GHA!

On a quick side note, yesterday was my first day of taking malarone for malaria and dang, what freaking freaky dreams! I might need my Molls to cuddle me tonight.

China!

Ok, so I am not exactly getting along with uploading pictures, so I guess you’ll all just have to come see me in May! After Shanghai we flew to Guilin and there were about 12 or 13 of us in 4 separate groups, but then we all just got into two groups and one went right off to Yangshuo and the 7 of us stayed in Guilin for the night. We stayed at this great hostel called the Backstreet Youth Hostel which had a dorm room with 7 beds, which was perfect for us. Then we headed out on to the street, walked around a bit, then went to this restaurant for dinner that had tree trunks on the walls. And the menu! Oh my gosh, it was a book! We each got an entree and a dessert and split some pitchers of this sangria type stuff, plus Kyle got whole fish as an appetizer, and the whole thing came to about $13 a person. We were there for a solid 3 hours just enjoying each other’s company. Then we wandered back to the hostel and watched some Olympics and headed to bed.

We got up around 8 or so, found some breakfast, and hopped a van to where we met a fisherman who took us on a bamboo raft down the Li River for about 2 hours. This trip was pure magic! We glided just inches above the water, passing people doing their laundry on the rocks of the river, cows grazing on the shore line. And all of this under these amazing limestone mountains! They just jut up everywhere, these huge hunks of rock covered by plants. We passed quite a few other boats like ours and every couple turns in the river we would come across a little commune for the fisherman and nearby towns. We eventually landed back to reality and took another van ride to Xingping. In our van were a couple Canadians who taught English in China and were on holiday for the New Year. I plan on doing that in the near future, so maybe I’ll find some young travelers then, too!

We got this amazing lunch in Xingping from this place with the best fried noodles any of us had ever had and then we wandered through the market and got a lot of pictures. I met a 16 year old girl who wants to practice her English so she and I exchanged email addresses so I hope to hear from her. We eventually took a bus to Yangshuo and got rooms at Monkey Jane’s. What a hostel! Only 20 RMB a night, which is less than $3, and it had a rooftop bar and restaurant and just some really cool people. Kyle, Nic, Brook, Natali, and I headed to this night light show on the water that supposedly had 500 people in it. And wow, amazing! It was about this Chinese singer and her story. We couldn’t understand any of it since of course it was in Mandarin, but the singing was gorgeous, especially with the limestone mountains as the backdrop. I will try to get some pictures of it up here when we get to our next internet friendly port. And there were tons of men on bamboo rafts with lanterns, and the whole valley was the stage! It was just phenomenal. Then towards the end over 200 women came out on moving docks and walked from shore to shore in light up suits. Just amazing.

After the show we headed back to the hostel to meet up with Tucker and Emily up on the roof. There we met Craig, this Canadian who used to spend the winters in Thailand mountain climbing but then came out to Yangshuo for 5 weeks to check out the climbing there. He has been there for over a year now and is heading home this summer to say goodbye to everyone, then move to Yangshuo, open up a coffee shop that has a corner for English practice, and find a Chinese wife. He is a pretty interesting guy. We also met some guys from Holland, this girl Riika from Finland, a couple guys from the UK, some more Canadians, and this guy Stone from Inner Mongolia. What a place! It was such a great night; making fun of accents, talking about football (soccer!), and just having a crazy good time. There was this stuff called Snake Wine, which is liquor in a big jar with a snake coiled up at the bottom….from what I hear it was good, but I just couldn’t muster up my courage to try it! I’m sure I’ll find some in Viet’Nam.

The next day we met back up with Stone and Craig and biked out of town to where Stone works, this restaurant/hostel called the Giggling Tree. A guy from Holland had been biking through the countryside, just as we were doing, and saw all these abandoned, dilapidated old farm buildings and thought, “Huh, I could do something with that place.” And he did. He and his wife moved there, used local materials and local labor to fix the place up, and now in its 5^th year of business it is a thriving business. They have a 3 year old son who speaks Dutch, English, and Mandarin. Damn! What a life that little guy already has before him. But hell, what a life I am living! Thanks again MaPa. J We ate amazing food, including fried bananas with honey, fruit milk shakes, apple pie with raisins, and fried rice with diced ham, veggies, and peanuts. What a place! After we ate our fill we walked around a bit and all planned on coming back as soon as possible. There were people working there from Europe and China and the owners were so welcoming. Then, as if the day couldn’t get even more amazing, around the corner came a group of fellow SASers! Emily, Zack (both of whom I met through our Choco sandals), Eric, and this other girl who I don’t know came riding their bikes alongside us. On all the roads in all the towns of China! Too funny.

Eventually we hopped back on our trusty wheels and headed on down the road. We stopped a few times to just watch the river wind through the mountains. Oh my gosh, what a place. We eventually got to Moon Rock, which is a limestone mountain that has a huge hole in the top part. It looks a lot like a donut. Yeah Greenbush! Then we peddled our way back to Yangshuo but stopped on the outskirts of town to have some lunch at this great outdoor restaurant. Mom, oh my gosh would you have loved the kitchen; it had infinite bowls and spices and counter space. We ordered veggies, rice, beer fish, and a chicken hot pot. Then we went and watched our fish and chicken be killed and cleaned….and then we ate them! The freshest meat I’ll ever eat. The fish came cooked, but the chicken was just all cut up and put on a platter while a pot in the center of the table heated up. When the water was boiling we just dumped the whole chicken in, everything from the beak to the feet and everything, I mean EVERYTHING inside. The first thing I grabbed with my chopsticks was the neck….and I just couldn’t eat it. It was just a bunch of cartilage and yeah. But I did eat an egg sack, which is just the yolk of an egg. We also found floating around in there the whole group of maturing eggs. It was like a bunch of yellow grapes all packed together. Very interesting. A professor of mine pointed out today that it is because of our wealthy culture that we disregard so much of the chicken and other animals before we eat them. To us drum sticks come in abundance and we don’t think about the rest of the animal, where as people of poorer nations eat everything including the brains and the feet. It was an eye opening and taste broadening experience.

On our way back into town we stopped and got some snacks for the long bus ride that night to Shenzen, a town on the China side of the China/Hong Kong border. I got what I thought were oreos but instead they were cookies with egg yolkish stuff in the middle. Oh well! We dropped our bikes off and said our goodbyes, then Kyle, Natali, Nic, and I headed to catch our bus back to Guilin to get on an overnight bus to Shenzen. When we got to the bus station we got excited because we saw the sleeper buses and had beds, but then we found our bus that was just a plain bus. Whatever, we’re in China. And I sat next to Kyle and we watched a movie on his iPod then used each other as head rests for the rest of the ride. We got into Shenzen around 7:30 a.m. and walked around for quite a while because we were trying to find a market, but after an hour and a half of wandering we finally found the market, which was actually a produce market and not a clothes and gadgets market. But we got some great dim sum for breakfast, then hopped on a train to go through customs before entering Hong Kong. A couple metros later and we were at the Harbor City Mall, which is actually where our ship was docked. The Hong Kong people love to shop and there are malls freaking everywhere, so it was not surprising that all the big ships like our lovely MV Explorer was docked next to a cosmetics store. I did a little bit of internet goodies then headed out to explore the city. The metro system is amazing! It is touch screen so all you have to do is touch the station you want to go to and it tells you how much the fare will be. And there are lights on the maps telling you where you are and which direction you are traveling. Oh, so nice! And extremely blind person friendly; they even had maps in brail, as well as raised walking paths for people to follow with their canes. I got back to the ship around 5 or so and laid down for a quick nap with the intention of meeting people for dinner, but instead woke up at 9:15, found nobody left on the ship because they were all out on the town or still in Beijing, and so I did some reading and writing and went to bed to get some dearly needed sleep.

The next day I had a city tour for a class and we went all over and even up Victoria’s Peak which had an amazing view of the whole city. Then that night Heather and Mollsy babes and I went to the Temple Street Night Market and wow! What a place. The last day Molls and I went to this place called 10,000 Buddhas and ran into two more Badgers there. What a busy, vibrant place Hong Kong is.

And now? We are in Viet’Nam! Today we have the Chu Chi Tunnels, which are 25 miles worth of tunnels that the Vietnamese used during their wars against France and us. This is going to be the first of many difficult but needed and eye opening experiences.

Thank you all so much for reading this or skimming it or thinking of us. We miss you and love you and will be bugging you plenty come May. :)

Hong Kong!

Big Buddha!


View from Lankau (sp?) Island next to the Big Buddha.



Helen near the temple of 10,000 Buddhas!

More Pictures from China!

My first glimpse of China (Shanghai from the ship in the morning)



Shanghai during the day




Pearl Tower in Shanghai at night from the ship



Chinese calligraphy! These characters mean "I love you" and "forever"



The dumplings were gone so fast that all I got was this picture




View from a tower at the Xi'an City Wall



Terracotta Warriors! (pit 1)



He LOVED that camera



Remainder of a delicious donut from 85 bakery



Local Street Market



Temple of Heaven at a distance

Pictures and Videos from China!

"Thank you mom and dad!"

Beijing, Day 1

We flew out of Xi’an early in the morning. The flight attendants on the plane wore plum colored uniforms; I noticed because I thought it was weird. The flight was definitely taken over by SAS. There were a few Chinese people and I think they were really confused as to who we were and what 100 of us were doing on their plane haha. After a 3-hour plane ride we landed at Beijing International Airport and went to the hotel.

Friday the 19th was pretty free because we were traveling, so we had the afternoon and evening to do what we wanted. I wandered around Beijing with a small group (Zach, Patrick, Mike, Matt and Carson). We wanted to visit the (Hong Qiao) Pearl Market, which is a 5 story indoor market full of vendors, basically five stories of bargaining and cheap shopping, but we heard it was closed because of the New Year. We walked into a mall for a second just to look around, discovered an ice skating rink in the middle of it, took a few pictures and left.

Then we stopped at a 24-hour bakery called 85 and bought delicious donuts. We met a guy who works there named Jordan (I don’t remember his Chinese name) and he told us about another market and a cool bar to hit up that night. He was excited to have people to practice his English with. We walked over to the market he told us was open and it wasn’t what we expected/were looking for, but it was interesting. I was looking for knock off Coach wallets and this market was more of a local food/small household street. It was down a back alley and super dirty, but I have some unique pictures and it was nice to see the non-touristy markets.

On our way out we decided to swing by the Pearl Market even though it was closed because we could see it in the distance. As it turned out, our guide was wrong. We actually had thirty minutes or so to look around inside the market because it closed at 6pm, not 4. It was overflowing with people. As you walk by, the vendors yell at you. “Lady, Lady, you want purse? Girl, look, wallets! Lady, Lady, Lady!” It was certainly an experience.

Next we walked over to the Temple of Heaven. It was built in 1420 and it was the Ming and Qing emperors’ personal place of worship (we weren’t far from the Forbidden City). We were too late to go inside the Temple, but we were still able to walk around the huge park surrounding it. The park itself was really cool and we met three girls who are taking a year off of college to teach English in China. They were visiting Beijing for the holidays and we chatted with them for a while. Inside (and outside) the park everyone seemed to be selling these weird little hackysack things. They almost look like badminton birdies, but they have brightly colored feathers and they’re heavier. You’re supposed to kick them around to each other, which didn’t seem that unusual until we witnessed them in action in the park. Groups of 6 or 7 people were standing in circles playing an intense game of kick the weird feather thing and they were REALLY good.  The funniest part was that they weren’t young at all. Some of the groups had people who looked as old as 50 and they were lunging and jerking around to kick the birdie thing. I have pictures. It was cool. Then we bought a birdie thing and we sucked at it. American fail.

After it got dark we went back to the hotel, showered and went out to find a place to eat. After a couple weeks of eating Asian food all day we were really in the mood for a pizza or a cheeseburger, so we found a sketchy looking place called Big Pizza. This place is on the second floor of a building up some gross back stairs, but once you get inside it’s awesome. It was 49 (about 7 bucks) for an all you can eat buffet, which we assumed would just be pizza. Wrong. Big Pizza had EVERYTHING! (Nicole, you would have loved it). They had tons of pizza, chicken nuggets, salad, wings, fries, popcorn chicken, slushies, pop, beer and even soft serve ice cream (plus about a million things I didn’t eat). Let’s just say that we got our money’s worth.

Big Pizza closed at 9:30, so we headed back to the hotel and met up with a bunch of other people heading out to Bar Street. There aren’t too many bars in Beijing because people tend to drink less and drink in restaurants, but there is Bar Street. There were a few places with live music, which was nice and we bar hopped for a while, but then we found a sweet place packed full of SASers and locals. Everyone was dancing and there was a strobe light, which always make me a more confident dancer because I know people can’t tell quite as easily how awkward I am haha. Good times. Around 1am I dodged peer pressure and took a cab back to the hotel with Mike. A bunch of other people took cabs out to Club Mix. I’m glad I went back and got some sleep. We had to be up early.

Beijing, Day 2

We woke up early, grabbed breakfast at the hotel and took a 10-minute bus ride to Tiananmen Square. I had always picture Tiananmen as a small area, but this place is huge (I think someone said 13 acres… I’ll look it up later). I also didn’t know that it backs right up to the Forbidden City. In China you’re not supposed to talk about the student protests of 1989; the government doesn’t official recognize any memorial of the event. I read that they allowed the news to cover a memorial ceremony for the first time a few years ago, but it was broadcast as a service to commemorate victims of a more recent earthquake instead of all the dead kids. There are cameras EVERYWHERE.

Our tour guide was open about the protests, so we got a few historical tidbits. No one knows exactly where the kid stood to block the tanks, but based on the angle of the pictures Jason (guide) led us to the general area of where it happened. They also don’t know exactly who he was. Most people think he was a 19-year-old college student and after it happened he was dragged away. There are differing stories, however, about who dragged him away: friends to protect him or the police. Either way, most people say that he was killed.

 When I think of Tiananmen I think about the student protests, but to the Chinese the square is a symbol of all political power and action in China and it’s a landmark. They’re very proud of what Tiananmen Square represents; they simply don’t talk about 1989.

Anyways, the mausoleum lf Mao is there, too. It’s friggin huge. There’s also a big red gate with a gigantic portrait of the chairman. We walked through the square to the Forbidden City, which was cooler. The Forbidden City was the home of the last 28 emperors and they call it a city instead of a palace because it’s as big as a city. There are 1,000 buildings for everything from judicial proceedings to housing for the imperial concubines. Each emperor had a different number of concubines. The last emperor (circa first half of the 20th century) had two; an earlier dude had 3,000. We couldn’t go inside most of the buildings, but we did get to see the throne and a couple other ceremonial buildings. Also, every section was separated by a threshold, which we learned earlier, is meaningful. If you’re a girl, you have to step over with your right foot first and you can’t step on the threshold because it’s ridiculously bad luck. Also, the higher the threshold, the wealthier/more powerful the people in the home are; there are some obnoxiously high thresholds.

After the Forbidden City we walked a bit to meet up with our trishaws, which were going to take us to lunch. We turned a corner and there were fifty of these things lined up! Nick and I rode together. You just sit in the back and put a blanket over your lap while the driver hops on his bicycle and takes you down all these winding back alleys that the bus could never dream of fitting through. A vendor trying to sell us stuff jumped on his own bike and rode next to us trying to bargain.

The drivers dropped us off and we were divided into groups based on the size of the houses we were trying to fit into. Our group was shown to a small door flanked by two black and yellow birds in decorated cages. They can talk and they have the strangest voices; I took a video of them. The house belonged to a middle-aged woman and was surprisingly comfortable on the inside in comparison to the location. She showed us into the back room and taught us how to roll out the dumpling dough and fold it up. Then we ate and it was definitely one of the most delicious meals of the trip!

After lunch we took the trishaws back to the buses and jetted over to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Birds Nest and Water Cube! It was amazing to see the two buildings and think of the incredible things that happened there. Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps. Wow. We didn’t get to go inside the water cube because it’s being renovated, but we did get inside the birds nest. They’ve made the entire inside into a winter park. They have tubing and sledding and skiing and ice skating.

We had a little time to wander and then we headed over to the Yuan Hou Silk Factory. It was advertised as a tour of the factory and it started out pretty well. The tour, however, only lasted 10 minutes and was more of a sales pitch because then they led us into a store and that was the end of it… Lame. It was the only let down of the entire trip, so to make up for it they bussed us over to the Pearl Market and let us spend an hour.

We had to be back at the hotel by 6pm to leave for dinner. We went to a nice restaurant for Peking duck, which ended up being great. After dinner a lot of people went out, but I was exhausted, so I stayed in and watched a movie with my roommate.

I’ll post about the next two days later (including the Great Wall!).

Love,

Molly

We spent one day in Shanghai, then I had a 6 day/5 night trip to Beijing/Xi'an.

Xi'an, China

 

We caught a flight out of Shanghai, China on Wednesday morning (2/17). It took two hours to get to the Xi'an Airport and another hour on a bus to get to the hotel. We're staying at the Jianguo Hotel. According to the pamphlet provided by the hotel, it's "the place to be in Xi'an." They may or may not be biased, but the rooms are super nice. I'm sharing with a girl named Caitlin who goes to Bucknell. There are 98 of us on this particular trip, so we're divided into three groups (all traveling together) and I'm in group C.

 

The ride from the hotel was cool because we started seeing large mad-made hills, which are actually ancient tombs of emperors! The Chinese believed that after you died you lived another life underground, so every emperor is not only buried, but also has a big hill built over him. It's kinda like the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, but with hills instead of pyramids. All but two of the mausoleums have been robbed at one point or another (more on that later). 

 

The first afternoon they took us straight to a Tang Dynasty Art Museum where we saw/learned about a lot of paintings and then they let us try calligraphy. For the record, Chinese calligraphy is awesome! I was so proud when my characters started to look right. We learned to write "forever" first because the character incorporates all eight basic brush strokes and is supposed to be great for practicing. I thought it was hard, but I think I caught on pretty well by the end. Then we learned "I love you," which is three characters and looks beautiful when done correctly. As a gift the guides wrote each of our names (in the Chinese characters) on rice paper. My name looks much cooler in calligraphy. It's two characters and they're really pretty. I don't, however, understand what each character means. Is one the "m" and "o" and the second the "lly?" Not a clue.

 

After the museum we were jetted over to the hotel to check in and drop off our bags. Thirty minutes later we were back out the door and on our way to Da Fa Chang Dumpling Restaurant. The bus ride to the restaurant was gorgeous because every tree and building is decorated with twinkling lights (mostly blue and icy white) to celebrate the Chinese New Year. There are also fireworks everywhere! I love fireworks. The Chinese people can only legally buy fireworks seven days a year and we happened to be visiting in the middle of those seven days. There are sporadic burst of fireworks every few minutes… all night. They're pretty, but I have no interest in fireworks right outside the hotel window after 4am.

 

Anyways, back the dumpling dinner. Holy Amazing! There were a few small opening dishes waiting on the table that we all shared right away. I've been eating a lot of sliced and seasoned cucumbers, cold noodles, cabbage and assorted veggies. Also, the first beer was free. Then they brought out trays of steamed dumplings. The dumplings were small and there were only enough for everyone to have one from most of the trays. They brought them slowly at first, but then faster and faster. The waitress would drop off a tray, tell us what they were and then everyone would dive for the middle of the table with chopsticks. There were veggie, pork, chicken, mushroom, duck, spicy pork, etc. Dumplings and dumplings and dumplings and after a handful of trays, we were diving for the dumplings a little less frantically. It didn't seem like we were eating that much, but it added up and I was stuffed. I think they brought out about 10 different types of dumplings in all. Towards the end of the meal Zach brought a round of beers and we finished dinner on a wonderful note.

 

After dinner we had a couple of minutes to wander and appreciate the lights/haggle with street vendors. Everyone was selling small decorative kites that you can buy to keep or have them string up and float into the sky on a long string (100 or so kites tied at even intervals up the string). I didn't buy a kite, but a few people I was with bought them. I was too busy watching the lanterns. There are small red paper lantern/hot air balloons that people were lighting fires under and releasing. Each lanterns is supposed to represent a wish. They got really high up in the air and it looked like there were little red stars twinkling everywhere in the sky.

 

I was so exhausted that I showered and fell asleep right when we got back to the hotel. A lot of people chose to walk around, but I knew we'd be seeing the city the next morning (wake up call at 6:45…) so I didn't stuck around.

 

Thursday, 2/18/10

 

Our wake up call came at 6:45am and we grabbed breakfast at the hotel. They pour a thin yogurt over their cereal instead of milk, which ended up being pretty good.

 

The first thing we did in the morning was head to the Xi'an City Wall. It's obviously not a big as the Great Wall, but it's the best preserved defensive city wall in China. It was right next to the dumpling restaurant we'd eaten at the night before. There we got to see the bell tower, which they used to ring every morning at 6am. Close by there's a drum tower that was played at 6pm. I don't remember which dynasty the buildings are from, but they're beautiful.

 

Then we headed over to the Great Mosque of Xi'an. There's a large Muslim Quarter in Xi'an because back in the days of the Silk Road traders used to stop in the city and marry local girls. The architecture was ancient and really interesting, but we didn't get to spend the time we wanted to because it was so crowded. It's usually only crowded on Fridays, but it was overflowing with people (mostly men) getting ready to pray together because of the New Year. Outside of the mosque there's a big outdoor market and we had a little time to bargain with the vendors. I bought two knock off Coach wallets. I think I'm going to stock up on fake nice stuff in China and Vietnam. The gifts I'm bringing home for people are probably going to be haggled for in street markets. :-)

 

After the Great Mosque we took an hour-long bus ride (every single ride seemed to be about an hour) over to grab lunch, then go to the Terracotta Warrior Museum. They call it the 8^th Wonder of the World.

 

The Emperor who wanted the soldiers built came into power when he was only 13 years old and by the time he was 14 he'd already planned out and commissioned construction on his mausoleum. (Xi'an was the first capital of China). It took 38 years to complete! There are 8,000 Terracotta Soldiers and every single face is different. They're amazingly complex and you can tell the rank of each figure by their clothes and hair. They're still excavating the site and it's slow going because the Emperor wasn't popular. He was cruel and the people were terrified of him. Right after he died his son ascended to the throne, but was overthrown almost immediately. The dynasty only lasted about 50 years. After the dynasty was overthrown, the late emperor's competitors broke into the mausoleum and crushed/burned every single soldier, horse and chariot. The army that was supposed to defend the emperor in the afterlife is slowly being glued back together piece by piece. On a more positive note, the actual tomb of the emperor was NEVER touched. Apparently the army did its job because even though they were destroyed (and their bronze weapons stolen) the tomb they were defending was one of the TWO (in all of China) never once robbed. Two thousand years later, the Chinese still haven't gone into the actual tomb.

 

As we were on our way out of the museum a Chinese couple asked me (I've gotten quite good at reading hand gestures) to take a picture with their daughter. I think it was due to my hair color. She was adorable.

 

After the Terracotta Warriors we headed over to visit an orphanage Well, it's kinda an orphanage. It's a children's village that houses a few hundred kids (babies-16) who can't be adopted. They're in the orphanage because one or both of their parents are in jail and their relatives can't afford to take them in. There were only 30 or 40 kids there when we visited because although most of the relatives can't afford to raise the orphans, they do take them in for the holidays. The majority of the kids were out and about with family members for New Years. The kids had prepared a little dance skit for us. It was really cute. A few of them had a snowball fight with a few guys and one little dude took a liking to one girl's camera. He really got the hang of it and refused to give it up until we left. He must have taken 100 pictures. He was probably 4 or 5. Sooo cute!

 

After the orphanage we headed back to the hotel for an hour, then went out to a dinner show. The music and dances were from the Tang Dynasty and the meal was 6 courses of delicious. The show was wonderful and we shared a bottle of white wine as we watched. There was music throughout dinner, but as we were eating dessert they started the dances. There were 6 different dances and they all represented different things. The first was choreographed to show off the beautiful potential of the silk garments invented by the Chinese 1500 years ago. The second was full of acrobats dressed like animals with bells. The third was the dance of the celestial moon women. An emperor had a dream about celestial moon women and when he woke up his favorite concubine choreographed a dance based on his description of the dream. Then they had a dance of the warrior. Then there was a musical performance skit, and then the finale was a complex celebration of the spring. I kept the souvenir menu, so I'll be able to describe them better later.

 

After dinner we got a few beers and hung out in the hotel watching the Olympics on TV. We got to see the two-man luge, curling and speed skating.

 

Went to bed and had a 7am wake up call to eat breakfast, then catch out flight to Beijing.

I'm ending the post here. I'll write about yesterday and today asap.

Love!!

China Take 1!

Whew, Shanghai! Yesterday we docked and after going through customs and meeting up with everyone it was about 11 or so, and we hit the town! We headed to Nanjing Rd. where we got really good food. And the yuan is about 6.8 to $1 right now, and we each got a full, delicious meal for about 28-38 yuan. Crazy! Then we were off in search of a huge jade Buddha, but we got sorta lost….but then headed over to the Pearl Tower and around there, back to the ship to regroup, and then back out to explore the night life. This city is amazing. It is so futuristic and I honestly expect to see hover crafts and space cars zipping through the sky. Also since it is the Chinese New Year there are celebrations going on, especially at 8 at night, when fireworks go off all over the city. It’s amazing!

Today Molls headed off to Beijing with an SAS trip while her roommate Heather and I wandered around town. We meant to go to a market, and the cab driver said he would take us to the colorful market….which was a huge grocery store. Oh well, we got to see a completely different side of town. And don’t worry Aunt Cheryl, Shanghai is a super safe city and it was daylight and Heather and I are strong women. J We finally made our way over to this market and wow, what a place! Stall after stall of vendors, all saying, “Hey lady, pretty lady. You want purse? Rolex? Good price for you. Chinese New Year.” It was so intense. I was bartering without even knowing! I honestly was walking out of a stall when the vendor kept going down in price and I was just trying to leave. But Heather and I both found some pretty good deals, grabbed some yummy food, and metroed it towards the ship and then walked from People’s Square to our floating home. Then we met up with our friend Jeff and went over to Jinmao tower, which is 87 stories high! On the 87^th floor is a bar called Cloud 9 where the three of us had a drink overlooking the craziness of Shanghai. Tomorrow we head down to Quilin (sp?!) and there are a couple different independent groups going, plus an SAS one, so it’ll be fun to travel with different people.

I can’t believe that this is already our 3^rd stop. It is so weird to say, “Oh yeah, back in Japan….” We were in Japan! And this has really changed my perspective of foreigners traveling. I always tried to be helpful when I thought someone seemed lost or confused, but oh my gosh, I am definitely going to go out of my way to help people, especially with the language barrier. In Japan EVERYONE was insanely helpful, even when they usually didn’t speak English. In China people are helpful but not as much in a friendly way. The next time I hear someone saying that people visiting the US should speak English I might just have to buy them a one-way ticket to inland China and see how their attitude changes.

But enough for now. Molls and I are traveling apart for the first time this trip, so we’ll have double the stories for all yal back home!

Some Pictures from Japan

This buddah is supposed to bring wisdom to worshipers. There was a second one right next to it that is supposed to bring mercy. This was taken near the outdoor market in Asakusa (the older section of Tokyo).



This picture was taken outside a shrine in Asakusa (Tokyo). People use the fountain to cleanse themselves. You pour water from the ladle over one hand, then the other, then take a sip, rinse your mouth and spit it out before you enter the shrine.



This is my capsule in the capsule hotel in Tokyo. It was much bigger than I’d anticipated (though still tiny) and surprisingly comfortable. At the hotel we met a kid from LA named Michael who came to Japan to be a boxer and now works at the hotel. Random.



This is the rock garden at the Kongobuji Temple in Koya-san on Mount Koya. This is a small glimpse of the largest rock garden in all of Japan. Apparently if you view the garden from above, you see that the design is two dragons emerging from the clouds to protect the Okuden. “The dragons are made from 140 pieces of granite brought from Shikoku and the white sand is from Kyoto”



This is Caitlin standing in front the burnt out A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima. It’s the only structure that survived that close to the hypocenter and it was left standing as a memorial. I sobbed my way through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.



This is Helen walking in the bamboo forest in Kyoto on our last day in Japan. The forest was gorgeous and absolutely huge. I wish we had more time in Kyoto.

Sorry Japan!

Alrighty, so, we are in China! And about Japan….it is just going to be one of those countries that we will have to talk about when we get back because we were in Japan for 5 days, at sea for 2, and now in China for 5 and Hong Kong for 3! I know the whole point of a blog is so the real world can see what we’re up to, but I hope you forgive us for this skip! Ok, time to head to the Bund and explore! We love you all and please email us!

A real update is coming soon, but for now here are a few observations:

1. The Japanese are obsessed with longhaired wiener dogs in colorful sweaters.

2. There are a bajillion vending machines that sell everything from Coke to hot lattes to cigarettes, but there are very, very few garbage cans. I’ve been told that the garbage can thing has to do with the terrorist gas attack in the Tokyo subway.

3. Japanese squat toilets are REALLY HARD TO USE! (Though their sit down toilets are awesome because there are all sorts of buttons- including a fake flushing sound for those with shy bladders- and a warmed seat.)

4. The trains and subways are very, very clean and generally dead silent.

5. The Japanese people are extremely kind and helpful (even if they don’t speak English).

6. No one seems to be shy about snapping pictures of foreigners. There were many times when I looked up and realized that someone was taking a picture of me, especially when I was with Sheila who is Ghanaian. They LOVED Sheila.

7. There are pretty much no overweight people in Japan. Everything and everyone is smaller.

8. Japanese “American” coffee is more like a redeye drink. I’m pretty sure it was black coffee plus espresso. Chocolate, on the other hand, isn’t as sweet as American chocolate.

9. Pocky sticks are awesome!

10. Sometimes Spanish works better than English when you’re asking for directions.


Also, we ended up doing this:
Day 1: Yokohama, slept on ship

Day 2: Woke up after 3 hours of sleep and headed to Tokyo (crushed like an unmoving mosh pit on the subway = awesome/hilarious/a little painful) for the day, slept in a Tokyo capsule hotel.

Day 3: Woke up after 5 hours of sleep and headed from Tokyo subways station all the way to Koya-san, which took 1 bullet train, 1 subway, 2 local trains, 1 cable car and 1 bus. Koya-san was AMAZING! Slept in a Buddhist monastery.

Day 4: Woke up early for prayer, a fire ceremony and a walk through an incredible cemetery before heading back down Mount Koya and our to Hiroshima, which was absolutely worth the travel time. I sobbed my way through the War Museum. Made it out to Kobe that night and slept on the ship.

Day 5: Woke up not quite as early and jetted over to Kyoto to spend some time. Had to be back at the ship early, so didn't get to spend too much time there. The bamboo forest was incredible, but we didn't get to see the Golden Pavilion. Next time this is high on my list of places to spend more time (along with Koya-san). Made it back to the ship 1 hour before on ship time and left Kobe Harbor at 8pm.

We dock in Shanghai early tomorrow morning, but I promise to remember every detail of both Japan and China and share them ASAP.

LoveLoveLove and happy belated Valentine's Day!!!

Molly

Japan

Second day in Japan. Were at a capsule hotel in Tokyo and I cant find all the keys on this japanese keyboard. Went to the fish market this morning and got sushi. Gabe got horse... so I tried a tiny bite. I will never eat horse again. Aside from that it was a busybusybusy/fun day. Leaving for Koya-san in the morning. Ill update sooooon!

LOVE

Molly

Today!

This morning when we went up for breakfast we were chugging into the harbor in Yokohama, Japan! People were walking by and taking pictures of us on the deck of the ship. There was a lot of waving. I've never felt so exotic :)

It took ages for them to finally let us all off the ship and that was before customs, but then we stepped on dry land for the first time in almost two weeks!

The money here kills me. Everything costs hundreds or thousands of yen and it sounds like sooo much. The exchange rate is roughly 90:1, so it's not too bad, but things always sound super expensive.f

We explored with our friend Sheila today and she happened to have a friend from Tokyo who helped us get around. Her name is Mayu and she's the most patient/coolest girl in the entire world. She met us at the ship with her boyfriend and they took us all over Yokohama. Her boyfriend plays rugby and he's never met a girl who plays before haha. We had a nice conversation. Luckily for us, the subway system here is pretty similar to Chicago, so it wasn't too hard to figure out.

After a delicious lunch (it was a pointing ordeal... I think I ordered dumplings) we broke off into smaller groups and explored Chinatown. I didn't know that they had Chinatown in Japan, but it was super cool. The Chinese new year is coming up in a week or so and there were gorgeous lights everywhere. We wandered and bought steamed dumplings from street vendors when it was time for dinner. I had pork. It was pretty good. Helen made the best tasting dumpling purchase.

Anyways, we're currently heading back the ship to shower/pack/get dressed to go out tonight. The drinking age in Japan is 20. I'm legal. Baller :)

We're waking up super duper early tomorrow to catch a train to Tokyo and go to the fish market for the freshest sushi we've ever eaten. I'm beyond stoked!

Here are some pictures and as long as I can find free Internet, I'll try to keep the updates coming.

Love,

Molly



Molly and the lion.



Martin from Norway.



Lunch!



We met Frank and Jean-Luc (photographer) from France. They were excited to meet people who spoke English.

A Few Days Ago

My new goal is to write small blurbs more often about day-to-day life on the ship, so here goes…

Yesterday I did Zumba for the first time, which was super fun. I’m pretty bad at it so far, but I plan to keep going and eventually be able to dance without feeling like an idiot. My favorite song we danced to is Jai Ho.

We were supposed to have our first intramural volleyball game last night, but it ended up being cancelled because the Pacific Ocean got doesn’t play well with others. It stole our ball and wouldn’t give it back. I was surprised to find out that the ship only had 2 volleyballs. So much for foresight, SAS.

Also, last night our cabin steward, Rene, knocked on our door and snuck us two more pillows! I’ve been waking up with a sore back because I sleep on my side and did have enough support, so we left him a note the other day asking if it would be possible to get extra pillows. He wrote back “sorry, ladies. I can’t give you more,” but then brought us extras anyway! The ship was crazy rocky last night, but we borrowed (illegal) duct tape to keep our drawers shut, which kept the room quiet. The lack of slamming drawers plus the extra pillow = an excellent night of sleep. Thank you Rene! (…and Gabe for the tape)

That’s all for now.

Love,

Molly

From a boat....

Ahoy! So, Molls and I are currently sitting at the Writing Tutor’s table, as we are both writing tutors. But….there is no one to tutor! So instead I’ll write this blog. Also, the little kids of the faculty are having gym time behind us and Mom, I can guess what your every day is like. J We were supposed to have our first volleyball game last night but both volleyballs went to the fishes, along with a basketball. So, no spiking until Japan….which is in less than 3 days! We have our trips mapped out and here goes:

2/9: arrive in Yokohama at 6:00 a.m., run around the city for a while, visit the aquarium, and at night go to some karaoke bars (Singing time!)

2/10: we’ll head out to Tokyo and spend the day there, meet up with some fellow SaSers, and spend the night in a capsule hotel.

2/11: get up early and go to the Tsukiji Fish Market by 5:00 am or so and then head to Kyosan and up into the mountains to spend the night in a Buddhist monastery.

2/12: after our morning prayer with the monks we’ll head to Nara or Kyoto, then hopefully Hiroshima, then head to Kobe to catch back up with the ship.

2/13: go to a Samurai castle and wander around Kobe and be on the ship around 5:00 to head to China.

So yeah, that’s about it! You know, no big deal or anything, just cruising around Japan on a bullet train!! Tonight we are going to cardio aerobics up on the 7^th deck and then plenty-o-studying because we have our first exam tomorrow. Grar, school. Alrighty, off to get smart. I love you and miss you all, and am collecting goodies from around the world for you all!

Japannn

Okay, here's the itinerary for Japan. It's mostly worked out, though we still have to fill in a few details.

The ship docks in Yokohama early, early on Tuesday February 9. The first thing I'm doing is going to a Zen Temple and Meditating with Zen monks. I'll be back in the afternoon when I'll meet up with Helen, Heather, David, Nick and Gabe. We're spending the afternoon exploring the city, then heading to a karaoke bar where Gabe will be impressing us with his rendition of a Lady Gaga song, among other gems. We're staying on the ship that night to save money, then taking the train to Tokyo first thing in the morning.

We're spending all day on the 10th in Tokyo (yes, we have a list of places to check out). That night we're splurging on a capsule hotel. It was hard to find a co-ed one, as they're generally used by Japanese businessmen, but the reservations are finally make. :)
Seriously, I'm curious to see what it'll be like... google it... I'm thinking morgue... haha

At 4:30am the next morning we're headed to a huge fish market, which is supposed to be crazy/exciting. I vote early morning sushi, but we'll see... :)

Immediately following the fish market, we're hopping a train to Osaka (or thereabouts) and eventually getting to a town where we take a cable car up to the mountain village of Koya-san. We're spending the afternoon in the village; there's supposed to be a gorgeous hike through an ancient graveyard, then spending the evening/night at a Buddhist Temple. They feed us traditional meals and we get up to pray with them at 6am. The email didn't say that we'd be required to wear kimonos, but they sent me a link to a website where you can learn to tie one... hint?

The next morning we're traveling to Nara to spend the day. If all goes according to plan we're sleeping on the ship in Kobe that night. The next morning I'm traveling for a quick tour of an ancient samurai training fortress, then heading back to the ship before on ship time at 6.

We're trying to squeeze Hiroshima in, but it's hours and hours away. If we end up with extra time, that's the first place on my list.

Love

Molly

1/1/10

The Remix Party has been advertised around the ship for the past few days. It seemed like one of those dance weird and bounce around for a while things, but it ended up being so much more. Epic Dance Party! We pre-danced in our room and took a bunch of crazy pictures. It’s hard to get low while the boat’s rocking! Haha

We got up to the union right as the dance party was starting at 9:30 and within 20 minutes it was so packed I could barely breathe. So fun though! Heather took a lot of awesome pictures and I’ll be stealing a few to post on this blog. When we were too sweaty to dance, we escaped to the 7th deck and got smoothies. It was nice to feel the breeze and watch as everyone slowly drifted upstairs from the party in their ridiculous outfits. Fun night.

There are no classes tomorrow. I think the occasion is due to our crossing of the International Date Line. The day that doesn’t exist for us is February 3, 2010. It has vanished into thin air. We got tomorrow, February 2, off and then the next day is February 4. It’s super weird. (Side note: I think we actually crossed the line today, but for some reason are delaying it on the ship… maybe… I don’t know…)

Our Wisconsin SAS picture is tomorrow morning and that’s all I have to do all day! I think there are 14 of us. We’ll see.

Fun Fact: We have 9 days of class in February. :-)

I’ll post my itinerary for Japan as soon as we get the final details stamped out. It’s going to be exciting, so keep an eye out for updates!

LoveLoveLove

Molly

Wow!

Oh my goodness, I am covered in salt! Eating dinner out on the 5^th deck was interesting, as everything tasted like the sea. We are finalizing our Japan Plan. Man oh man, it is going to be amazing! A whale shark, karaoke, bullet trains, 4 a.m. fish markets and sushi for breakfast, praying with Buddhist monks in the mountains. AH! That’s really all I have right now. Dang this is exciting. And I can’t wait to hear how everyone else’s semesters are going. What’s the news?!