Mommy and I reunited in Vietnam early in the morning. I woke up to watch us pull into the Mekong River and watch the sun rise. Around 8:30am they let the parents board the ship, and I gave Mom the grand tour of the ship, introduced her to a few friends and packed for Cambodia. We spent the day in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) shopping around, checking out the area. The city of Saigon is crazy busy, fast paced. There are hundreds and thousands of motorcycles everywhere—obviously I wanted to ride one so badly, but Mommy wouldn’t let me :( for my own good. Motorcycle traffic polluted the streets and made it entirely impossible to cross the street confidently. We went to a tailor shop and had a dress made, a cute red cocktail dress that I plan on wearing in Japan like a high-rollin princess. Even though the tailor and I had MAJOR communication problems, the dress came out exactly as I had imagined. At one point I was very unlucky in Vietnam, and so were my friends. I broke my camera the first night in Vietnam. Throughout the trip, two other of my friends broke their cameras too. Good thing parents brought their own cameras so we took some pictures. Mom has all the good ones!
I also made mom wear a pointy rice hat around the city. We rested in the hotel room for a while (because I was coming off of a high fever between Thailand and Vietnam). She went for a swim, I took a long, solid nap. We also had lunch at the local fast food chain called Pho24. Pho is what they call the rice noodle soup they eat for EVERY meal. It was delicious for fast food. Then we got ready for dinner and we met up with Annie, Ashley from Fairfield, and Jason for dinner. We went to Vietnamese House restaurant and ate authentic food and drank local drinks. This was my favorite meal in Vietnam—the food exceeded my expectations. We had things such as pumpkin leaves stuffed with shrimp, and weird dumpling green things. Then we went to the Rex Hotel—another famous bar. We had drinks on the rooftop and even went for a horse ride! JK. After Rex, we all went to a club called Apocalypse Now. We danced for a little while and called it a night. Mommy is obviously the best mother in the world, but my friends and I had a great time with her during our first night in Vietnam.
The next day we were off to Cambodia for a few days. This Cambodia trip was action packed. In my suitcase were about 8 different outfits, but I only ended up wearing 3 because we never had an opportunity to relax or change or REST WHATSOEVER. We went to Pnenom Penh and Siem Reap.
In Pnenom Penh we visited a Grand Palace-esque temple village. Same Buddhist influenced architecture made in 17th century. Then we visited a national museum where we saw a superfluous amount of Buddha Heads and statues. Unfortunately on our way out of the museum there was a construction accident so there was a huge crowd surrounding a fellow who broke his shoulder.
We also saw monks! They were cute! The one that spoke English told me how old they were, and when they became monks. They inspired me to buy artwork of monks too in the Russian Market.
We also visited an orphanage founded by Semester at Sea Alumni. We had to cross a high-way to get there…scariest thing in the world. The children were adorable and greeted us half way down the street to their orphanage. A little girl named Leapd clung onto me for the entire time. She had a pretty pearl necklace, and she looked to be about 8 years old. The children are uneducated, and sometimes ages are unknown, so that is my estimation. Mom had a couple little boys and girls that loved her too and clung onto her. It’s hard to not bring one back on the bus…We drew pictures, played games, AND THEN there was a blackout in the town! I could feel some of the parents and students getting panicky, but I thought it was great. The kids got so excited, the stars were so beautiful, and it made the night so much more interesting. We brought them stickers, crayons, markers, coloring books, etc…it was also one of the nicest orphanages I’ve ever seen. They had electricity, running water, toilets, bathtubs, and good care by former SAS-ers.
Other sights we visited in Cambodia included the Genocide Memorials. I remember learning about the genocide that took place during the mid to late 1970’s subsequent to the Vietnam War. In school, there was very little emphasis on the impact it left in Cambodia. At one of these ruins we could see the bones in the ground still, stepping over the remains of bones and clothes of the victims. It was surreal, and extremely moving.
Day 2, We flew to Siem Reap to see the Angkor Wat—which is equivalent in terms of popular attractions to the Taj Mahal of India, or the Grand Palace of Thailand. It was built during the 12th century and “lost” and restored. That night the kids (minus parents this night) went to Pub Street where we met some tourists, went clubbing/to bars. The bar most well known there is called “Angkor What?” and they give out t-shirts with their specialty bucket drinks. Two hours after we got back that night, we woke up for the “non-Sunrise” at the Angkor Wat. The sun never actually came out, so we were disappointed that we basically pulled all-nighters to wake up so early. This day was rough for me—I fell asleep on every bus ride, regardless of how long we were traveling. Then we visited other temple ruins from the 12th century. One is where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed. Huge tree roots grew over these ruins and in between them. The ruins were really cool and are recognizable from a National Geographic magazine issue a few years ago. The next ruins sight was even more innate than the Angkor Wat. I climbed up one of them, and once I got to the top I asked my friend if he saw another way down…and he didn’t so I was stranded on the top and had to go back the way I came. This was scary because the ruins are so worn and shaky, the conditions were challenging. Afterwards we flew back to Vietnam.
The last day in Vietnam we went to the Mekong Delta. We took small wooden boats through the palm tree canals. It was hard for me to imagine in that heat, soldiers dressed in their gear going down the same canals 35 years ago sitting in the same boats. We tried local coconut wine shots, tea with tamarine and local honey, and ate an authentic River meal. Mom and I didn’t like these shots, but we were laughing at our guide who took shots with every table! The entertainment of the day award goes to Smith and his father. They bought a $40 cobra, and two locals chopped the head of the cobra off (which I couldn’t look at, but the sound of it was enough to make me shriek and get nauseous) then they poured the blood into some rice wine, and tore the beating heart out of the snake and ate it. Smith’s father ate the gall bladder, and Smith drank the blood mixture. I pretty much lost my appetite for lunch and did not eat. But lunch was local Elephant fish from the Mekong River—besides, you couldn’t pay me to eat anything coming from the Mekong water.
Then it was time for Mommy to leave as soon as we got back to the hotel. We said goodbye (so sad) and I went about in Saigon. We had such a great time in Vietnam together. It was fun meeting the other parents too. I am lucky that my mom was able to come visit me half-way across the world!
I will be in China in two days!!!
xoxo
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thailand! Spring Break SAS '09
Thailand, also known as, Spring Break Semester at Sea ’09. I went to Phuket Island for 3 nights, 4 days. I spent the first day exploring the resort area. Patong Bay is extremely touristy and I met a very diverse range of tourists, from Australia, Germany, France, UK, etc. Thai food is my favorite, and the food was really outstanding and authentic. My favorite dish was sticky rice with mango. It’s actually a dessert but I ordered it as my main entrée for a few meals. The first night we walked the town, tested the local Mai-Tai’s served in Pineapples. We went to a nightclub called Banana. I made friends with the DJ and he played all my top favorite songs for me.
The day after I went trekking through the rainforest, canoed down a river, and rode an elephant through the rainforest. The rainforest had bamboo trails and mountainous rock cliffs and I was the only one who thought to bring a raincoat to the rainforest. That night I went out in the town, walking the streets popping in and out of the bars. We quickly realized the culture is really sexual, and prostitutes and trans-gender boy-girls sightings are frequent. We even accidentally stumbled upon their “special menus”. If this were the U.S. there would be trouble for them, but I suppose it’s normal and acceptable in Thailand. Shocking.
The following day I went sea kayaking and island hopping. We visited an island where James Bond 007 was filmed...The Thai people didn’t know which movie it was, only that it was James Bond filming destination. The islands were gorgeous, and the caves were really scary. Because the tide was so high we had to duck into the kayak so that we wouldn’t hit the top of the cave, and I must add that there were bats inches from my face dangling from the cave ceilings. We also visited some beaches and just went swimming and jumping off the top of the boat. We also saw some huge jellyfish with huge tentacles. The water is green, but it’s murky so they are hard to see. My friend Jason got stung on his neck!
That night we celebrated St. Paddy’s day. We went to Molly Malone’s Irish Pub—I think it’s a chain. Coincidentally, my friends and I all forgot to pack St. Paddy’s day green, so we had to go find some outfits. My friend Ryan got a custom green suit made and definitely gets the best outfit award. We all found these green tank-top type shirts with the logo of their local beer, Singha. I bought an XL so I could wear it as a dress. A bunch of us wore these shirts to match. To get downtown, Jason and I took a motorcycle ride to town—my first time on a motorcycle actually. I dare admit that it was too much fun, so I insisted we take one back to the hotel too. We spent some time at Molly Malone’s and celebrated my friend Naz’s 21st birthday at midnight. Then we partied in the street for the rest of the night. There were street vendor people trying to sell their souvenirs, and we all bought bracelets that said Thailand among other places. Molly made me laugh the most this night. Molly bought this ugly Pig-face mask and wore it around going up to locals and tourists and trying to scare them. The entire night was a laughing sesh…inventing new ways to make each other laugh using the resources of our surrounding environment. I took the bracelet peoples displays and walked around trying to sell them to tourists and my friends. I also helped a local promote his club by waving around his sign. I guess you could say I was contributing my services to the community in a helpful way.
The next day I went to Bangkok. Molly, Rachel, Erika and I got in a Tuk-Tuk and just told the driver to take us to a great Thai restaurant. He dropped us off in the middle of a Night Bazaar with restaurants and local shops. I bought some Buddha heads and bootleg DVD’s then headed over to Vertigo Restaurant and Moon Bar at the Banyan hotel. This is one of the most famous bars in the world for its 360 view of Bangkok. The view was breathtaking and I could see the city of Bangkok all the way into the horizon (because it’s such a huge city). We hung out on the top of a 63-story building and talked/relaxed.
The next morning we visited the Grand Palace, which I would say is the “Taj Mahal” of Thailand. There were gold structures, Buddhists shrines everywhere and of course the largest jade Buddha in the world. After the most delicious pad-thai lunch I returned back to the ship. I LOVE THAILAND SO MUCH AND I WANT TO GO BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Everyone had an amazing time in Thailand.
xoxo
The day after I went trekking through the rainforest, canoed down a river, and rode an elephant through the rainforest. The rainforest had bamboo trails and mountainous rock cliffs and I was the only one who thought to bring a raincoat to the rainforest. That night I went out in the town, walking the streets popping in and out of the bars. We quickly realized the culture is really sexual, and prostitutes and trans-gender boy-girls sightings are frequent. We even accidentally stumbled upon their “special menus”. If this were the U.S. there would be trouble for them, but I suppose it’s normal and acceptable in Thailand. Shocking.
The following day I went sea kayaking and island hopping. We visited an island where James Bond 007 was filmed...The Thai people didn’t know which movie it was, only that it was James Bond filming destination. The islands were gorgeous, and the caves were really scary. Because the tide was so high we had to duck into the kayak so that we wouldn’t hit the top of the cave, and I must add that there were bats inches from my face dangling from the cave ceilings. We also visited some beaches and just went swimming and jumping off the top of the boat. We also saw some huge jellyfish with huge tentacles. The water is green, but it’s murky so they are hard to see. My friend Jason got stung on his neck!
That night we celebrated St. Paddy’s day. We went to Molly Malone’s Irish Pub—I think it’s a chain. Coincidentally, my friends and I all forgot to pack St. Paddy’s day green, so we had to go find some outfits. My friend Ryan got a custom green suit made and definitely gets the best outfit award. We all found these green tank-top type shirts with the logo of their local beer, Singha. I bought an XL so I could wear it as a dress. A bunch of us wore these shirts to match. To get downtown, Jason and I took a motorcycle ride to town—my first time on a motorcycle actually. I dare admit that it was too much fun, so I insisted we take one back to the hotel too. We spent some time at Molly Malone’s and celebrated my friend Naz’s 21st birthday at midnight. Then we partied in the street for the rest of the night. There were street vendor people trying to sell their souvenirs, and we all bought bracelets that said Thailand among other places. Molly made me laugh the most this night. Molly bought this ugly Pig-face mask and wore it around going up to locals and tourists and trying to scare them. The entire night was a laughing sesh…inventing new ways to make each other laugh using the resources of our surrounding environment. I took the bracelet peoples displays and walked around trying to sell them to tourists and my friends. I also helped a local promote his club by waving around his sign. I guess you could say I was contributing my services to the community in a helpful way.
The next day I went to Bangkok. Molly, Rachel, Erika and I got in a Tuk-Tuk and just told the driver to take us to a great Thai restaurant. He dropped us off in the middle of a Night Bazaar with restaurants and local shops. I bought some Buddha heads and bootleg DVD’s then headed over to Vertigo Restaurant and Moon Bar at the Banyan hotel. This is one of the most famous bars in the world for its 360 view of Bangkok. The view was breathtaking and I could see the city of Bangkok all the way into the horizon (because it’s such a huge city). We hung out on the top of a 63-story building and talked/relaxed.
The next morning we visited the Grand Palace, which I would say is the “Taj Mahal” of Thailand. There were gold structures, Buddhists shrines everywhere and of course the largest jade Buddha in the world. After the most delicious pad-thai lunch I returned back to the ship. I LOVE THAILAND SO MUCH AND I WANT TO GO BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Everyone had an amazing time in Thailand.
xoxo
Jai Ho! INDIA
India was an intense country. I cannot think of one specific word to describe it. The best part of India was spending time with the people on my trip. Many of my close girlfriends from the ship were on my trip, which made India an amazing time. I was with Gillian from NY, Ashley from Fairfield, CT, Kat, Heather from CA, Alli from GA, Nell from PA, all of which I have traveled with before, and I also met new people on the trip too.
We spent a lot of time traveling on a tour bus. Our itinerary was packed with sight seeing, and we saw 5 towns in 5 days. Highlights of the trip include the city of New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra (where the Taj Mahal is) and two cities in between. Jaipur is a city that was painted pink during the 17th century to welcome the Prince of Norway (I think). They kept the salmon color of the city, and we saw the King’s palace and other touristy sights. We also did an elephant ride up to a deserted castle...I love elephants. Along the way we saw many Hindu temples and ruins and took a crazy jeep ride back to home base.
Unfortunately the heckling and begging is overwhelming in India. As soon as they see white people, children and adults rush to you begging for money. Even when our buses drove through towns the kids came to wave to the bus and beg for money. Once you give one child some money, more appear. The time I gave a little boy money, he brought it back to his mother and she was off on a scooter with the money. Other mothers and children came to the site disappointed and angry they didn’t receive anything.
Generally there is lots of contempt for Americans in India. Maybe my own ignorance of the culture contributed to that. One day we went to an Astrology museum where there were huge sundial structures everywhere. There was also a cute little pyramid structure that I wanted to take a picture in. Without realizing what it was, I jumped inside of it and posed to take a picture. An Indian woman comes running over screaming at me in broken English, “You are stepping on our God! Take your shoes off! You cannot go inside there, and you cannot wear your shoes!” This was sooooo embarrassing because her entire posse (30+ ladies) were just chillin on the grass next to the Hindu shrine where they pray and I was stepping all over it with my sneakers. They made me terribly uncomfortable, and that’s when I booked it and ran away…barefoot after all.
One night at the night market I also got my first Henna tattoo which has lasted 3 weeks on my hand…I really wanted to wash it off once we got back to the ship. Oh well. At night there was not much to do. No one felt compelled to go out and and check the party scene, so I put the tv on and watched Bollywood movies, but mostly danced to Indian music videos with Gillian in our room.
The Taj Mahal is the most beautiful tomb in the world. It didn’t seem real that a King could build such a vast tomb for the love of his life. I found a local “professional photographer” who took Gillian and me around the Taj Mahal to capture the best photos from the best angles. He also taught us some yoga along the way, so Gillian and I were striking scorpion poses and meditating all over the Taj Mahal premises. I am convinced I have the best photos of the Taj.
Our tour guide, Taj, wanted us to experience and realize that not all of India is like the movie Slumdog Millionaire. From my experience, we only saw villages and cities that looked like the slums in the film. I would have liked to go to Mumbai to visit Bollywood, and see what the economic contrast is like. India is unlike anything I ever imagined. People went to the bathroom at any time, anywhere in the street. The people also live among cows (which they let loose after they can no longer produce milk…too sacred to kill and eat also), dogs, goats, monkeys, whatever other creatures roamed through the streets. They use their left hand for wiping/gross things, and their right hand for eating.
The last day I also did a service visit to a school grades Pre-K-12 grade. All of the students speak Hindi, but their textbooks and classes are supposed to be conducted in English. I was surprised to find that they still didn’t speak English. Every morning they pray in Hindi, and report Global Current Events in English. I wonder if any of the students understand them. We spent a few hours playing with the kids, singing, and they put on a dance performance for us as well. They were so excited to have us there, and we were the 4th U.S.A. visitors to come to the school. It was also a private school, tuition is $350 a year and only 10% are on scholarship. Regardless, this school was still extremely poor, and sad to visit, but it felt good to make them smile for the day and exchange stories. They put so much time and preparation to host us for the day, that for once I felt like Indians were happy to see Americans for purposes other than begging.
I am glad that I went to India, but as of right now, I do not have a desire to return anytime soon.
We spent a lot of time traveling on a tour bus. Our itinerary was packed with sight seeing, and we saw 5 towns in 5 days. Highlights of the trip include the city of New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra (where the Taj Mahal is) and two cities in between. Jaipur is a city that was painted pink during the 17th century to welcome the Prince of Norway (I think). They kept the salmon color of the city, and we saw the King’s palace and other touristy sights. We also did an elephant ride up to a deserted castle...I love elephants. Along the way we saw many Hindu temples and ruins and took a crazy jeep ride back to home base.
Unfortunately the heckling and begging is overwhelming in India. As soon as they see white people, children and adults rush to you begging for money. Even when our buses drove through towns the kids came to wave to the bus and beg for money. Once you give one child some money, more appear. The time I gave a little boy money, he brought it back to his mother and she was off on a scooter with the money. Other mothers and children came to the site disappointed and angry they didn’t receive anything.
Generally there is lots of contempt for Americans in India. Maybe my own ignorance of the culture contributed to that. One day we went to an Astrology museum where there were huge sundial structures everywhere. There was also a cute little pyramid structure that I wanted to take a picture in. Without realizing what it was, I jumped inside of it and posed to take a picture. An Indian woman comes running over screaming at me in broken English, “You are stepping on our God! Take your shoes off! You cannot go inside there, and you cannot wear your shoes!” This was sooooo embarrassing because her entire posse (30+ ladies) were just chillin on the grass next to the Hindu shrine where they pray and I was stepping all over it with my sneakers. They made me terribly uncomfortable, and that’s when I booked it and ran away…barefoot after all.
One night at the night market I also got my first Henna tattoo which has lasted 3 weeks on my hand…I really wanted to wash it off once we got back to the ship. Oh well. At night there was not much to do. No one felt compelled to go out and and check the party scene, so I put the tv on and watched Bollywood movies, but mostly danced to Indian music videos with Gillian in our room.
The Taj Mahal is the most beautiful tomb in the world. It didn’t seem real that a King could build such a vast tomb for the love of his life. I found a local “professional photographer” who took Gillian and me around the Taj Mahal to capture the best photos from the best angles. He also taught us some yoga along the way, so Gillian and I were striking scorpion poses and meditating all over the Taj Mahal premises. I am convinced I have the best photos of the Taj.
Our tour guide, Taj, wanted us to experience and realize that not all of India is like the movie Slumdog Millionaire. From my experience, we only saw villages and cities that looked like the slums in the film. I would have liked to go to Mumbai to visit Bollywood, and see what the economic contrast is like. India is unlike anything I ever imagined. People went to the bathroom at any time, anywhere in the street. The people also live among cows (which they let loose after they can no longer produce milk…too sacred to kill and eat also), dogs, goats, monkeys, whatever other creatures roamed through the streets. They use their left hand for wiping/gross things, and their right hand for eating.
The last day I also did a service visit to a school grades Pre-K-12 grade. All of the students speak Hindi, but their textbooks and classes are supposed to be conducted in English. I was surprised to find that they still didn’t speak English. Every morning they pray in Hindi, and report Global Current Events in English. I wonder if any of the students understand them. We spent a few hours playing with the kids, singing, and they put on a dance performance for us as well. They were so excited to have us there, and we were the 4th U.S.A. visitors to come to the school. It was also a private school, tuition is $350 a year and only 10% are on scholarship. Regardless, this school was still extremely poor, and sad to visit, but it felt good to make them smile for the day and exchange stories. They put so much time and preparation to host us for the day, that for once I felt like Indians were happy to see Americans for purposes other than begging.
I am glad that I went to India, but as of right now, I do not have a desire to return anytime soon.
Dock time in Mauritius
Mauritius
I had dock time. Why did I have dock time? Because I took a nice nap after the South African wine tour and forgot to turn in my passport. After they called my name over the loud speaker 50 times my roommate finally woke me up, and for turning it in late, I received 6 hours of dock time. When I was released from Dock Time I went to the town, found my friends and a restaurant bar where we stayed until we had to board the ship again. Mauritius from what I could see was GORGEOUS. I’m bummed I missed the beaches, but at least I woke up for the sunrise and watched the ship pull into port. The Island of Mauritius resembles Hawaii with the volcano mountains and green water.
Between the Mauritius and India, we had the Sea Olympics. On the ship, each hallway is divided into a different Sea. My sea is called the Adreatic sea, or the Pink sea. The winner sea gets to disembark the ship first in Florida…and! WE WON!!! YAYAYAYAAYA. Although I did not participate in any of the activities (thank you play rehearsal for making me miss my meeting) I was THE BEST cheerleader for my team. I provided extra pink clothes for those boys and girls who didn’t have pink, we painted our faces, we cheered and attended most events that day. It was a lot of fun for my sea to win.
I had dock time. Why did I have dock time? Because I took a nice nap after the South African wine tour and forgot to turn in my passport. After they called my name over the loud speaker 50 times my roommate finally woke me up, and for turning it in late, I received 6 hours of dock time. When I was released from Dock Time I went to the town, found my friends and a restaurant bar where we stayed until we had to board the ship again. Mauritius from what I could see was GORGEOUS. I’m bummed I missed the beaches, but at least I woke up for the sunrise and watched the ship pull into port. The Island of Mauritius resembles Hawaii with the volcano mountains and green water.
Between the Mauritius and India, we had the Sea Olympics. On the ship, each hallway is divided into a different Sea. My sea is called the Adreatic sea, or the Pink sea. The winner sea gets to disembark the ship first in Florida…and! WE WON!!! YAYAYAYAAYA. Although I did not participate in any of the activities (thank you play rehearsal for making me miss my meeting) I was THE BEST cheerleader for my team. I provided extra pink clothes for those boys and girls who didn’t have pink, we painted our faces, we cheered and attended most events that day. It was a lot of fun for my sea to win.
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