One day till Hawaii!!!

Alright where are we in this world? We are starting to get into warmer waters since we are only 500 nautical miles until we reach Honolulu Hawaii, and we should see our first sight of land Oahu, Hawaii by breakfast after seven days at sea.
Well two nights ago we had our Ambassadors ball that dinner started at 5:15 pm so we had an early start at it. Everyone was dressed up in their new clothing that they had bought or had made from around the world. We had an interesting group sitting at our dinner table which included AJ and I one of the girls who went with us to Kyoto, Japan and her roommate (whom she also knew from high school) and one of the sets of twins. We had gotten to know the twins a little in S. Africa because they still dress alike after all these years. It was funny because they had taken the Empress of the Seas from Puerto Rico not too long ago on the great itinerary that some of us had talked about doing on the 12 night cruise with a different southern Caribbean port every day. They had cruised quit frequently so it was fun sharing experiences and talking about the future. Dinner was amazing, we started off with a jumbo shrimp cocktail, French onion soup, Caesar salad, and for an entrée choice of Chicken, vegetable lasagna, or filet with a peppercorn gravy. I bet it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess which one I order. The Ambassadors Ball Committee made a nice speech and we had a champagne toast.
We had a few friends over to hang out before the rest of the evenings festivities began. Like formal photos with the captain and dean etc. They also did a preview of the video that the videographer who previously works with MSNBC in New York and Chris the photographer (who we have become really good friends with and has done photo shoots with the Olsen Twins and the Pope). I got to give credit we weren’t expecting much out of the impressions that we got from the videographer, but it was really good all though some how through video it never seems like it is truly your trip. And Chris’s photo CD with the soundtrack was amazing, I got to admit it really did touch me and almost brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know I mean there were photos of me and my friends but more so it emotionally put on film the feelings towards the 9 countries that we have visited in the past 90 plus days. We later went back and hung out in our room for a little longer until the dance started.
This dance was a lot of fun, playing the typical SAS pub night party music as usual. We had an interesting performance from the crazy religion of all worlds professor that I had told you about that had spoken a couple of times in the Global Studies exam that always wears the sunglasses and rings the bell. Anyways it was obvious that she had a little too much wine (or so it seemed) and was dancing all over the place with different male students. Not to say that being an adult and dancing with students was bad I mean the Captain and other senior officers were out there too. But during the course of this formal evening where everyone is in formal attire she proceeds to wear a long skirt and a string bikini top to start dancing and putting on a show. So much so that our Academic Dean and her boss had to come up to her and ask her to go and put more clothes on. This was all very interesting and the stories and photos that are on the ships public folders on the computers get quit interesting. This leads to the problem of the SAS policy of treating students like babies, which may or may not be justified. But at the same time, there need to be times where students as a group can congregate and enjoy themselves without having the faculty and adult passengers around. I mean at the very least I understand having the ships security officers present and the conduct officer present. But really there becomes a time when you have to live 24 hours with the faculty staff and adult passengers should leave the students alone and vis versa. Which their private time as a group is highly coveted in the faculty staff lounge. Anyhow I think that this situation could have been avoided if they would of thought of these issues early on. But then again SAS is known for not making the wisest of decisions. One quote from and adult passenger this morning speaking of the dance said there sure was a lot of estrogen and testosterone around that night. Pretty funny and accurate quote if you ask me.
Oh another interesting thing that we happened. So the past two or three days we have been talking about globalization (and overall commitment for those less developed nations and our responsibility or lack there of to provide for these nations although the later of the two aren’t as stressed as much). To break this down the first day we watched a film how globalization is good, the second how it is bad, and then on each day after the films were done there was a panel discussion between six students lead by the courses professor. Then the third day the professor and another guest professor went back and forth on the issue of weather or not we have a responsibility to help relieve the extreme poverty that exists mainly in Africa but in the rest of the world as well. They said what if you saw a headline on the newspaper that said 20,000 dead for terrorism everyday for three days. You would be upset, and would investigate. If it read the same thing but the reason you read was from starvation you probably wouldn’t have the same feelings. One side choose to explain the view of an author who believed by doing so not only used up our financial resources but also the impact of saving these people from death that would happen on the environmental factors that would undoubtedly occur.
The second was that they gave the argument that if we America would give .7% of our GNP to this cause that we could elevate this problem. Then they went on to try and make us understand by some would say make us feel bad others would say give facts. Such as countries such as Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, etc give up to 2% of GNP and there were a list of other countries that were giving much more then us and I believe the number they showed for the US was around .15% of GNP. The argument continued to say that people who buy a 150,000 Mercedes or starbucks coffee or anything that may be considered a luxury good compared to the bare necessities every dollar you spend over that is virtually killing someone. And that a dollar a day could save someone. But since a lot of times the numbers are so great and we are so poor in the grand scheme of things that we say we can’t help all so we decide to help none.
With this said latter on I and friends were sitting in the piano lounge a public room on a main thorough fair on one of the two main decks. We were having a discussion on this issue. I started out by saying that the discussions over the last several days in global studies were very enlightening and that all the people presenting did a very good job presenting a hard subject in a seemingly close to unbiased way. Although I thought that this is supposed to be an educated setting to educated people presented by highly educated professionals and that I didn’t like the fact that they make uneducated completely stupid comments like one solution is that the US should put an extra 5% income tax on everyone that makes 200K or more a year. Or we should just forgive the debt of the developing nations to the tune of close to a billion dollars (I mean if we are just forgetting some debt I have a small credit card bill considering that we should also just forget if we are doing such which I didn’t say out loud but I was thinking). Anyways out of the corner of my eye I notice a faculty member trout slowly (maybe it was my deer hunting skills) like she was slowing down to be able to hear the discussion in progress. So anways….
She approaches our group and asks me. If I really believed what I was saying. I responded yes. Then she asked me if I had attended the professors global studies lecture today. I responded saying yes. Then politely she said that ok everyone is entitled to their own opinion. And as she turns to walk away she makes several profane derogatory remarks to me. I mean can you believe it…this made my friends who were having this intellectual conversation with me very made. To the point that they were screaming back remarks to her. Not that it made it right, but I was so shocked at her choice of confrontation of this matter. I mean honestly a member of the ships faculty, I am sure you are all wondering what class she teaches which makes it even more interesting she is the onboard communications professor. Unbelievable really in fact one of the students sitting with us had her, as a professor.
With this said I mean could she have really of thought that I had gone on this voyage to 9 countries all of which besides one who were developing nations with tons of extreme poverty in each and not have a huge compassion and concern to these people. I know that everyone on the trip is tired and has been touched and pulled in soo many ways, and the attitude that has been presented to them by the deans. In the sense to treat the students on board as children. But either way I found her remarks to be totally unacceptable, friends sitting with me said that I should have reported her to the dean. Honestly the fact is it is not going to change anything. Personally I have been blessed with three great professors, but there are some on here that have these egos and definitely interesting personalities to say the least that after six or soo days at sea sure do come out.
In our final day or regular classes for global studies we did several things looking back over the course of the class and the voyage. We again as we did on the first day watched a video that a lot of you have seen that is titled if the world was made up of 100 people (which is where the numbers of the worlds population are divided down into 100 people). A few interesting facts that touched me were…2 of those have a life expectancy of 80 years, 23% are white, 33% are Christian, 20% live on $1 a day, 14% of adults are unable to read, 1 in 5 have internet access, 51% have never made a phone call or turned on a light.

The question was then poised to us. During the course of this voyage changed my life but how? In my mind the true answer to that question has yet to be decided. But Professor Murphy said: we have to be….bigger, stronger, do something different, be someone different…….we can’t afford to be retched or flimsy.

Which brings be back to the song that Archbishop Desmond Tutu sang to us…..We got to find peace..We can’t stop until we find it…We have got to find happiness….We can’t stop until we find it.

Tomorrow I have a presentation at 8am for Strategic Management, a final in global studies, and a quiz at 11 in Biology. The rest of the afternoon I will be enjoying the Hawaiian coast line by the pool as we arrive in Honolulu at 5 pm. I can’t wait to get to Waikiki beach it has been too long. God Bless.

Chad

PS – Evan that excursion sounds interesting, but we will have to talk about it when I get back. Maybe you can take December 9th off and we can all get together and go to La Roma or something email me and let me know!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! We had Thanksgiving a couple of nights ago on the ship. The food was as to be expected not great, they had a really hard time with running out of food. But either way I went into it knowing that it wasn’t going to be like how my mom and aunt Vicki make it!!! It was really funny because this year is the first year I think in my life that I haven’t had some sort of left of turkey. When you think of all the things that people make out of left over turkey it is kind of funny!!!
Well last night we had our final sunset at sea, which is where from like 5 to 6 a lot of people come out by the pool and watch the sunset. And you can have a beer or some wine if you want. It was kind of sad because we are getting to the point in the voyage that everything that we do is for the last time. Anyhow we had a great time. They were also throwing a party for the sea that won the Olympics with some chips and salsa, dim som, and a cake so we were able to get something to eat. Because that’s what we need around here…..breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack, and a smack bar open for several hours out of the day. The surprising thing is that I have actually lost around ten pounds or so, enough that I have to go in a notch on my belt.
This email is going to be kind of random because I thought of a few things that I didn’t want to leave out from the past. Starting with the hole laundry issue. Because of water conservation and the fact that we were in port so often from India until Hong Kong there was a limited amount of water that could be brought on from the sea because the ship was going through several rivers to get us into ports such as Myanmar and Vietnam etc. And even in Myanmar they cut off the water and it was only on from 6 till 8 I believe so no bathroom or shower unless it was between those hours. Also back to the laundry because of this we were not able to have our laundry done for more than a month. When it is a laundry day they put bags in our room to put it in the night before and you are suppose to have it in the hall early the next morning. Well because of the whole water conservation thing they weren’t doing laundry for us so I ended up getting really good at doing laundry in my room. It would be soo funny you would come into this nice suite and there would be clothes draped all over the place. But I couldn’t do shirts because they would be so wrinkly that you couldn’t even wear them. Luckily enough I brought a whole bunch of shirts.
The next cool thing was something that I saw when I was coming from the Sheraton the last night in Hong Kong. We were walking next to the Peninsula Hotels (probably one of the nicest hotel chains in the world) anyway I was surprised to see one of those double decker busses with the top level open aired (like you see on that one movie with Jackie Chan) anyways it was this white bus and the first thing I notice is at the very front of the bus on the top level is a three piece string band playing. Then there were probably about three or four round table with people eating and having drinks. Then I look down and notice that the are chefs on the bottom level cooking. And then by the time I get to the back of the bus where people would get on board there was a little guy standing there in all white with one of those funny little hats and white gloves. Anways it was one of those buses where you drive around the city and have dinner. Something that you see commercials for usually like for credit card companies where they play the really peaceful music and you don’t really think that it actually happens. Well it does at the Peninsula in Hong Kong. I am definitely going to come back to that city, and when I do I am doing that. Sorry I just thought that, that was soo cool.
What else. Well the past four nights we have been putting our clocks forward one hour to catch up with the time zone changes. Well anyways I went to bed last night at a decent hour and ended up waking up from 1 am till 4am. I couldn’t sleep it was like I had jet lag, but on a ship. I guess it is called ship lag. I couldn’t believe it I talked to a few people and some like my RD said that she didn’t sleep at all last night because of it.
Well tonight is our Ambassadors ball, which is a lot like prom. They are going to do a several course meal and wine and a champagne toast and formal photos with the captain. It will be a lot of fun, then there is a dance in the union after that. Well I better go. Oh yeah one more thing we are going to get into Hawaii a night early. Originally we were only suppose to be there for the day, but we are going to get in the night before at like 5pm and they said not to plan anything before 8pm. So that will a lot of fun getting to be off the ship for that long.

The rest of the story (Japan)!!!!!!!!!

I am not exactly sure where I left off, as I can’t view my website right now so I am just going to start off with after I got back from the hotel on the first night in Tokyo.

Late night November 20, 2005

I ended up meeting up with AJ and Ammo at the TGI Fridays where they were having dinner. We ended up making our way up and down the street peaking in at all the different bars and discos seeing if there was one that we liked. It is really funny because the only people that we have seen in Japan is the Japanese locals, a few European/American business men, as well as the one that we found most off on this street area called LaPonga (the times square type area) which were tones of African guys dressed in suits trying to talk you into going into their bar or club. We talked to a couple of different ones they were from all different countries from Nigeria to Kenya etc. We finally stopped in to an up scale club on the street called Lux I believe. It was funny because this was when we ran into Jimmy and a couple other guys who were with the group of the girl who actually lives in Tokyo. It was a really loud dance club and they said that the rest of the group was across the street and the English pub right next to McDonalds (yes still more McDonalds in Tokyo).
It was funny because there were about 20 or so SAS students there with her that had taken over the club. Most everyone was really dressed up because the girl had told them that, that is what the Japanese do when they go out at night (which later we found out the Japanese dress up no matter where they go). Anyways we decide that we will go to this dance club/lounge called Vanilla with them. They had some coupons that were for admission and 2 drinks for 1,000 yen for foreigners (again we see preferences to the foreigners where usually it is Americans but either way). The club is cool with really two different areas the first that you come to is a hip hop music area and the second which is more trance dance music. It is interesting because looking into the second of the two are different lounge/VIP areas with very European furniture ( I must say a really cool club all together). There is also a room full of lockers for you to be able to put all of your warm coats (that we didn’t have because most of what I brought on the trip were shorts and t shirts). We ended up having a great time this night. Living it up with all of our friends with everyone knowing that it will be one of our last opportunities before we make the long stretch from Japan to San Diego.

November 21, 2005
We wake up after sleeping in and decide that we want to try and find some true Japanese food. We talk to the hotel concierge and she recommends a couple of places that were in the high rise building right next door. It was a lot of fun at looking at all of the exotic cars right outside of the hotel from Bentleys to BMWs that aren’t even out in the States. We finally find the restaurants next door and go in, the lady speaks no English as well as none of the menus are in English. So we take her outside to point at a few of the pictures in the window and there is even more misunderstanding of what we want plus we can’t find really anything that is vegetarian that Ammo can eat. So we decided that we would make Ammo eat the Japanese Indian food that was right next door. They had several different options for us to chose from again I had to take the waitress outside and try to point to what I wanted and while doing such I realized that she did speak a little English. Which was kind of funny, after our table realized this. Also it was my first understanding that there are different types of curry. Some are sweeter or hotter than others, I don’t know which ones are which so I generally just order one and hope for the best. The food is excelent I got a piece of chicken that has a recognizable spice that I had, had in India. As well as the curry bowl which is a brown soup substance with chicken breast pieces in it. As well as Nan (which is an amazing bread that is oven baked) and yogurt.
We decided that we wanted to go back to the hotel and ask for recommendations of different sites that we could see around the city of Tokyo until it got dark that happens before 5 pm. We made our way to the subway which is fairly close to the hotel and to a stop that was about twenty or so minutes away. We then made our way to the entrance of this old palace temple area (Meiji Jingu Shrine) It was a long walk to the first building on a large road with huge trees covering the road. It was amazing to think that there was this much unused land in the middle of Tokyo, I mean NYC has central park but this place dwarfed that. When we finally made our way to the main building temple complex at the entrance there were several interesting things. Such as huge potted flowers that I have seen in the states but these were probably five times the size that had apparently been donated to the monks. As well as tons of bonzi trees that were really cool. The ones that I have seen in pictures and in real life have all been little stubby looking trees and these were the same way but with small rose like flowers all over them which made them really cool. And finally different shaped boats all at least 7 feet tall and wide that were made out of huge vegetables. Broccoli, carrots, lettuce we really couldn’t figure this whole thing out weather it was thanking the gods for a productive harvest or what. After walking another 20 or so minutes to the entrance of the palace in the same complex we see a sign that said that it was closed on Mondays just our luck.
Once we got back out of the complex we made our way down the Takeshita Street and surrounding area (which is where Madonna say it is her favorite place in the world to go shopping). We soon learned why although there were a variety of different stores, restaurants etc. there the main clothing items that were being sold were either punk rock or freak outfits which is very typical of the under 30 crowd in Japan. The street is absolutely packed with people and the first restaurant that we came to was surprisingly a chilies type of Wolfgang Puck restaurant. He is a very famous chef for those of you who don’t recognize the name. We put on a couple of the funny outfits and planned a couple of the different arcade games. It is funny because the games have every single prize that you can try to pick up with the hands such as little junk toys to LV purses etc. That all sat right next to the tons of vending machines which sale a variety of items from soda, water, tea, beer, etc. etc. Even food and daily niceties.
Our favorite stop though at the end of the street was the …. Design studios. Which is a show room for all different kinds of products that the company makes but mostly the latest and greatest cell phones that Asians in general are infatuated with. The coolest phone that we saw was one that had a metal robot that went with it for a little over two thousand US. By pressing different numbers on the phone you could make it walk dance roll around it was soo cool. And on the top floor of the building we made our way up to a coffee shop where I was able to make my last post on Japan. It had a really cool view of the city and tried a Saki that tasted pretty terrible like a scotch or something. It started to get really cold outside so we made our way back towards the hotel. We wanted to go see the view of the building next to ours that was a Japanese steak house with dinner starting at 75 US so we just decided to hang out at the bar. The view was great it looked out over the bay towards the opposite side of our hotel room window. There was a really cool bridge that resembled that of the one in San Francisco. It was funny because when we asked for our check they brought us a hand written piece of paper with a number that was almost more than double what it should have been. So I politely asked to see an itemized copy. Well there were all kinds of interesting charges such as a per person table fee of more than 5US a person a tax of ten % and a service fee of 10% which is kind of funny because it is very strict that there is no tipping in Japan it is just not their culture. Anyways it was in a way just frustrating with a common feeling that we have had on multiple occasions in different countries as if you were getting ripped off. I mean there is nothing wrong with all of those charges if it is in writing or told up front it is just frustrating when they are not told to you – something that defiantly wouldn’t fly in America for that matter.
We ended up going back to the hotel thinking that we would go get in the hot tub or swim before we went to dinner. But to our surprise in this extremely nice 5 star hotel there was neither. I mean it had everything under the sun like a nice wedding chapel 5 or so restaurants and bars but no pool. So ended up deciding that we would just go to dinner. Since we had seen several Italian food restaurants on the Madonna Street we asked the Concierge if he would recommend one. It was funny because seemingly every time we would go to the front desk to ask a question they would say no problem and then go in the back room for 5 or so minutes and then come back with an answer. Anyways he gives me a flyer for one that is supposed to be close by that has the name address and even a map. So we get in a taxi (who most of them speak no English) and try to show him where we want to go, then finally the valet comes and talks to him for five minutes or so, then he tells us he knows where it is. We drive around for like 20 minutes stopping and asking people half where there I ask him to turn off the meter because it was obvious he had no clue where he was going. I mean this is something that I don’t understand and it has happened across the world. Taxi drivers that pick you up and tell you that they know where they are going and then they end up having no clue. Finally we stop at a place where the driver goes around the corner for like 5 minutes and we finally decide that we are just going to get out and try to find some place by foot.
Well a couple of blocks away we stop at a cool looking restaurant that is a certain type of Japanese food (Ammo knows the name I will have to ask him) that is where they have a row of hot coals and then they put the meat or veggies that you order on wooden skewers then season it and cook it. It was interesting because we didn’t have any clue how much to order and it was kind of expensive (as every restaurant in the country is I don’t think that you can eat anywhere for less that 30 US). It ended up being really good I had the chicken breast and AJ had the wings and obviously Ammo had different Veggies. Although when we walked out of there we all said that we felt as if we had just eaten the lightest appetizer possible. So we decided to get the taxi driver to stop at the Wendy’s on the way home from the restaurant for some good burgers and fries and chili.
We went out late this night and found the great art form of Kareoake. Which is a Japanese art form in the same LaPonga street area. It is very reasonable considering you get your own private room, Bose stereo, wireless microphone, and TV and all you can drink for ½ hour for about 6 US. It was so much fun, singing all different kinds of songs from country to bob Marley and everything in between. We end up running into the same group of friends at the Kareoake club as well as later at a different disco that night. A couple of things that I forgot to tell you about were the Eiffel Tower that is about half the size of Paris that is lit up at night with a restaurant half way up that you can see from most parts of the city. Also the view from our hotel window of all of the high rises that have the blinking red lights all over the corners and edge of the buildings. If you have ever seen lost in translation it is exactly like that very interesting. Also we are on the Tokyo Bay so we can see all of the dinner cruises and different boats dock right outside.


November 22, 2005

Again today we decide that we just want to explore a couple of the other places in Tokyo so we get off at the central subway station. Which is right next to the water gardens which has all kinds of different fountains as well as a restaurant that didn’t have much vegetarian cuisine so we didn’t stay there. It was really cool because the trees in this area were all turning yellow and it was really beautiful.
Down the street we stop at another palace fort area that is also huge, it probably takes up close to 4 square miles of space with a huge moat around it all. It is also surrounded by trees and a huge lawn area in the middle where people were having pick nicks and such. After exiting we looked around that area which were mainly business towers. One thing that we couldn’t understand is where everyone in the offices ate, because there truly weren’t any restaurants around maybe everyone brings there lunch I don’t know. One of the hotels I walked into I saw a girl in her twenties that looked like she may speak English. She ended up being from Germany and she had just been in Tokyo for two days and was by herself. She said that you go to school in Germany until the age of 20 and when she just graduated she decided that she wanted to move to Japan and learn the language. She was going to live with a Japanese family in two weeks for several months and attend classes in a language school.
So the four of us looked around the area for a good restaurant. We passed several that were pretty interesting that had vending machines either inside or sometimes out that had about 60 or so buttons that had pictures of food. So you would buy a ticket from the machine and go inside and they would cook it for you. Finally we decide that we aren’t going to find any vegetarian food for Ammo and he goes to the place next door to the last restaurant on the street where we decided that we wanted to eat at. He ended up getting chocolate filled croissants. I was able in a way to fulfill my want for Italian food by ordering a beef patty that was covered in white cheese and marinara. It had a small salad and a broth soup. Everyone at the table ordered something that they thought was excellent and we made our way down the street.
Much of Tokyo is in districts so there is the books area, and the DVD, work out clothing etc etc etc. We ended up in an area called the Tokyo Dome, which is an amusent complex with all kinds of different roller coasters and rides and a hotel next door that we went to the 43 floor of called the Tokyo Dome Hotel ( you might be able to google it). It was an amazing view that gave you a real good picture of how big the city truly is. We could see probably as far as 5 miles and there were buildings as far as we could see. The interesting thing though because of earth quakes most of them are around 20 stories and very few as tall as the one we were in, compared to that of Hong Kong with some stretching as high as 88 stories.
We ended up leaving the hotel and seeing signs for a sports complex building next door that had bowling in it. We ended up playing two games and I definitely needed the practice compared to last semester when I took bowling and played every other day. We explored the different floors of the building that had different things such as basketball, tennis, a cool ping pong machine for one player that shot the balls out really fast. AJ played a cool fighting game where it can feel your movements and shows up a score on the screen.
Later, I was finally able to try the shrimp sandwich that I had been seeing advertisements for at McDonalds around the city. It was very tasty looking in the photos but didn’t have the flavor once you taste it. AJ said that he didn’t think that they could McDonald shrimp but they did.
On the street AJ was able to get an Octopus ball that he said tasted pretty squishy. And I was able to go into one of the Pinko (slot machine places that was on the street). Apparently gambling is illegal and I didn’t win anything so I wasn’t able to see how you collected your winnings. Surprisingly enough I was able to get a doctor pepper out of one of the coke machines with Japanese writing all over the side of it. Which is really weird considering you can’t even get it generally in Mexico. On the way back to the hotel we ended up looking a little lost in the subway and a man who spoke English with a string Japanese accent who was Japanese. He tried to help give us directions and after a while he said don’t you know me? We said no. And he said “I am famous, when children see me they always ask for my autograph.” He explained that we was the producer and creator of Poke man a children’s TV character that is all over the world and has even had some video games and stuff made. It was funny he gave us his business card which said CEO on it. I guess we looked as if we didn’t believe him because he said next time we got on the internet to Google him.
That night when we went out we ended up bargaining for a reasonable massage, as usual you are always surprised at the different varieties. This time the woman found the need to walk on my back it felt ok she was pretty light. We spent most of the rest of the night singing Karaoke and hanging out with friends. We went to a couple of other places on the LaPonga street and had a great time.


November 23, 2005

We ended up sleeping in because some of the group didn’t make it in till really late. And woke up to the front desk politely asking us what time we were planning on checking out. We ended up making our way back to the Indian restaurant next door, which was open. Most weren’t though because it was the Japanese Holiday which is similar to “Labor day in the states”. We ended up getting on the Super Express Train back to Kobe. Passing through Kyoto again and still not being able to see exactly what everyone keeps saying what is soo great about it. From our opinion it looked like we thought that Detroit would look like.
We arrived in Kobe around 5pm it was already dark and we had just about 3 hours until we had to be back on the ship. We made our way to the high-rise hotel right next door to where the subway let us out. We went to the top floor (around 45 I think) where there was a restaurant prices for dinner started out at over 150 US so it must have been good.
After going outside the hotel we made our way towards the ship stopping in a café that was in a pastry culinary school where we had excellent cheap crème Brule. And after stopping by Wendy’s one more time for some good fried food before we had to make our way back to the ship.


A couple of final thoughts on Japan that striked me as interesting. The color of the buildings all being a plan drab grey color. The people being so formal in dress you would never see a man over 30 in anything less than a suit. The lack of Japanese steak houses (American style) with the grill in front of you. It is all sit down plain table restaurants. The realization in our final foreign port that indeed American music has infiltrated every country in the world. Which helps us better understand in just one way how the older generations of the societies we visit are scared and disliking of the continuous western culture influence on their own cultures that are often times held so closely to their hearts. AS of writing this there are only two weeks left with a one day stop in Hawaii that I am looking forward very much so to. It has been amazingly enough almost 10 years since I have last visited the Hawaiian Islands. I am expecting even more modernization and commercialization but we will see what we find. When we make our last port of call and welcome our feet once again touching US soul since it has been over three months now.

I have several requests for photos, and they will come hopefully shortly after I return home a get settled in Texas (the place that I am proud to call home)!!!! This definitely will not be the past post. As I am sure I will have stories to tell about our arrival in Hawaii as well as San Diego and our one night in Vegas. Also my thought of becoming a member and accustom to American society again with all of its quirks that I am sure will be much more noticeable. All for now.

We are in Japan!!!

We are in Japan!!! The day we arived in kobe Japan November 21 I was supposed to meet the American Embassy officials at the gangway and welcome them onto the ship, show them around, and then have coffee with them and the deans. Well the RD that is in charge of all the ambassadors told me that I could sleep in til 9 because they were going to be an hour late. Well I wake up to an announcement saying that the Embassy officials had already had their coffee and their speech would start in the union in five minutes. So I hurried and got ready and got all dressed up and went into the union and there were only like two people in there, then i went to the deans offices and there was no one there. So I just went back to my room and finally I decided that I would go try and find them one more time. When I went to the lobby I saw one of the deans and he told me that the embassy officials were in the dinning room having breakfast with the academic dean and for me to go there. I finally found them had a glass of juice and then the dean asked me if i would show them around the ship so i did. Then escorted them into the union where they gave there presentation to the student body. At the end of it I stood up and thanked them for the student body for coming out (it was a sunday) and gave them SAS presents. After escorting them off of the ship the dean tells me and the other ambassador that we will need to make another presentation for the Kobe (the town where the ship is docked) people that come on board. They had soo much stuff probably an 18 wheelers worth. They started out by giving the dean a really nice set of Samari soards. As well as the captain and senior officers. And they gave me in front of the hole ship a realy nice crystal plate that has the background of the city as well as the name on it. It was really nice and a bunch of the kids on board came up to me after words saying they were jelous. What all the stuff was that they brought on board was drums and different musical instruments. They put on one of the coolest performances i have ever seen. Oh yeah I forgot to say before the kobe performance started JP the assistant dean went up to the other ambassador girl and asked her if she could get dressed up before we went on stage. At first I thought that it was a little rude and in hind sight everyone could word things better. I also asked her if she thought that i should put on my suit and she said no maybe just a tie. I say this becuase the Japanesse culture is very formal in everything that they do. They always try to give give give, and always try to give more than they recieve. This makes things as an American kind of dificult becuase in a way you are always trying to one up the people around you with hospitality. In a way it is a total competition but definetly pretty interesting. Another thing when anyone ever gives or hands you somthing you always take it with both hands and look at it very carfully otherwise it is very rude and insulting to just take somthing and walk away weather it be a business card or whatever. So as soon as the program was over they asked if we would give them a tour around the ship which we were glad to do. It is always funny to hear some of the questions that are asked. THe funniest thing that i think that was asked when the dean was not there by both the embassy officals and the kobe people was about alchohol and the avalibity of it. They thought that is was funny with us being college students and there being so many bars around the ship for it to not be avaliable or as little as it actually is. So when we got off the ship we got a little money exchanged and made our way to the subway that takes you into the city. There we were able to trade in our vouchers for a rail pass (about 240 us that lets you be able to take any of the trains for seven days) this is where we were introduced to the waffle stand. In a lot of different places in Japan there are different stands that serve gourmet waffles. Anyways we had originally planned for it to just be AJ, Ammo and I going to Tokyo but it ended up having two more girls go with us to Kyoto which is on the way to Tokyo. It is a town that is supposed to have all kinds of tourist attractions with most of the stuff being very very old. When we got there it was probably 2 or 3. It is kind of funny because very very few people speak any english at all and usually those that do are business people that have usualy only been in the city for a couple of hours atleast it seems that way. As well as all of the signs not having much if any english so it takes a little while to do anything. Anyways they drop us off in this mall type area and eventually we find some maps to different tourist areas. The first is this huge garden that has a huge gate around it probably walked a mile on each side and by the time we found the entrance the security guard said that they were closing. So we made our way to the next one which was a shrine (one of the signs called it Amida Hall you might be able to google it) anyways it was huge. They had just finished a construction project that enclosed it in steel to protect it. It is interesting I am not sure what religion it was probably Budhist but anyway it was much more plain then those that we had seen in India and in Myanmar. I really couldn:t tell what the people were praying too. Later we decided that we might get a quick snack so we went back to the train station/mall area. We were told that the restaurants were on the 11th floor. It was amazing becuase it was about 5pm or so and there were people everywhere. They also had a huge christmas tree up that was really nice and had christmas music playing that made me miss home. Anyways we walked through the different restaurants and looked at them. None of us were particularly hungry and the prices were all 30 US plus and there were lines at all of them. So we decided that we wanted to go ahead and make our way to Tokyo which is 2.5 hours away from Kyoto on the bullet trains which generally run every 30 minutes to whereever you want to go to. We told the girls good bye and got tickets. The train was interesting because number one it goes like 400 miles an hour, and two unless you get a reserved seat then you are back in other cars that are like reserved but they are first come first serve with tones of people standing side by side in the aisle ways. Which is what we had to do, not knowing weather or not we were going to be able to get a seat in the future not knowing if the bullet train stops or not. Well it did stop ocaissionally and eventually we were all able to get seats. At first Kobe and Kyoto and all of Japan until we got to Tokyo in my opion looked rather drab. I mean I know the sky was pretty over cast but the buildings are all grey. Anyway when we get to Tokyo it is 8pm thinking that this was great we would go try and find a cheaper hotel and then have dinner and go out. Well this turned into some what of an ordeal with AJ and his ticket and trying to find a cab that would take us to the intercontinetal. We wanted to go there because in Koyto I was on the internet and saw that they had rooms for like 134 US which it is a five star hotel and the rest of the 5 stars were all over 350 US (don:t get me wrong we wanted a really cheap hotel and suprisingly that was the cheapest. We ended up finally going to another hotel and they put us into a taxi to the intercontinetal. We went in and they wanted over 200 a night. So we just left and went to this area that is like time square but on a much smaller scale. Where we asked a hotel there and they wanted over 200 so we got on the internet and were able to book at the interconitnetal for the 2 nights. So I went to the hotel with all of our stuff and checked in. The hotel is really nice and the room is great. The view looks out at the bay.
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-341488-action-pictures-intercontinental_tokyo_bay-i;_ylt=AgM_SabAy7EOse33_Ru7ygTiphQB
There is a link to some photos of the hotel. Anyways we ended up going from place to place trying to find one that we liked and we ended up running into some SAS kids. They told us that everyone was over at the Irish pub across the street and we went. It was funny because one of the girls that is on the ship is from Tokyo and she arranged for like 30 or her friends to come and stay with her there. Which was funny because she knows all the best places to go and we ended up there by chance we have had this same good luck for most of the trip. We ended up going later with them to a club called Vanilla you might be able to google it. Well I got to run. I wanted to give you a little teaser of my time in Tokyo. We are having a great time and enjoying every minute. I hope everyone is doing well. You should not that the below blog was just posted which has all of Hong Kong.
ChowChad

Tokyo

We are in Tokyo and we just had the best dinner. The skyline is just like lost in translation the movie. We are about to go to a kareoke bar which is like baseball in the states. I got to go the guys are yelling at me. We are going to stay at the interconitnetal again on our last night here in Tokyo. I love and miss you all!

Chow
Chad

THE ENTIRE HONG KONG STORY!!!!!

Ok as usual I know that this is going to be a super long blog so I am sure it will take me a while to type out and even longer for you to read. We arrived in Hong Kong on the morning of the 12th and pulled out of the Harbor at almost 12am the 17th. Hong Kong was absolutely amazing; it was definitely tied for favorites of the ports so far. I immediately am compelled to connect it to New York City but in a way it seems almost unfair. But if I had too I would say that honestly it makes New York seem dirty and white trash compared to the two. But that is truly unfair because they are two different cities with theirs ups, downs, and character. Hong Kong is a city that I have long wanted to visit and it far exceeded my expectations something that I can’t honestly say for New York. Hong Kong was a part of the UK until 1997 when it was transferred over to China (which is why the year 1997 is so prevalent around the city, in names of clubs, and on billboards). Although it is a part of China it is similar to lets say Puerto Rico in the sense that it is a part of it and has a local government put defiantly has its own personality and culture all its own. Taking a quote from a friend Nick said, “Hong Kong is just one interconnected mall!” Which in a way it is, I will be interested to do some research when I get home on the shopping and the businesses that have chosen to make their home and corporate headquarters in Hong Kong. And in my opinion it seems as if there are more Louis Vuitton in fifty square miles in Hong Kong than in any other place in the world. Similar to Seattle and Starbucks. This would also be the case for any other high-end store around the world you name it there are tons if not thousands of them in Hong Kong: Armani, Gucci, Burberry, Tag, Rolex etc. etc. and all real with a defendant lack of knock offs. Which is funny because the night before we pulled into Hong Kong the Academic Dean in our pre-port forum asked the interport students what there is to do or what she does in Hong Kong and her answer was “shop” and then when pushed further she said “shop more”. Then the dean said that she thought that there were a lot of girls on board that shared her same feelings. But I can honestly say that the girls back home in Texas and in America in general thought that they could shop well the women of Hong Kong defiantly put them to shame. And I am not talking about financial means that make the difference, in passion too. Because if you are a Hong Kong resident there are three main aspects to life: Live (as in housing mostly 99% in unbelievable high rise apartments), work, and finally shop. Which is interesting because from what I can gather the majority of people who live in Hong Kong live in general in incredibly small housing as far as square footage by Texas or even in the states standards. Often around 500 square feet, with multiple people living in one apartment. Now this is not to say that there are not those who don’t live extremely extravagantly because to some in Hong Kong compared to any other city I have been too or heard of as far as quantity wise. There is a ton in Hong Kong who makes living extravagant life styles an art. Considering the enormous multi stories penthouses that top the thousands of high rises that make up Hong Kong, the mansions where everything that goes in and out of must be flown in by helicopter on the side of the mountain overlooking Hong Kong, the mansions that line the coast line when making ones way to Stanley Market area on the East side of Hong Kong. And for people like Ammo and I who share a passion for fine automobiles although our taste differ in some aspects. One finds them never disappointed with the thousands of Bentleys, Roles Roces, Ferraris and Mercedes MBacks that line the streets and get drive way parking at the downtown high rises. As you can tell there is one thing that has made Hong Kong such as success story its foreign direct investment. I have learned this first hand from several students onboard whos parents companies and corporations their parents work for have transferred their headquarters to hong Kong to enjoy the sometimes 30% less on taxes that are enjoyed by many businesses and corporations that make up Hong Kong. Which leads me to the final question before I begin breaking my time spent in Hong Kong day by day. Which is Hong Kong day or night which is better? Tough question, but I would probably have to say that the city of Hong Kong truly comes to life starting at 8pm when the light show that is put on by the downtown building starts (more on this at a later time). But the lights are just the tip of the ice berg. Maybe it is more because the people of Hong Kong truly live by a philosophy I have lived by for a while now. Live hard and play even harder. Hong Kong is generally made up of successful Chinese, and expats from around the world that thrive on success. They have a true desire to accomplish and not be satisfied for just settling or the bare minimum that seemingly so many people from the states are moving towards. Now I know that China and even Hong Kong has people with this same sort of just settling attitude. And I think in a way that is one of the big thing that makes Hong Kong so great and at the same time so similar to the United States. Considering America has been made up of countless generations of entrepreneurs that what to accomplish great things and make life better for those that are to come. With that said I will try and break down my time in Hong Kong.


November 12th, 2005

We pulled into the harbor early in the morning just before sunset. Although I didn’t make it up for our sailing in considering AJ and I had, had friends over for a small suite party the night before that lasted until late. This was originally supposed to be the morning that I was to perform my assigned Ambassador duties by greeting the US Embassy officials at the bottom of the gangplank being the first student to step foot onto the soil of Hong Kong, China. But, the US embassy officials in Hong Kong are lazy and have been the first to say that since we were arriving on a Saturday that they would not come and speak to the student body of the ship more than (700 Americans) rather they would wait till more than half way through our stay in Hong Kong and wait till Monday morning during regular Embassy hours of operation. Honestly, I have got to say I am really disappointed in them and not just before it was my turn to be an active ambassador but that the Embassy would act in such a way. And not doing such a simple task of sending at least one official considering the vast amount of US citizens arriving in one time. Anyhow, because of the delay the Chinese immigration officials made the ship wait until we could receive our documentation it was late until we were able to pick up our passports and documentation. AJ and I had originally planned to go with Ammo to see his fathers offices and apartment to pick up a few things. Sad that I still hadn’t meet his father, we learned that he would arrive until the 18th in Hong Kong which would be two days after our departure, he was in Mumbai the whole time we were in New Delhi. Anyways, because of the delay for individuals getting there passports etc. AJ and I ended up getting separated from Ammo and our other friends so we ended up exploring this day in the city by ourselves. It is funny because Hong Kong although they have the majority of their economy based on the US dollar considering they have a set exchange rate of 7.8 Hong Kong Dollars to 1 US dollar. It makes there no need for anyone to accept the US dollar, there for making AJ and I needing to exchange US dollars for Hong Kong dollars the minute we stepped off the ship. Which is funny in itself considering that the dock where the ship stayed the whole time is in a shopping mall purposefully making you have to go through the whole thing before you are able to get outside. And this isn’t like the rinky dink shopping center in say the Cozumel cruise terminal this is like a full sized Dallas Galleria with the good stores and restaurants. Thus starting the whole Hong Kong is just one interconnected mall thing. So after we exchanged some of our money we had to make our way to the ferry terminal which is about 100 yards outside of the cruise terminal. Kowloon is an island where the ship actually docks that is about a 7 minute ferry ride into the heart of downtown which costs about 25 cents. Once we get off the ferry we were immediately greeted by signs announcing that we had arrived right in middle of the Latin Passion Festival 2005. And just as in NYC or other big cities you are immediately forced to realize the sheer size especially height of the building surrounding us. As we walked forward we make our way towards the HSBC bank building which is made completely out of steel and glass no cement at all. We are continued to be amazed at the number of upscale fashion stores that surround us everywhere. The first store that we make our way into is Louis Vuitton and after looking around for a little while we ask where we should go for lunch and she send us to an area not to far away called len Ki Fong (not sure as to the correct spelling). Which is a square of restaurants and bars after finally choosing a sandwich shop we stop in and eat. It was great getting some “typical American food” and as we leave a man comes up to us and asks if we are Americans he is from San Francisco and is a “toy designer” who had been in Hong Kong for 6 months with no plans on leaving. He told us that we had already found the most popular night spot, and that we should have dinner first in the evenings in an area called “Soho” just like NYC which is closer to the heart of the city. It was funny because after learning more about him, he actually got his masters in toy design ( I can’t believe that there is such a degree) but he said that since Asia is where all of the toys are manufactured here, his company thought that it would be best for him to be there as well. Anyways, after reading the sheet that has different recommendations that the ship gives us we decide that we want to go to Stanley Market which it says that is the best place to get inexpensive imitation clothing and goods. So we make our way to the central bus station and there are several different ways that this can be done. A. jump in a cab B. get on a bus C. walk on the street D. take the MTR (subway) or E. walk up some stairs that go up to different in the air walkways that connect all the different high-rises together that way you don’t have to walk in the congested streets. So we make our way to the bus terminal and get on the bus, and start to slowly make our way out of the city traffic in Hong Kong is always terrible. But once we get outside of the city we get to see some really amazing views. Such as the unbelievable mansions that line the edge of the bluffs overlooking the water as well as the different bays that have great sand beaches for swimming which are home to enormous yachts that are anchored in the bays as well as the bays are surrounded by high rise apartments undoubtedly shooting up into the sky at least 40 stories each, each having amazing architecture. Finally we stop at Stanley Market which is built on a hill all the way down to the ocean. It probably has oh 100 plus little stores and booths selling mostly Chinese trinkets and junk clothing. There was only one store which was packed selling brand names such as gap, old navy, and Abercrombie and Fitch. Which is funny because the only shirt I looked at was a typical pink Abercrombie and Fitch nock off long sleeve button down shirt for $20 US. Which is so funny considering that a real shirt might be double so it wasn’t even a good price. The honestly wasn’t anything there that I really wanted to by or for that matter would by. You would not believe the prices on everything ridiculous and this is supposed to be where you get the inexpensive goods. So AJ and I end up getting board and we make our way to the beach that is in the bay it is really nice and kind of reminds we of La Jolla or Carmel in a way, with a hazy sky. Then we end up going to the Stanley plaza which is different upscale shops that are interconnected up the mountain by escaladers. If I remember right we only went in one store which was a wine shop. It was amazing the collection they had all of the best names and vintages known to man. Mixed in with some of the cheapest Californian gas station labels you would find in the states. But a couple of examples that they had: Dom vintages 1959 to present as well as Crystal 1980 to present in regular and magnum bottles, Rothchild, Screaming Eagle and the likes you name the vintage. It would have made any wine coinsure tremble at the knees and probably max out their credit card at the same time. Since AJ and I are not allowed to bring on liquor on the ship we weren’t able to buy anything but we did see some faculty members picking up some stuff since they can bring some on board. When our bus pulled up 16c we got on with the Registrar and her husband surprised as the far that was shown on the screen was half of what we paid on the way over we asked the driver if this bus was going to central and he said yes. Well anyways the bus went about a mile turned around and stopped and a pickup area and the driver came up to the second floor where we were and told us that we had to get off and repay the fair. This didn’t make the registrar’s husband happy and he got into it with the driver. I wasn’t that upset as I saw it was teaching us a lesson to ask if the bus was going directly to the central bus station. So by the time we got back into downtown it was already dark and the lights of Hong Kong were beginning to shine brightly. It was getting kind of late and we decided to go back to the ship to change and get ready to go out and to see if anyone had left us some notes as to what was going on that night. Once we got back on we saw Ammo and he apologized for not seeing us before he got off the ship but it wasn’t anyone’s fault. So we got ready and made our way to Soho looking for some place to have dinner but before we find a place we find that most places have happy hours till generally 9pm and decided to stop at a wine bar to have drinks before dinner that is packed. This is when we begin to realize that service in Hong Kong is generally slow about on the scale of Mexico or so. During our time here AJ decides that he is getting sick and was going to go back to the ship instead of going out with us for the rest of the night. So we decide that we will walk to the Fong square area for dinner and to spend the rest of the night. AJ leaves and we end up running into some of the girls from the ship who have been enjoying happy hour since three in the afternoon and are getting to where they are needing to go back to the ship and pass out. But first they decide that they wanted us to go eat with them at this cheap looking restaurant across the street similar to a bad Denny’s. As soon as we sit down they serve us hot tea. And it takes another ten minutes or so until we are finally able to flag someone down to takes our order. The food was ok to good but as we learned it was really cheap by Hong Kong Standards I had two cokes and an entrée for about $15US. Since it was a Saturday night the Fong area was really hopping it is a lot like 6th street in Austin where they block off the roads to traffic and everyone pours out into the streets. We went from bar to club just hanging out and looking around, when finally we find a lounge type atmosphere that we like called Lux. Although one of the places that we go by was doing a tribute to several different people such as Mar alone Monroe and niel Diamond etc. but like some of the other places had a $100 hong Kong dollar cover which is about $15 US we decided not to go in. This night like the rest of the nights in Hong Kong ended pretty late. I ended up going home early from the rest of the crew that I was hanging out with and when I made my way down the street towards the cabs I saw a group of about 4 SAS girls that I kind of recognized from the ship. I asked if I could jump in with them and they said for sure, about half way to the ship the girl that was sitting in the back seat with me and some other looked like she was looking around and was about to puke. From left to right and the windows were shut, and she couldn’t hold it any longer. So the one person it goes all over was the taxi cab driver! I couldn’t believe it, it got all over him and not really on anyone else. He was really nice about it surprisingly and ended up taking us the rest of the way to the ship through the tunnel under the water and everything for the standard meter far. Could you imagine if he would have gotten mad and made us get out in the tunnel and try to walk back to the ship?

November 13th, 2005


So we wake us this morning thinking that we were going to take a helicopter over to a place like Hong Kong called Macau which is also a territory of China actually connected to china by land. Eric was supposed to arrange all this but when we get to the terminal we find out that it was going to be 400 US per person to take the helicopter or about 40 US to take the hour ferry. When we get ready to buy the tickets for the ferry we find out that AJ, Alison, and I are the only ones out of the group of 15 or so people who actually have the passport and that the rest of the group are going to have to walk about 30 minutes each way to get their passport. Not knowing if or when they were going to make their way back, I said I am sorry but I am going to go to Macau either way. So the three of us who had our passports got our tickets and immediately jumped on the ferry that was about to leave for Macau. It was a nice ferry set up on the inside a lot like an airplane. The couple that sat in the middle and window seat next to me were from China but were deaf and so I wasn’t able to communicate with them. Although the man did get up like 15 times making me get up every time so he could take photos or go do whatever. It was funny because the commercials that were on the plasma TVs the whole way over were all about diamonds and how they were made. Apparently because engagement rings are not a custom in china and DeBeers is trying to make it that way there for having a market in China (a lot like the hole hallmark valentines thing or most other commercial holidays). Anyways once we get in view of Macau it seems to be huge almost like Las Vegas on the water with man made volcanoes and different wonders of the world. With a huge above Ground Bridge connecting all the different things, with massive hotels and casino signs everywhere. Once we get off the bus there are bicycle Rick shaw drivers trying to get us to let him take us to a casino or hotel for a little over 15US. We decide not and that we will walk and we end up walking into all the different complementary hotel shuttle buses. We end up getting on the Holiday Inn one, and make our way into what seems to be the heart of the hotel district. See there was a girl at ACU in one of my classes that did a presentation on Macau saying how it was becoming the Vegas of Asia. And we had also been told by several different people that it was one of the most populated places in the world more so than even Hong Kong. We were thinking that this was hard to believe but as we walked around the streets were empty. It was amazing because we were surrounded by thousands of huge skyscraper apartment buildings. So we end up making our way to the Mandarin Oriental Macau hotel which was really nice. We ended up walking around the hotel property and into a courtyard that had the building with their pool that looked like it was exactly from Hawaii or something. When we see one of the largest casinos in town called the Sands which is right next door we. So we make our way too it hoping that this casino would let AJ in because the first wouldn’t because he had sandals on not regular shoes. They did, and right when you walk in you are greeted by the biggest crystal chandelier that I have ever seen. It was probably the size of a typical American house right in the center of the casino. The building itself is probably about 20 or so stories high which didn’t have a hotel at all but it was only like four stories all together just with huge ceilings on each floor. After exploring just a little we decide that we are hungry so we end up finding a McDonalds and a KFC but we want to find the Las Vegas style buffet that we had seen so many ads about. We keep going up the escaladers when we walk into a couple of fancy restaurants and finally they point us to a it. I go in to check it out first before we all go in. And it was amazing it had everything you could think of from fresh seafood, prime rib, sushi, Indian food, Chinese food, Mexican food and on and on and on. It was an exceptional Sunday brunch not as good as Belagio of course but still one of the best meals we had, had on the trip. By the time we were done there we were all stuffed and could barely walk we felt like we had been to Texas De Brazil or something. We all end up making our way to our game of choice mine beign video roulette and the regular style and any card games had a minimum bet of 20 US. It was interesting because my seat was on the edge of the walkway so at time I would be surrounded by a mob of twenty or so Asians trying to figure out what the game was and how we were all doing. This was pretty funny because they had no sense of space or in a way privacy for that matter. They would lean on me and put their head in from of mine looking at my personal screen pointing at my bets, the amount, and how much I had in the machine and were telling everyone in their group. As an American I would have found it very rude but considering the context I just laughed it off. As AJ and Alison came back they were both down and ready to go, I again was up probably 30 US or so but was ready to walk away knowing that it was purely entertainment purposes only like going to the movies and walking in and out of the casino knowing that the house always wins. We made our way out and down the main street that had walkways from one side to the other. The main street had huge gates and barricades on it because they were getting ready for the Macau Grand Prix that seemed like it was going to be a very big deal. As far as all of the shops along the streets we all jewelry stores selling diamond rings and necklaces and expensive Rolexes. I couldn’t figure how all of them could have been real but maybe they were all used in good condition either way they defiantly weren’t charging fake prices for them. There were also amazing casino hotels being built that were huge in size and going up probably 50 or more stories into the skies. When we finally see the Wynns casino that is almost finished with the exterior of the building that has the same design of that in Vegas. There is also a Venetian hotel that is already done but it is farther down the strip that we never went too. When you go into the older hotel casinos (which are most of the ones that are already built) the casino is on multiple stories usually up to ten or so and to get from level to level you have to take the elevator and present a passport and go through a medal detector to get in. They are all done very elaborately with tons of goddy Trump gold everywhere. But once inside there is 99% of the time the only game you can play is a very similar Asian style of Baccarat. But in all the casinos it is incredibly quite, with no talking and the only thing you can hear is the clinking of chips of people gambling away their money. We get bored and so we try to explore all the different hotels spas seeing if we can find a legitimate one where “women” are allowed in for all of us to get a real massage. See in all the ones we went into in Macau the Hotel Spas took up whole floors and were mens only for the special massages. After all this we were kind of sick of casinos and mens only spas so we decided to make our way back and got on board the ferry back into Hong Kong. As far as Macau up until recently we found out that people never stayed in Macau over night they always just went there for the day. Also Macau in my opinion in the next 10 or so years will be very very similar to that of Las Vegas. It will especially build up as the middle class of China should grow in the future. That night we make our way back into the city, I call Ammo and we decide to go out to the Fong area again. Ammo meets us back at the ship and on the way to the subway we decided that we wanted to stop off at the Peninsula Hotel to see their high rise club and start off the night. It was a super chic hotel with a three piece band playing in the rafters of the lobby and everyone in tuxedos. We were directed in the direction of the club elevadors that only go up there I think that it was on the 28th floor. It was cool because the elevators were really trendy decorated and it was cool because the elevator speed up at the very end and the lights dimmed gradually on the way up (its all about the little things that make this hotel what it is). When stepping out of the elevators you are immediately summands by the stately view of downtown Hong Kong. It was amazing and in each corner of the club were two almost tree house bars with spiral staircases. It was obvious that the clientele was the whos who of Hong Kong mingling and making business deals. Some of our group though was told that they weren’t aloud into the club after we steeped off the elevator because they had sandals on. And even I felt under dressed because most people had either a tux or suit on. So we end up leaving and going back to the Fong area where the streets are dead compared to the night before as it is Sunday night. But they are filming an Indian movie, Ammo recognizes a couple of the actors but says that they are “C list celebrities” Alison ended up getting excited about seeing them and runs up and got a picture with one of them. We spend most of this night in a place called Als dinner which made Alison very happy because her nick name is Al. We ended up running into some Brits who were talking about the dumb American navy guys that they had run into earlier that were incredibly drunk. A bunch of whom we had seen later on in the night.
November 14th, 2005 We wake up this morning wanting to eat something very American. So we go downstairs in the pier mall to the pizza hut. This isn’t your typical pizza hut, it is nice with table clothes and menus serving everything from Shrimp cocktail, your typical pizza hut menu items, Chinese food, and an array of desserts including crème Brule. It was excellent this is when we come to learn that the typical person from Hong Kong does not start eating lunch until at least 12:45pm or 1 definitely something different from the States. Today we have no plans but to explore the city and later Ammo needed to go by his dads office to have a couple of meetings. We end up exploring the city amazed at lunch time with all of the people out on the streets like thousands of aunts in suits walking every which way. We end up deciding that we want to go ice skating so Ammo gets on the phone with someone and gets directions. We end up getting on the subway and going to yet another mall. We find the ice rink and go scatting for an hour or so. This is actually the first time I can remember going ice scatting, maybe my parents took me sometime but I can’t remember. Actually it was Ammos and my first time to ever go ice scatting. It was fun definably not what I expected because it was a lot like snow skiing in a way but with much shorter skis and it would probably hurt more if you fail. It was kind of funny, and a lot of little kids got a good laugh of the dumb Americans who had obviously never been ice skating trying to skate around. The only problem was the ice rink seemed really small like that in the Galleria in Dallas, I wanted to be on a much larger rink like those the hokey teams play on so I could get a lot more speed. Later that day Ammo had to go to some meeting so AJ, Alison and I ended up just hanging out and reading the news papers and checking our emails at the coffee shop there in the mall. It was kind of interesting because President Bush had just left Beijing and was headed to Japan. As well as the state department had just put out a warning for Americans traveling and living in China especially Hong Kong in restaurants, night clubs, etc all the places that we have generally been hanging out it. Another thing that I noticed while reading the papers here the last couple of days is that in every business section there has been an article on Warren Buffet either talking about something that he is currently doing or something that he has done in the past 10 or so years. So later on that afternoon we ended up meeting Ammo back in the Fong area for happy hour to have a drink and just hang out. We went from one to another finally picking out Agava with is a Mexican place because we really wanted some good chips and hot sauce. It was ok, and the queso was ok at best, but either way I have come to a conclusion if you are not even remotely close to Mexico it just is not going to happen. We ended up taking the subway bake to where the ship was docked and explored out there. The main street that runs into the mall complex where the ship is berthed has tons of electronic shops and people whispering in your ear if we wanted to buy a fake Rolex of handbag. The are also the people trying to sell foot massages, so after dealing with a few we were eventually able to get a group discount for the four of us for a back massage for around $15 US for 45 minutes. Of course it was a long walk away from where the main street was and at times Ammo was a little hesitant to walk down some of the dark streets. Although there were cops everywhere. They end up taking you into a main lobby room and sitting you in those large chairs like in rush hour 2 and then they usher you into your massage room with two massage chairs in each Ammo and I in one and AJ and Alison in the other it was funny though because you could hear everyone talking no matter what room you were in. I was pretty sore the next day because at times the woman would sit me up and proceed to climb on top of my shoulders and stand. One time she even grabbed my leg and started to bend in forward. And I screamed, Ammo yelled back asking what was wrong and I said that I don’t think that my leg was supposed to bend that way. Overall it was a good massage, and well worth the $15 in Hong Kong. I am sure that you can imagine where we ended up again in the Fong area. But this night we ended up going back to the club that on Saturday night had the impersonating singers. But tonight it was just a house band that was really good. They sang songs just like on the QM2 and most of the time sounded right on the money from the original singers. Here there was no one on the dance floor for a long time so the group agreed to get up as individuals and do a dance off. It was quit amusing the different performances that were done. But we weren’t able to finish the dance off because the crowd of tourists that had collected kept getting on the dance floor and dancing. By the time it was over there was no room for you to get on the dance floor. Again this ended up being a long night.


November 15th, 2005

We started the day off with Ammo waking us up telling us that he had found the perfect Indian food restaurant. Who would have thought me wanting to go to and Indian Restaurant. So it was on the same island that the ship was docked so we walked there and up the stairs. They sat us down and we were the only people in the restaurant and it was like 12pm. It ended up being a vegetarian buffet, hence the fact that Ammo said that it was suppose to be amazing. So we decided to have the buffet and Ammo order a couple more things off of the menu that he said were good. Most of the things were soupy (similar to all the dishes we cook at home with sauces on them) as well as traditional Indian soup. The best part about it is the naan (it is Indian flat bread that is served with or without butter) it’s amazing. Although they didn’t have the cilantro soup that we had at Ammos house, he keeps telling me he will get the recipe for that. Anyways the food was outstanding all for around $15 US (we came to a realization that you can’t have a lunch for less than 15 and dinner is at least 22 or so). Today Ammo had to leave because he was being dragged to mainland China because this girl also had a visa and wanted to use it although Hong Kong is technically China. The funny thing is they went and the trains were really long and expensive so they ended up going to Macau and then late that night she dragged him across the border to technically real China. They woke up the next morning and took a taxi back to the ferry terminal and ended up going to china for absolutely no reason (pretty funny if you ask me). So after lunch we explored the mall that the ship was berthed at. It had an amazing Toys R Us with a huge display entrance that I took some photos next too. As well as a Play station center where you can play the PSP and all the latest games and attractions that are coming out in the game world. It was funny because they had a billboard there with all the famous faces of people who had stopped by in the mall to play in recent months which was kind of fun to see. After this we ended up running into nick that is from Road Island that I was supposed to originally do the whole Myanmar trip with. We decided that we wanted to go to the IFC 2 building which was the new largest building in Hong Kong standing at 88 stories. It is absolutely amazing. So we made our way through the interconnecting bridges from one building to another until we get to the building. The security at this building is absolutely amazing. First and foremost you have to understand that the building is completely businesses only with no like restaurants or bars just like corporations. So you must check in and get a badge by giving them some ids and explaining what you are there for. We come to find out that the only floor welcome to visitors is the 55th and it is the Hong Kong Monetary Comity. But on the screen behind the desk shows random businesses and the floors that they are on. So we tell them that we want to go to the World Bank of the 79th floor. For those of you who don’t recognize this name it is an organization that along with another organization runs like the whole world economy. Anyways the woman was really confused at this request considering we are in shorts a polo shirt and sandals (once again we were the only people not wearing suits). My idea was we would just play dumb and get to look at the window, plus at UTA I have a friend who is from Africa and his father is the head of the World Bank Africa sector. Thinking that we might ask for him and see if he just might happen to be there. So after five minutes or so of her asking if we have an appointment and us saying no that we are university students and us hourly confusing her she gives us the passes to the 79th floor. We go through security to the first set of elevators and it takes us to the 55th floor. So we get out and the view is amazing we are looking right at the top floors of the majority of the buildings or down on them. We could look out to the harbor at all the boats going everywhere and the countless amounts of cruise ships. It was hard not to think of the view that we were looking at then think that we were on the 55th floor and that the building goes all the way to 88 almost double the height that we were currently at. So we decide that we want to go to the 79th floor and just peak out. To do this you have to go up to the security guard and he checks you ID and opens some sliding glass doors into another set of elevators that goes from floors 56 to 79. We end up talking to the woman in the elevator with us who works on the other office on that floor which guess what organization that is the International Monetary Fund. We step out of the elevator and all you can see are the two office doors the two organizations side by side that control the whole worlds money supply almost as astounding as the building itself. We are in the lobby area and then you have to hold your id to the glass and then the receptionist will buzz you in. We talk to her for a minute and she tells us that there are meeting going on and that there is no way that we will be able to look out the windows of those peoples offices. So we head back to the elevators where there is another glass door to make your way to stories 80 to 88. We decide to leave the rest to the imagination and make our way down to the bottom floor ears popping and all. So what to do for the rest of the afternoon. Since AJ and I knew that we couldn’t afford or want to buy anything in the stores in Hong Kong because of their outlandish prices we decided when in Hong Kong we might as well shop at the best. So the first thing that we see is the largest Armani store on earth. It is the size of Richland Hills C of C (the church I go to) so when we go in we realize that it is in fact all Armani but the different Armani stores under the Armani umbrella. So the first one we go into is the Emporio Armani (the cheapest of the Armani collection) we see a couple of things that we like one thing was a suit I think it converted into around 12,000 US. So the next store we make it into is Georgio Armani (the big stuff) here we found several suits and interesting tuxes we liked but just as we imagined no price tags on anything. (But it makes you think if the Emporio suits were going for 12k what the original armanis were going for). The next one we go into was the Armani home store it had some pretty good stuff with comfortable furniture, you know how most stylish furniture isn’t that comfortable well this actually was. The next one and probably the most funny one was the Armani Fiori (flower shop) where they do some of the most eccentric artsy flower bouquets I have ever seen. I tried to take a photo of one and the artist was not too happy. I guess they don’t want people stealing their designs. Having enough of the Armani we spent the rest of the day going into Prada, Burberry, Bvlgari, and finally D & G which had the coolest superman shirt too bad they want $750 US for it….anyways all I can say is Hong Kong would make any Rodeo Drive coinsure happy. Bored of shopping we headed over to the Ritz Carlton to check it out and waste time til 8pm when the light show was to start. The Ritz Carlton was nice but with small lobby and lounge area. We ended up staying and having a drink and enjoying the live pianist and vocalist. With the drinks they served blue chese stuffed olives and other great snacks. What was soo funny though is that the drinks weren’t much at all more than those any other place in Hong Kong there is just a going rate (very high) for drinks in this city. So to the main event we took the ferry across to the island where the ship is docked to watch the light show that starts at 8pm. The board walk area which is where you would typically view this is being renovated and the speakers that play the music were turned off. You could also listen to it through a radio station but we didn’t have a portable player. It is a show that is from 20 key buildings in downtown Hong Kong that starts off pretty slow and then finishes with a huge bang. It encompasses the buildings wholes changing in probably up two 20 different colors to white spot lights on the tops of each building as well as green laser lights all dancing to the music and on special occasions fire works. It is probably one of the coolest things that I have ever seen and in its own way gives the fountains of the Belagio a run for its money. It is one of those things that you see and you think of who comes up with this stuff. That night we ended up meeting back up with friends at the same place we were the night before. Hanging out with friends and making new friends with the two interport students from Japan. We had a great time hanging out and enjoying our last night in Hong Kong.


November 16th, 2005


Today we got up and decided that we wanted to go get Chinese food. So we ended up seeing some friends in the mall and asked them if they new of any good places to go. They told us there was a place in the mall called something gardens we asked around several places but no one seemed to know where it was (it seemed as if though they didn’t know where anything was because they didn’t shop or hang out there maybe it was all just too expensive). At the last place we asked this guy turned around (he looked like an American business man wearing jeans and a sports coat) we told him that some friends recommended it and that we wanted to go eat good Chinese food. In more words than less he asked us why we wanted to go there that, that restaurant was terrible and that he would show us to a true good Chinese restaurant. We walked quite a ways out of the mall and up three sets of escalators. Talking to him we asked if he was American but he said no that he has always been from Hong Kong, we asked if he works because it is funny through our course of travels people that you meet have just retired early and often times don’t work at all. He said that well yes and no. He said that three years ago he sold a company that he founded and directed called Guess. It was soo funny Guess clothing company I told him that if I remember correctly my older sister (Heather) wore that quite often when she was in high school and in fact that there is a new store in our mall at home. He said that he is now opening some new retail store that is opening about 100 locations a year in china. He also gave us some business advise for opening a business in China. That first you have to have a ton of capital and then second you have to believe full heartedly that it will succeed that if anyone smells fear that you will not and that the business will fail miserably. After going way out of his way he told the manager who greeted us and obviously recognized him that we wanted Dim Sum (a lunch dish that he explained to us different noodle shells stuffed with your choice of stuff). He told him to take good care of us and said his goodbyes. He was a really nice guy and went way out of his way to help us for that he has gotten good karma and I wish him luck in his future endeavors. The restaurant was extremely fancy probably one of the nicest Chinese restaurants in town. They had all the table clothes and silver, our table was right next to the grand piano and then the manager asked if we wanted him to order for us or if we wanted to. I figured it might be safer if I order for myself. So I did it was an interesting menu it had about 10 different dim sum items I order two different shrimp dishes AJ order one shrimp and one beef balls. It was funny because each order was cheap like 30 HKD or like a little over $4 US we didn’t know how many to order so we also order some seafood fried rice. They asked if we wanted tea and we said yes. It was funny when they would pour it like dirt and twigs would come out and sit in the bottom of the tea glass. It was amazing though gasmine tea it was the best hot tea I have ever had. The food was really good the regular Dim Sum shrimp dish was a lot better than the shrimp dumplings I had ordered. The restaurant was very popular and was jamming by the time it was 12:45. We decided that today we wanted to go up the tram to the top of the mountain that overlooks the city. The peak tram was interesting because it was a straight shot up the mountain often times you would look to your left or right and be right next to like a 30 or 40th floor apartment. It stopped a couple of times for photo opps. And by the time we were at the top we were looking down on the IFC 88 story building. We could look down on all the high-rise penthouses and their balconies some having little dogs running around on them. Definitely some of the luckiest dogs in town being able to be outside. We walked down a path along the mountain looking at some of the amazing homes built on the side of it, as well as one plot of land that they were leveling out to be able to build a new home on. We spent the rest of the day exploring the shopping centre on top of the mountain and had lunch at the McDonalds that had a balcony outside that overlooked the opposite side of the mountain. Which was kind of cool because it had a much more gradual slope down with several islands out in the distance. We made our way down the mountain around 5:30 or so and took the ferry back to the main island. We had planned on going to the Peninsula for a last drink before we had to be back on the ship at 7 but remembered that we needed to get our rail passes for Japan before we get to Japan. So we saw the Sheraton Hotel that I had heard that they sold them there. We walked the long walk towards it and got in and the man said that he could get them for us and that they would be done in 10 minutes. We sat there kept thinking that they would be done and finally after about 45 minutes or so we got them. We went upstairs that had an equally as good view as the Peninsula Hotel and sat there for just a few minutes before we had to run back to the ship. We ended up making it back to the ship just in time with two minutes to spare before we had to be back on the ship 2 hours early for being late in Vietnam. We ended going up to the dinning room and having a great meal looking out to the skyline of downtown. Then we made our way up to the pool deck to watch the light show that the downtown buildings put on. With no surprise Semester at Sea dropped off 4 bus loads of overnight students off at 8:30 that ended up clogging up the line for over an hour and a half. Making any students that even got there at 8:30 thirty minutes before on ship time late giving them all dock time. We sat there on the deck coming up with countless different ways that could expedite the line. Such as anyone in line before 9pm doesn’t get dock time, or having the 10 or so RDs that are just standing there wasting time because they have been told to could be searching bags. Anyway we have come to an assumption that the management team Institute for Shipboard Education is one of the worst decision makers possible. In multiple occasions they choose the worst option possible. Either way we haven’t and won’t let it ruin our good times and learning. The ship ended up leaving an hour later than originally planned because a lot of the SAS trips in Beijing got delayed because China let no civilian airplanes fly why they comesnded training exercises. I wonder if it didn’t have something to do with Bush being in the area and them trying to show off their military force. Either way we left an hour late. Also the kid who lost his passport in Cambodia that we had to leave. Ended up getting an emergency passport and made his way to Hong Kong and is back on the ship.


November 19th, 2005

The first two days at sea were really rough. Apparently they didn’t tell us at first but after some research we were headed straight towards a Typhoon that was hitting the Philippines. In my 8 am class only 8 students showed up because of the seas, and half of those left throughout the course of the class. And that night we were hanging out in our room but the seas were so rough that I had to leave the room because I was getting sick. Luckily I was able to find a friend who had one of those sea sickness pills (the medical staff was all out). It was the same the next day with the seas. Although I felt fine, AJ was another story he was hugging the porcelain by the end of the night. It might have been because we had some cigars out on deck a few hours before but I am not sure. Today the seas aren’t as bad they brought us around a couple of islands so the seas are a little calmer but not that much. We didn’t have any classes so that was nice we were able to sleep in. Today we had an intercultural ambassadors meeting where we got to get to know better the interport students. It was interesting to hear from them what they thought about the shipboard life as well as Americans. They said that Americans in general seemed very happy and always wanted to have a good time. That we like to have discussions and share our feelings which that is not the case in Japan and that one of the girls said that that was much harder for her to do. Tomorrow I am going to get to be the Ambassador that gets to meet the Embassy officials, and show them around the ship and have coffee in the dean’s office. It was interesting because they specifically asked to have at least one man to represent the Ambassadors so I was able to get chosen. It is just another way how they are showing the Japanese culture to us. Last night we had the SOS auction (students of service) I one a Indian Hat at the silent auction before the live auction started. It was really cool and went for hundreds less then most of the live auctions went for. It really was amazing the different things that were auctioned off and the prices that they went for. From getting to raise the flag in Hawaii, getting to be the first person off the ship in San Diego, having your hair done by a student before the Ambassadors ball, 3 course meal with champagne for 2 in one of the big suites onboard, weekend at students houses and vacation homes around the world in places like the Swiss alps, Florida, Hawaii etc. and funny things like the welcome aboard sign for the tutus, and getting to sound the ships horns all of these things going for over $600+++ . It was amazing some people were disappointed because they weren’t able to buy anything because some of the kids were bidding outrageous amounts. But my feelings were it was all going to charity everything that was raised. There were six different charities that were nominated and then we were able to vote on which ones we wanted the money to go to. Last year they raised 18,000 US and I am proud to say this year we raised $25,000 US with a total for the year of close to $35,000 pretty exciting. Think of all the great charities this will help support. Well I am going to go. I can’t believe that this blog has gone 14 pages but I am glad that I got to share all of my experiences in Hong Kong with you. It is a compilation of three days of typing and I have spent a lot of time typing it as you have spent a lot of time reading it. God Bless and I love you all!!!!!

Chad

PS – Sadly, and Happily at the same time it is not too long till I will be back at
home with my family and friends where I belong!

The Rest of Vietnam!!!!!!

Hey everyone. It is now November 11th, 2005 and we are steaming towards Hong Kong which is one of the top ports that I am looking forward to most! We have has two full days of classes since we left Vietnam. Actually we had to be onboard the ship on the 9th but the ship didn’t actually leave until the 10th around lunch time. Classes are going well, and for most like Strategic Management for example we are getting into the heart of the class.
Well a lot has happened as usual since I last posted in the blog. Vietnam definitely got better as time went by, and I am sure my dislike at first of the port was me being so sick there for about 24 hours or so. I was just looking around on the International Herald Tribune (the online newspaper that we can view on the ship) where I came across the following article http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/10/news/burma.php I am not sure weather or not you will be able to view it or not. But it talks about how all of the sudden the Myanmar government decided to change its capital from Yangon in a convoy of trucks at precisely 6:37am to a protected compound several hundred kilometers from Yangon. This article kind of begins explaining the emotions that I felt after leaving the country. And the seemingly “foggy existence” that I have felt since leaving or about half way through our stay in Myanmar. At this time it just seems that I have been sort of overwhelmed by all of the different cultures, experiences, and I guess overwhelmed is probably the wrong choice of words. But more the sense that mentally I have taken in soo much, and my brain just seems to want to say no to anything else. (does that last couple of sentence sounds like I have been doing a lot of drugs or what, well I haven’t but I will try to go on with the blog)! Like I said I am very much looking forward to Hong Kong and will continue to tell about my time in Vietnam from where I left off.


November 7th, 2005 (continued)
So I left off right when we were headed down another little stream in the boat when we came to the fruit farm. We made our way down the dock and path to a courtyard area with several different cages. Where our guide got out a massive boa constrictor probably one of the largest that I have ever seen. We he left us take photos with it, and let it sit on our shoulders. It was very heavy probably a good fifty pounds or so and seemingly gentle all though you never know when it is going to wrap around your neck and cut off blood circulation to your head. After that he showed us some of the regional squirls, a duck that was in a cage that we stayed away from (have you been reading about this hole bird flu thing), I bet Chick fil a is doing great in Asian countries. As well as a box full of bees, where they pulled out a card looking thing that was covered on both sides with bees. Then she got a spoon and got us all some honey off of the box to eat. It was awesome, the most natural tasting honey ever (the funny thing was it was clear, not like that processed stuff we get in the jar). Finally they took us to a table where they brought over monkey bananas (the small ones), papaya, coconut, pineapple, and a few other local fruits like lemons that looked like key limes but had an orange center. As well as hot tea, that they sweeten with the natural honey. Then our guide (Who Billy will remember and others who have heard the story reminded us of George the Belizean cab driver) wanted us to walk down a path and explore the city. Well we walked down the path and the city was made up of just a few houses and a shop selling local fruits and supplies. There was a mom who wanted to show off her little baby taking some of his first steps. Which is kind of funny, because in Vietnam and apparently other Asian countries when kids begin learning to walk they wear these special shoes that every time the kid steps down in squeaks.
After this our guide wanted us to hang out for another couple of hours to see the fire flies on the delta. But seeing as we had seen fire flies before and the drive was about an hour and a half back to Saigon we wanted to head back to the main land. So we headed back down the stream out to the delta, and back to the original dock, where they put us on a taxi to go back to My Thou where our taxi was. The drive back was much longer because it was dark and there were at least two wrecks we saw on our way back to the ship. On our way back to the ship we stopped off at a local restaurant where one of the owners is supposedly American for a real American hamburger. It was great it was a lot like Five Guys and it had everything from Avocado to mushrooms on it.
That night we got back to the ship and got ready, then headed out pretty late to a club where a lot of our friends were supposed to be Underground and when we got there, there was no one there. So we went across the street to Rainforest which is a really cool dance club that plays mostly house music. And compared to the last club we had gone to the first night it was mostly Vietnamese. The club closed around 12 so we were only there for a short time, it was actually kind of funny because it was a full club and they were just closing it didn’t make any sense business wise but it must just be a cultural thing. So we decided to go back to the Phan Lou street which is the backpacker area where we spent the first night. And the restaurants, bars, and most of the businesses here do not ever close. So we ended up at one of the livelier places on the street called Eden’s Garden (much different from Rauls Rose Garden though Billy). They played good music and we had a really good time. Typical for the area we meet a lot of people from all over the world this night from: Switzerland, UK, Canada, and Ireland. I ended up calling it a night much earlier than most of the group that I was with although it was even that early by American times more like QM2 times though.


November 8th, 2005

Today we ended up sleeping in and wanting to go and explore China town which was about 20 or so minutes away from the ship that we had seen on the way to the delta. We tell the driver that we are wanting to go to China Town to buy guys clothing, so in his broken English he tells us he know just the place. On the rid there we pass several places that seemed like good spots but he insisted that he was taking us to a particular place. When finally we pull up to a large Chinese warehouse looking building that is very busy people selling and doing things everywhere. As we go in we undoubtedly realize that we have underestimated exactly how busy this place truly was. It was two stories and built in a square that was sectioned off by product, from knock off hand bags, to kids clothing, womens clothing, shoes, food etc etc. Where each vendor had a little shop that they pilled as much stuff in one place as physically possible. And in many cases the shop owners could not walk into there shop with the back wall being ten or so feet away because they had soo much stuff pilled in there. And it would all be different. For example in the shoe booths they would probably easily have 2,000 different styles of shoes. All extremely reasonably priced about half or so the going rate of the NYC China town stuff. This day we were so shocked at all of the different things that we didn’t even buy anything. After exiting the Hong Kong market we just started making our way in the direction which we thought that we had seen the guys stores on the way to the market. But of course we never found it, but we did have a good chance to get to see a lot of the locals day to day lives as they do their shopping and go about their business. One thing that is not lacking in Vietnam is cell phone stores, there are millions of them and they are everywhere.

Finally we gave up looking for the stores that we had seen and finally let some of the taxi drivers take us around town to explore. We thought that they understood us when we told them we just wanted to drive us around, but we kind of just went straight back to the backpackers area. So first I stopped off at the store where I had talked to them a couple of days before about having them make me a suit. Well as we thought might happen the SAS kids flooded the market and the price to have one made went up $40 US but after bargaining with them as they had already told me the price was $65 they gave it to me for $75. So they measured everything that they could possibly measured and told me to be back there by 5:30pm the next day to have it fixed before I needed to leave. We also went by one of the shops that had copies of all the different DVDs and CDs for really cheap. I ended up only getting about five not knowing if they would play or not in my DVD player. Tonight we ended up going back to the same restaurant for dinner and had a great time. We got them to put in one of the Bob Marley CDs that I had bought earlier. One thing while there I noticed was what all these little tickets people are walking around selling (usually with disabilities) they ended up being lottery tickets but not always for money, sometimes for cars or different random thing. I think that it is private businesses also not just the government who puts on these lotteries. We made our way back to the ship again, and got ready to go out.

We had planned on going to the same clubs as the night before, but I saw the club in top of the Sheraton Hotel and wanted to go there. So that where we started out. It is called Level 23 on the 23rd floor. It was really cool it had an outside wine bar, and then the inside club is actually two stories, with a live band from Jamaica that can play all kinds of different music. It reminded us a ton of the club on the QM2. After getting tired of the expensive drink prices we went to the Rainforest again where there were a ton a SAS people there including Ammo, Noel, Crystal and other friends. And even a few of the students with their parents who were still in town for the parents trip. AJ ended up introducing me to some of the locals that were in the night before that travel to Hong Kong all the time on business and gave us a few recommendations. One thing that I noticed at all of the places we went to this night was all the older Vietnamese men, with very young looking dates. And it wasn’t just a few of them it was 85% of them or so. There were mixed opinions among the SASers if they were prostitutes or not, I know that the Vietnamese women age very gracefully but I can’t help but think that a lot of the women weren’t working for the evening. And we weren’t even a seedy places these were nice places like the Sheraton and such. Anyways just something I noticed. As usual the club closed early and we made our way back over to Eden’s Garden where even more SAS people were and a few more new friends were made from Denmark and Kenya of all places. This ended up being a very late night, although I think that this is typical among the backpacker crowd and the SAS students who don’t want the good times to end. Either way it was a defiantly interesting mix between the two groups.


November 9th, 2005

My last day in Vietnam AJ and I decided that we wanted to go back to the Hong Kong Market this afternoon. After a crazy ride there we finally made it to a place that the taxi drivers insisted was the Hong Kong Market. Apparently Hong Kong Market is not a place, rather a style of market or where all the stuff in the market comes from. This one was very similar to the last and it even had some cool guys t shirts which the other one didn’t. Some really good knock off D & G shirts etc. but of course all the sudden we were going to get to pay foreigner prices. I mean $10 a shirt there is no way they sales those shirts for more than $5. But consistently we got turned down. AJ ended up getting an LV rolly duffle bag and a really cool painting. We then headed back to the Sheraton where we had heard stories of big wines of several SASers in their casino. It was pretty small, but nice. The casino had several very quirky rules such as when you sit down at a machine you can only put in denominations of $10 although the bets can vary. And all of the machines are electronic so like the roulette, the black jack all were electronic but they had a dealer there that in ways simulated the dealing of the game but all of the bets were about $10. AJ played the video blackjack as usual and only ended up loosing a little (he said that it was a little messed up on how they did some of the payouts). And I played a little roulette as usual, I did pretty well it was hitting consistent reds and odd numbers which is what I was betting on (I know I know you only hear about when people are winning). Either way I ended up walking away with around $50 or so more than I walked in there with, but only because of luck.
On the way to the store where I was supposed to pick up my suit we stopped at a few small vendors where I bought a couple of cool paintings as well as some old money that come to find out is mostly Cambodian old money but still cool all the same. It reminded me of when we oust to go to Mexico and they would always have the old coins for sale. Much to my surprise they to me two different occasions that my suit was being finished with extra care. Finally almost two hours late it was done. Although I was a little scared because one of the kids suits we had seen on a previous visit couldn’t of looked any worse.
But when she pulled it out of the hanging bag it was perfect. Three piece black with white pen stripes, I was very happy with the suit done exactly to my specifications it looks just like the one in the GQ magazine I gave her. So we made our way back to the Sheraton for the sunset but it was too late. So we just hung out there before making our way back to the ship. Where we in line around thirty minutes before the on ship time. And still didn’t end up making it on before the 9 oclock deadline. I was a little upset about the whole thing at first, but it is just one of those things that you can’t do anything about. Another SAS policy that you might not agree with but have to follow. So we ended up getting two hours dock time, which means that we have to be back on the ship at 7pm instead of 9pm on the last night in Hong Kong. Which I guess isn’t that big of deal because the last hour we would be spending waiting in line either way and it will ensure that we don’t have any dock time in Japan.
As far as things going on the ship. I found out that the day we pulled into Vietnam the Conduct Officer Dan whose job it was to work from 8pm til the late hours and any other time he is out and around ship that students follow the policies in the student hand book. Mostly generally dumb rules like making sure the smokers only smoke in a certain area, making sure people keep their feet off the furniture, people are quite, no one is drunk running around the ship etc. etc. I had actually never really gotten to know him. Once he made a rather rude comment to me and Alberto about having our feet on the furniture, but I mean it was kind of his job so no hard feelings. The unofficial story I got was that the Dean wanted him to treat us more like kids, and he refused to saying that we were young adults and deserved to be treated that way. I mean looking at it we have just under a month left, and most of it will be spent traveling from Asia to San Diego which would be him working and apparently he was unhappy getting gripped at, and having to. Soo, we miss him and are sorry that he won’t be with us the rest of the way but you have to do what you have to do.
Also we got our new music teacher replacing professor Strumpf who had to get off the ship in Myanmar because of medical conditions. Well I think that sums it all up for Vietnam a nice place, with nice people, and definitely no lack of motorcycles. A country who is trying to figure out how they are going to compete in the global market place especially with big China above them. Saigon is building up and up and is definetly promising but still has a ways to go to catch up with other Asain countries around them.
One story that I did forget to mention was a taxi cab driver on the last night we were there. He was 56 and had fought in the Vietnam war like many Americans. He had a defiantly interesting story especially after he kept asking if I was American. The man had been shot three times once in the mouth, and twice in the stomach. And was still standing today, pretty amazing. Especially to think that in just the past couple of decades these things were going on here and how things have changed. Just an interesting thought.
I got several great emails, and cards while in Vietnam which defiantly brightened my day. I hope everyone is doing well as you are in my thoughts and prayers daily. I especially liked the cards from Erin, Lexi, Heather and Ashton. Your thoughts, prayers, and Ashtons drawings mean a lot to your Uncle Chad I miss you and can’t wait to give you a big bear hug when I get home.

Love always,
Chad