The very last port... Hawaii

The very last port! It was a very welcome break from 11 days at sea.
I didn't have any expectations for the day - I was prepared to be
content just walking around town. Instead, I ended up having one of
the best days of the voyage so far! (And I have yet to hear of
anyone's Hawaii day that sounds cooler than mine!)

I had planned to spend the day with my friend Grace, and we met up
with our other friends Brynn and Amy, who were going snorkeling. We
started the day by going to Ken's House of Pancakes, which was a
delicious way to start the day. I had coconut pancakes, and for the
first food off the ship it was delicious! The restaurant was really
crowded with SAS kids and locals. After breakfast, we headed across
the street to a gift shop. We ran into some other friends who were
going scuba diving, and Brynn decided to go scuba diving with them.
We then went to a shop next door that provided rental snorkeling
equipment. The shop also provided two hour surfing lessons, so Amy,
Grace and I decided to give surfing a try! The surfing instructor
came to the shop, and he was a fantastic guy. Unfortunately, none of
us ever quite got his name - at one point I asked him to spell it, and
I still didn't quite catch it. We're pretty sure he kept giving us
different names. He was tattooed all over his face and his chest, and
was constantly followed by his little dog named Pip. He was a very
laid-back guy - exactly what I would picture for a typical Hawaiian
surfing instructor.

Our surfing instructor offered to give us a ride to the beach where we
would snorkel. It was a very pretty little black sand beach. The
water was quite cold, but braving the cold waters was beyond worth
it! All of the fish and the coral that I saw were amazing. There was
so much variety, and they were all very brightly colored. I was much
more impressed here than with Dominica's Champagne Reef. However, the
best part of snorkeling was when we saw a giant sea turtle! It was
the first sea turtle I had ever seen, and we were literally swimming
inches away from him. It was incredible!

Our surfing instructor picked us up around noon, and drove us downtown
and recommended a place for us to get lunch. It was a cute little
sandwich shop, and we highly enjoyed another meal off the ship. After
that, it was time to go surfing! We headed to a different, bigger
beach for our surfing lesson. For the first part of the lesson, we
each sat on the surf board (on dry land) and pretended to paddle and
stand up. After that, our surf guy announced it was time to hit the
waves. We immediately protested, as none of us actually had any idea
how to surf. "Don't worry, you'll figure it out," was all our surfing
instructor told us. So, with no clue what we were doing, we paddled
into the ocean. And promptly got beat up by the ocean. It was a lot
of fun, but surfing is hard! I kind of caught one wave, but I spent
most of the time getting hit by wave after wave and my surfboard. Our
surfing instructor later told us that the water conditions were pretty
rough for beginners... But it was still a great time. We also had
another sea turtle encounter here! There was another big sea turtle
who was just hanging out on the beach. It was pretty funny to watch
Pip check out the sea turtle.

After we were done "surfing," our surf guide took us to Rainbow Falls,
a waterfall that was nearby. It was very pretty, and we had a little
time to just walk around. After Rainbow Falls we got a ride back
downtown, and then said goodbye to our surfing friend. We got ice
cream and spent our remaining hour in port eating ice cream and
shopping. It was a fantastic day, and a great way to end my travels
for now. It's hard to believe that in less than a week I'll be home!
I've had an amazing semester, and I already feel like I need to
revisit every single port. I've made some really good friends, and
there are some people that I will really miss. However, I am excited
to return home. This trip has really made me realize how lucky I am
to return to such an amazing home!

Japan!

Japan - our last country before the United States! It's so hard to
believe how fast time has gone, I still feel like we just got to
Brazil. And now, we're on our way back home!

DAY ONE

Our first stop in Japan was Kobe. I had an FDP today, but it wasn't
until noon so my friend Lexi and I went into downtown to explore for a
little bit (she had an FDP too). Downtown was very busy, with lots of
shops, restaurants and people going to the train station. Lexi had
studied in Japan in high school, and it was a very pleasant surprise
to learn she spoke Japanese! This came in very helpful when we tried
to get lunch, coffee, ATMs, etc! The Japanese people always got
pretty excited when she spoke Japanese too. We got coffee at a cute
little coffee shop, and Lexi pointed out a major faux pas by some
other SAS kids - apparently, in Japan, it's very rude to eat and walk
at the same time. Meals are meant to be enjoyed, not rushed through.
I stocked up on snacks in case my FDP didn't stop for lunch, and then
we headed back to the port terminal.

My FDP today was to the zen gardens at Daitoku-Ji, in Kyoto, for my
art history class. I had wanted to go to Kyoto anyways, so that
worked out! Kyoto seems like a very cute city, and the zen gardens
were beautiful. The first one we went to was a rock garden, and a
monk gave us a guided tour. That was cool, but I liked the second zen
garden better - it was so green, just filled with plants, and it
bordered a bamboo forest. It was very peaceful! After that, our tour
guide let us stop at the Cherry Blossom Festival. We were lucky
enough to get to Japan during cherry blossom season - it only lasts
for a couple of weeks, and Kyoto in particular is famous for its
cherry blossoms. We could only stop at the festival for five minutes,
but it was incredible. There were so many cherry blossom trees, and
the blossoms were in full bloom. When you looked up, you saw a
ceiling of cherry blossoms!

After the FDP, I grabbed a quick dinner on the ship and then went with
some friends to a Japanese baseball game! We arrived a bit late, but
we were in time to see a big balloon cheer: Everyone had these long,
skinny balloons and they all cheered and released them at the same
time. It took us a long time to figure out which team we were
supporting. We were on the losing team's side, but you never would
have guessed it from how enthusiastic the fans were! There was
definitely more enthusiasm at this game than at most American baseball
games I've been to, and I'm pretty sure we were at a minor league
game. It was a lot of fun!

DAY TWO

Today, I met up with my friends Sara and Grace bright and early to go
to an internet cafe. We ended up going to an internet cafe/comic
shop. They didn't have wifi, but little cubbies with computers. Some
cubbies even had beds! The place also had a shower, and there was a
free drink vending machine, so you could pretty much live there if you
wanted. We had a lot of fun with the vending machine! They had all
sorts of drinks, hot and cold, and we definitely abused the free drink
privileges. After we had enough drinks, we went to a nearby crepe
place where I unknowingly ordered the daily special and got a cheaper
crepe! It was very exciting, but I'm pretty sure the cashier thought
I was kind of stupid for not realizing I'd ordered the special.

After crepes, we went to Mosaic, a little amusement and shopping area
in Kobe. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain, so we didn't get to
enjoy the amusement park. However, there were lots of cute shops - my
favorite was one dedicated to Snoopy! We found a delicious spot to
have lunch. The menu was in Japanese, and there were no pictures, so
we had fun picking random things to point at and order. Luckily, we
didn't get anything too strange! After lunch, we headed to the sake
brewery district. The rain was still pouring down, and we
unfortunately headed in the wrong direction out of the metro station.
Once we finally made it to our first sake brewery, we were quite
damp! The brewery was fun though - we watched a video (in English)
about the sake making process. This particular brewery makes sake the
old-fashioned way, without automated machines, and they're very proud
about that. Then we had tasting. I'd never tried sake before - I
can't say it's my favorite! We braved the downpour to go to a second
brewery, which had a museum and free tasting again. It was pretty fun!

We went back to downtown Kobe for dinner. We stumbled upon an eight-
story building with a different restaurant on each floor. We went to
each floor to judge each restaurant, then decided on the fifth floor.
It was a good decision! After that, we went to a nearby Baskin-
Robbins for dessert, and then headed back to the ship.

DAY THREE

Like in China, we had an option to travel overland or on the ship as
the MV Explorer went from Kobe and Yokohama. This time, to save money
I decided to stay in transit. It was a good, relaxing day and I
managed to get some work done. I'm definitely glad I stayed in
transit - I saved a lot of money!

DAY FOUR

Now, in Yokohama! This morning I wanted to find wifi to call home.
My friend Sara and I went out to find a coffee shop with wifi. We
thought, in such a technologically advanced country like Japan, this
would be an easy mission. Not the case! The first coffee shop we
found had a wifi sticker on the door. I went in and confidently
bought a drink, but when we asked about the wifi they shook their
heads no. This happened at the next couple coffee shops. Finally, at
Starbucks we figured it out: Wifi in Japan is a paid service. Coffee
shops only provide wifi through different providers, you need to sign
up for wifi service through these providers to access it. Not very
traveler-friendly! We were about to go across town to a hotel we'd
heard had wifi, until we ran into another SAS kid, who informed us
that there was wifi in the port terminal. So, back to where we
started! That wifi worked great, but I'm glad we got the chance to
walk around Yokohama.

I had another FDP at noon today - my last FDP! This time, it was "Zen
Meditation with Monks," for my World Prayer class. It started with a
presentation on the ship about the history of Japan, Buddhism, and tea
ceremonies. Then we went to Kamakura, a smaller town. It was a very
cute place! Our first stop was a tour of a large zen garden, which
was very beautiful. Then we walked through Kamakura to go to a
smaller zen garden, where we would participate in a tea ceremony and
meditation. The tea ceremony was very different from the tea
ceremonies I had in China! Instead of sampling different teas, we had
a bigger cup of one tea, and a small pastry to go with it. We learned
about the proper etiquette to drink tea. I liked the pastry, but the
bright green tea was a little strange! Then we went to the
meditation, which was lead by the garden's head monk. It was very
peaceful, but then the monk started smacking people's backs with a
plank of wood! This is a traditional practice, and is supposed to
help with posture. You didn't have to participate in that part, which
was good - it sounded painful! After meditation, the FDP was over. I
thought it was a very good FDP!

Once I was back on the ship I met up with Sara again to head to
Tokyo. Tokyo and Yokohama are pretty close to each other, so we had
planned to spend the night in Tokyo tonight. We already had a hostel
booked in Asakusa, but it took us a long time to get there! It was
raining again when we got to Tokyo, and we did not have the best
directions! We finally found it though, and it was a very cute
hostel. There were lots of people there! We got a late dinner at a
nearby noodle shop, and it was very tasty.

DAY FIVE

Our big day in Tokyo! I was hoping for sunshine, but we woke up to
another rainy day! Oh, well. We checked out of the hostel and went
out to find a coffee shop for breakfast. We went into the first cute
place we saw, only to discover that it was outrageously expensive:
Coffee - just plain coffee - cost more than a Starbucks latte, and
toast cost $8. Just plain toast! Needless to say, our next stop was
Denny's! Here, I had delicious and reasonably priced french toast.
It wasn't exactly like our Denny's though - they served rice dishes
for breakfast! Since it was raining pretty hard, and we didn't feel
like aimlessly wandering around Asakusa in the rain, we decided to
head over to the famous Harajuku district. This place was a lot of
fun! We went to another coffee shop, where we had a delicious latte.
There were tons of stores - unfortunately most were out of our price
range, but they were fun to look at. I also had fun looking at
everyone's outfits! People here have a lot of style, I definitely
felt pretty shabby in comparison. We found a cheap noodle shop to
have lunch, and it was delicious. One of my favorite meals in Japan.
It was when we were leaving the noodle shop that I noticed something:
I didn't have my backpack, and couldn't remember the last time I'd had
it! Panicking slightly, I tried to retrace my steps. Luckily all my
important valuables - my passport, medicine, money, iPod - were in my
purse, but I still didn't want to lose my backpack (technically my
sister's backpack!) with all my other stuff in it. I was fairly
certain I hadn't left it on the subway, so we ran to the coffee shop -
it had been several hours since we'd been there though. However, as
soon as I told the waitress I was missing my backpack, her face lit
up, and she reached behind the counter for my backpack! I was SO
relieved. I don't think that would have happened in all of the
countries I've been to on this trip! After we rescued my backpack, we
walked around a little more, and then made the journey back to the ship.

I really liked Japan - I definitely want to come back here with more
time and money! And now, next stop: United States of America!

China

China already! This rapid travel is really getting intense, and as I
write this we are a mere two days from Japan. Time is going by so fast!

DAY ONE

Today was my free day in Hong Kong! Hong Kong is pretty separate from
mainland China. They use their own currency, and Americans don't need
a visa to visit Hong Kong, but Chinese require a permit to go to Hong
Kong. I spent the morning walking around with my friends Lexi and
Alexa. Our port was in a nice mall area, and our first stop was
Starbucks. The first Starbucks in months! Alexa's brother has a
friend living in Hong Kong, and she recommended a temple for us to go
to. We had no idea what we were going to, but the temple ended up
being really cool! It was Palm Sunday, so on our way to the temple we
saw lots of people in Christian services walking around celebrating
Palm Sunday. The temple itself was very crowded! It was a huge
temple, and there were people everywhere. There was also a lot of
incense burning. We spent about an hour just wandering through the
temple and trying to see everything. Around noon Lexi had to go back
to the ship, so Alexa and I decided to get our fortunes read.
Apparently this area is famous for palm reading! The woman said that
I would be rich - she could tell because of my nose. I hope that's
true! The first thing she asked when she looked at my palms was if I
had had an accident with scissors as a child. I don't know if I have
a scar or something, but when I was in third grade I did accidentally
cut my hand with scissors!

After the fortunes, I had read about a place called Snoopy's World, so
we decided to go there. Snoopy's World was definitely meant for
kids! I'm a huge Peanuts plan though, so I still had fun looking at
all the giant Snoopy statues! Right next to Snoopy World was a random
dance competition, so we watched one of the dances. That was pretty
interesting! Alexa's brother's friend was meeting us for coffee, so
we headed to the area where she was meeting us. We walked around that
area for awhile, and then found Alexa's friend - funnily enough, she
was also named Lexi! Lexi had brought another friend, and the four of
us went to a very cute independent coffee shop. It was definitely the
type of place I would frequent back home. We then headed to
Victoria's Peak, and we were going to go up, but the line was over an
hour long! We decided to instead head back to the ship for dinner and
go to the Hong Kong International Film Festival. We saw a very
strange Japanese film! It was cool though, it was very crowded! It
was cool to go to an international film festival in another country!

DAY TWO

Time to go to Beijing! I came to Beijing on a SAS trip. We spent
most of the day traveling. When we got to Beijing, we met with our
tour guide and went to a local restaurant for a traditional dinner of
Beijing roast duck. It was pretty good! Our tour guide, Jessica,
spoke very good English, which was very nice! She was very
informative. Apparently, English has replaced Russian as the most
popular foreign language for Chinese people to learn. Jessica also
mentioned that people are still very proud of the 2008 Olympics - it
was a very big deal! Our hotel was the Holiday Inn- Temple of Heaven,
which was pretty funny. It's the nicest hotel I've stayed at on this
trip. We even get HBO!

DAY THREE

We had a continental breakfast at the hotel, which had everything from
fried rice to Honey Nut Cheerios. After breakfast we went to
Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is huge!
There lots of Chinese tourists there as well, and they kept taking
pictures of us! THat was pretty funny. Tiananmen Square was very
impressive, and then we entered the gates to the Forbidden City. It's
called the Forbidden City because when the Chinese emperor lived there
commoners were not allowed within its gates. The Forbidden City is
also huge! It feels like it never ends. I really liked exploring it
though, especially the Imperial Gardens. Again, it was very
impressive! I liked it more than I was expecting. After lunch we
went to a silk "museum". This stop wasn't listed on the itinerary and
it was basically just guided tour of a government-owned silk shop.
Very strange! After the silk store we went to the Guang Ai Migrant
School, which was a boarding school for kids whose parents don't have
the means to provide for them. We played basketball and tug of war
with them. It was very different than the school in Ghana I went to!
The kids did not seem so excited to see us. It was a good experience
though. After the school we went on a rickshaw ride through a very
cute area of Beijing to a local home for dinner. It was very good!
They even taught us how to make dumplings. It was a very busy day!

DAY FOUR

Today we went to the Great Wall of China! It was fantastic, I can't
believe I was really there! It's pretty funny, there's a big market
and a Subway at the bottom of the wall. We took a chairlift up to the
wall, and had about an hour to explore it. There were some sections
with very steep steps! I really liked it. We even got to toboggan
down! After lunch we went to a kung fu school. Students at this
school performed in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the 2008
Olympics, and they performed for us! That was very cool. After the
performance they taught us some kung fu. It was a lot of fun! There
were lots of cute little kids there, and they were all so talented!
Afterwards we passed the Olympic Village on the way to dinner, and
then went to an acrobatic show. The acrobatic show was very good! My
friends and I snuck up to VIP seats, so we had a prime view. It made
me miss gymnatics!

DAY FIVE

Last day in Beijing! We spent the morning at the Temple of Heaven,
which was even bigger than the Forbidden City. We spent most of the
morning playing shuttlecock, which was fun. We had a tea ceremony at
the temple, which was very interesting. We tried some delicious tea!
After the ceremony it was time to fly to Shanghai. Once I got back to
the ship I met up with my friend Alexa, and we wanted to go see the
Hunger Games. Unfortunately, the only English movie at the theater we
went to was Wrath of the Titans, so we just got chocolate from the
Hershey store and walked around Nanjing Street for awhile.

DAY SIX

Today I went with a large group of people to the Shanghai Science and
Technology Museum. The museum was pretty good, but the English
translations for the exhibits was a little humorous at times. The
museum was crowded with schoolchildren! When we were done with the
museum we got lunch at Papa John's - we were a little done with
Chinese food! Papa John's was actually a sit down restaurant, and it
was delicious. After lunch we wandered for a couple of hours through
a large underground market. We found lots of knock-offs! There were
even knock-off iPods that played MP5s - not sure those would be a wise
purchase! Later, Alexa, Liz, Peter and I tried to see Hunger Games at
yet another theater. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that the Hunger
Games is playing at all in China - no one knew what we were talking
about! That was a little disappointing. We went back to the ship for
dinner, and then I met up with some other friends and went to a local
bar. There were lots of SAS kids there - I think we overwhelmed the
bar! It was a fun evening though.

DAY SEVEN

A week has gone by already! It went by so fast! I had an FDP in the
morning to two different temples. The first was the Longhua Temple,
the largest Buddhist temple in Shanghai. It was fun to just explore
all the different buildings. They were all very beautiful, inside and
out, decorated with lots of different art and sculptures. The next
temple was the Jade Buddha temple, home to the largest jade statue of
Buddha. It was very pretty. This temple was smaller, so instead of
wandering we had a tea ceremony. It wasn't quite as good as my tea
ceremony in Beijing, but it was still fun. Afterwards, I went to
another market with my friends Matt and Liz. This market was a lot of
fun - it was very busy with a lot of locals! Unlike the other
markets, this place actually felt like a cultural experience.
However, this market didn't have the same knockoffs, so we went to yet
another market to buy knockoffs. There were even knockoff Rosetta
Stones, so now I'm going to learn Italian!

I really enjoyed China! I had a great time here. There's so much to
see - again I feel like I barely scratched the surface of this country!