China

I spent much of my time in China in Beijing. I went on a trip guided by a couple of students, Linda and Chi, from Renmin University in Beijing. We spent the first day flying from Hong Kong to Beijing, and making our way to the hotel which was right near the university, stopping only for a Pecking duck dinner. By the time we made it to the hotel, I was exhausted and just went to bed.

The next morning we were up early and on our way. Our first stop for the day was a jade factory. Jade is very popular in China and considered lucky. We were shown how to tell if the jade is real as opposed to just colored glass that you may purchase when buying jade on the street. If it’s real jade, it will scratch glass. After this stop, we went to the Ming Tombs. We didn’t actually see any of the buildings on the grounds, only walked a long path with statues along each side. It was a peaceful walk, with soft music playing out of the speakers along the sides. It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the city.

After lunch, we made it to the Great Wall. The Great Wall was amazing. It was so huge! And there were about a billion steps to climb up to reach the top. It was quite a workout! Unfortunately the air was very polluted the afternoon we were there, so the view from the top, while it was still amazing, was pretty gray. It was amazing to watch some women hiking the wall in heels. I don’t know how they did it. The steps were all different heights and I sure don’t think I could have done it in heels!

Later that night we went to Renmin University and spent some time socializing with students there. I had two girls show me around campus. They were so nervous and kept apologizing for not being able to speak English well, but I thought their English was great and kept telling them that. For the most part we were able to understand each other. If anyone should have been apologizing, it should have been me. I only know a couple words of Mandarin, I can’t carry on a conversation to save my life! It was amazing though how many people were out and about on campus. There were al kinds of people walking and running on the track and there were people dancing in the park.

The next morning, right after breakfast, we were off to Tiananmen Square. No one seemed to know what was going on that day, but there were a ton of cars parked in the square. It’s apparently one of the largest open public spaces in the world. We then crossed the street via an underpass and entered the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was really huge, making it quite easy to get lost. In the afternoon we went to the Temple of Heaven. I think this was one of my favorite stops. There were people out all over playing cards, singing, selling things, and just relaxing. I found a park area that was beautiful and so relaxing. It was such a serene area in the middle of the city. Our night ended with an acrobatics show. The flips and tricks everyone was doing were incredible. We watched as 12 girls all piled onto a bike riding around the stage at one point. And it was just a normal bike, not oversized or anything. The English translations of what was being said up on the screen were rather funny. The message just didn’t quite translate right. I’m sure it was quite poetic in Chinese, but it was extremely corny in the translation.

Our final morning in Beijing was spent at the Summer Palace. I could have spent all day there. It was huge and relaxing. There was a pond with the most beautiful reflections I think I’ve ever seen. Wandering around the paths it was very easy to get lost. I think this was my favorite stop in Beijing. It was just so relaxing.

Everywhere we went there were tour groups being led by a guide with a flag, and all wearing the same hat. It was quite funny to see. We were also asked a lot by people if they could take their picture with us. So I’m in a bunch of random people’s photos.

Everywhere we went in Beijing there was construction happening in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. There was construction being done on the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, and all over the roads. There are already a lot of vehicles, so during the Olympics something like 40% of the cars in Beijing will not be allowed on the roads because of all the extra people coming to the city.

From Beijing, it was off to Qindao to meet the ship there. We then had one day in Qindao, which I spent wandering around, using the internet for a while, and just being silly. There wasn’t a whole lot to do in Qindao, and we were so exhausted that we didn’t want to do a whole lot anyway.

Overall, China was a lot of fun. It was really cute to have these little kids coming up to us saying “hello.” They were all excited that they were able to say something in English to us. For the first time on this trip, I really felt the language barrier. We had to show taxi drivers the Chinese characters for where we wanted to go because they didn’t understand us if we tried telling them in English. I actually enjoyed the experience very much. I had to find other ways to communicate through hand gestures and facial expressions. It really is amazing how much you can communicate without words.

Hong Kong

Unfortunately I only had one day in Hong Kong, but it was amazing! I loved it, and will just have to come back. Who’s coming with me? We started our day by taking a tour of Hong Kong. Sadly, when we got to the top of the mountain to look over the city it was too foggy to see anything. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around and exploring town. Later in the evening we went out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby the port and then saw a light show. Looking across the bay we could see all the buildings of the skyline all lit up and for about 20 minutes they put on a light show. The lights on the buildings were all coordinated with each other and set to music. It was really cool. Then we took a walk to the night market to do a bit of shopping. Walking around I was reminded a lot of New York City. The buildings were all lit up and there were people out everywhere. While we were walking, it got really windy and all kinds of debris was blowing in our eyes. So sunglasses became quite handy. Once we got to the night market, I found that the people were extremely friendly. For a change I didn’t feel like everyone was trying to push me to buy things. I was able to just chat with people and ask them questions about what they were selling without feeling bad for not buying anything. It was quite enjoyable. One of my favorite things was that I could smile at people and they would smile back. I found everyone so friendly.

Here are some interesting facts about Hong Kong:

Hong Kong is part of China, but the people drive on the left side of the road as opposed to the right like China, and they have their own laws.

Because of the size population, it’s very expensive for grave sites, so there’s a constant problem of choosing between being buried and being cremated. The people here have come up with the 50/50 solution to this problem. They bury their dead for 7 years, and then dig them up and cremate them.

Green is a color for long life, and red is a color for good luck.

For good feng shui you should live with the back of your house towards a mountain and the front of your house facing water.

The equestrian games for the 2008 Olympics will be held in Hong Kong.

Good numbers are 8 which sounds like rich, and 9 which sounds like longevity

Bad numbers are 4 which sounds like death, and 7 which is the number of years a person is buried before they are cremated, and also the number of courses served at funerals.

Hong Kong has no welfare. If you don’t work, you don’t eat.

When “good” license plate numbers become available the government auctions them off and the money goes to charities.

And that sums up my day in Hong Kong. The next morning I was on a plane for Beijing.

Vietnam

When we reached Vietnam, we rode up the Saigon River for a couple hours before we reached port. It was a very pretty ride on a very busy river. We passed all kinds of boats and houses. When we finally made it to the dock, we were greeted by a group of parents and family, including my Mom, Dad, and sister Christina. It was really exciting to see them. So I spent the 5 days we had in Vietnam traveling with my family.

The first day we went to the market for a bit of shopping. Clothing and things were very cheap. However, the sizes are quite different than we’re used to. Vietnamese people tend to be much smaller than Americans, so if you normally wear a medium, you may have to purchase a large or extra large in Vietnam.

The next morning we were up bright and early and on our way to Hanoi. On our way to the airport we passed all kinds of people doing Tai Chi in the park. I couldn’t believe the number of people who were up and out at 5 in the morning. Hanoi was a great city. It was so busy with crazy traffic, mostly motor bikes. Crossing the street we were told to walk slowly, as the motor bikes would adjust and go around you. Sprinting across is where you’d get yourself in trouble. I think the image that sticks with me the most is that of women in business clothes wearing 3 inch heels riding their motor bikes down the road.

While in Hanoi, we visited the Hanoi Hilton which was a prison during the war. The Vietnamese refer to it as the American War rather than the Vietnam War as we call it. We also visited the Temple of Literature which was a school. Students went there and studied literature and moral behavior. An interesting fact I learned during our tour about the people here is that they tend not to be “religious”. People will go to pagodas and pray, but they may not know who the Buddha or other figures are. The majority of people in fact follow three religions at the same time: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. They focus more on the moral aspects of the religions and less on the formalities like we tend to.

We also visited Halong Bay while in Vietnam. Halong Bay looked like a pirate lagoon. And the day we were there was pretty hazy, so it just added to the atmosphere. We spent a relaxing day on a boat in the bay stopping to walk through a limestone cave that had been carved out by the water. Watching all the boats at the dock was interesting. They all just crowd around, bumping into each other, and we walked through other boats to get on and off ours.

Back in Hanoi we took a tour of the site where Ho Chi Minh’s body rests. We also visited a market which was crazy. There was food out everywhere; raw meat left uncovered and unrefrigerated at some stands, vegetables spread across the ground, live seafood in buckets, and cooked food at other stands. It would have never been considered even close to sanitary in the States. But I have to say the craziest thing I saw during my stay in Vietnam was the motor bikes with live pigs tied on the back.

We spent our last day in Vietnam at the Mekong Delta. We took several different boats through the rivers. I felt like I was in the jungle. It was amazing the way people are just out on their little boats and they’ll load you up and paddle you down the river. It’s a lot of work. It was such an intricate maze of paths through the trees. I could have been taken to the exact same place eight times in a row and probably wouldn’t have known the difference. We stopped at several different spots in the delta for tea, lunch, and coconut candy making. We saw the coconut candy being made from start to finish. It was pretty much an open kitchen surrounded by trees with people making the candy and a dog running around.

Another interesting thing about Vietnam is their houses. They're all built really tall and skinny in a row. The people used to have to pay tax based on the width of the front of their houses, so they started building them skinny and tall. I really liked them.

So that about sums up my Vietnam experience. I said good bye to my parents and sister, and was on my way to Hong Kong.

Pirates?

They’re not just in the movies! Pirates actually exist today. On our way to Vietnam, the night we went through the Strait of Malacca, Captain Jeremy sped the ship up to about 26 nautical miles per hour, the fastest we’ve gone thus far. There were also supposed to be extra crew members on lookout for the night. (Although Captain Jeremy said he has never seen a pirate ship, and doesn’t know what they look like) There are apparently frequent pirate attacks in this area, but only one occurrence of a pirate ship attacking a passenger vessel. Unfortunately we did not see any pirate ships. I was hoping to see some pirates. I think it would have been fun. It would have made a great story anyhow. But for now we are sailing safe and pirate free.

Malaysia and Singapore

It’s taken me a little while to get to writing this. I’ve spent the past three days trying to catch up on sleep. It’s been quite an exhausting trip. And we had no break at all, but jumped right back into classes after Malaysia.

So anyway, we arrived in Malaysia last Monday. We ported in Georgetown, on the island of Penang off the northwest coast. I only spent one day in Malaysia, and didn’t make it off the island. But it was a really nice place. I went on an island orientation tour which was a great way to see a lot on the island for having only one day there. We first went to a butterfly farm where my red shirt seemed to attract all kinds of butterflies. Our next stop was the snake temple. This is a Chinese Buddhist temple that has live snakes around the alter. The snakes were so calm, lying on wooden frame things up around the alter. After a Chinese lunch, we stopped at another Buddhist temple. This one was a whole complex. To get to the top, we walked past all kinds of shops and even a few restaurants. I could have spent all day exploring this temple and shopping. I had never seen anything like it. It was more than just a temple. Our final stop was a park where many people go to relax or take a leisurely walk after work. It was a real nice, relaxing place, with monkeys wandering all over, much like we see squirrels all over the parks in New York. Later that night I went to a welcome reception with Malaysian students. They put on a shadow puppet show for us. These shadow puppets are quite intense. They have moving joints that the puppeteer controls with the sticks they’re attached to.

Tuesday morning I was off for Singapore for a few days. Singapore is the cleanest city I have ever seen. It was a great trip. The road that we drove from the airport had a divider of potted plants that could be moved out of the way in 45 minutes so the road can be used as a military airway. After checking in to the hotel, we were given a tour of Raffles landing site and Clarke Quay. We took a bumboat ride down the river past all different kinds of architecture. We also saw the mer-lion fountain that is a symbol of luck in Singapore. Later that evening I had a chance to meet up with Seth, who graduated RPI last spring and is now in Singapore for grad school. He showed me all around. I experienced the MRT, which is the nicest, cleanest subway I’ve ever seen. There’s no eating allowed on the MRT, and with the hefty fines for littering, there’s no trash either. We also wandered around China town for a while.

The next morning we took a trip to Sentosa Island where we got to pet stingrays, saw a pink dolphin show, and spent time in a wax museum. The museum was quite interesting as it went through the history of Singapore and the different cultures that are present there. There’s a real strong Chinese culture, as well as Indian, Malay, and some British influence. Later that afternoon I headed down to the East Coast Parkway to rent a bike for a while, and discovered not only could you rent bikes, but you could also rent rollerblades. So I rented a pair of rollerblades, and skated along the coast for a couple hours. It was a really pretty area. I would love to be able to go and skate there every day. Then I met up with Alicia who’s studying at Singapore Polytechnic for the semester. Seeing her dorm was interesting. Everything is so open. And there were racks with clothes all over the place since they don’t have dryers in Singapore. We spent the rest of the night out dancing.

After meeting Seth for breakfast Thursday morning, I met back up with the group, and we headed back to the ship. Since we couldn’t actually dock the ship, we were taking lifeboats from ship to shore, so it took nearly 2 hours to get back on the ship, at which point I decided it wasn’t worth trying to go back out in Penang.

So now, after three days at sea, we are arriving in Vietnam.