After two days on the ship we got to our next port of call, Kobe, Japan. Kobe is known for its beef which is grass-fed, free-range, massaged daily, and fed exclusively beer its whole life. Not a bad life if you ask me. It was interesting that Japanese customs were by far the most intense we'd experienced so far in letting us into the country. After an all morning event of trying to get off the boat we were finally able to walk around. The first thing we did was go explore the city. Kobe is quite small but has a number of big office buildings and markets. It had a small town feeling and we saw a lot of family restaurants and we were thankful for the clean streets. We sampled the interesting items they had for sale at 7/11, all the while searching for an ATM that worked with American cards. Japan was by far the hardest place on our trip for an American to take out money. None of the ATM's would take our cards because Japan isn't reliant on our financial system to make the country run; the downside to developed nations. Although that was an inconvenience we soon found the freedom of Japan. Japan has a plethora of curbside vending machines, THAT SELL BEER!! Not only that but you can get a liter can of beer and drink it on the street. Sweeeeeettttt. After a couple of Kirins and a tour of the city we went back to the ship to get ready for the night. I went out with a few friends to sample the Kobe beef that is so popular here. I was a little disturbed when I heard how they raise the cows to get the meat to taste so good. But once I learned that they were fed beer their whole lives I got jealous and decided to grub the little drunken bastards. Just kidding. The steaks were delicious; so tender you could cut the meat with chopsticks, no lie. Afterwards we headed out to the bars. A local bar was offering a special to SAS students which was $20 to get in and then all you could drink was free. As you can imagine the place was packed and hopping. I checked it out for a bit and then went out to a Reggae Bar where most of the ship crew was partying. Most of the food and beverage crew on the ship are Jamaicans, so every time they come to Japan they stop at this reggae bar in Kobe and let loose. Since they knew I was into reggae they told me about this place. When I got in Mez (dude who works the juice bar on the ship) was rockin the mic and the place was all rasta'd out. Japanese people love foreign cultures and do a great job providing authentic pieces of world culture. The DJ was actually playing records instead of using a computer to play songs like most clubs nowadays. I had a great time at the reggae bar hanging out with the crew and good friends and headed back to the ship late to get some sleep before heading out to Mt. Fuji.
I took a pic of the appetizers but forgot the Kobe Beef. Oh well, Schrooms and some kind of squid...
Everyone's friendly here
In front of the Reggae Bar, Kobe
Mez Rocking the Mic
Teachers and life-long learners know how to party too. Mike, Margarite, Erika, and me
The crew members dont mess around. They represent Jamaica when they get into port.
Jonell and me In the morning I hooked up with a group of people trying to get out to climb Mt. Fuji which was a few hours north of us on a bullet train. We navigated the crowded subways of Kobe and finally got to the bullet train station. The bullet trains are also called JR trains or the Shinkansen. The train quickly got us to our destination at a small town just outside of the Fuji area. We got some noodles and spent the night in a hostel.
The next morning we took an hour and a half bus ride up to a small lake town north of Mt. Fuji. When we arrived, the mountain was covered in clouds and the locals said we may not be able to see it because of the poor weather. We quickly found our hostel, which was awesome. I would reccomend K's House to anyone staying in Japan. The hostel is located in a bunch of spots throughout the country and has better services than most hotels in the states. We used some of the house bikes to roam around town. Later we ate some Foto noodles which were pretty delish, and checked out the batting cages and arcades. Japan has an obsession with baseball, and some of the local kids could smack a mean 120 km/hour fastball, I had a hard time with just a 90 km/hour ball. But we hung out with the locals, and wreaked havoc at the arcade before heading back to the hostel.
Japan 7/11
The next morning my buddy Graham and I got up at sunrise to try to get a glimpse of the famed mountain. Graham brought his fishing pole and hung out on the lake while I practiced my meditation skills and watched the rising sun come out and illuminate the perfectly cone-shaped mountain. Their were a few Japanese people out walking their dogs and appreciating the natural beauty around their town.
Later that day the rest of our group headed out to Tokyo, while Jeff and I stayed behind because we didn't want to pay bus fare and we read a wikitravel article on hitchhiking in Japan. The article said that it was easy to do for those travelers trying to stretch a buck. We gave it our best shot, but got discouraged with the language barrier and everyone telling us that we were crazy. The one guy that ended up giving us a ride to the bus stop said that we were the first hitchhikers he had ever picked up.
We finally made it to Tokyo and got to navigate through the biggest city in the world. The place is huge and has so many bright lights and colors everywhere that you think you could go nuts. For how big the city is and how many people live their, it actually seems like it has more order than some small towns in the states. You can walk around for hours and never be bored, the city never sleeps and their is always something interesting to look at. We stayed in a K's house again.
Cool Building in Tokyo
The next day we went to the Tokyo dome where the Tokyo Giants baseball team plays. It is a beautiful sports center featuring a huge roller coaster that sweeps in and out of the mall. I got my friend Jeff to conquer his fear of heights and ate at California Pizza Kitchen, hey I was a little homesick. Next we trekked through the subway system to get to a district called Shinjuku, which is known as the skyscraper district. We were trying to hunt down a record store that specializes in out of print reggae records. We finally tracked it down and had a blast listening to records with the knowledgeable Japanese vinyl fans there. I could have stayed there all day, but eventually we had to go back to intercept the boat in Yokohama before it sailed away. We rushed back to the ship and barely made it in time. Out of all the countries we visited so far Japan was the hardest to leave. Our next stretch on the ship covered almost the entire Pacific Ocean, with a brief stop in Hawaii for Thanksgiving, and I felt like our trip was coming to an end. A sad time but also a great time to sit a reflect on all the wonderful experiences had, and hang out with friends that I may not see for a while.
Arriving in Hong Kong was a nice change for some students who had been getting tired of facing the harsh conditions of less developed nations, like Vietnam and India. We were docked in Hong Kong Bay in between Hong Kong island and Kowloon. The terminal to get off the ship led you right into a huge mall with any commodity one could ever want, and of course many Starbucks and fast food outlets. After walking through the mall for an hour trying to figure out how to get out, I thought I must have read the China brochure wrong; I thought I was here to see a Great Wall but it must be the Great Mall of China. Hong Kong is dangling off the cutting edge. I haven't been to many big cities in the states, with the exception of San Fran, but Hong Kong seemed to me like it could be on par with us in terms of technology, transportation, and fashion. Some of the styles were outrageous. Unlike any other port we have been to thus far, the people seemed not to make a big deal out of 700 americans being there, they just went about the hustle and bustle of their daily activities. The Skyline was incredible and every night at sundown the skyscrapers would light up with crazy patterns for a lightshow that was snychronized with music. The first day we were there I got the urge to go skate. i talked to a few locals and found out where a skateshop was. I took a ferry across the bay to Kong Kong island where I hopped on a subway and headed to the hub of the city. I arrived in an area called Times Square where sure enough I found another mall, this one twice the size of the last; it was something like 12 stories. They also had an IMAX theater playing American movies that hadn't come out yet, plenty of upscale restaraunts, and all kinds of cool technologically savvy features. Hundreds of Hong Kongians were out for the evening including fashionable teenagers going to the cinema, business people in suits having dinner, and families going to shop. I made it the skateshop, and checked out some of the boards. The guys were blasting heavy metal and had a wall of pics of pro skaters who had visited their shop. The boards were sicc, but were a little out of my price range since I wasn't even sure if I would be able to bring it back on the ship. I ended up just taking some pics and going to have dinner at the mall. It was crazy being a foreigner in a place that felt so developed and like America. The next day I hung around the boat and packed my bags since the boat was leaving that evening. We would travel to Beijing the next day and then on to Shanghai where we would meet our vessel. I checked out the local space museum with a couple of friends, and did a simulation walk on the moon. Later we took a trolley up to the top of the hill where we had some great sushi and saw the light show. Next we took a train to a nearby province called Shenzhen which is much less developed than Hong Kong. We flew out of there rather than Hong Kong because it was about half the price. The next morning we caught our flight to Beijing, the heart of China. We took a cab from the airport, which took about an hour, to get to our hotel in the middle of the city. Beijing is huge. The city has many districts and lots of construction. The first day we visited the historic sites of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was interesting to see the chinese guards everywhere and the huge portraits of Chairman Mao. That night we went out to some techno clubs and did some dancing and drinking. We also stopped for late-night McDonalds which is a huge past-time in China. The next day we travelled to the Great Wall and then onto the Olympic Stadium. At the Great Wall we took a gondola up to a top section and took some pictures. We were at a touristy area of the wall and there were hundreds of Chinese people there appreciating their history. The Bird's Nest and the Water Cube were cool to see simply for the great engineering and the creativity involved. That night we travelled out to Shanghai. Shanghai is pretty amazing and offers a skyline as spectacular as Hong Kong's with a Space Needle type tower called the Pearl Tower. Shanghai offered much more traditional Chinese culture than did Beijing or Hong Kong, and appreciating it I sampled some Chinese noodles, saw some Buddhist temples, and explored the city. I also visited the local University with a friend of mine on the boat who studied abroad there. They had a huge statue of Chairman Mao in the middle of the quad. Our last day in Shanghai I finally got to skate. I travelled about forty-five minutes north of the city to Shanghai Mega Park; the biggest skate park in the world. I was expecting SMP to be packed full of young up and coming Chinese shredders but when I got there all I found was two travelling American skaters and a few Chinese bikers. Not what I expected, but I couldn't complain I had the world's biggest skatepark to myself. I rented a board from the shop and skated for a few hours. It was nice to get some exercise off the boat for a change...
Hey all. So we’re on our last stretch of the voyage, just started finals, and headed for Costa Rica. Life was busy after Malaysia. We had just three days on the ship until we ported in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam for almost a week. Then we spent another two days on the ship before arriving in Hong Kong; my starting point for a adventure around China, traveling to Beijing and then to Shanghai where we met our vessel. Once again only two days on the ship until we hit Kobe, Japan. I got a couple quick Kobe beef steaks before hopping on a bullet train to see Mt. Fuji and then on to Tokyo where we met the ship to start the last legs our journey. A little over a week on the ship to catch up on schoolwork and reflect on the four countries we explored in a little over a month, and then a quick stop in Hawaii for Thanksgiving. Yea it was a little intense. All except for Mt. Fuji, where we got to relax by the lake and enjoy the leaves changing Japanese style. Anyhoo, here is Vietnam... It was exciting entering into Vietnam, a country that we’ve all heard so much about. A few days before we arrived the teachers and lifelong learners on our ship that had lived through, and even fought in, the Vietnam war shared some of their experiences. I enjoyed listening to the panel of mostly ex-hippies share with us their feelings about the war and the impact it had on them as young adults. I imagine some of us feel similar about the current turbulent times in the middle east. It seems to me, the main differences between how their generation reacted then and how ours is reacting now is the fact that they had a draft to get them fired up about. They seemed a little disappointed that our age group has failed to make a stand against unnecessary wars, but who knows maybe this recent election has proven that we want change. Anyways, docking in Saigon (Now Ho Chi Minh City) requires floating up a narrow river that they must have dredged. From that vantage point we could see the dense jungles, and small fishing villages of southern Vietnam. Arriving in the city felt slightly like arriving in India. A slight coating of smog and pollution was visible around the city and in every direction you looked were the signs of a developing country. Once off the boat we joined the dense crowd of Semester at Sea students anxious to try out their crisp American currency in the land of cheap commodities. I’d say about 90% of the ship had their sights set on acquiring fashionable and inexpensive attire from any one of the hundreds of tailor shops that specialized in business suits and cloths. I picked a nice, modern navy blue striped silk suit for a measly 100 dollars, or almost two million dong, the Vietnamese currency. As you can imagine the name of the currency was a catalyst for all kinds of immature jokes. The transportation situation in Vietnam was similar to that of India. 90% of the vehicles on the road were motorcycles, and you could catch a ride on one to just about anywhere in the city for a dollar, although you also risked your life. After choosing the safety of a cab to get us to the market, we proceeded to take advantage of the cheap beers, and the liberal open-container policy. In the process we acquired some traditional Vietnamese rice-farmer hats. All this bargaining was making us hungry so we sat down for a round of some street food, and a good old fashion sneaker scrub-down. The soup was delicious until I tried some of the questionable meat and realized that I was in a country that commonly ate dog, sorry Chloe. Later that night I sampled a Vietnamese take on Mexican food and headed to a jazz club to hear some of the best live jazz of my life. A late night of solid music and good drinks was a good way to say goodbye to Saigon, because the next morning three friends (Sachin, Johnny, Travis) and I had an early flight to catch to the capital of the country Hanoi and to see one of the natural wonders of the world. When we arrived in Hanoi a small thunderstorm was brewing in the East. We hoped that our much anticipated trip to Halong Bay to see some of the most peculiar geological formations in the world would not have to be forfeited due to weather. After an hour taxi ride from the airport to the heart of the city, we realized this wasn’t going to be any kind of passing storm. It turned out to be a weekend of the most rainfall the city had seen in thirty years. This didn’t deter us. We heard from the locals that the Bay usually had good weather so we booked a two day stay on a junk boat, as their called, to explore the bay. When we arrived in Hanoi the storm was at its peak. Walking the 100 yards to our hostel cost me a days worth of clean clothes. Since Sachin and I had already picked out and got fitted for our suits in Saigon we stayed inside to weather the storm while Johnny and Travis went out into the town to try to find a tailor. Hanoi is a very old city. It is almost 1000 years old and is built up similar to San Francisco in the narrow stacked apartment building style. Although much smaller than Saigon, I got the feeling that this city would be much more culturally rich. Our friends got back and told us how the city was flooding but people just went about their everyday business and didn’t seem to notice. We threw on our boardshorts and went out to go investigate for ourselves. When we got out to the main road the water was knee high. Motorists didn’t seem to care and drove their bikes through it until they crapped out and had to be pushed. The occasional car would come through and would look more like a boat. We explored the small city and got soaked but eventually got some food at the most dirty Vietnamese restaurant we could find, it was delicious. At one point a rat ran across the floor beneath our feet and we questioned what meat we were eating. We went to a bar across the street and played a few rounds of pool with some locals. I ended up taking over playing the music since the DJ left and we played some jams and drank Tigers all night. The next morning a tour guide picked us up from our hostel and drove us a few hours west to Halong. The geography began to get really cool looking with gum-drop mountains dotting the horizon and rice fields lining the highway. We arrived in Halong Bay and hopped on a junk boat that would be our home for two days while we explored the limestone islands and caves that surround the bay. Legend has it that Halong Bay was formed by the gods when they sent out a family of dragons to help defend against Chinese invaders. The dragons spit out jewels and jade that became the thousands of islands of limestone that form a wall around the bay and protect it from intruders. The geography is truly a sight to see and people are still speculating as to how the various islands may have formed. UNESCO named it a world heritage site in order to preserve the beauty and the cultural surroundings.
90% of tourists to Vietnam come through here
A few Aussies, two Vietnamese women, and a couple from the US that had been traveling Asia would be our company for the next few days, along with the guides of course. We sat down for a delicious meal of fish and noodles and began sailing out into the jungle of islands. After lunch we stopped off at one of the larger islands to explore a cave. The cave was fairly large with narrow walkways leading into large chambers. Several of the stalagmite formations resembled different things such as a large turtle that was said to bless you if you rubbed its head, an obvious buddhist influence. After wandering the cave system for a few hours, we hopped into some kayaks to explore the bay firsthand. Since it was low tide you could manage to get underneath the structure of some islands and actually go through small caves in your kayak. We soon found an island with a small beach and parked our kayaks to try to climb some of the rocks. It was difficult climbing and we didn't make it to the top, but it was cool to be on an island of that size.
Sunrise from the junk
Later that night we met some locals from one of the floating fishing villages and ate some more fish. We anchored our boats for the night, and proceeded to hassle the guides to let us jump off the top of boats into the warm water below. We succeeded in getting permission to do so and had some fun diving off the boat into the bay. The following morning we boated around to some more islands and dropped some of our company off that had signed up for an island stay on one of the more developed islands. We jumped off the boat a few more times and headed back to the mainland to grab lunch before riding back to Hanoi. At lunch we noticed one of Vietnam's peculiar specialties, snake wine. One of the locals we were eating with told us that snake wine was really good for your health and that we needed to try it. I think we were all a little unsure. Somehow they brew a wine in the carcasses of dead snakes (gutted of course) and other reptiles, and the wine we sampled even contained a full bird, feathers and all. I wasn't going to drink it, but once I dared an Australian guy we were eating with to do it and he accepted I knew I was in for good. The stuff got your blood flowing.
One of my favorite pics
After leaving beautiful Halong Bay we headed for Hanoi to our hostel for another night of delicious food and exploration of the old city. The next day we caught our flight back to Saigon. Sachin and I went to get our suits while Travis and Johnny went to some museums and the nearby Mekong Delta. Their is so much to see in Vietnam that I wish we could have had a few more days, but we had to catch our ship to head to China, where we would all experience the heaviest culture shock thus far.
S. African Navy ship docked next to us Check out the size of that gun!
After two days on the ship we got to our next port of call, Kobe, Japan. Kobe is known for its beef which is grass-fed, free-range, massaged daily, and fed exclusively beer its whole life. Not a bad life if you ask me. It was interesting that Japanese customs were by far the most intense we'd experienced so far in letting us into the country. After an all morning event of trying to get off the boat we were finally able to walk around. The first thing we did was go explore the city. Kobe is quite small but has a number of big office buildings and markets. It had a small town feeling and we saw a lot of family restaurants and we were thankful for the clean streets. We sampled the interesting items they had for sale at 7/11, all the while searching for an ATM that worked with American cards. Japan was by far the hardest place on our trip for an American to take out money. None of the ATM's would take our cards because Japan isn't reliant on our financial system to make the country run; the downside to developed nations. Although that was an inconvenience we soon found the freedom of Japan. Japan has a plethora of curbside vending machines, THAT SELL BEER!! Not only that but you can get a liter can of beer and drink it on the street. Sweeeeeettttt. After a couple of Kirins and a tour of the city we went back to the ship to get ready for the night.
I went out with a few friends to sample the Kobe beef that is so popular here. I was a little disturbed when I heard how they raise the cows to get the meat to taste so good. But once I learned that they were fed beer their whole lives I got jealous and decided to grub the little drunken bastards. Just kidding. The steaks were delicious; so tender you could cut the meat with chopsticks, no lie. Afterwards we headed out to the bars. A local bar was offering a special to SAS students which was $20 to get in and then all you could drink was free. As you can imagine the place was packed and hopping. I checked it out for a bit and then went out to a Reggae Bar where most of the ship crew was partying. Most of the food and beverage crew on the ship are Jamaicans, so every time they come to Japan they stop at this reggae bar in Kobe and let loose. Since they knew I was into reggae they told me about this place. When I got in Mez (dude who works the juice bar on the ship) was rockin the mic and the place was all rasta'd out. Japanese people love foreign cultures and do a great job providing authentic pieces of world culture. The DJ was actually playing records instead of using a computer to play songs like most clubs nowadays. I had a great time at the reggae bar hanging out with the crew and good friends and headed back to the ship late to get some sleep before heading out to Mt. Fuji.
I took a pic of the appetizers but forgot
Everyone's friendly here
In front of the Reggae Bar, Kobe
Mez Rocking the Mic
Teachers and life-long learners know how to party too.
The crew members dont mess around. They represent Jamaica
Jonell and me
Japan 7/11
The next morning my buddy Graham and I got up at sunrise to try to get a glimpse of the famed mountain. Graham brought his fishing pole and hung out on the lake while I practiced my meditation skills and watched the rising sun come out and illuminate the perfectly cone-shaped mountain. Their were a few Japanese people out walking their dogs and appreciating the natural beauty around their town.
Later that day the rest of our group headed out to Tokyo, while Jeff and I stayed behind because we didn't want to pay bus fare and we read a wikitravel article on hitchhiking in Japan. The article said that it was easy to do for those travelers trying to stretch a buck. We gave it our best shot, but got discouraged with the language barrier and everyone telling us that we were crazy. The one guy that ended up giving us a ride to the bus stop said that we were the first hitchhikers he had ever picked up.
Cool Building in Tokyo
-Chris
