Japan: Post 1

Hello-
I just returned from my time in Japan. Japan was awesome! Seems like that is my response after every country!  Our time in Japan coming to a conclusion though was very bittersweet. Japan is our last international port, and as our ship pulled away from the dock it felt like the end of one chapter. I was very sad to see my trip begin to come to a close, but I am also very anxious to get home and see my family and friends!  Now we have 10 days at sea en route to Hawaii. It is our longest ever stretch at sea and I am nervous about that. We have only gone a maximum of seven days before, and at the end of seven days we were all so anxious to see land and get off the ship, I can’t imagine what we will be like after 10 days. It will be a hard stretch at sea too because we will have tests and final exams in some classes as well as final projects and papers due.  We will also have Thanksgiving during this stretch. On November 28th, we will cross the International Date Line, so we will have November 28th TWICE. Then we will finally go from being hours ahead of home, to suddenly hours behind home!

In Japan, two good friends and myself decided to travel independently. That means that we did not have anything organized through Semester at Sea and decided to tackle Japan on our own! The first day we arrived in Yokohama we got on a train to Tokyo.. We were staying our first night in Tokyo at a hostel in Asakusa, so we took subways and trains to Asakusa. We arrived at our hostel and were pleased to find out that it was a very nice place! We dropped our heavy backpacks off and went to explore Tokyo. We found a really cool temple and shopping market.  We wandered around Tokyo for the evening and ended up finding an inexpensive burger place for dinner. It was delicious!  We decided to go bowling in the evening so we had to figure out how to get to another district of Tokyo. We wanted to walk, but we found out it was a much longer walk than we had expected, and took nearly an hour to find our way to the bowling lane. The bowling was fun (I lost as expected), and then we headed back to our hostel. By the time we arrived at our hostel we were exhausted and went right to bed!

The second day in Tokyo we had LOTS of time to spend before boarding our overnight train. We decided to seep in a little bit, then we headed towards the Shibuya district. Shibuya is one of the areas with all the big lights and tall buildings with lots of shopping and restaurants. We were overwhelmed with the number of people though. It was so packed. We wandered up the road looking for something to eat. It was all very expensive though. We found both a shakeys pizza, and an outback steakhouse, but both were out of our budget. We decided instead to get a crepe at a crepe stand. It was very good, mine was chocolate and banana flavored Yum!  When we were finished in Shibuya we headed back towards Tokyo station. We decided to wander from Tokyo station and came across a very nice park to take a break in. There was a wedding going on near by, so we watched that for a while and relaxed in the park. We wandered around then returned to Tokyo station for dinner. It was very good, and lucky for us, we were able to waste 2.5 hours while getting dinner because we were early for our overnight bus to kyoto. We found a place in the station where we could sit with our backpacks and wait for our bus. I found a pay phone and got to call home, which was great!  Once it was close to boarding time, we headed upstairs and got on our bus! It seemed like it would be kind of comfortable, and by then we were exhausted anyways. We tried to get comfy and we were all asleep within a short time. The bus made stops almost ever hour or two though, so we would wake up a lot during the night.

Hong Kong

China Post 1: Hong Kong


Arrival in Hong Kong!  This morning I pulled into Hong Kong Harbor!  I was surprised to learn that the port exit was literally THROUGH a mall. In order to get off the ship and onto the land we were routed through a mall. 24 hours a day we could exit and entrance the ship, but had to walk past all the stores (only open during business hours).  Once we got out of the mall we found Christmas decorations galore! It was such a treat to see. There were great big purple Christmas trees and lights and wreaths, it was all so pretty. The first day in Hong Kong I had an organized tour arranged to see the most of Hong Kong possible in just one day.  We met up on the buses (after getting terribly lost) and started our day of touring. It was a great warm day so I was wearing shorts and a tank top (which is interesting once I tell you about Beijing!).  We started our day at a lookout point over the harbor, in the distance we could see our ship docked against the skyscrapers of Hong Kong.  We also went to Victoria Peak, which was awesome! It is the highest point in Hong Kong and we had to take a tram in order to get to the peak. The tram went up the hill much steeper than I would have expected, so parts of the ride really felt like a roller coaster. We were leaning so far back on an angle that it felt like we were on a roller coaster climbing to the top of the first peak. It was pretty cool!  The view from the top over the skyscrapers was so cool! I got some great pictures and we tried to get a little shopping done quickly before we left the peak.    After our stop at Victoria Peak we headed to a part of Hong Kong that used to be a fishing village. It has been greatly modernized since its time as a fishing village, but now it is the launching point for fishing trips out to sea. The area is used as a makeshift safe haven for the fishing boats to stay while they are in port. Many of the fishing boats are also houseboats for the fishermen and their families, so they area is also a type of neighborhood and home for those people. 

For our lunch we had Chinese appetizers. We had pork dumplings, fried crab, slimy soup, spring rolls, fried rice, pork, and a really weird ooey-gooey desert. Some of it was pretty good, but a lot of it was such a weird texture that I could barely do it!

In the afternoon we made more tour stops including the beach and a shopping market!  After our shopping we returned to the port area and had dinner at a great place in the mall area.

After dinner we returned to the ship because our ship was docked with front roe seats to the light show!  The light show is a 14-minute show that the skyscrapers put on. It involves lasers and changes in lights up and down the skyscrapers. I set up my tripod on the 7th deck outside on the ship and LOVED the view. I got awesome pictures of the light show. 

I really really enjoyed Hong Kong, but we were only in Hong Kong for one day. I think that it would be great to go back and visit and see a little more of Hong Kong. 




I am going to add a VERY quick version of the rest of my time in China below. Unfortunately, the time at sea went so fast again that I am behind on my blog!!!

During our second day in Hong Kong we went to the airport and flew to Beijing. Our first day in Beijing was not planned out for us, so after we checked into the hotel we wandered around a little bit and ended up getting hot chocolate at a little restaurant not far from our hotel.  The second day we visited a market because it was much colder in Beijing than any of us had prepared for. At the market we all stocked up on souvenirs as well as warm winter jackets, boots, hats, mittens, and snow-pants!  Our plans for Beijing involved quite the Great Wall adventure, and we knew that we had to get warm gear in order to survive the wall. The other sites we visited in Beijing were  the Olympic Stadiums, the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, the Summer Palace, and more.  For our Great Wall adventure we drove about 2.5 hours to a very remote section of the Great Wall. We had a sunset hike followed by dinner to warm up at a restaurant and then we hiked up the great wall to our place to camp for the night. It was so cold that some people chickened and stayed in a hotel, but my friends and I decided to stick it out. We each were allotted 2 down sleeping bags and we all slept in our winter gear inside the down sleeping bags. The stars were amazing, and it was so cool to sleep under the stars in a watchtower on the Great Wall of China. In the morning the water bottle that had been by my head was entirely frozen solid! When we woke up though we could see where we had hiked to the night before in the pitch black and were pleased to watch the sunrise over the wall.  We had a long hike on the great wall and even that was an adventure. We were hiking in a remote un retouched section of the wall that did not have guardrails so there were parts that were a little dangerous. In addition, the snow and ice on the wall created an interesting mix of hiking, sliding and slipping. Overall it was one of the best experiences of my life!!!!  At the end of the hike we ziplined over a river to the bottom of the wall. How cool!  I wish that I had time to say more, but I have to prepare for Japan tomorrow. Sorry it was so brief!!!

Vietnam

I am sorry, but the blog posts for Vietnam are going to be shortened a bit because once again time has flown by and we arrive in China already tomorrow!  I would love to tell you more, and if you want to know anything, just email (amdryer@semesteratsea.net). My Vietnam trip was much more amazing than it sounds below, but I thought I should at least give you a taste before I move on to the next thing!


Nha Trang:  My trip to Nha Trang was a great adventure!  The first day was a very long day though! We had to be in the dining hall at 3 45 am!!! Our crew is so amazing and they got up early with us in order to make us a hot breakfast at that time of the night!
A tropical storm had just passed through the day before, so we were a little worried that the flights would be overbooked from people who had gotten flights canceled the day before. We were lucky though and were able to board our flight no problem!  The flight was SO quick, it was only 37 minutes of actual flight time! . We were all very tired and we climbed aboard and got comfy and slept for the whole flight. It was the first time in my life that when they announced it was time to descend I felt like saying "just a few more minutes". After we left the airport we met our tour guide Liam.
Our first day in Nha Trang was a cultural tour day. We visited ancient temple ruins, a pagoda, a giant Buddha statue, an old Cambodian temple, an aquarium, and more. We ate lots of seafood! By the end of the time in Nha Trang I was very sick of seafood!  In the afternoon we had time for a little nap since we had gotten up so early, and then we went out to dinner for more seafood!  We got to watch a song and dance performance after dinner.

The second day in Nha Trang was a really fun day. Our group of 24 students went out on a private boat to hang out near the islands all day. We traveled alongside these uninhabited islands (there were 19 total) and we got to jump off the boat and swim.  We could not go up onto land because the rocks near the shore were covered in barnacles and sea urchins that were sharp and dangerous, but we got to swim out in the open. We even got to climb onto the roof of our boat and jump into the ocean from the top platform of the boat. It was very fun!  We spent most of the day swimming and then moving to a new area to explore! We had lunch on one of the islands that recently has opened up for tourism. The island now has a theme park and a big resort on it! Imagine one of the Apostle Islands with roller coasters and waterslides! They even built a gondola to take tourists over to the island.  In the afternoon we did more swimming and jumping! We were hoping to snorkel, but since the tropical storm had came through, the water was not so clear. In the evening we had more seafood!

The third day in Nha Trang was totally open so that we could plan something on our own. Myself and 3 friends talked a tour agent down the road into bringing us into a village. We were so pleased with how it turned out. We ended up more or less renting a car, and a guide/translator to bring us around for the day. He brought us into a very poor village. The people did not know any English, but it was still fun to interact with the children. Our guide helped with translation so we could speak to the families a little bit. One of the families invited us inside to see their home. It was simply a cement floor with brick walls, and that was it!  The government actually had built them the home because they did not have a home previously!  We also got to stop at the village school to see what that looked like. Through our translator we learned that the tropical storm had hit hard in the area we were in and many of the students had not yet returned to school. Some of them simply could not get to school with the amount of flooding, some had to stay home to help with sick or injured members of their family, and there were some that the teacher did not know why they had not returned to school yet.  I really hope that all of the students were safe and would be back to school once it was safe to attend.  I was very glad that I had visited the village, it was a great way to see more of Vietnam. We also went up to some waterfalls with our guide since we had more time before we needed to return to the hotel for our flight. When we got back into Nha Trang we got some lunch and then headed to the airport for our flight back to Ho Chi Minh City. It was fun to run into some other semester at sea community members in Nha Trang waiting for the same flight. A family that is onboard with us had traveled to Nha Trang and was on the same flight back to Ho Chi Minh City. It made me realize how much we take each country by storm that we could even recognize people in the airport that we had not even docked in!!

The last day in Vietnam I went to the Mekong Delta. The Mekong Delta is a region that is along the Mekong River. The people who work in this area depend on the river immensely. They use the river for everything from washing to drinking to cleaning to fishing.  Every day they bring goods to sell to a ‘floating market’ in which they go to an area of the river on their boat full of something to sell and trade with the other people’s goods in order to get a variety of food. I wish that we could have seen the market. We did not get to see the market but we did get to ride by the small boats down the Mekong River. That was pretty cool.


That’s all about Vietnam for now. Sorry I did not get to say more. I need to pack for China tomorrow already!!!

Vietnam Post 1:

Good- Bye to Vietnam!
I am back on the ship from my time in Vietnam. I had such a great time and am once again sad to see the time come to an end.

The first day in Vietnam-
Our arrival to Vietnam was an exciting one. We traveled up the river from the sea to the port. It was a 3 hour drive up a windy and sometimes kind of narrow river! When we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City we were all ready to disembark.  Our plans for the first day consisted of heading into town, shopping, and getting lunch out on the town. We did not have any big plans, but turned our shopping into an all day adventure!  We went into the Ben Thanh Market and had a great time!  You could find ANYTHING at that market. You could shop for anything from winter jackets to toothbrushes to fruit to coffee! I didn’t even know where to start! We wandered around for quite a while and since the prices were so low, we began to get more and more shopping bags! We took a short lunch break to get in some air conditioning and to take a rest. We had Pho (Vietnamese Noodle Soup) and Spring Rolls (Delicious!).  We ended up spending the majority of the day from noon until at least 5 or 6 wandering around the town.  We wanted to return to the ship at an early time because we had a VERY early morning the following day. 

Vietnam Post 1

Vietnam-


Just wanted to update everyone that my first day in Vietnam was a ton of fun! We arrived this morning to the mouth of the river at 8 am. Then we had a 3 hour drive up a windy river to the port! There were small fishing boats and canoes in the river and we are a big cruise ship! I am sure that BIG cruise ships cannot come up to this port, the river is not very big!  I think that it must be more of an inlet than a river, but there were parts that were quite narrow. It was really fun to sit outside and eat my breakfast while watching the little boats and canoes along the sides of the river though.  After we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City we headed into the center of town and went to the Ben Thanh Market! I think the market had EVERYTHING you could ever want in there. There was everything from fresh fish to fresh flowers to souvenirs to t-shirts and traditional clothing! We LOVED walking around the market and spent quite a few hours in the market. We got some appetizers this afternoon and I realized that I need a lot of practice with chopsticks.. good thing that my next three countries will all be using chopsticks, so I should be a pro by the end.   :)

Tomorrow, really early in the morning (at 3 45 in the morning) I am heading to the airport for my trip to Nha Trang. I have heard its going to be awesome, so I am really looking forward to it. 

I will update you more once I return from Nha Trang. 

India Post 2

School Blog:

I am so sorry it has taken so long to post more about India. Here we arrive in Vietnam tomorrow, and I am just finishing my India blog. Things have been really busy and I did not allow myself to do anything fun until after my two exams this morning (and I consider blogging fun).  I will be working to get some stuff up though the rest of today… sorry!  Also, if you have any interest in the package that was sent to the Mrs. Reardon and Mrs. Lesneski, please let my mom know. I do not know if she has the package yet, but when Mrs. Reardon and Mrs. Lesneski finish I believe that my mom will have the package at school for a while if anyone is interested.

One of the first things I did upon my arrival in India was attend a Welcome Reception hosted by a University here in India. It was very fun!  The Indian students who were very interested in chatting with us about Semester at Sea greeted us. We all received a warm Indian welcome and then proceeded into the reception area. It was at a hotel in Chennai but in their outdoor courtyard area, which was really nice. There were tons of Indian students there to interact with us. I had one of them teach me how to tie a Sari and also one of the students offered to draw a Henna tattoo on my hand. I gladly I gladly agreed and chatted with the student while she drew my Henna. I asked her if she does them all the same and she said that to her knowledge she has never even done two the same! Mine had a peacock, but you had to be pretty artsy to see the peacock in the design.  At the welcome reception there was a full traditional Indian meal for us as well. We did not get a whole lot of time to eat it though because they had brought lots of things for us to look at and buy too!  I did not know what to buy because I did not know how expensive things should cost in Dirhams, so I waited until the next day to shop. The last part of our reception was an Indian Dance College had set up a stage to perform dance and teach us about Indian dance. It was really interesting. I took some video that I can make into a movie later!