early in the day. We gathered in the terminal waiting for our group. The first thing I fell in love with in Japan were the vending machines that they had everywhere. Usually I don’t like vending machines because I don’t drink soda, but these ones had everything! Including iced coffee! So naturally I spent my first yen in a vending machine to get a delicious iced coffee, the first of many. We found out that our families were waiting downstairs for us. So we went down to this big open room filled with our Japanese families holding up signs with our names on them. I went around the circle once and couldn’t find my family! So then I got really worried, but I must have walked right past her because someone pointed to her holding up my name. She gave me a huge hug when I told her I was Jaime. It was such an exciting moment. There were a couple other girls that she was gathering as well because we were going to meet up with their families later. She told us she lived in Kyoto and we were so excited because I really wanted to go see that city. As a big group, we played a game and did a little song/dance as icebreakers I guess. One of them was like this intense game of rock paper scissors. We left with some other people headed to Kyoto and took a few different trains to get there. We got lunch at a restaurant in the train station. Outside the restaurant there was this glass case that had all of the dishes they served. This was a common thing in Japan. We just pointed to what we wanted and once we sat down, our mothers ordered for us. The tea came first and then our platter of food. In my food and cultures psychology class we discussed the art of presenting Japanese food in different dishes and in special arrangements. I noticed that this held true in our lunch presentation. We had some mystery tempura that was pretty good, with rice, miso soup, ice cream, and some other mystery foods. We talked about the HIPPO program that they were a part of that hosts international families and send their children abroad to do the same thing. I think it’s an exceptional program and I could tell they were all very proud to be a part of it. So we left to continue our journey to Kyoto and our moms paid for our lunches! It was so sweet of them. We were worried that we wouldn’t remember how to get back on our own the next day. My friend Darren was taking pictures of all the signs to try to remember. We finally got to our stop and took a short cab ride to her apartment complex. My mom, Rify, apologized in advance that her house was small. I assured her that I was just thankful for a family to stay with. She was so sweet. She didn’t speak that great of English so I knew that would be a challenge, but she asked a lot of questions and I started to figure out what words to use to help her better understand what I was saying.
We arrived at her apartment and it was very small. We took our shoes off in the entrance and walked around to the kitchen and dining area. Their bathroom had this state of the art toilet, which is the thing to have in Japan. It had a bunch of buttons and a seat warmer!
They had lots of decorations up in the apartment and it was very cozy. It’s been a while since I’ve been home so it was nice to be in someone’s home. The other girls, Katy and Darcy, and I sat down at the table and had some tea. My mom asked us what we’d like to do so we started naming some things we were interested in. Darcy’s mom came over to meet us and she was so nice! She knew English much better than my mom, so she kind of became a translator. They decided to take us to the Golden Temple, a famous temple in their area that apparently Brad Pitt proclaimed he’d like to live in. We took my mom’s very futuristic and super nice van to the temple. The GPS system had images of buildings as part of the street map. And when we got to the parking lot, it created lines to follow for her to back up into a parking space. It was nuts! The temple was absolutely gorgeous. And we couldn’t have picked a better time of year to be there. The vibrant fall leaves created a beautiful background for the flashy gold temple sitting behind a reflective pond. 
We walked around some more and watched the sun go down. There was this place you could try to toss coins into a little cup for good fortune. I missed, tragic. The place was really beautiful. We headed back to the house to get back for a dinner party in my parent’s apartment. Darcy and I stopped at her family’s apartment just down the hall and helped her bring her food over to the other apartment. By the time we got there, pretty much everyone was there. It was our two families, some younger girls (about our age) and one other family who brought their little kids. I had told my mom that I wanted to learn how to make sushi and I saw some of the girls making the sticky rice, stirring it to kind of air it out or something in this bamboo dish. Then she put out lots of different types of raw fish and another dish with cucumber and some yellow Japanese pickle. We just wrapped it with the rice and seaweed and it was sooo good! Some of the other food was some tempura vegetables and seafood, this beef and squash thing, and then they had two bowls that had soy beans, a very strong flavor. Someone also brought a creamy pasta dish, too. There was sake and a variety of different Japanese beers as well. Basically, it was quite a feast! There was an adult table and a kids table where the moms were with the little kids. One of the dad’s was originally from Peru and had learned English before he moved to Japan so he was able to talk with us a lot at dinner. Surprisingly, two of the younger girls visiting were both studying French in college so I spoke a little French to them! It was almost a better idea than trying to speak English haha. I guess I never thought I would use my French in Japan of all places. After we were all pretty much done eating but still chatting, they started a game of bingo! Which is a great universal game to play…with letters, numbers, and one key word…it was the perfect game. It was so fun! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, I loved being in a home again. Once everyone left, my poor mom finally got a chance to eat dinner from what was left over. I used their computer for a little bit and it was cool because it was really low because I was sitting on the ground. I showed them pictures of my family and friends. They wanted to see a picture of George, too. The son finally kind of came out to hang out and we all played UNO. I told them about home and they asked me all about Ichiro. They let me take a shower before I went to bed. The bed was so cool, it was set up on the ground in this room separated with shoji screens. I slept really well that night. 
My sister had us try this flower that was super sweet and yummy. We had some more time to kill so we wandered through this discount grocery store (which was great because everything is sooooo expensive in Japan). It was almost exactly like a Smart and Final or Cash and Carry. There were two rows dedicated entirely to candy! Once we met up with Darcy’s mom, we walked to a local market nearby. We had to stop to get money out and all of a sudden we noticed the little pokemon boy as he came up to us. He handed us each an unopened pack of pokemon cards! We literally couldn’t say a thing to him except “Thank you” in Japanese. We wandered through the market down this covered street. Right at the entrance, there was this fish place that kind of reminded me of the popular fish market at Pike Place Market in Seattle. There were people yelling and a bunch of people standing around waiting to get their seafood. There were clothing shops, tea shops, and random little restaurants and street vendors. People were riding their bikes everywhere. And what I couldn’t believe was that people just left their bikes outside without locking them up, some even had stuff in their baskets. But no one steals them! They were confused when I said my bike got stolen from my house.HONG KONG to BEIJING to SHANGHAI
So I should explain that in most countries I haven’t traveled independently the entire time. My friends and I picked China to be the country we explored completely on our own. We probably chose the most difficult country to travel in not knowing the language or having an English speaking guide to help us out. In addition, our group was getting bigger and we’ve all learned that traveling in big groups is always trouble. Before we left there was some big time drama about booking hotel rooms. Long story.
DAY 1
Anyway, we arrived in Hong Kong and it didn’t just look like another city, which I’ve been getting used to when we pull into ports. There were buildings on all sides of us as we pulled into the port and looked to Hong Kong Island across the way. Small ferries were going back and forth between the islands. The port was kind of strange because we walked off the ship and right into a mall. Sara, Ali, and I went to a deck on the top floor of the mall to see the city and the view. There were these two Chinese women taking pictures so I offered to take a picture of them so they could both be in it. Well after I took the picture, they wanted a picture with me in it (which they communicated with a combination of hand motions and nodding). So us girls pretty much had a photo shoot with these women five minutes after getting off the ship. One of the first things we want to do once we get to a port is eat. The ship food is sub par to say the least and gets old very quickly. There was a food court so we got some Indian and Thai food for lunch. Everything was pretty expensive in Hong Kong and especially in the mall we were in. We decided to venture out beyond the mall after getting some Starbucks to see the rest of the city. It was the day after the elections so we picked up a newspaper with a huge picture of Obama on the front before taking a little ferry to Hong Kong Island. We took a bus to the Peak Tram that was this oldschool tram that took us up this super steep slope to a lookout area over the whole city. It was a little hazy out but the view was incredible of the huge buildings separated by a small stretch of water and the hills surrounding it. We got a drink and a little food at a cute restaurant with a view (much more expensive than we expected) before we took the tram back down. Instead of taking the bus back to the ferry, we decided to wander a bit and find our own way back. When we got back across to the other island, the sun was just going down and we watched the sun set over the massive city.
That night after dinner on the ship, we had a great view of the city from the 6th deck where we watched a nightly light show with the huge skyscrapers. It was pretty impressive how many buildings were a part of the show and how long the show lasted. Since it was our only night in Hong Kong, Sara and I decided to go out to experience the nightlife. We caught a cab and just told him to take us to a happening area. We got dropped off amongst tons of bars and didn’t have the slightest clue where to start. We just picked a place to have a drink and then we’d check out a different one. One place we went to because some locals told us they were going there later. We sat at the bar and noticed that there was someone sitting on a couch in the darkness singing into a microphone. Kind of like karaoke but more depressing. The area we were in was not that exciting so we decided to go to Hong Kong Island to a fun nightlife area we’d heard about from someone we met. That was definitely the scene. Sara and I had a fun time exploring the busy city even on a Thursday night. As I mentioned before, this was the night that Kurt was hit by car and killed.
DAY 2
Most of the next day was spent traveling to Beijing. Hong Kong has this great public transportation system that allowed us to check into our flights from the subway station on Hong Kong Island (very close to our ship) and then take a subway to the airport. We found out that day that we didn’t get the hotel room we were supposed to. So while we were at the airport, we were able to get wireless internet to find another place to stay. I’m not used to cutting things that close, but I’m learning to let go of having plans all the time. The flight was amazing. All of the flights I’ve taken in different countries have been so much more enjoyable than those in the U.S. The food in particular has been very impressive. I definitely recommend flying AirChina because the meal they gave us was delicious and they played WALL-E. We didn’t get to Beijing until late and we still had to go through customs because we flew from Hong Kong. All we had was the address of the hotel written in Chinese characters to find our hotel. We were all so happy when we went outside because we were finally in a cold place! It felt so crisp and like winter! Anyway, we found a shuttle bus and someone told us to get off at the 7th stop…whatever that was. Well it ended up being the Beijing Train Station which was close to our hotel. The only problem was that it was after midnight and we had no idea where to find the hotel. Cab drivers didn’t know what we were talking about. They just told us to go towards the station. We went into a nice hotel hoping they could help. They were also able to point us in the right direction. As we were walking, a man on a bike rode by and laughed at us. But then we stopped him, showed him the address, and he was able to show us the way to our hotel! We never would have found it because it was totally in a back ally and completely hidden. Of course, he asked for a lot of money once we got there. I was hoping maybe he was just helping out of the good of his heart. When we originally got there we weren’t sure how many people they would let us have so five of us came in and two stayed outside. When we realized it wouldn’t be a big deal we asked if our friends could stay with us. We made up this dumb story about how they were meeting us in ten minutes. So we waited in the lobby and then went outside to get them after ten minutes hahaha. We had two rooms with two twin beds each for seven people. In my room, we pushed the beds together to make more room to sleep. The pillows were like bean bags and I’m pretty sure there was no mattress, but we were all so happy to finally be there and have a place to sleep.
DAY 3
On our way out of the hotel, we stopped at this little tourist table and booked trips to the great wall the next day and to see a Chinese acrobatic show that night. We went across the street to this little restaurant that we call “Chipotle” because the name was written in a similar style to what Chipotle looks like. There was this huge group of mostly Chinese men eating and drinking and it wasn’t even noon yet. We sat in a little room with glass walls that looked like it could have been a bathroom at one time. The food was pretty good and very cheap. The server didn’t speak any English but somehow with pointing and holding up a number with our fingers did the trick. Trying to travel in China is like a giant game of charades.
After our early lunch, we set out to find the Forbidden City. We knew it was somewhat close on a map, but Beijing is a big city, so we really didn’t have a clue where we were going. We’d made the smart assumption that people in nice hotels would be able to speak English, so we went to the Marriott near our hotel to get directions. We ended up just taking cabs from the hotel which was great because it was so cold! There were seven of us, as I mentioned before, so we always had to take two cabs which sometimes got a little difficult. We got to the Forbidden City and started to walk around. We didn’t really know where we were going or what we were looking at once we got inside, so we followed where most people seemed to be going. We got these automated guides that started and stopped based on our GPS location, that way we would know what we were looking at. I think it was called the Palace Museum, but it really wasn’t anything like a museum. It was all outdoors and then we’d walk through a small building or covered walkway and into another opening. The architecture was incredible. That was one of those moments that I realized I was in a completely different country and very far from home. I love getting that feeling when it hits me that I’m traveling the world. Anyway, time was short and the museum was large and a bit repetitive so we decided to regroup and check out another site in the area. Before we left though, we stopped to get some coffee and tea to warm us up and ran into some SAS kids we knew. They gave us some good news and bad news. Somehow they found the same random hotel we were staying at and got a room there too! But that was also when they told us about Kurt’s death. At the time, I couldn’t match a face to his name until I got back to the ship. We were all shocked and really didn’t know how to react at all. We had so many questions but none of us knew what exactly happened. Trying to regroup, we realized we lost Josh. We were just about to split up in groups and plan a meeting spot when he showed up in his bright white jacket. We walked through the rest of the area and made our way to Tiananmen Square. There wasn’t much to see but it was really cool to be standing there. Some of my friends saw this little kid whose pants were split in the bum and it looked like his diaper was sticking out of the pants. So that was pretty funny.
We decided to go check out the Temple of Heaven, another pretty popular tourist spot since we still had some time left before we had to be back. Catching a cab was nearly impossible. Anytime we approached cabs, they would wave us away or drive off. It’s like they didn’t want to deal with Americans and the language barrier. We even shopped around and bought gloves because it was so cold as we waited for cabs to show up. Finally we got a couple cabs to take us to the Temple of Heaven. As we were waiting in line to buy tickets, Matt was the last one in line and this Chinese couple cut right in front of him right before he got to the window. Even on the plane, people seemed very pushy. Our only explanation for this was that I guess if there are 1 billion people in your country, you’d be pushing through people too. The area around the Temple of Heaven was this really huge and beautiful park. Instead of paying to go in, we just walked around the park. It’s been so nice to be out of hot, muggy weather and actually feel like it’s fall. The leaves on the trees were yellow and orange and made for some great scenery. Getting back to the hotel from the Temple of Heaven was another challenge. We split up in two groups and the second group ended up only getting a rickshaw willing to take them. So they fit three people in this tiny rickshaw and it didn’t even take them all the way to the hotel. I was in the first group and on our way back we ran into two American guys that gave us some great suggestions on what to do and where to go out. They were so nice and it was really refreshing to be able to communicate in English! We all made it back in time to catch our ride to the acrobatics show though. Our other friends from Semester at Sea were able to come too. We got the cheapest tickets, but they sat us in like the 3rd row. Carla realized her seat was broken when she tried to sit down in it. It was hilarious! The show was absolutely incredible. It wasn’t a super nice place but the talent made up for it. They fit 10 people on a little bike! And there were so many other acts, it was crazy! I couldn’t believe that people were capable of moving their bodies like that.
After the show, we didn’t have a ride back so we went to find one of the places that our American friends suggested. We had to walk a ways while we tried to catch cabs and as we were walking, we saw groups of people dancing on the sidewalks. It was so cute! They had a boom box playing music and these older couples were dancing with each other. We ended up at this row of bars that seemed pretty cool. It was the middle of the week so there was no one really out. We went to this one place because a guy who worked there suckered us into it. We got some food and drinks, but the drinks were much more expensive than we thought. There were some other foreigners at the same bar. They ordered a thing of popcorn for our table in honor of Obama. The ladies who sent it were from France and they were traveling artists with the “Freakshow,” whatever that means. A little later in the night they had dancers that made everything really awkward. We left to go to a different bar, but everyone was getting pretty tired so we headed home. Plus we had a big day the next day at the Great Wall and we were meeting the bus super early in the morning. But my group stopped at McDonald’s before we went back because we never really had dinner. I tried a Big Mac for the first time in my life. McDonald’s felt pretty much the same as home. They had an English menu that we could point to when we ordered. Carla had to go to the bathroom so I went with her to try to find it. To get there, we followed the arrows on the ground that took us through and dark and empty mall. It was probably the scariest thing ever. When we finally got to the bathroom all freaked out, there was a mystery woman in one of the stalls. We pretty much ran all the way back.
DAY 4
We pretty much woke up at the crack of dawn to meet the bus for our tour to the Great Wall of China. Our tour guide spoke English which was awesome! The bus wasn’t full yet so I thought we were going to have the bus pretty much to ourselves. But we ended up making a few stops to pick up other people from different hotels. The bus seated 19, and once we were full we were on our way. The trip including some other activities and tours before we went to the Great Wall after lunch. First we stopped at a jade gallery and learned about different ages of jade and how to tell if it’s real jade and how aged it is. Older jade is darker and more valuable. We also learned that women are supposed to wear the Buddha necklace and men wear one with a woman on it. We wandered around the gallery for a while and I got suckered into buying a cheap little jade necklace. Sara got a bruise from the ladies forcing on a jade bracelet. Once we left there, we headed to the Ming Tombs to take another little tour. The Ming Tombs are in an area near a hillside and there are tons of tombs, some underground, in the area. They are all very elaborate. We were walking inside of a huge room looking at jewelry and other relics in these glass cases and a bunch of Chinese people would ram into us and push us out of the way to get past us. It was hard not to take that personally, but I guess it’s just accepted in their culture. It was a beautiful, crisp, fall day. Perfect for taking pictures. We’d noticed that many of the big tour groups wore the same hat and sometimes even the same clothes to keep track of everyone. On top of that, they would have this little pole with a flag or something noticeable on the end to hold up as they were walking. Our tour guide just had a little pole with this goofy doll hanging from it. I think she was decked out in a silver work out outfit for her to be easy to find. We really enjoyed her as our guide. She would say something in Chinese and then switch languages to tell us the same thing in English. I couldn’t believe that ability to switch back and forth between languages.
Our next stop was to a Chinese medicine doctor where we actually had lunch too. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. We got a short little tour of the facilities and an explanation about how their culture views medicine and how they diagnose their problems. Sara and I went to the doctor together. I didn’t say a word to him, not that he could understand me anyway, but he took my pulse on my wrist in a few different spots. Then he did the same thing on my other wrist. The translator asked me how old I was, and she told him. That was all I said. With no medical instruments, no explanation of what my “symptoms” were, he told me what was going on with my body. He said I have poor blood circulation and that it was affecting my lungs and that I should be careful working out. He told Carla that she had cold insides and that if she doesn’t take his medicine she won’t be able to have babies. So the moral of the story is that I’m not sure if I believe it. Then we went into this strange, huge room with a stage where we had a really good lunch. We sat with the three other people in the group that spoke English. One guy was from Italy and then the other guy was from the U.S. but he was visiting this woman from Beijing. After lunch, we were finally headed to the Great Wall. The little bus took us up windy roads into the mountains. We finally go to the base and took what they called a pulley car up to the wall. That was the only way we could get to the highest point. On our way up, there were these very trained bears that you could throw fruit at and they would catch them. There was nothing but a short railing separating these bears from the tourists. As we got closer to the pulley car, we realized it was more like a roller coaster ride than what we pictured. Each person got to sit in their own little car and ride it up to the top. It was pretty cool. Once on the wall, it was so crowded! There were people everywhere, pushing and shoving to get pictures and make their way along the wall. We spent a couple hours up on the wall admiring the view and the amazing structure. It was quite a hike to get to the top but we made it just in time before we had to head back down to meet our group. Once back on the bus, we headed back to our hotel as we dropped people off along the way. We were all exhausted but regrouped to go out to dinner for our friend Lindsay’s birthday! We went into town and as we were walking we stopped at this store and I was trying to find a shirt for George but I couldn’t communicate that I wanted a big size, so I said “Yao Ming size,” they understood and brought back the biggest size they had. Haha! Unfortunately they don’t have very big sizes, just like in Vietnam. We found this restaurant called the Golden Jaguar that was an all-you-can-eat buffet but with really nice food. They had everything from sushi to pizza. We stayed there for a while enjoying all the food. They had some pretty crazy foods you’d think would be in China too. Carla brought back this really gross ox soup and we all tried a little bit just to say we did.
DAY 5
We had a flight in the middle of the day so we decided to utilize the beginning of the day and check out the Olympic stadiums. It was an interesting challenge to describe bird’s nest and water cube without any English. Using our new charades skills we imitated a bird and a nest and eventually found someone to take us there. I didn’t watch much of the Olympics but it was really cool to see such unique structures. I was surprised at the amount of tourists still coming to see them. We didn’t have time to go inside either but they were both right next to each other so we got a good look at the outside of them. Instead of going inside we took lots of pictures instead. People were fascinated as we took jumping pictures. One lady even tried to do the same thing right next to us. Some other Chinese tourists were taking pictures of themselves with us in the background. One guy asked Carla to be in a picture with him. People are really mesmerized by blondes. We had all of our stuff with us to go straight to the airport. We ran into a couple friends that were planning to stay with us, but we got separated. They weren’t very happy to see us because we pretty much ditched them, but there was really nothing we could have done to find them. We were starving and couldn’t find anything to eat because everything looked nasty at the airport. Carla had to bought a bottle opener the day before to open a bottle of Great Wall wine. She forgot about it in her bag and got stopped in security because it had a knife on it too. They also questioned her about her EpiPen (she’s allergic to peanuts) so they wrote down her name because I think they thought she was a threat. Just a side note, Carla’s sister Laura gave her these laminated pictures of peanuts and people getting really sick to show to people that didn’t understand English. Anyway, we caught our flight and headed to Shanghai. The flight was much shorter than it was to Beijing but still just as nice. We got some more great airplane food, too. Unfortunately the airport we flew into was almost an hour away from the port and we had to take a taxi. We didn’t know where the port was so we kind of had to guess but we ended up making it there. It was pretty late and we were tired so we stayed in that night even though it was the only night we had in Shanghai.
DAY 6
Carla and I got up before sunrise to go on this trip to do sunrise tai chi. It was sooooo early but we thought it would be really cool. We went to this park on the side of the road where we met our tai chi master. She didn’t speak any English but we had a translator with us. I almost didn’t even notice the sun coming up as we were learning what she called the “strongest” tai chi. As it got later, more and more people showed up and stared doing tai chi or some other types of dancing. It was a fun way to start the day. I didn’t do much that day except for some shopping and internet café. We found this internet café that was in this creepy abandoned building. Sara and I went to this area that we heard we could find some fake stuff. The second we got out of the cab, this woman came up us (dressed like a soccer coach) and had us follow her into a strange entryway in an alley. Somehow we ended up in this weird shop with all these fake purses and watches and whatnot. It was pretty funny to be there. We left but the lady followed us and tried to get us to go to another spot. She showed us into the mall that was filled with little shops selling pretty much everything fake. We wandered around a bit, got some udon lunch, and then went back to shopping some more. The people in the shops all had a back room that they would take you in. We tried to bargain with people, some people were nice, but most were pretty rude. Sara was looking for watches and she found some that were slightly damaged so she was able to get a pretty good deal on them. Sara’s good at bargaining. We headed back to the ship after shopping for a while but we had to wait in line for a little while because we cut it a little close to on-ship time (which is when everyone has to be back on the ship the day we leave a port).
So we left that night on our way to Japan. A lot of people, like in China, were planning on traveling independently from Kobe to Yokohama while visiting other cities in between. I had a homestay planned for Yokohama and my friends were leaving before I got back to go to Tokyo and I heard everything in Japan was super expensive, so I decided to stay on the ship for a day in between Kobe and Yokohama. So while everyone else was stressing figuring out what there plans were, getting rail passes, and booking hotels, I was relaxing knowing that I wouldn’t have much to plan. I was a little bummed that I wouldn’t be going to Tokyo or Hiroshima. I also heard that Kyoto was a really cool city as well. But I wasn’t passionate about seeing any particular city, so I figured my experience in Japan would be just as substantial. The two days on the ship between China and Japan in the East China Sea were actually really rocky. Luckily it was only a couple of days, but it was almost as bad as going around the cape in South Africa.
BREAKING NEWS:
I’m sure some of you have heard the news, but one of the students, Kurt, on the ship was hit by a drunk driver in Hong Kong and died instantly. We held a meeting to hear the details and honor his life. And some of his friends put on a service for him a few days ago. I was not close with Kurt but I definitely knew who he was. I think this event has made everyone think twice about how fragile our lives are and have made us all a little homesick. The saddest part hits when I think of his family and his twin brother…they had no idea that Kurt would leave on this trip and never come back. So keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.
VIETNAM and CAMBODIA!!!
DAY 1:
I should explain what type of port we were entering when we came to Vietnam. We had to travel up a river in our huge ship to get to the port at Ho Chi Minh City. Because of the narrow waterway, we were much more affected by the tides. We didn’t get to the port until noon and my trip for Cambodia left just a couple hours after so I didn’t get off the ship until we left for the airport that afternoon. The airport was surprisingly nice but the airplane was unexpectedly small. It took less than an hour to get to Cambodia and most of the time was spent filling out forms to enter the country. We spent some time at the airport in Phnom Penh to get our visas which wasn’t the most organized process. By the time we were all cleared, it was time for dinner. We were taken to this beautiful Cambodian and Thai restaurant called Khmer Surin where we had an amazing meal. Their well known dish is called amok and it’s a delicacy I guess. We finally got to our hotel in a kind of random area and got to relax. Sara and I were sharing a room and everyone else had rooms close to ours. Instead of going out, we decided to get massages at the spa in the hotel for very cheap. We had time before our appointment to wander around the area for a little while (we told the rickshaw driver that we wanted to go to the store and he told us it was far away…when really it was just around the corner. Rude!...we didn’t take his offer though). Sara and I both got an hour long aromatherapy massage but there wasn’t much aroma involved. It was pretty much a full body massage which was really relaxing. It made us both really sleepy so we just went to bed right after. One thing that is nice about SAS sponsored trips is that we stay at nice hotels with TVs…so we’re able to watch the news.
DAY 2 (HALLOWEEN!):
This was a very busy day. We woke up early for breakfast in the hotel which was really tasty. After checking out of the hotel, we left to go see the killing fields a ways out of the city. Not exactly the best way to start the day. We arrived at the site and it wasn’t what I expected. I thought it would look like a huge open battlefield if that many people were killed there, but instead it was like a small old graveyard with grass growing over it. There were only a couple headstones but they were for Chinese or Vietnamese. The field was full of sunken down mass graves. There wasn’t much to see but grass with some informational signs here and there…so it was really up to our imaginations to create the images of such a horrible time. As we walked around, we saw pieces of clothing from the buried people that gradually came up out of the ground. It was also common for bones to do the same thing but luckily I didn’t see any. We didn’t spend much time at the killing fields but there wasn’t much to explore. Our next stop really reinforced the severity of the genocide in Cambodia. We visited an old school that was turned into somewhat of a concentration camp. Apparently the Khmer Rouge targeted the educated as the most important people to be exterminated in order to hinder the potential advancement of the survivors. There were four main buildings to tour. The first floors of each building were turned into individual cells and the other floors were used for mass detention. We saw pictures and paintings of many of the ways they tortured and killed these people and they were absolutely horrific. I felt like I was back in Germany visiting the concentration camp there.
I don’t even know how to describe the type of affect this has on us Americans. But something that upset me and my friends was this: why didn’t we learn about this is school? We barely learned about the Vietnam War and what we did learn was very vague. How do you just skip over a genocide in Cambodia? Why did I learn about the Silk Road and not this in my world history class? Which one can we learn more from? One of my friends was saying that she was inspired that day to become a history teacher because of what we were learning only from being in Cambodia. One of the most important things that I’ve learned over the course of this entire trip is that there is so much that I don’t know. And I want to learn about it all. What frustrates me is thinking about if I didn’t come on this trip. Would I ever be interested in learning about genocide in Cambodia or the water crisis in India? This trip has opened up so many doors for me and I am so thankful for that.
Sorry for the tangent, back to day 2. After our depressing morning, we moved on to
Something quite different: the Royal Palace. The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda were a bunch of very elaborate buildings. The Silver Pagoda was a place of worship for Buddhists. It was a stark contrast from the school turned into a concentration camp to a showcase of some of the most beautiful architecture and ornate designs in Cambodia. The building where the king sometimes resides was pointed out to us while we were there.
After touring the Royal Palace, it was lunch time. We had a Chinese lunch in town and had some extra time to wander around the area. There was this huge market nearby so I went with a few friends. It was like a maze trying to make our way around the little booths. They had everything from jewelry to some pretty nasty looking dried meats. Getting back to the bus was a challenge just because we had to cross the street. The roads are pretty much a free for all. So the strategy is to try to follow a local crossing the street. They’ll just start walking even when cars and motorbikes are coming but they just kind of weave their way around it. I could never drive in a country like Cambodia. It was sort of the same in India and Vietnam. We took a short flight to Siem Reap just in time to catch the sunset at the top of a hill overlooking the city. We weren’t the only ones with this idea, there were tons of other tourists rushing up the trail and to the top of these ruins of what was probably an old temple. The sunset was beautiful. Once the sun went down, we headed back down in the dark and got bombarded by little kids trying to sell us bracelets, postcards, and bags. We finally headed to our hotel which was super nice! I’ve learned that SAS trips usually arrange very high class hotels. That night we went out to a bar nearby for Halloween. There were a bunch of foreigners and a few people dressed up for Halloween. It was cool to see other people traveling to Cambodia because it felt pretty random for me to be there but exciting to see that other people thought to travel to Cambodia as well. It was pouring down rain and Sara and I took a rickshaw home in what felt like several feet of water in the road.
DAY 3:
A small group of people including myself and Sara woke up before the sun came up to go watch the sunrise over the famous temple, Angkor Wat. I would imagine that this is like the Taj Mahal of Cambodia. The sunrise was not as spectacular as I expected because it wasn’t that colorful but it definitely looked a lot different than when we saw it later in the day. Once we got back to the hotel, we had a huge breakfast buffet. We hopped in the bus again and started our tour to see a few of the hundreds of old temples in the area. First we went to the Bayon temple. It reminded us of the show “Legends of the Hidden Temple” because there were faces built into the temple. Sara and I got an elephant ride around the temple. We rocked back and forth as the elephant took each step. We got to see all sides of the temple. After the ride, we didn’t have enough time to explore the entire place but we walked through part. Nothing really made sense; there were no rooms, just windows and narrow walkways. Our next visit was to a very unique temple, the Ta Prohm temple. We walked into the woods to find it and what made it so special was that tree roots were built into this ancient structure. The roots actually helped keep the temple in tact over the years because it added strength. It’s hard to describe what it was like but I think I got some good pictures to make sense of it. I thought I was in the Jungle Book. We took a lunch break back at the hotel and got all packed up. Before we went to the airport we went back to Angkor Wat to tour it during the day. I was really blown away by such an elaborate and massive ancient structure. It was fun to wander around inside the temple looking at all the different random rooms and stairways. We spent a good amount of time at Angkor Wat before we went to the airport to fly home.
It was late by the time we got home so we didn’t try to explore Ho Chi Minh City that night. Sara, Tori, and I decided to be a little adventurous and we took the shuttle (from the ship into town because the roads are so dangerous) to go find a pho restaurant. On our way we met up with some people and they took us to a great little pho place. It was the perfect end to our day. Even a mini bowl was so filling and delicious! We didn’t last long before we headed back to the ship to get some sleep.
DAY 4:
The entire trip we’ve been planning to shop in Vietnam because the exchange rate is really good for us so we can get things for cheap. So Sara and I headed to the main market after having another delicious pho meal. We expected to spend an hour or two at the market, but it turned into an all day affair. We got really into bargaining and looking around at anything from candies to tea sets to shoes. Some vendors were friendly but I’d have to say that most were not. Especially after a lengthy bargaining battle. We stayed at the market even after the daylight was gone and the vendors moved some of the booths to the streets. I wanted to find a some sort of new top to wear so I looked around in a few booths. But everywhere I went the people told me they didn’t have clothes that would fit someone of my size. Finally I started to ask people what their biggest size was to see if it would fit. Maybe I was just embarrassed but it seemed like one of the men was shouting out “MAXIMUM SIZE?” I guess that was a little humiliating but I tried not to take it personally. I’ll have you know that I bought a shirt that fit me just fine from that man. It was pretty funny though to hear him yelling that. I’m pretty sure a fight would break out in Nordstrom if someone yelled that to a woman shopping. Anyway, that night we were exhausted from shopping so Sara and I stayed on the ship.
DAY 5:
One of my favorite things to do in port is to get up early to go get coffee somewhere. Sara and I found this super cute coffee shop called Highlands Coffee and we tried pretty much every drink on the menu and some delicious fruit with yogurt for breakfast. After people watching for a while, we got on with our day. We had heard everyone we ran into on the ship that the War Remnants Museum was something worth seeing. We got there about an hour before they closed for lunch so we had enough time to see about half of the museum taking our time to read everything. Having not been part of the generation that experienced the Vietnam War either at home or in Vietnam, it seemed very foreign and pretty vague to me. This museum gave me a powerful perspective on the war. There was this picture of three American soldiers and one Vietnamese woman lying on her back. She had a cloth over her mouth and water was being poured into her mouth and I read that then the men would stomp on her stomach to make it come out of her nose. The worst part was not that they were torturing her; it was the look on their faces. They were all smirking. That’s when I lost it. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one crying in that museum. I kept walking and reading about Agent Orange while looking at pictures of deformed children years after the war. I cried again reading about some of these children who were not only denied a normal life because of their deformities but also because they were orphans. My heart hurt trying to imagine what kind of life they lived and how different it was from mine.
This brings me back to my feelings in Cambodia about the genocide. I learned about the Vietnam War in high school and learned that there were protests and that the U.S. used a toxic substance called Agent Orange, but I never felt anger or embarrassment like I did that day in Vietnam. I know it was a different side of the story, but the pictures didn’t lie. If the government pays for schools, why wouldn’t they want to make sure they have a positive image throughout history? But how can we learn from our mistakes like that? I guess the museum was an eye-opener and really made me think more critically about the way our government conducts war and what they hide from us back at home. Did you know that people in Cambodia make a living through bomb-hunting because of all the exploded and unexploded bombs we dropped in their country? Cambodians risk their lives searching for our metal waste that we’ve dumped into their territory. I just can’t imagine a life like that.
Throughout the voyage, professors and other alumni told us that there would be one port among all the others that would make an obvious impact on us. This port, Cambodia and Vietnam, was that port for me. I knew this voyage would foster self-development but I didn’t know how. It didn’t happen all at once like I thought it might. But as a sort of self check in, this is the development I think I’ve noticed so far. And I must say that I think it’s not a change, it is development on a personal level. (I’m cheating and writing this after I’ve left Japan). I’ve learned that I need to learn more. I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but it’s like this feeling where all I want is to have 3 years to watch documentaries, read newspapers and every book, and meet people from different countries.
OK back to the last day in Vietnam. We rode in these little carts behind bikes and went back through the market one last time. On our way out, we were looking for this restaurant so we started to ask some cab drivers. None of them knew what we were talking about and we were getting really frustrated. But randomly this young guy, in perfect English, asked us if we needed help. It turns out he was a college student in Alabama but was born in Vietnam. He visits often and that day he was hanging out with some friends on a mission just to help people out. They chatted with us and walked us to the Rex Hotel where we were able to get the address to the restaurant written in Vietnamese. They were so kind and friendly, it was really refreshing. After a long adventure in a cab, we finally made it to this restaurant where you cook these little shish kabobs on a hot plate in front of you. The language barrier was particularly frustrating that night but we managed to get enough ordered to eat. The food was really good but took a while to cook. Asking them to turn up the heat was a challenge! We ran into our friend Josh on the way back to the ship and ended our day in Vietnam.
ELECTION DAY:
So right now I’m sitting in our big lecture room called the Union listening to the radio while they’re trying to get a live feed from MSNBC but they can only do it if everyone stops using the internet. We don’t know who our president will be but right now it looks like Obama is dominating. Everyone cheers when Obama wins another state. And a few cheer when McCain wins a state. Class was moved to later in the day and one of my classes might be cancelled to watch the election today. It’s November 5th here so it feels a little strange. Also that we don’t even know exactly where we are right now…somewhere between Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Hong Kong. It’s almost 7pm on the west coast so things are really picking up. We’re getting a live feed from MSNBC but it cuts out every once in a while and people get freaked out. YES! My professor just sat right in front of me…that means class is cancelled!
And the winner is…OBAMA!!! Pretty much everyone around me is crying for joy and jumping up and down. There’s this older couple on our ship (she’s got to be in her late 80s) that I watched as they announced the winner. She was sitting next to me and my friends, he was taking pictures up front and I watched them look for each other to share their excitement. He found her and blew her a kiss before he ran over to her. They hugged and I watched her cry for joy. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever. But there were a ton of people crying…it was intense. I almost felt bad that I wasn’t passionate enough about it to cry. I’m happy though because being in foreign countries has revealed a bit of an ugly reputation of America. Everyone was interested in our elections and rooting for Obama. Obama isn’t perfect but I think already other countries will be more willing to support our country. One thing that I really enjoyed about the election gathering was that this whole trip we’ve had a chance to learn and sort of pretend to be a part of different cultures. Each country takes us a little further from home. But this was a chance for us to be American together on the ship. I think it was really important for us to realize that we have a country of our own to be a part of…even if we are on the other side of the globe.
INDIA CONTINUED and on to Malaysia...I'll have Cambodia, Vietnam, and China posted soon! I'm almost to Japan!!!
DAY 3:
We got up really early for tea and coffee before we left to visit a school in a nearby city called Erode. We were greeted by some students who put the marking on our forehead as we walked in. The school was huge! 6,000 students go to that high school and 700 of them live at the school. I guess Americans are one of the only cultures that eat something different for breakfast, so we got another regular meal for breakfast. They would offer us bread and butter too because they thought all Americans like bread. We weren’t at the school very long before we left for another location. First we went to a small community outdoor Hindu temple. It was all outdoors and very beautiful. By then, we had been getting used to taking off our shoes to go into the house but it felt weird to be walking on dirt without shoes on. After the temple we took our buses to visit a carpet weaving factory. On the way, I sat next to a woman who worked at the school. She was very sweet and kind of took me under her wing. We talked about cooking and how she only has enough servants to clean so she is stuck with cooking all day long. She looked at my dress and asked me where I got it. I told her I got it at a place called Old Navy back at home. She smiled and said, “Oh well we made that here. I know that fabric if I see it.” Later I checked the tag and sure enough it said Made in India. She also told me about her family and her daughter. She was very passionate about only having one child as her responsibility to the population growth problem. She was convinced that the corruption of the government and most other problems in India can be accredited to the over population.
Our next stop was a much larger Hindu temple. The temple was very spread out with different areas to go pray at. Our guides explained some of the stories of the Hindu gods as we walked through. One I remember is about Shiva’s wife. One day she was felt so empowered that she just created a son. She went to bathe and told her son to guard the bath and not let anyone in. Well Shiva came looking for his wife but the son wouldn’t let him in. Shiva got so mad that he cut off the boy’s head. Shiva’s wife found out and made Shiva repair what he had done to their son. So Shiva replaced the head with an elephant head. And that is why their son has an elephant head on a human body. Interesting right? There was also a trained elephant their and my new friend made sure that I got blessed by the elephant. So I handed some money to the elephant, he took it in his trunk and then he blessed me with his slobbery trunk! Since we were still in a small, rural area we made quite an impression on the town. A reporter came up and had us pose as a group looking at the temple for the newspaper.
Next we visited a carpet weaving factory. You might be picturing a huge factory, but this place was no bigger than the first floor of a medium sized house. Two men and one woman were working on the looms when we got there. I got a chance to take one of their places and work on the loom! At first, I was having a lot of trouble figuring out their routine but eventually I got it. Our next stop was a disabled children’s school and training center. We were greeted with a traditional welcoming, one that they would use to welcome the president or someone of that stature. Our host picked me and one of the leaders to be presented with a huge flowered necklace. They smashed a flaming coconut to honor our presence as well. Then we all received the marking on our foreheads and went into a room with all of the students already sitting waiting for us. The other leader and I walked in and were seated in the front of the room. All of the little kids were especially excited when we walked in because they must have thought we were extra special. Haha! The youngest were in front and the oldest in the back. Right away I noticed this cute little girl trying to cover up her badly burned legs. They put on a performance for us and you could tell which of the kids were badly disabled. One of the girls’ hands was permanently disabled from polio and she was supposed to be playing the drum. We were pretty pressed for time but we did get a chance to sit with some of the kids and interact with them. Which is always kind of awkward at first when some one just says “ready, set, interact!” You know? The kids were super cute and even though we couldn’t verbally communicate with most of them, we giggled and took pictures.
We went back to the school for some free time to hang out. They took some of us up after lunch to a room with some beds and told us to rest…a little strange if you ask me. But we were surprisingly tired and enjoyed a little nap. Even though it was after school hours there were still a ton of kids around. The students had prepared a couple dance numbers for us in their gym. We got up and performed for them too! But while they had cultural numbers choreographed, all we could offer was the electric slide and singing the national anthem. We were supposed to leave the school to visit another site but our train departure got changed so we stayed at the school for dinner to make sure we could make the earlier train. The train ride back was much less stressful because I knew I would be fine. I met some fun people in my area and we chatted about a business idea that I thought of (when I have time, I’ll try to write about it…but it was inspired by the trip to rural India).
DAY 4:
We arrived back at the ship early in the morning so we had some time to go back to sleep. My friend Ali and I spent most of the day shopping around Chennai. We went to a mall nearby (the one we tried to get to the first day and never made it). Our rickshaw driver waited for us for hours while we shopped. He didn’t take any money from us until we were back at the ship. OH and the security was heightened in India so we had to show this shore pass and a customs form whenever we wanted to get back to the ship.
That night Sara got back from her home stay and we met her family on the ship! They seemed so nice and Sara had a really great time. Ali, Sara, and I went out that night for dessert at a place called Mocha. They had hookah and really good milkshakes! Quite the combo. This outdoor restaurant was very interesting…instead of sitting at a table, we sat on a bed. Oh and half of what we tried to order was not actually available.
DAY 5: Last day in India
I had two FDPs the last day. The first was on the ship which was nice because I didn’t have to dirty anymore clothes. A lady named Geeta spoke to a group of us about human rights in India, specifically for women and children. I wont get into all the details but the main concern is that even though the government has passed laws in favor of women’s and children’s rights, the laws aren’t making an impact. Many people are too far from the legal system to be heard in a courtroom. Anyway, it was very interesting what she had to say about the powerlessness of the laws that cause many people to be trapped in undesirable situations. After the discussion, I went on a quick trip to see the socioeconomic problems in Chennai. Well it didn’t end up being such a quick trip. Throughout the week we learned that Chennai has terrible traffic but this day in particular there was a political demonstration which turned our 20 minute drive into an hour and a half there and two hours back. We only got to spend 30 minutes in the village. The houses were on the beach, but not the kind you see in Newport Beach. We weren’t allowed to take pictures because the conditions are so bad. People lived in shacks surrounded by smelly garbage. The people didn’t seem excited to see us as we walked by them. The little boys were playing games they made up with marbles on the sand. I would have never known it but these people were affected by the tsunami. Our guides explained the efforts that their organization is taking to help get women working to make some money for their families. The men are mostly fishers and if they tend to dry the fish so that they can preserve them longer. We saw the men sitting in a covered area drinking to enjoy their day…but of course no women. So far, each country we have visited reveals slums in worse and worse conditions. India is by far the most appalling.
MALAYSIA!
DAY 1:
Porting in Malaysia was a different process than every other port. Because there was not room for a ship our size to port on a dock, we did something called tendering. The ship was anchored a short distance from shore and we took our lifeboats into shore as a sort of shuttle. Sara and I were on the first tender boat out because we had a trip going to the Tropical Fruit Farm and Tropical Spice Garden. Unfortunately the first day it was pouring down rain…and we happened to be walking outside all day. To get to the tropical fruit farm, our bus took us way up a mountain up these narrow and curvy roads. Our guide, Luke, was very energetic and fun to listen to. He could make a simple sentence sound like a dramatic story. Our guide for the fruit farm was kind of the same in that sense. He was very dramatic in the way he spoke to us. After a short, rainy walk past many fruit trees, we finally got to taste the fruits! Some of them were bitter and some very sweet. I had the best mango and watermelon I’ve ever had! We got smoothies as well mixed with many tropical fruits. One of my favorites is the dragon fruit. There’s this other famous fruit called Durien and it is such a strong flavor and smell that people will not allow it on buses or in hotels. I tried some…it’s really gooey and has an aftertaste like brie cheese (not in a good way). Anyway, that’s what you’re all getting for your souvenirs so get excited! Haha just kidding…you’re not getting souvenirs.
The next stop was the tropical spice garden, which looked like a small zoo but for plants. The tropical forest that we were in was what I expected to see in the Amazon oddly enough. I was really curious to see what spices look like as plants because I’ve never really thought of them like that. Spices are all dried up and in jars…but who knew they came from the ground? We saw lemon grass, citronella, aloe, ginger, allspice, beetlenut, pepper, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, and turmeric. There was this giant swing that was kind of like the one we used to have in our old house because it was hung from trees and it was on a platform so you could swing over the hillside with all the plants in the jungle. It was really fun! We had a buffet lunch at the spice garden that was our first Malaysian meal. Malaysian food is hard to define because they don’t really have their own cuisine. They have a lot of Chinese and Indian food but they don’t have much fusion. Anyway, I had a chocolate, oatmeal, and ginger cookie that was really pretty good. We headed back to the ship after our meal.
Traveling back to the ship was a pain because it’s such a long process to wait for a tender, get back to the ship, then do what you need to do on the ship, and then wait for another tender to get back. It was definitely a cool experience and I’m glad I can say I’ve done it, but I’m also happy we don’t have to do it again. Anyway, I went back to the ship to get ready for the Welcome Reception, something we have in each country the first night as an introduction to the country’s culture. I hadn’t been to one yet so my friend’s and I figured this would be a good chance for us. The reception was at a local university and we were there to watch a shadow puppet show, something very indigenous to the Indonesian region. We were treated to a little buffet and then watched the puppet show with live music. Some parts we didn’t understand and others were kind of jokes about Americans which I guess was kind of funny. I got to try one of the instruments after the show and we got to see behind the scenes of how they put on the show. We were still really hungry after the show so we went to a restaurant to get some food. Surprisingly, it was very American food so on the way out we tried to order some naan bread from a street vendor. Somehow he didn’t understand what we said and after waiting for a while, he came back with some chicken thingy. I was really bummed…I really wanted to try naan. We went back to the ship pretty early to make sure we could get a tender back because we had to leave the next morning for our trip to Kuala Lumpur.
DAY 2:
Carla and I both slept through our alarms but woke up 10 minutes before we had to meet our group in the Union on the ship. Luckily we were already packed and ready to go. A few of our other friends were on the trip so when the group got split up, I ended up with a good group of friends including Carla, Todd, and Adrienne. I was kind of upset because we were supposed to stay at one hotel and so my other friends traveling independently booked their room there so we could all be together. But then my group got sent to a different hotel. It’s not like I could call or text them either to let them know. Everything worked out but I was just frustrated we couldn’t all be together in Kuala Lumpur.
The four hour drive out there was long but scenic. As we got closer, we saw these huge caves that had been turned into temples. Finally we got to the hotel and I got to room with my friend Adrienne. Unfortunately our room wasn’t ready so we camped out with Carla and her roommate until dinner. We had a little time to explore the area before we left for dinner. Kuala Lumpur reminds me a lot of Seattle. It’s a pretty big and developed city with many malls, restaurants, and big buildings. Most importantly, there were multiple Starbucks there!!! I felt right at home because of the Starbucks, a monorail, and a tower that looked a lot like the space needle. Dinner was a huge buffet and cultural performance at a beautiful restaurant. There was so much food! And after the dancing I was one of the volunteers to go up on the stage and learn some of their dances. It was pretty embarrassing but fun at the same time. After dinner we tried to go out to some bars in the area. I noticed an interesting trend at the bars. Almost every place we went to had a Malaysian cover band playing a lot of American songs. It was a funny sight. The last place we went to was this super nice bar on top of a building with a lounge and swimming pool. We ran into Sara and my friend Ali when we got there so I’m soooo glad we went! It was weird not having planned to meet and we randomly saw them there.
DAY 3:
This was a big touring day through Kuala Lumpur. BUT before that, I got up earlier to go to Starbucks. I figured that even though the mall opened at 10am, Starbucks would definitely be open by seven. But I was wrong. I waited for ten minutes until 8am to have my Starbucks. The people were really nice and thought it was really cool that I’m from Seattle…the home of Starbucks. I felt so at home in that store, it was really not much different than any other Starbucks I’ve been to. We started the morning with a breakfast in the hotel. It’s still pretty surprising when I see that these other countries don’t eat much differently in the morning than they do for the rest of the day. We visited the palace first and took pictures with the guards on horses. The horse turned when I was standing there and hit my butt with it’s nose! And then I was standing around while people were taking pictures and an Asian woman came and stood next to me while her friend took a picture of me and her! Haha! Then we visited the museum and wandered around. It was a beautiful museum but kind of difficult to follow exactly what was being depicted. While waiting for the group to finish, we saw this stand selling cups of corn…something we ended up seeing very often. I thought it was the strangest thing ever that people enjoyed corn like eating cereal. After the museum we went to the National Monument and took pictures…without much explanation of what it actually represented. Our next photo stop was the National Mosque before we got to the Dataran Merdeka. There we saw the world’s tallest flagpole and took some more pictures. Riding around in the bus all day stopping at the tourist sites was less than exciting but I realize that my pictures of these places will seem like I have done a lot more than I felt like I did. The coolest place we went was the KL Tower, kind of like the space needle, where we could see the entire city from up above. We could get a good view of the famous Petronas Towers (two super tall twin towers).
After all of our touring, the groups split up again. We had a choice to either go see the fireflies near a river about 2 hours away or to visit a pewter factory and the temple in a cave nearby. So I decided to stay closer because it had been raining which meant that the fireflies might not be as abundant. The pewter factory was clearly not that exciting but still interesting to see. We took pictures with the world’s largest beer stein. The cave was the best part! We climbed 272 stairs to get up into the cave and once we walked through, there was another opening. We saw lots of places of worship and lots and lots of monkeys! It’s hard to describe in words what the caves are like but hopefully pictures will help. That night my friends and I went out to dinner in the city at Planet Hollywood! We went to another club to dance and had so much fun!
DAY 4:
We had a little time in the morning before we left so I took my last chance to go to Starbucks again. We left on the bus to make our way back to Penang and the ship. The way back was pretty anticlimactic but our tour guide always had interesting things to say. We stopped at a rest stop that had a bunch of fruit stands. The fruit in Malaysia was incredible and so exotic. I read a newspaper with classified ads and found it very interesting companies were allowed to specify age, gender, and ethnicity of who they were looking to hire.
We got back to the ship midday so we were able to go out that night with some of my friends who were already back from Kuala Lumpur. Once we got off the tender boat, we walked a bit and looked for a cab that could take us to a Thai restaurant. The cab took us to a Chinese restaurant. But I guess that’s what happens when there’s a language barrier. The restaurant was called Steamboat and it ended up being very good and super cheap. It was kind of like a Melting Pot for Chinese food. After that we headed to the popular area to go out and we met some of our friends there. Our last night in Malaysia was a lot of fun! There was, of course, a Malaysian cover band playing a bunch of popular American songs.
DAY 5:
Our last day in Malaysia! I had an FDP later in the day so we got up early to do some last minute shopping. We found this coffee place though that let us sample pretty much any kind of coffee possible. It’s white coffee and instant and pretty much amazing! After that we got lunch at this cafeteria type place. We weren’t sure how to order but somehow we ended up with a decent and cheap meal. Our cab driver was staying with us for the day so we asked him to take us to an internet café next. It’s always nice to be able to check email without worrying about it costing an arm and a leg.
So then I met my group to go to St. Joseph’s Orphanage right in the city. For some reason the sense of time is a little off in Malaysia (and in India for that matter)…the bus driver said it would take 20 minutes and it took 4 minutes. Anyway, there were twice as many students as there were children so it was a little overwhelming for the kids when we got there. I felt like we had to bombard the kids to get their attention. One girl was really shy but I got her to do a puzzle with me. She probably didn’t say more than two words the whole time but she really liked doing puzzles. Then I taught a girl how to draw a dog with a cute little story (thanks nat!) and she really enjoyed that. She came up to me and gave me a hug before I left. I feel so sad for these kids living such lonely lives. Their rooms are plain and some have parents that visit but most don’t. I just could never imagine how I would have turned out without social interaction and loving parents and family. I am so thankful for a family that not only wanted to keep me but that loved me.
Malaysia - Buddist Temple in a Cave!
Malaysia - the largest beer stein in the world!
Malaysia - National Monument
Cambodia - Angkor Wat
Cambodia - more temples
Cambodia - Elephant Ride!
Cambodia - Angkor Wat at Sunrise
Cambodia - Sunset
Cambodia - Royal Palace
Cambodia - School turned into a Concentration Camp
Cambodia
Vietnam - The River on the Way to the Port in Ho Chi Minh City
Malaysia - Tendering Process
Malaysia - Orphanage
Malaysia - STARBS!!!
Malaysia - Cave Temple
Malaysia - KL Tower and Petronas Twin Towers
Malaysia - BEACH!
Cambodia - Tropical Fruit FarmsINDIA!!!
So I have been falling behind on my blogs so I'm posting the first couple days just to give you a taste but I'll post more later.
DAY 1: Exploring Chennai
Just like we always do, my friends and I woke up early to see us pull into port. So far on the trip we have not been too lucky in getting a clear view of the city as we approach it (except for maybe Salvador). Anyway, when we went outside the ship was stopped about a mile or two off shore waiting for the pilot boat to come guide us into the port. Instead of the usual fog, it was a thick cloud of smog that hindered the view of Chennai. Even from such a distance from shore, we could smell the distinct smell of India. The smell intensified as we approached the port. It’s really hard to describe the smells that we experienced but here’s my attempt…
Traveling by train in India was definitely part of the experience though. Despite the horror stories I had heard, no one stole my bags or tried to climb in bed with me.
The house was barely furnished besides one table and some plastic chairs set up for us visitors. The daughter-in-law of the couple living at the house stayed with us that day because she spoke English, unlike everyone else in the town. Her two younger daughters were there too and spoke a great deal of English as well. I felt uncomfortable when one of the several servants brought us all coffee and tea (some of the best I’ve ever had). The coffee was grown on a friend’s farm! 
I won’t go through all of the factories now, but remind me to tell you about them later (coconut rope and sugar cane). The kids at the school were so happy to see us and loved taking pictures. They didn’t know a word of English but somehow we were able to enjoy our time together. On our way back from these visits, we saw people working on a rice patty (all women). A group of us took off our shoes, rolled up our pants, and got in the mucky water to help plant some rice. The women all laughed at our attempt to walk through the water. But it was the most amazing experience ever to be there in India doing what these women do everyday so that I can eat rice. Speaking of which, since rice is grown in the southern part of India and wheat is grown in the north, the cuisines follow the same pattern. That explains the tragic truth that I had no naan bread while I was in India. But the food I did have was absolutely amazing, no complaints.
