Hey Everyone,
Well this is going to be my last blog entry and it shouldn’t be too long since I was only in Hawaii for a day. The morning we arrived in Hawaii began very early as a few of the academic deans played music over the announcements and sang along at 6:00am. It was very funny and obnoxious at the same time. After we were woken up, we all had to go through customs, which hopefully will be the only customs we have to go through to get into the U.S., which would make getting into San Diego go much faster. Well after we went through customs and got our passports and immunization cards back, we were finally allowed off the ship at about 8:00. For the morning, I went on a trip through Semester at Sea to Pearl Harbor. At Pearl Harbor, Sheryl and I walked around the museum before we entered the theater to watch a movie on the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The documentary was very sad to watch and it was strange to think I was sitting right where bombing had occurred over 60 years ago. After we watched the film, we went on a boat to take us to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, which is a small building that sits atop the sunken ship. The building contained 21 window openings, which our guide told us symbolized a 21-gun salute that the army gives. It was bizarre standing in the memorial knowing that around 1000 men were sunk with the ship. It was like standing in a cemetery where everyone is buried directly under you. It was very sad.
After I visited Pearl Harbor, the tour guide took us to a cemetery where many military men are buried and then he drove us through downtown to see the capital building as well as a few other significant buildings. When we got off the bus at the last stop on the tour, Sheryl and I decided to break off to catch a bus to the beach to meet up with Alex, Chris, and Jay. Once Sheryl and I arrived at the beach, we met the boys at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. The food was so good! It was pretty much the first good Mexican food I have had in 100 days. After we ate lunch we went to the beach where I laid and relaxed for a few hours. I got a little tan, but barely. The beach was absolutely gorgeous and the sand was so soft. Many of the beaches I had been to on this trip had very rough sand that didn’t feel that great to walk on. Anyways after the beach, we walked through an outdoor market where I bought a shave ice, which is a snow cone. It was delicious and filled me up so when we went to Cheesecake Factory after the market I didn’t even eat anything. Well after dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, we caught a cab and went back to the ship because it was already 8:00pm and we were exhausted from waking up so early and lying in the sun all day.
Anyways, this was my experience in Hawaii for my one day. I have always wanted to go to Hawaii so it was nice to just relax and enjoy the beaches and other sites in Hawaii for my last day in port. I am now back on the ship and have finished all my finals and classes, so for the next four days I get to just relax, watch movies, and maybe get a tan since I really haven’t yet. Well, only a few days left until I get to see everybody. I am so excited!!!
I love you all!
Alissa
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
Vietnam Through Chris's Eyes
Interesting Things While At Sea:
Once away from Malaysia, we stayed at one end of the Straights of Malacca doing man overboard drills and doughnuts until the sun went down. At around 1900 hours we all headed out to the back of the ship and the engines revved up. We headed down the Straights of Malacca at a blistering 30 knots to avoid any potential pirates. Additionally, crew members were stationed throughout the ship with fire hoses in case any pirates thought that the MV Explorer would be a fun challenge. Luckily we made it through without any trouble and arrived in Singapore in the morning to begin bunkering (refueling). After spending the day refueling, we were off to Vietnam. I was a bit disappointed to be so close to Singapore without the chance to visit, but I hope to go back there as a tourist some time in the near future. The arrival in Vietnam was quite beautiful because we had to cruise through the Mekong Delta. It was some of the most beautiful landscape that we have visited, but I will go into much greater detail later in this post.
Vietnam:
We (Alex, Alissa, Jay, I) began our visit to Vietnam with a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Our first stop was a lunch stop along a tributary to the Mekong. The food was a delicious traditional Vietnamese feast complete with an interesting array of seafood. The most interesting part of the lunch was meeting a woman who was ranked 57th in the world at minesweeper. She completed the difficult level one (100 mines) in 74 seconds! After lunch, we headed to the Cu Chi Tunnels. This was an elaborate web of tunnels constructed during the Vietnam War, in which the Vietcong forces, lived, fought, and housed ammunition. It was like a huge army base that was fit in tiny, hand-built tunnels underground. This visit really brought the horrors of war to my attention. I pictured what it would be like to be there as a soldier fighting against an enemy which you knew little about in a land that you knew much less about. It was also quite interesting to hear the Vietnamese take on the war. It was hard to hear them call the American soldiers enemies and fascinating to hear the Vietcong referred to as heroes and freedom fighters. The most powerful moment of my visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels was passing by an American Tank that had been blown up and left there. It was really hard for me knowing that some kids my age had died at that site. After seeing some booby traps and entrances to the Cu Chi Tunnels, we headed to a shooting range. I thought it the most absurd and somewhat offensive thing that they would have a shooting range at the battle site of a war. Once the other students had satisfied their desire to shoot an AK-47, we got the opportunity to finally enter a tunnel. The size of the tunnels was quite amazing, and a bit claustrophobic. There was very little space to move around and you had to squat to get anywhere. I feel bad for anyone who had to live in there and worse for the soldiers who had to fight in there. You could not see a thing, even with the lighting throughout the public passages. When then headed back to the ship. Once back, we ate dinner and then headed off to the tailor to get some suits ordered. Alex and Jay ordered a suit, Alissa ordered a skirt suit and I ordered two suits. It was a fun trust-building exercise. After getting the suits ordered we wandered the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, ending up at the Ben Than night market. Ho Chi Minh City is quite an experience. Vietnam has more motorbikes than you could possibly imagine and at the same time, doesn’t really follow many of the same traffic laws that we are used to in The States. Crossing the street consists of just walking out and letting the motorbikes find a way around you. Again a bit of trust was needed for this to work. We managed to find the market safely and spend a fair amount of money on polo shirts and other souvenirs.
The following morning I woke up at 4:15 and headed out on my adventure to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. This was my first big trip without any members of the family, but I did have some friends (Jess and Heather) on the trip with me. We began with a flight on Vietnam Airlines to Hanoi. Once we arrived in Hanoi we were taken to the Hanoi Hilton. This was not a pleasant hotel, but a prison that was used by the French during their years of colonization and by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. It was quite an interesting place and looked like a scene straight out of hell. The men that were imprisoned there (including John McCain) were kept with their feet shackled on a slanted wood bed. All the men that were imprisoned there were tortured using various methods which I hesitate to describe in this blog. It was very interesting to see the propaganda of the Vietnamese government, describing the Americans as well treated and the Vietnamese who were imprisoned as political prisoners. The most amazing sights of the Hanoi Hilton were both John McCain’s flight suit from the day he was shot down and imprisoned and a guillotine that was used by the French for capital punishment. It is hard to think that we can be so cruel to fellow human beings. After visiting the Hanoi Hilton we headed to a Confucian temple, where Ho Chi Minh and many other political leaders got their inspiration and wisdom. It was a very beautiful temple with a lot of history. After lunch at a local restaurant, we headed on a 3 hour bus ride to Ha Long Bay. It was a scenic bus ride with typical scenes of Vietnamese countryside and rice paddies. Once we arrived at the Grand Ha Long Hotel, we headed off to the local street market. After dinner at the hotel, we once again ventured out to the night market and had a great time buying some more souvenirs. It is amazing how cheap things are in Vietnam. It is very weird, though, to spend thousands of dong and it only being a few dollars (the exchange rate was 16000 dong = 1 dollar).
The following morning was another early one. Slava (first time roommate wasn’t alex) and I woke up at 6:30 and headed to an early breakfast. After breakfast we headed to the marina where we boarded the Junk (Chinese sailboat) to head to the amazing natural sculptures. Our first stop was at some caves in the heart of the bay. The caves were a little too touristy for me, but they were still pretty spectacular. After the caves, we boarded the junk again and toured the various outcroppings. Ha Long Bay means the bay of descending dragons because the cliffs that spring up from the sea look like a dragon’s tail. After a seafood dinner onboard the vessel and some swimming by some of the more adventurous voyagers, we headed back to the bus for our long ride back to Hanoi. Once in Hanoi, Jess, Heather, Douglas, Amy and I headed off on our own for the evening. We went shopping and had a meal at the Sofitel Hotel. It was nice to break free from the group for a little while.
The next morning was our city orientation to Hanoi. Our first stop was Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum and former residence. It was so strange to see a dead person laying in display like that. The interesting thing is that he actually wanted to be cremated, but it is against the culture of Vietnamese to cremate so they decided to make him permanently on display instead. His house was beautiful and simple. It was a two story, two room building that overlooked a large pond. After touring his home and the surrounding area, we went to the Vietnam War Museum. Again, this was a very powerful exhibit of the horrors of war and the ways in which the winning side gets to decide how history is remembered. The most moving part, for me, was seeing the collage of US airplanes that had been collected and thrown together to make a piece of art. After getting a few hours to roam around Hanoi, we got on the Boeing 777 and headed back to Ho Chi Minh City. Once in Ho Chi Minh City, I met up with my parents and we toured the city. I was their official bargainer, but I also purchased a beautiful painting of Ha Long Bay for only 25 dollars.
Our last day in Vietnam was spent at the Mekong Delta. After about an hour long bus ride, we (Alex, Alissa, Jay, Sheryl and I) arrived and boarded a 20 foot motor boat. Our first stop was a honey factory. We had traditional Vietnamese tea with honey and some rice wine. Our next stop was at a fruit restaurant of sorts. We tried many native Vietnamese fruits; my favorite was the pineapple. We then got on some small traditional 4 person, hand-powered boats and rowed through a small waterway. We then transferred to a medium size motor boat (12 ft) and headed to a coconut candy factory. The candy was so tasty and we all ended up buying quite a lot. Our last stop on the Mekong Delta day trip was lunch on an island in the middle of the delta. It was a very interesting Vietnamese lunch complete with octopus pho and fried Elephant-Ear Fish. After driving back to the ship, we headed out to get our suits and spend our last bit of time in Ho Chi Minh City. We got to the tailor and tried on all of our suits and to our great surprise everything fit and looked beautiful. We then looked around for some last minute souvenirs and headed back to the ship for dinner. The ship spent the night in Vietnam and we were off on our way to Hong Kong early the next morning.
Things I’ve Learned In Vietnam:
-In Vietnam, you can be a millionaire in one ATM withdrawal.
-A little dong can go a long way.
-Birds got their design for their nests from Vietnamese telephone poles.
-Just start walking and don’t stop or go backwards.
-Trust can get you across a crowded street.
-Even though you may not know what it is, chances are it tastes good.
-Just because its called Elephant-Ear, doesn’t mean it can’t be eaten.
-You can really buy a fully tailored suit for $70.
-Enemy to one person may be freedom fighter to another.
-Enemy is a matter of opinion.
-Everyone who died in those statistics was a living, breathing human being with a story.
Once away from Malaysia, we stayed at one end of the Straights of Malacca doing man overboard drills and doughnuts until the sun went down. At around 1900 hours we all headed out to the back of the ship and the engines revved up. We headed down the Straights of Malacca at a blistering 30 knots to avoid any potential pirates. Additionally, crew members were stationed throughout the ship with fire hoses in case any pirates thought that the MV Explorer would be a fun challenge. Luckily we made it through without any trouble and arrived in Singapore in the morning to begin bunkering (refueling). After spending the day refueling, we were off to Vietnam. I was a bit disappointed to be so close to Singapore without the chance to visit, but I hope to go back there as a tourist some time in the near future. The arrival in Vietnam was quite beautiful because we had to cruise through the Mekong Delta. It was some of the most beautiful landscape that we have visited, but I will go into much greater detail later in this post.
Vietnam:
We (Alex, Alissa, Jay, I) began our visit to Vietnam with a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Our first stop was a lunch stop along a tributary to the Mekong. The food was a delicious traditional Vietnamese feast complete with an interesting array of seafood. The most interesting part of the lunch was meeting a woman who was ranked 57th in the world at minesweeper. She completed the difficult level one (100 mines) in 74 seconds! After lunch, we headed to the Cu Chi Tunnels. This was an elaborate web of tunnels constructed during the Vietnam War, in which the Vietcong forces, lived, fought, and housed ammunition. It was like a huge army base that was fit in tiny, hand-built tunnels underground. This visit really brought the horrors of war to my attention. I pictured what it would be like to be there as a soldier fighting against an enemy which you knew little about in a land that you knew much less about. It was also quite interesting to hear the Vietnamese take on the war. It was hard to hear them call the American soldiers enemies and fascinating to hear the Vietcong referred to as heroes and freedom fighters. The most powerful moment of my visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels was passing by an American Tank that had been blown up and left there. It was really hard for me knowing that some kids my age had died at that site. After seeing some booby traps and entrances to the Cu Chi Tunnels, we headed to a shooting range. I thought it the most absurd and somewhat offensive thing that they would have a shooting range at the battle site of a war. Once the other students had satisfied their desire to shoot an AK-47, we got the opportunity to finally enter a tunnel. The size of the tunnels was quite amazing, and a bit claustrophobic. There was very little space to move around and you had to squat to get anywhere. I feel bad for anyone who had to live in there and worse for the soldiers who had to fight in there. You could not see a thing, even with the lighting throughout the public passages. When then headed back to the ship. Once back, we ate dinner and then headed off to the tailor to get some suits ordered. Alex and Jay ordered a suit, Alissa ordered a skirt suit and I ordered two suits. It was a fun trust-building exercise. After getting the suits ordered we wandered the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, ending up at the Ben Than night market. Ho Chi Minh City is quite an experience. Vietnam has more motorbikes than you could possibly imagine and at the same time, doesn’t really follow many of the same traffic laws that we are used to in The States. Crossing the street consists of just walking out and letting the motorbikes find a way around you. Again a bit of trust was needed for this to work. We managed to find the market safely and spend a fair amount of money on polo shirts and other souvenirs.
The following morning I woke up at 4:15 and headed out on my adventure to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. This was my first big trip without any members of the family, but I did have some friends (Jess and Heather) on the trip with me. We began with a flight on Vietnam Airlines to Hanoi. Once we arrived in Hanoi we were taken to the Hanoi Hilton. This was not a pleasant hotel, but a prison that was used by the French during their years of colonization and by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. It was quite an interesting place and looked like a scene straight out of hell. The men that were imprisoned there (including John McCain) were kept with their feet shackled on a slanted wood bed. All the men that were imprisoned there were tortured using various methods which I hesitate to describe in this blog. It was very interesting to see the propaganda of the Vietnamese government, describing the Americans as well treated and the Vietnamese who were imprisoned as political prisoners. The most amazing sights of the Hanoi Hilton were both John McCain’s flight suit from the day he was shot down and imprisoned and a guillotine that was used by the French for capital punishment. It is hard to think that we can be so cruel to fellow human beings. After visiting the Hanoi Hilton we headed to a Confucian temple, where Ho Chi Minh and many other political leaders got their inspiration and wisdom. It was a very beautiful temple with a lot of history. After lunch at a local restaurant, we headed on a 3 hour bus ride to Ha Long Bay. It was a scenic bus ride with typical scenes of Vietnamese countryside and rice paddies. Once we arrived at the Grand Ha Long Hotel, we headed off to the local street market. After dinner at the hotel, we once again ventured out to the night market and had a great time buying some more souvenirs. It is amazing how cheap things are in Vietnam. It is very weird, though, to spend thousands of dong and it only being a few dollars (the exchange rate was 16000 dong = 1 dollar).
The following morning was another early one. Slava (first time roommate wasn’t alex) and I woke up at 6:30 and headed to an early breakfast. After breakfast we headed to the marina where we boarded the Junk (Chinese sailboat) to head to the amazing natural sculptures. Our first stop was at some caves in the heart of the bay. The caves were a little too touristy for me, but they were still pretty spectacular. After the caves, we boarded the junk again and toured the various outcroppings. Ha Long Bay means the bay of descending dragons because the cliffs that spring up from the sea look like a dragon’s tail. After a seafood dinner onboard the vessel and some swimming by some of the more adventurous voyagers, we headed back to the bus for our long ride back to Hanoi. Once in Hanoi, Jess, Heather, Douglas, Amy and I headed off on our own for the evening. We went shopping and had a meal at the Sofitel Hotel. It was nice to break free from the group for a little while.
The next morning was our city orientation to Hanoi. Our first stop was Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum and former residence. It was so strange to see a dead person laying in display like that. The interesting thing is that he actually wanted to be cremated, but it is against the culture of Vietnamese to cremate so they decided to make him permanently on display instead. His house was beautiful and simple. It was a two story, two room building that overlooked a large pond. After touring his home and the surrounding area, we went to the Vietnam War Museum. Again, this was a very powerful exhibit of the horrors of war and the ways in which the winning side gets to decide how history is remembered. The most moving part, for me, was seeing the collage of US airplanes that had been collected and thrown together to make a piece of art. After getting a few hours to roam around Hanoi, we got on the Boeing 777 and headed back to Ho Chi Minh City. Once in Ho Chi Minh City, I met up with my parents and we toured the city. I was their official bargainer, but I also purchased a beautiful painting of Ha Long Bay for only 25 dollars.
Our last day in Vietnam was spent at the Mekong Delta. After about an hour long bus ride, we (Alex, Alissa, Jay, Sheryl and I) arrived and boarded a 20 foot motor boat. Our first stop was a honey factory. We had traditional Vietnamese tea with honey and some rice wine. Our next stop was at a fruit restaurant of sorts. We tried many native Vietnamese fruits; my favorite was the pineapple. We then got on some small traditional 4 person, hand-powered boats and rowed through a small waterway. We then transferred to a medium size motor boat (12 ft) and headed to a coconut candy factory. The candy was so tasty and we all ended up buying quite a lot. Our last stop on the Mekong Delta day trip was lunch on an island in the middle of the delta. It was a very interesting Vietnamese lunch complete with octopus pho and fried Elephant-Ear Fish. After driving back to the ship, we headed out to get our suits and spend our last bit of time in Ho Chi Minh City. We got to the tailor and tried on all of our suits and to our great surprise everything fit and looked beautiful. We then looked around for some last minute souvenirs and headed back to the ship for dinner. The ship spent the night in Vietnam and we were off on our way to Hong Kong early the next morning.
Things I’ve Learned In Vietnam:
-In Vietnam, you can be a millionaire in one ATM withdrawal.
-A little dong can go a long way.
-Birds got their design for their nests from Vietnamese telephone poles.
-Just start walking and don’t stop or go backwards.
-Trust can get you across a crowded street.
-Even though you may not know what it is, chances are it tastes good.
-Just because its called Elephant-Ear, doesn’t mean it can’t be eaten.
-You can really buy a fully tailored suit for $70.
-Enemy to one person may be freedom fighter to another.
-Enemy is a matter of opinion.
-Everyone who died in those statistics was a living, breathing human being with a story.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Alissa in Japan
Hey Everyone,
I am now crossing the Pacific so it is time to tell you about my journeys through Japan, our last International Port. For the first day in Japan, we were not allowed off the ship until about 12:30 even though we pulled into port at about 8:00 am. That morning we had a lot to do, including walking through the Union to get our temperatures taken by a thermal scanner to make sure none of us were sick. We then had a diplomatic briefing from a couple U.S. consolers. The next thing that morning was a little welcome reception by some drumming performers from Japan. It was amazing how well they could play drums, while performing dancing as well. The last thing that was done that morning was a group shot of everyone on the ship. Everyone had to stand on any deck from 4 to 7 and then the photographer, while standing at a distance on the dock, took several photos for the yearbook. I actually looked on the semester at sea website and saw one of the photos he took. If any one sees it on the webpage and tries to look for me, I am on the bottom deck and towards the left hand side. Well anyways after the long morning, we finally got off the ship at like 1:00 and just went to explore Kobe a little bit. In order to get into the main city we had to take the port liner (a train). Once we arrived in the city, we walked around and ended up going to a garden that was absolutely beautiful. One cool thing about Japan is that amongst the huge city there are several gardens that people can just go into to relax. Another interesting thing about Japan, in comparison to all the other countries we have been to is that it was very quiet even though so many people were out and about. One more interesting thing about Japan is that the city was so clean and smelled so good from all the restaurants everywhere. This port, from the minute I entered it, I could tell that it was going to be different from the other ports I had been to. The last thing about Japan that was noticed almost instantly is there respect for order. Before getting on the train, all the people line up and get on based on who was there first. There was no pushing or anything.
Anyways, back to the rest of what I did that day. After walking through the garden, we had to go back to the ship because we had a welcome reception with local students from Japan, who had actually gone on a semester at sea like program that is sponsored in Japan. At the welcome reception, we had a few performances from semester at sea students and then a couple of the Japanese students performed some magic tricks. After the performances, the Japanese students taught us how to do origami as well as calligraphy. I was not very good at the origami, so the Japanese student pretty much made the whole ninja star for me. I then moved on to the calligraphy station and had my name written out for me in Japanese. It was very cool because there is actually an equivalent for my name in Japan and they didn’t have to spell it out letter by letter. After I was done with the calligraphy, a few of the students asked for a tour around the ship so Alex, Chris, Jay and I showed them around. This was then the end of the welcome reception and since we had kind of made friends with some of the students we planned to meet up with them a few hours later in the city to go to a karaoke bar. Later that night we met up with them and had so much fun at the karaoke place. In Japan, the group you go with gets their own private room and then you get to just have fun. All of the songs sang that night were popular American songs and it was so much fun watching the Japanese students sing. They got so into it and just enjoyed themselves. After karaokeing for about an hour, Alex and I went back to the ship, while Sheryl, Casey, Chris, and Jay went to a bar. Once I was back at the ship, I went to sleep because it was already pretty late.
The next day Alex and I had planned to walk around the city again, but he woke up with a sore throat so we decided to take it somewhat easy and just relax during the day so that he would get better so we could do some major touring in other cities. After laying around for most of the day, that night we went to the Osaka Buffalo baseball game. It was so strange; at the game, the stadium was so empty. I had never been to a baseball game that was so empty. It was still tons of fun though. We even got to eat some American food; I had a corn dog. In addition, like in America they partake in activities during the 7th inning stretch. For theirs though they blow up these long balloons, then at the end of the singing, they let them go, and you see tons of balloons flying in the air around the stadium. It was very cool. Well at about 10:00, we had to leave even though the game wasn’t over. At that time, the game was going into the 12th inning and the teams were tied with 3. I still don’t know how that game ended, but either way it was a lot of fun. Once I arrived back at the ship that night I went to sleep because Alex and I had to get up early the next morning to go to Hiroshima.
The next day Alex and I met for breakfast at 8:00 and then headed out into the city to catch the bullet train to Hiroshima. In order to get to the bullet train, we had to walk about 25 minutes to reach the station. Once we got there, we finally found where we had to be, then bought our tickets, and then got on the train. The bullet trains in Japan are the fastest trains and got us to Hiroshima in only an hour and fifteen minutes. On the train, you could tell how fast you were going because every time we entered a tunnel my ears kind of popped and hurt a little from the pressure. In addition, every time we passed a train going the other way you could feel the train get pushed out a little and then once the train passed we shifted back to the original position. It was definitely an experience. Once we arrived in Hiroshima, we had to get on one of the local buses that took us right to where the Peace Park is, where the atomic bomb had exploded. The first thing we saw at this park, was the A-bomb dome, which was one of the few buildings that remained standing after the explosion, and it is now the only building that was not taken down and rebuilt. After seeing the dome, we walked more into the peace park and we came across the children’s memorial with all of the paper cranes. This memorial was started originally for a girl that got leukemia after the bomb, and she thought that if she folded a thousand paper cranes she would be cured from her illness. Unfortunately after folding 1300 she died. Now this memorial contains paper cranes that people all over the world have folded in her and other children’s’ memory. On the ship, we even made a thousand paper cranes and some people brought them down to be hung at this memorial. It was a very amazing site to see. After walking around the park a little, we headed to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which displayed many objects that remained from the bomb, as well as images of people who were harmed from the bomb. It was a very disturbing museum and it makes me wonder why we still have nuclear weapons in the world. The effects are so horrible that I can’t even imagine a person who could make the decision to bomb another country that they know will pretty much destroy everything. At this park, a flame constantly burns, and it is supposed to burn until all nuclear weapons are destroyed. Overall, this experience at the Hiroshima Peace Park was unforgettable.
After the Peace Park, Alex and I decided to explore a few more sites in Hiroshima. We first went to a castle called Hiroshima Castle, which is actually the namesake of the city. At this castle there were many artifacts including samurai swords, which were very cool. This castle was very tall with probably about 6 stories. Once we reached the top, we had an amazing aerial view of the whole city. It was very pretty. After the castle, we walked a little more in the city to a garden that was very beautiful. We just walked around leisurely and just sat for a little while to relax and take in the peacefulness. At this garden, we saw an image of what it looked like right after the bomb and it was pretty much completely destroyed. I was happy to see that after all of these years the beauty of this garden has been restored. Once we were relaxed and a little rested, we decided to walk back to where the train station was. On our way back, we happened to stumble across the school where the girl who folded all the cranes had gone to school before she was sick. This spot wasn’t even on the map and we were so happy that we came across it. Just seeing things from people’s lives who had been killed from the bomb, brings the whole disaster to heart. We eventually arrived back at the train station and caught the next train back to Kobe. In Japan, one thing I have yet to mention is how timely everything is. Trains run constantly and we never had to wait more than five minutes for the next train. It was amazing. On arrival back to Kobe, Alex and I went back to the ship to relax for the rest of the night.
The next morning began early again, because we decided to go to Kyoto, which was about 45 minutes away by the regular train. Today it was Alex, Joanne, Kevin, and I. When we got to Kyoto, we bought an all day bus pass and then hopped on the bus to first go to Kiyomizu Temple. This site is actually a candidate for the next Seven Wonders of the World. It is a beautiful temple on the side of a hillside with an amazing view. We walked around the temple for a little while and then went back to the bus to go to our next site for the day, The Silver Pavilion, which is a Zen Buddhist temple. Before actually going up to the temple, we stopped for a quick lunch. Alex and I shared some rice with veggies. On this trip, I have definitely improved my chopstick skills. Anyways once we got to the temple, it was amazing. Since it was a Zen temple, it had amazing sand sculpted designs, kind of like the little sets we can get and play with in the U.S.. After walking around this temple, we then headed back to the bus to go to the Golden Pavilion, which was another Zen temple. This temple though has a very interesting history. Many years ago, a deranged student burned down the temple, so the temple was rebuilt into its current glory. It was an incredible site to see. It just appeared across the water and it is just magnificent because it is completely covered in gold. Anyways once we saw this, we had to quickly catch a cab to get to our last site of the day, which stopped admitting visitors at 4:00. This site was the Nijo castle, which is where a couple shoguns lived during the period where shoguns were in power. We got to go through the shoguns house, which was very plain and simple. There wasn’t any furniture in the house and everyone used to just sit on the floor. After going through the house, we walked around the premise, which had an amazing garden. Once we walked around the garden, we went back to the train station to catch our train back to Kobe. When we got back to Kobe, Alex and I went back to the ship for dinner and then just watch TV for the rest of the night.
The next morning Alex and I slept in a little because we planned to get breakfast off the ship. We met up at about 9:15 and then headed into the port. For breakfast, we went to a bakery and had some custard-filled donuts, tater-tots, and a pizza-tasting thing. All of the food was very delicious. After we ate, we decided to go to an Aqualife park for the day so that Alex could write a field practicum paper for one of his classes. This aquarium was pretty close to Kobe, in the nearby town of Suma. Once we got there by train, we had to walk along the beach for 20 minutes to get to the aquarium. The beach was gorgeous and it was strange, every person on the beach had a bag and was cleaning it up. I don’t know if it was a designated beach clean-up day or if that is just what the Japanese do. It was very interesting. Once we finally arrived at the aquarium, we looked at all the animals there including many fish, turtles, penguins, sea otters, and dolphins. The sea otters were probably one of the cutest animals I have ever seen. They just play in the water and are constantly flipping over. At this aqualife park, we even watched a dolphin show, where the dolphins performed for us. It was very interesting and fun even though we couldn’t understand the Japanese-speaking host. Overall, the Aqualife Park was a lot of fun and a nice way to spend part of our day. On the way back, we decided to stop at China town to walk around for a little while. China town was mostly a lot of food and it made us very hungry, so we decided to keep walking to go back to where the port liner train was. At the train station, there were tons of places to eat so we decided to stop at a restaurant to have some vegetables covered in a crispy breading, almost like tempura, even though the waitress said it wasn’t actually tempura. The veggies were really good and helped fill us up a little. The last stop before we headed back to the ship was to a little Belgium waffle maker that sold many flavored Belgium waffles. Alex and I decided to get six of these waffles to finish off our extra Yen. The waffles were absolutely delicious and they were gone by the end of that night. Once we got back to the ship that night, we both had to do some homework before the next day of classes so that ended our journeys through Japan. Overall, I loved Japan. It was so easy to navigate and get around on our own and it seemed as if everyone was very nice and genuinely wanted to help us. Well I am officially crossing the Pacific Ocean now and only a week and a half left until I am home. Today we had our repeat day of May 2, so now instead of being many hours ahead of you, I am now several hours behind. We keep changing our clocks though. It is about an hour ahead almost every night from Japan to Hawaii. It is a little difficult, but at least I get to take naps during the day, and I don’t really have any more homework to do besides studying. Anyways I hope you enjoyed my last international blog entry.
I love and can’t wait to see you all soon!
Alissa
I am now crossing the Pacific so it is time to tell you about my journeys through Japan, our last International Port. For the first day in Japan, we were not allowed off the ship until about 12:30 even though we pulled into port at about 8:00 am. That morning we had a lot to do, including walking through the Union to get our temperatures taken by a thermal scanner to make sure none of us were sick. We then had a diplomatic briefing from a couple U.S. consolers. The next thing that morning was a little welcome reception by some drumming performers from Japan. It was amazing how well they could play drums, while performing dancing as well. The last thing that was done that morning was a group shot of everyone on the ship. Everyone had to stand on any deck from 4 to 7 and then the photographer, while standing at a distance on the dock, took several photos for the yearbook. I actually looked on the semester at sea website and saw one of the photos he took. If any one sees it on the webpage and tries to look for me, I am on the bottom deck and towards the left hand side. Well anyways after the long morning, we finally got off the ship at like 1:00 and just went to explore Kobe a little bit. In order to get into the main city we had to take the port liner (a train). Once we arrived in the city, we walked around and ended up going to a garden that was absolutely beautiful. One cool thing about Japan is that amongst the huge city there are several gardens that people can just go into to relax. Another interesting thing about Japan, in comparison to all the other countries we have been to is that it was very quiet even though so many people were out and about. One more interesting thing about Japan is that the city was so clean and smelled so good from all the restaurants everywhere. This port, from the minute I entered it, I could tell that it was going to be different from the other ports I had been to. The last thing about Japan that was noticed almost instantly is there respect for order. Before getting on the train, all the people line up and get on based on who was there first. There was no pushing or anything.
Anyways, back to the rest of what I did that day. After walking through the garden, we had to go back to the ship because we had a welcome reception with local students from Japan, who had actually gone on a semester at sea like program that is sponsored in Japan. At the welcome reception, we had a few performances from semester at sea students and then a couple of the Japanese students performed some magic tricks. After the performances, the Japanese students taught us how to do origami as well as calligraphy. I was not very good at the origami, so the Japanese student pretty much made the whole ninja star for me. I then moved on to the calligraphy station and had my name written out for me in Japanese. It was very cool because there is actually an equivalent for my name in Japan and they didn’t have to spell it out letter by letter. After I was done with the calligraphy, a few of the students asked for a tour around the ship so Alex, Chris, Jay and I showed them around. This was then the end of the welcome reception and since we had kind of made friends with some of the students we planned to meet up with them a few hours later in the city to go to a karaoke bar. Later that night we met up with them and had so much fun at the karaoke place. In Japan, the group you go with gets their own private room and then you get to just have fun. All of the songs sang that night were popular American songs and it was so much fun watching the Japanese students sing. They got so into it and just enjoyed themselves. After karaokeing for about an hour, Alex and I went back to the ship, while Sheryl, Casey, Chris, and Jay went to a bar. Once I was back at the ship, I went to sleep because it was already pretty late.
The next day Alex and I had planned to walk around the city again, but he woke up with a sore throat so we decided to take it somewhat easy and just relax during the day so that he would get better so we could do some major touring in other cities. After laying around for most of the day, that night we went to the Osaka Buffalo baseball game. It was so strange; at the game, the stadium was so empty. I had never been to a baseball game that was so empty. It was still tons of fun though. We even got to eat some American food; I had a corn dog. In addition, like in America they partake in activities during the 7th inning stretch. For theirs though they blow up these long balloons, then at the end of the singing, they let them go, and you see tons of balloons flying in the air around the stadium. It was very cool. Well at about 10:00, we had to leave even though the game wasn’t over. At that time, the game was going into the 12th inning and the teams were tied with 3. I still don’t know how that game ended, but either way it was a lot of fun. Once I arrived back at the ship that night I went to sleep because Alex and I had to get up early the next morning to go to Hiroshima.
The next day Alex and I met for breakfast at 8:00 and then headed out into the city to catch the bullet train to Hiroshima. In order to get to the bullet train, we had to walk about 25 minutes to reach the station. Once we got there, we finally found where we had to be, then bought our tickets, and then got on the train. The bullet trains in Japan are the fastest trains and got us to Hiroshima in only an hour and fifteen minutes. On the train, you could tell how fast you were going because every time we entered a tunnel my ears kind of popped and hurt a little from the pressure. In addition, every time we passed a train going the other way you could feel the train get pushed out a little and then once the train passed we shifted back to the original position. It was definitely an experience. Once we arrived in Hiroshima, we had to get on one of the local buses that took us right to where the Peace Park is, where the atomic bomb had exploded. The first thing we saw at this park, was the A-bomb dome, which was one of the few buildings that remained standing after the explosion, and it is now the only building that was not taken down and rebuilt. After seeing the dome, we walked more into the peace park and we came across the children’s memorial with all of the paper cranes. This memorial was started originally for a girl that got leukemia after the bomb, and she thought that if she folded a thousand paper cranes she would be cured from her illness. Unfortunately after folding 1300 she died. Now this memorial contains paper cranes that people all over the world have folded in her and other children’s’ memory. On the ship, we even made a thousand paper cranes and some people brought them down to be hung at this memorial. It was a very amazing site to see. After walking around the park a little, we headed to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which displayed many objects that remained from the bomb, as well as images of people who were harmed from the bomb. It was a very disturbing museum and it makes me wonder why we still have nuclear weapons in the world. The effects are so horrible that I can’t even imagine a person who could make the decision to bomb another country that they know will pretty much destroy everything. At this park, a flame constantly burns, and it is supposed to burn until all nuclear weapons are destroyed. Overall, this experience at the Hiroshima Peace Park was unforgettable.
After the Peace Park, Alex and I decided to explore a few more sites in Hiroshima. We first went to a castle called Hiroshima Castle, which is actually the namesake of the city. At this castle there were many artifacts including samurai swords, which were very cool. This castle was very tall with probably about 6 stories. Once we reached the top, we had an amazing aerial view of the whole city. It was very pretty. After the castle, we walked a little more in the city to a garden that was very beautiful. We just walked around leisurely and just sat for a little while to relax and take in the peacefulness. At this garden, we saw an image of what it looked like right after the bomb and it was pretty much completely destroyed. I was happy to see that after all of these years the beauty of this garden has been restored. Once we were relaxed and a little rested, we decided to walk back to where the train station was. On our way back, we happened to stumble across the school where the girl who folded all the cranes had gone to school before she was sick. This spot wasn’t even on the map and we were so happy that we came across it. Just seeing things from people’s lives who had been killed from the bomb, brings the whole disaster to heart. We eventually arrived back at the train station and caught the next train back to Kobe. In Japan, one thing I have yet to mention is how timely everything is. Trains run constantly and we never had to wait more than five minutes for the next train. It was amazing. On arrival back to Kobe, Alex and I went back to the ship to relax for the rest of the night.
The next morning began early again, because we decided to go to Kyoto, which was about 45 minutes away by the regular train. Today it was Alex, Joanne, Kevin, and I. When we got to Kyoto, we bought an all day bus pass and then hopped on the bus to first go to Kiyomizu Temple. This site is actually a candidate for the next Seven Wonders of the World. It is a beautiful temple on the side of a hillside with an amazing view. We walked around the temple for a little while and then went back to the bus to go to our next site for the day, The Silver Pavilion, which is a Zen Buddhist temple. Before actually going up to the temple, we stopped for a quick lunch. Alex and I shared some rice with veggies. On this trip, I have definitely improved my chopstick skills. Anyways once we got to the temple, it was amazing. Since it was a Zen temple, it had amazing sand sculpted designs, kind of like the little sets we can get and play with in the U.S.. After walking around this temple, we then headed back to the bus to go to the Golden Pavilion, which was another Zen temple. This temple though has a very interesting history. Many years ago, a deranged student burned down the temple, so the temple was rebuilt into its current glory. It was an incredible site to see. It just appeared across the water and it is just magnificent because it is completely covered in gold. Anyways once we saw this, we had to quickly catch a cab to get to our last site of the day, which stopped admitting visitors at 4:00. This site was the Nijo castle, which is where a couple shoguns lived during the period where shoguns were in power. We got to go through the shoguns house, which was very plain and simple. There wasn’t any furniture in the house and everyone used to just sit on the floor. After going through the house, we walked around the premise, which had an amazing garden. Once we walked around the garden, we went back to the train station to catch our train back to Kobe. When we got back to Kobe, Alex and I went back to the ship for dinner and then just watch TV for the rest of the night.
The next morning Alex and I slept in a little because we planned to get breakfast off the ship. We met up at about 9:15 and then headed into the port. For breakfast, we went to a bakery and had some custard-filled donuts, tater-tots, and a pizza-tasting thing. All of the food was very delicious. After we ate, we decided to go to an Aqualife park for the day so that Alex could write a field practicum paper for one of his classes. This aquarium was pretty close to Kobe, in the nearby town of Suma. Once we got there by train, we had to walk along the beach for 20 minutes to get to the aquarium. The beach was gorgeous and it was strange, every person on the beach had a bag and was cleaning it up. I don’t know if it was a designated beach clean-up day or if that is just what the Japanese do. It was very interesting. Once we finally arrived at the aquarium, we looked at all the animals there including many fish, turtles, penguins, sea otters, and dolphins. The sea otters were probably one of the cutest animals I have ever seen. They just play in the water and are constantly flipping over. At this aqualife park, we even watched a dolphin show, where the dolphins performed for us. It was very interesting and fun even though we couldn’t understand the Japanese-speaking host. Overall, the Aqualife Park was a lot of fun and a nice way to spend part of our day. On the way back, we decided to stop at China town to walk around for a little while. China town was mostly a lot of food and it made us very hungry, so we decided to keep walking to go back to where the port liner train was. At the train station, there were tons of places to eat so we decided to stop at a restaurant to have some vegetables covered in a crispy breading, almost like tempura, even though the waitress said it wasn’t actually tempura. The veggies were really good and helped fill us up a little. The last stop before we headed back to the ship was to a little Belgium waffle maker that sold many flavored Belgium waffles. Alex and I decided to get six of these waffles to finish off our extra Yen. The waffles were absolutely delicious and they were gone by the end of that night. Once we got back to the ship that night, we both had to do some homework before the next day of classes so that ended our journeys through Japan. Overall, I loved Japan. It was so easy to navigate and get around on our own and it seemed as if everyone was very nice and genuinely wanted to help us. Well I am officially crossing the Pacific Ocean now and only a week and a half left until I am home. Today we had our repeat day of May 2, so now instead of being many hours ahead of you, I am now several hours behind. We keep changing our clocks though. It is about an hour ahead almost every night from Japan to Hawaii. It is a little difficult, but at least I get to take naps during the day, and I don’t really have any more homework to do besides studying. Anyways I hope you enjoyed my last international blog entry.
I love and can’t wait to see you all soon!
Alissa
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Malaysia Through Chris's Eyes
I would like to apologize for the extreme length in time that it took for me to put this up. The past month has been hectic, to say the least. I will be updating a country per night for the next 4 nights. Hope everyone is doing well.
Interesting Things While At Sea:
The first of April began like any other day at sea. We got up, went to Global Studies and waited for Dan Christie to begin his lullaby. However, we were greeted by the doctor on ship, Dr. Matt, looking completely worn out from a long night. He began by describing the trauma that he had experienced that night, a plague of Leprosy was taking over the ship. He described the symptoms and some important facts about the disease. One of the major symptoms was a softening of the cartilage. Students were to check each others ears to make sure that the quarantine worked. Fortunately, this was an outbreak that only occurred once every year, on the first of April.
The day was not yet over. There was still an amazing prank that had yet to be pulled. Dean Mike, the academic dean and also my father’s boss and I had plans. We set up the camera and organized the script of our April fool’s joke. He then went and got Joanne and Kevin from their room, saying that he needed to discuss something very important with them. They came into his office and saw me sitting there looking depressed. Dean Mike asked me if I wanted to stay in the office or wait outside as he told them the bad news. I decided to stay outside and walked out of the room. He then broke the news to them that I had been caught plagiarizing on my Anthropology paper. He talked about the various options that I had and the likelihood of me being sent home. They both fell for it hook, line and sinker and Dean Mike felt too bad, so he came out to get me. I went in the room and told them it was just an April fool’s joke. They were so flustered that it took them a couple seconds to realize that it was just a joke. My dad even felt like he would have a tough time teaching his next class because his heart was beating too fast. The best part is that we have it all on tape, so anyone who wants to see it will certainly get to.
Malaysia:
We arrived in Malaysia and tendered to shore at about 10. We then headed over to the hotel where Tyler was staying. It was the largest and most beautiful hotel room that I have ever seen. After visiting with them for a few minutes, we decided to have lunch at an Indian restaurant. The food was quite good and recalled fond memories of the last port. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to get our things and then off to the airport. We hopped on a Malaysia Airlines flight to Langkawi Island. After reaching cruising altitude the seat belt sign was turned off and drinks were handed out. About 5 minutes later, they announced preparations for landing in Langkawi. It was amazing. In the States, you can’t get a meal on a 5 hour flight and on a 20 minute Malaysian Airways flight you get a drink! Langkawi is a beautiful island off the coast of Malaysia. Upon arrival, we went to the Sheraton Hotel to get ourselves settled and ready for our very hectic next few days. After having dinner at a unique Malaysian restaurant in the commercial part of Langkawi, we went to bed. It was the longest night of sleep that I had in a few weeks and boy was it great.
The following morning we made our way to the beach and visited the pool. We had lunch at the pool and met with the Whitneys, whose son Tyson was also in town. We then headed to a roaring waterfall, which turned out to be more of a small creek. It looked as though it could have been a great waterfall if it was the rainy season, but luckily it was not that time of the year. We then went to dinner at an amazing mangrove swamp. It was a kilometer hike along a boardwalk to a beautiful wooden building. They served us tons of seafood and a lot of drinks. The food was great, the location was beautiful, and the company was fantastic.
The highlight of our stay in Langkawi, or should I say the most active thing that we did was play a volleyball game. The two families and a couple of Sheraton staff joined in 3 games of intense volleyball. It was a lot of fun because nobody was too competitive, but everybody was good enough to keep the ball up. After an intense match, we retired to the pool for some well earned drinks and lunch. We then checked out of the hotel and parted ways with the Whitneys. We headed to the ferry and boarded a small ferry boat that took us back to Penang. Tyler and his “fiancé” joined us on the ship for an ice cream cake reception. They discussed Teach for America with a few of the students and spent the night onboard with us.
The next morning we all woke up and ate breakfast with Archbishop Tutu and his wife. As is his usual custom, he praised the good work that Tyler and Sara are doing and shied away from discussing himself. It was a fantastic breakfast because Tyler and Sara got to see what a great man Archbishop Tutu is and how he views the world. It was a brief chance to meet him, but I think that breakfast will play a role in their lives for some time to come. After breakfast, we headed ashore and met with our driver, with whom Tyler had already arranged to meet. Our first stop was the spice garden. The spice garden had a great variety of plants that have changed the world, not just in eating habits, but also in trade, globalization, and modernization. It was really interesting to see all of these plants, which we eat almost everyday but rarely see. We had a unique lunch complete with very strong ginger and nutmeg drinks. They were not my favorite and left a bitter taste in the mouth. After lunch, we headed to the butterfly farm. This was an interesting display of all types of butterflies that are found throughout Asia. It also had many reptiles and beautiful plants. We had a brief stop off at Tyler and Sara’s luxurious hotel and then headed off to the airport. Unfortunately, we had to say farewell to Tyler and Sara. It was great to see and spend time with both of them. One of the major things that I have discovered on this voyage is that family and friends may be the most important thing in a person’s life. We then headed back to the ship, where Alex, Alissa and Kevin boarded the ship. Joanne and I decided that we did not want to get back on the ship that quickly and did our best to spend the last of our Malaysian Ringgits. Unfortunately, and quite amazingly, there was nothing but a cheap harmonica that grabbed our attention. We changed our money left over money into Vietnamese Dong and headed back to the ship and set sail for Vietnam. Stay tuned, Vietnam will be up tomorrow.
Things I’ve Learned In Malaysia:
-The British really did rule everything.
-A roaring waterfall to one person may be a small trickle to another.
-It can be considered a major accomplishment to play a volleyball game.
-Club sandwiches in Malaysia are just as good as club sandwiches in the States.
-Hunger has changed the course of human history.
-It is nice to have the entire family together.
Interesting Things While At Sea:
The first of April began like any other day at sea. We got up, went to Global Studies and waited for Dan Christie to begin his lullaby. However, we were greeted by the doctor on ship, Dr. Matt, looking completely worn out from a long night. He began by describing the trauma that he had experienced that night, a plague of Leprosy was taking over the ship. He described the symptoms and some important facts about the disease. One of the major symptoms was a softening of the cartilage. Students were to check each others ears to make sure that the quarantine worked. Fortunately, this was an outbreak that only occurred once every year, on the first of April.
The day was not yet over. There was still an amazing prank that had yet to be pulled. Dean Mike, the academic dean and also my father’s boss and I had plans. We set up the camera and organized the script of our April fool’s joke. He then went and got Joanne and Kevin from their room, saying that he needed to discuss something very important with them. They came into his office and saw me sitting there looking depressed. Dean Mike asked me if I wanted to stay in the office or wait outside as he told them the bad news. I decided to stay outside and walked out of the room. He then broke the news to them that I had been caught plagiarizing on my Anthropology paper. He talked about the various options that I had and the likelihood of me being sent home. They both fell for it hook, line and sinker and Dean Mike felt too bad, so he came out to get me. I went in the room and told them it was just an April fool’s joke. They were so flustered that it took them a couple seconds to realize that it was just a joke. My dad even felt like he would have a tough time teaching his next class because his heart was beating too fast. The best part is that we have it all on tape, so anyone who wants to see it will certainly get to.
Malaysia:
We arrived in Malaysia and tendered to shore at about 10. We then headed over to the hotel where Tyler was staying. It was the largest and most beautiful hotel room that I have ever seen. After visiting with them for a few minutes, we decided to have lunch at an Indian restaurant. The food was quite good and recalled fond memories of the last port. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to get our things and then off to the airport. We hopped on a Malaysia Airlines flight to Langkawi Island. After reaching cruising altitude the seat belt sign was turned off and drinks were handed out. About 5 minutes later, they announced preparations for landing in Langkawi. It was amazing. In the States, you can’t get a meal on a 5 hour flight and on a 20 minute Malaysian Airways flight you get a drink! Langkawi is a beautiful island off the coast of Malaysia. Upon arrival, we went to the Sheraton Hotel to get ourselves settled and ready for our very hectic next few days. After having dinner at a unique Malaysian restaurant in the commercial part of Langkawi, we went to bed. It was the longest night of sleep that I had in a few weeks and boy was it great.
The following morning we made our way to the beach and visited the pool. We had lunch at the pool and met with the Whitneys, whose son Tyson was also in town. We then headed to a roaring waterfall, which turned out to be more of a small creek. It looked as though it could have been a great waterfall if it was the rainy season, but luckily it was not that time of the year. We then went to dinner at an amazing mangrove swamp. It was a kilometer hike along a boardwalk to a beautiful wooden building. They served us tons of seafood and a lot of drinks. The food was great, the location was beautiful, and the company was fantastic.
The highlight of our stay in Langkawi, or should I say the most active thing that we did was play a volleyball game. The two families and a couple of Sheraton staff joined in 3 games of intense volleyball. It was a lot of fun because nobody was too competitive, but everybody was good enough to keep the ball up. After an intense match, we retired to the pool for some well earned drinks and lunch. We then checked out of the hotel and parted ways with the Whitneys. We headed to the ferry and boarded a small ferry boat that took us back to Penang. Tyler and his “fiancé” joined us on the ship for an ice cream cake reception. They discussed Teach for America with a few of the students and spent the night onboard with us.
The next morning we all woke up and ate breakfast with Archbishop Tutu and his wife. As is his usual custom, he praised the good work that Tyler and Sara are doing and shied away from discussing himself. It was a fantastic breakfast because Tyler and Sara got to see what a great man Archbishop Tutu is and how he views the world. It was a brief chance to meet him, but I think that breakfast will play a role in their lives for some time to come. After breakfast, we headed ashore and met with our driver, with whom Tyler had already arranged to meet. Our first stop was the spice garden. The spice garden had a great variety of plants that have changed the world, not just in eating habits, but also in trade, globalization, and modernization. It was really interesting to see all of these plants, which we eat almost everyday but rarely see. We had a unique lunch complete with very strong ginger and nutmeg drinks. They were not my favorite and left a bitter taste in the mouth. After lunch, we headed to the butterfly farm. This was an interesting display of all types of butterflies that are found throughout Asia. It also had many reptiles and beautiful plants. We had a brief stop off at Tyler and Sara’s luxurious hotel and then headed off to the airport. Unfortunately, we had to say farewell to Tyler and Sara. It was great to see and spend time with both of them. One of the major things that I have discovered on this voyage is that family and friends may be the most important thing in a person’s life. We then headed back to the ship, where Alex, Alissa and Kevin boarded the ship. Joanne and I decided that we did not want to get back on the ship that quickly and did our best to spend the last of our Malaysian Ringgits. Unfortunately, and quite amazingly, there was nothing but a cheap harmonica that grabbed our attention. We changed our money left over money into Vietnamese Dong and headed back to the ship and set sail for Vietnam. Stay tuned, Vietnam will be up tomorrow.
Things I’ve Learned In Malaysia:
-The British really did rule everything.
-A roaring waterfall to one person may be a small trickle to another.
-It can be considered a major accomplishment to play a volleyball game.
-Club sandwiches in Malaysia are just as good as club sandwiches in the States.
-Hunger has changed the course of human history.
-It is nice to have the entire family together.
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