Vietnam... amazing! Now.. HONG KONG & CHINA!

11/03/09

Today as I mentioned previously we got to Vietnam today. I had lunch with my friends and then got off the ship and took the shuttle to the Rex Hotel. I had a map and used it to find the Ben Than Market that was supposed to be nearest place to do some shopping. Ho Chi Minh City was much more developed than I thought it would be. I had pictured India in my head and what I encountered there, but definitely was wrong. There were large buildings, restaurants, markets, stores everywhere. It was the first country in a while that they drove on the right side of the road. It definitely was a bit weird. We arrived at the market after a couple blocks and were amazed at what we saw. It was a warehouse with an indoor market and things as far as you could see. The aisles were extremely small and left and right where Vietnamese women grabbing out you to buy their products. It did get uncomfortable to an extent, but we were able to handle it. The market did get extremely hot quickly and sweat was just pouring off of us. It was quite disgusting actually haha. After navigating circles and circles around the market I did end up buying a north face backpack and some t-shirts. We walked our way back toward the Rex Hotel and found an indoor shopping mall. It was about 5 different floors and we found some things we were looking for. There was a grocery store so I did stock up on some food. After the mall we went back to the hotel to take the shuttle back to the ship. We met up with Kirstin and decided to head out for dinner. We ended up seeing Erin on the bus so the four of us were in search for dinner. We ended up back at the market and went to a restaurant called Pho 24. Pho is Vietnamese food of choice. It’s a soup with noodles and chicken it was amazing. It also came with spring rolls which are AMAZING. I had a soda and ordered a beer. One beer that is Vietnamese is called Tiger, and I particularly enjoyed it. After we finished eating we walked around the night market where many stores and shops open up. There are food vendors everywhere and the indoor market closes. On the way back to the shuttle my friends stopped to get dresses made, but I had an early trip in the morning so I headed back to the ship. I have to be up and downstairs by 3:45am to leave for my trip to Nha Trang. GOODNIGHT!

11/04/09

Today I woke up at 3:15am and got my stuff together for my trip. I was exhausted after not much sleep I felt like a zombie walking to breakfast. We checked in with our trip leader Karen and ate breakfast. It was a rough start to the morning some people were coming in from the night and some even forgot their passport. So, we were finally on our way to the airport which was about a half hour away. We checked in and went through security. We waited a little while before boarding the flight and by 6am we were all set to go. Just as I was falling asleep the pilot came over the speakers with the announcement “prepare for landing.” That was a 40 minute flight and felt like the biggest waste of time. We arrived at approximately 7am and were met by our guide in the terminal his name was Liam. He took us around for our city orientation. The first place we stopped at was a giant white Buddha. We climbed 152 steps to the top and it was an amazing view. After we finished our tour around the Buddha we headed toward our second stop a Pagoda. However, before reaching the Pagoda we had the option of walking across the bridge. Majority of us walked and it was really a beautiful view. The water was brown due to the typhoon and the current had picked up a lot. The boats were lined up in the water and the little islands of homes stood out. We walked over to the Pagoda and climbed to the top of platform. The architecture was amazing. I cannot wait to show you all pictures. We were able to see where we had just come from as the Pagoda was overlooking the river. The last place we visited before lunch was an area along the water that had unique rocks. We all had to climb out to the middle of the rocks in order to see it. There was this massive rock that was wedged between two other rock structures and it was amazing to see how it was hanging in the air. We moved out further and climbed more of the rocks. The view was awesome and then it started raining, so we all rushed back to land. It was hard to maneuver our way through the rocks and because it was wet made it 10x more difficult. After we finished the tour there we headed to lunch. It was at a restaurant that was overlooking the river on top of the mountain it was awesome. We were the only people in the restaurant and the table was set up for all of us. Liam taught us to do CHEERS with every meal so we would count 1,2,3 in Vietnamese and then say YO = Cheers! It was a lot of fun. We had tons of food it was like a 7 course meal. We had shrimp, squid fried balls, rice, vegetables, soup, and lastly ostrich! YES I ate ostrich, and I highly recommend it! Everything was really great and I loved the seafood. After lunch we went to the aquarium. It was really net I saw tons of different animals I felt like a little kid again. There were tons of DORY’s they are so cool! Giant sea turtles,  sea stars, fish, sharks, etc. After we finished the aquarium we headed back to the hotel. We had 3 hours free time so majority of us took naps and showered. Dinner was at 7pm at a hotel not too far from our hotel. Again it was seafood, but I was excited. We sat outside on the patio in the back at a long table. The menu was a little strange and I definitely tried some new things. I had the usual shrimp, veges, soup, rice, etc. But, I did try JELLYFISH. I do not recommend trying that as I think I ate it raw. After dinner watched a cultural show in the lobby and headed back to the hotel. We decided to go to the Karaoke bar in the hotel. We packed a bunch of us in this small room with a couch, table, chairs, private bathroom, and refrigerator. Everyone was singing and having a great time, we spent a few hours in there. Eventually we were kicked out because it was getting late so we all went to bed.

11/05/09

Today I woke up at 8am and went down to the restaurant to have breakfast. I had some good bacon and croissants! Then we made our way to the bus for our day boat trip. We all boarded and were on our way to god knows where. It was quite choppy because of the storm that just passed through so after about 45 minutes we found calm waters for swimming. Many people jumped off the roof of the boat and went swimming or stayed on the boat for massages that Vietnamese women were giving. I decided to just hang out and keep tabs on the Yankee game! CONGRATULATIONS YANKEEEESSSSS 2009 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!! I did get the news in the middle of the river on a boat in Vietnam. I was able to celebrate and lunch and at the bars later. Our guide was nuts and was jumping off the roof of the boat with the Vietnamese flag on a pole. He was intense! After awhile we headed to lunch and seafood again. It wasn’t that good unfortunately and we had our guide place a call to make dinner chicken and beef. After lunch we went to another area and swam for a little while then headed back to the hotel. I took a nap and got ready for dinner.  We walked to dinner which was just a few blocks from the hotel. It was on the 2^nd floor of a restaurant that we had all to ourselves. It was amazing – fried chicken, spring rolls, lots of rice, soup, etc. After that we all headed to a bar called Why Not Bar? And we ordered a large drink that 10 of us split. After we finished that we went to a bar on the beach and headed back to the hotel.

11/06/09

Today I woke up and headed down for breakfast. My friends were already ready to go out so I grabbed my stuff and headed to a tour agency to find something to do on our free day. We ended up booking a trip to the villages and to a waterfall. Our guide bought candy for the children we would see along the way. It took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get to the villages as the roads were blocked due to flooding. The countryside was beautiful and I loved it. I felt like I was able to see the real parts of Vietnam. We finally reached some of the villages and were able to stop and hand out the candy to tons of children. We even took pictures and showed them on the digital cameras. Their faces just lighted up. We walked down the road and saw rice plantations and a woman loading a bike with bananas weighing 10x her weight to drive to town. Our guide told us about the communities and how the government helps them out by building them homes. The ages of the children were much higher than any of us imagined. They all looked so small. After that we headed to the waterfalls. They were beautiful and we were able to climb to the top. I took tons of pictures too. It was difficult to get back down so the guide had to help me and one of my friends, but we did make it without falling. We wandered around the park and saw some black bears and different plants. Then, we made our way back to Nha Trang. We got lunch at restaurant that had western cuisine on top of Vietnamese. I got French fries, spring rolls, and fried chicken. It was really pretty good. French fries definitely made my day. We went back to the hotel and met our group to transfer to the airport. We waited about 45 minutes and boarded the flight. However, the airport wasn’t air conditioned so it was scorching. The flight back didn’t take too long only about a half an hour. Then, we transferred back to the ship. I had dinner and decided to call it a night.

11/07/09

Today I slept in until about 11am which was exactly what I needed. I showered and met my friends to go out for our last day in Vietnam. We had lunch at Pho 24 again and it was even better the 2^nd time. We had some shopping to do so that’s what we did all afternoon. We went back to the market and I got some more stuff that I needed. After the market we stopped at a dress shop so my friend could get a dress for the ambassador’s ball. Then, we took a taxi back to the ship to ship to be back in time for the BBQ. It was good, not as good as usual, but good enough for ship food. We talked for awhile and then I relaxed for the night. We leave Vietnam 6am tomorrow morning. I’m sad to see it go and really hope to come back one day. I enjoyed my time here and don’t think there was nearly enough time to see everything that I wanted.

11/08/09

This morning I relaxed as it was a reading day no classes. We did get a notice over the PA system that there was a slight issue in the engine room, but everything turned out to be fine. I got my friends for lunch and then went outside and relaxed. I did get some sunburn. I filled out my independent travel forms for Japan so I can travel to Tokyo and Osaka. In the afternoon I went to the Women’s Leadership Forum which was really interesting and helpful. It was a panel of female faculty who have been leaders at some point in their lives and gave advice on how to help women succeed. We had dinner on deck 7 and then relaxed for awhile. I got some work done and I cannot believe China is in 3 days!!!

11/09/09

Today I slept in a little bit and sat outside for lunch on deck 6. I had International Law today and it went well. Sociology of Marriage and the Family was good too I handed in my last brief so I’m done with those.  After class I finished my final paper for Sociology of Marriage so I’m done with papers for that class completely. I had dinner on deck 7 again because dinner was awful downstairs. I did go to a meeting that a former FBI agent had held. It was about his experience in the international system with the FBI and working with foreign governments. It was amazing and I hope to be able to talk to him. Then, I had a required panel discussion on China for Global Studies. It was boring as usual. Then I watched 500 days of summer and wasn’t really a fan. Now, I’m going to bed.

11/10/09

Today, I woke up and went global studies. It was all about economics and difficult to pay attention. I relaxed after class and then had lunch with my friends. I sat outside for awhile because it was really nice and got more sunburn. I figured I needed to catch up on it as China is going to be freezing. I went to my Deviance and Social Control Class and that was interesting today’s debate was on decriminalization of drugs. It got heated as usual. Then, I relaxed this afternoon and had dinner with my friends upstairs. I did attend a meeting before dinner for Japan and got a lot of insight on what to do. It was also required my China to have our temperature recorded because of Swine Flu. I was not running a fever so I won’t have an issue in China. We had logistical preport tonight and tomorrow we are in HONG KONG! The things I am doing in China is an independent trip to Beijing. There are about 70 of us going and it should be tons of fun. I will be sleeping on the great wall of China, hiking the great wall, visiting the forbidden city, Tiananmen square, and the Olympic venues to name a few. I’m really excited can’t wait to get there. Although, it’s sad were coming to the end China and Japan are my last two countries. It’s really starting to hit me. I’m going to start feeling the homestretch soon. I’m going to relax and rest for the night. I have to prepare myself for the 22 degrees in Beijing when I have to sleep outside. Wish me Luck!!!

HAPPPPPY FIRST BIRTDAYYY LOLLAA!!!!!