Behind on blogs!

I'm currently coming into the port of Hong Kong! And I haven't finished my blog for Vietnam/Cambodia! I'm sorry! I didn't have enough time with the two days we had on the ship! I'll probably post after China and then do have of China before I have to get off the ship again for Japan! So much traveling in a matter of two weeks! Today I'm walking around Hong Kong with Robert and Ashley and we're just going to explore before Robert and I have to leave for the airport to catch our flight at 4:15pm. This is my itinerary for this week! =] Great Wall here I come!

Day 1:

Arrive Hong Kong 8am

Depart the ship and make your own way to Hong Kong airport by taxi, Airport Express train / bus

International flight Hong Kong – Guilin

Pick-up at the Guilin airport by your guide and driver

Drive to your hotel in Guilin

 

Day 2 (B, L):

Pick you up from your hotel at 8am

Drive 2 hours to Longji Rice Terraces

Longji Rice Terraces

Chinese style lunch

Hike 4 hours from Dazhai village to Ping’an village

Drive 3 hours to Yangshuo

Free time on West Street at night

 

Day 3 (B, L):

Check out of the hotel

Biking tour up river (1 hour)

Rafting downriver (1.5 hours)

Biking tour to Water Cave

Chinese style lunch

Private bus transfer you to Guilin airport

Flight from Guilin to Beijing (evening)

Pick-up at the Beijing airport by your guide and driver, transfer to your hotel and check in

 

Day 4 (B, L):

Pick you up from your hotel

The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square

Peking duck lunch

Temple of Heaven

Dinner on your own

Drive back to your hotel

 

Day 5 (B, D)

Check out of the hotel, meet at 8am in the lobby

Xiushui Silk Market: shop for souvenirs and warm clothes

Buy your own lunch (western and Chinese available) to take with you on the road. Also take some snacks to eat while hiking on the Great Wall.

Drive to the Great Wall

Hike 4 miles along the wall to Jinshanling village (hike is optional).

Chinese style dinner

Sleep by the Wall (We provide tents, sleeping bags, mats and flashlights. Also there is an ample supply of soft drinks and snacks provided on the wall, and we have arranged for bottles of wine).

Note: For safety reasons you must stay in your group on the Great Wall. You may not leave your group or walk around on your own.

 

Day 6 (B, L):

Breakfast on the Wall: Bread, fresh fruit, canned coffee

Drive back to Beijing

Stroll on the Olympic Green and view the outside of the Swim Cube and Birds Nest Stadium

Chinese style lunch

Drive to train station

Take high speed train to Shanghai (5 1/2 hours at 300 kilometers per hour!)

Transfer by bus to your ship.

Day 3 - Sunrise at Angkor Wat, Temples Galore, Pub Street and the Night Markets of Siem Reap

Day 3 - I got up at 5am and headed down to the lobby to leave for Angkor Wat. We got to Angkor Wat and there were tons of tourists there and it reminded me of the time I went up to Diamond Head for sunrise. We waited around for sunrise and 6:15 came and went. The tour guide said it would come up at 6:15, but it was too hazy to see the sun and the sky was getting bright. At 6:30 as we were walking back to the bus because we had to leave, the sun peaked up over Angkor Wat and it was beautiful and I wish we could've waited to see it, but we had to head back to the hotel for breakfast. After breakfast we left at 8am and hit A LOT of temples. We went to Angkor Thom, Bayon, Ta Prohm Temple, and Banteay Srei. Before Banteay Srei we went to eat at Shadow of Angkor restaurant. We had a fixed meal with curry with coconut milk, mixed veggies, and a ground beef with eggplant. After lunch we had some time to shop around at a market down the street. We headed down there and there was a lot of cool stuff but we only had half an hour so I felt too rushed to buy anything. We got back on the busy and went to Banteay Srei which is a temple that was built completely by women. The Landmine museum was the next stop and that was the most interesting stop of the day. A Cambodia man named Akira, used to be a soldier and used to lay landmines as a soldier. Today, he helps clear them. He started an organization that helps clear them and he has estimated to clear at least 500,000. Many communities are badly affected by these mines as people often come across landmines and lose limbs or are killed. The museum also runs an orphanage who houses children who have been affected by the civil war and these landmines. They also send them to school. The museum had the stories of each child that was there and their stories. It was crazy to read it and how they often worked as a child to help support their families because their parent or parents died because of the civil war.

We left the landmine museum and headed back to Siem Reap. There was about 2 hours in which we had free so some of us headed back to the market we went to earlier that day and shopped around. We went to dinner at Viroth's restaurant where we had the same exact thing we had for lunch >_< Afterwards, Patrick, Anna, Matt, and I went to the night markets and pub street. The atmosphere of all of it was awesome and there was such a night life and a lot of people were out and about. Pub street is a street where a lot of restaurants and bars line it and everybody goes there to hang out. There were a lot of the same things around the markets and I didn't end up getting anything. We headed back to the hotel because we were tired from a long day.

Miho =]

PS. Didn't have time for pics! Sorry! I'll post some later with this post!

Day 2 - Cambodia bound, Angkor Wat, Kulen II Restaurant

Day 2 - We left the ship at 6:50am and headed for the airport. Our passports were already there at the airport from the day before to "process" our visas. Patrick, Anna and I walked around the airport and bought Vietnam souvenirs even though they were more expensive than the markets. I bought some because I didn't buy any the day before and didn't know if I would be able to get to the market again before we left. We boarded a tiny plane! It was a propeller plane and about 50 SASers took up pretty much the entire plane with the exception of a few Europeans. I've never ridden in a propeller plane so that was pretty cool! =] We got to Siem Reap  and headed straight to the hotel where we ate lunch which was a buffet style. The food was alright at the hotel the entire time we stayed there. We left for Angkor Wat at about 3pm and toured the entire temple. Our tour guide told us the stories that were carved into the sandstone walls of the temple. It showed the history of Angkor Wat. It was interesting to see and learned that it used to be COVERED by jungle. It was built in the 12th century and it was discovered in 1861 and cleared by 1901. Angkor Wat actually used to be a Hindu temple, but it was changed to a Buddhist temple. It was really humid and hot there so all of us got tired at the end of the tour and just wanted to go and eat. We left at about 6:30 and got to Kulen II Restaurant. This restaurant was a huge venue with rows and rows of tables. It was buffet style with different stations such as Pho and fried foods. The whole venue, including it's stage reminded me a lot of a luau. I was very disappointed with the idea and I really didn't know what was authentic. =/ After dinner they had a cultural dance show. It was interesting to watch, but again, I just didn't know if it's just staged or if it's actually traditional dance of Cambodia. By then, the three of us were really tired and decided to head back to the hotel while many SASers already left to hit the night market. We knew we had to be up at 5am to watch sunrise. We hung around the lobby while Patrick and Anna got drinks and we just talked story till about 10pm.

Miho =]

Good Morning Vietnam!! Day 1 - Walking around Ho Chi Minh City

Day 1 - I woke up and went outside at about 6am to see us going up the Saigon River to Ho Chi Minh city. It kind of looked like the Amazon, but less forest, more buildings and a whole lot more water traffic. The MV Explorer (the SAS ship) honked it's horn about 3 times in a matter of 20 minutes to tell small ships to move out of our way! Apparently bigger ships have the right of way, but some local ships didn't like it soo much =/ Our captain wasn't driving the boat though. A Vietnamese pilot came on at about 4am to drive us up the Saigon river because they are the ones that know the river the best and know where to go. It was really humid outside, but the wind was blowing so it made it bearable. Ashley and I went downstairs to eat breakfast with Jessey and we got ready to start our day! Ashley had a trip that afternoon, so Jessey and I were gonna walk around with Cathy and Lucy. Robert came along for a little bit before he had to be back for a trip at noon. We didn't get off till about 9am and took the shuttle that SAS provided to the center of downtown at the Rex Hotel. From there, we got money exchanged or stopped at an ATM and headed down the street. We came upon Ben Thanh market which is a huge market with tiny stalls that are really close together so there is little aisle space sometimes. We were told that Ben Thanh market was the place to go for cheap souvenirs. There were definitely souvenirs, but it was pretty pricey and some stalls were fixed prices so you couldn't bargain at all. At this point in the voyage, we're all pretty good at bargaining and we've bargained for anything and everything! We walked through and they had different sections for clothes, souvenirs, fresh produce, little food shops, and a seafood place. Lucy, Cathy, Jessey, and Robert ended up getting Spring Rolls at this one place where you sit on the stools around it and they hand you the food. It was kind of like the hawker center in Singapore. Even the food was a bit pricey, a spring roll cost 50cents and they weren't that big. From there, I wanted to get a Japan Rail Pass and we decided to head in that direction because a tourist police officer told us that it was a few blocks down. Rob took a taxi back on the way because he had to head back to the ship to make his trip. It ended up not being only a few blocks, but about 6 or 7. =[ It was hot and humid and I felt bad for dragging them to go get it. And when we FINALLY got to the office, it was CLOSED! >_< WTH. The tour operator on the ship that guides you if you have any questions on where to go, said it would be open even though it was a Sunday. NOPE! Closed! =[ I was bummed and felt bad, but we hopped in a taxi and headed towards the Reunification Palace.

When we got there, it was closed too! but it was closed for lunch and would reopen at 1pm. It was about 11:30 and we were hungry so we decided to try and find a Pho place. We came across this little food shop that could've looked a little sketchy and they didn't have a menu and they said all they have is Pho. So most of us ordered Beef Pho. It was alright, but filled out stomachs and it was only $2. We thought it was only 14,000 Dong, but the guy actually said 40,000 Dong. The conversion is $1 to 20,700 Dong. Which is an insane conversion rate and it seems like a lot of money, but it was less than $2. We headed further down the street and found other Pho restaurants that we could've gone to, but they were a bit pricier for $5 for a bowl of Pho. We stopped at a Cafe so Cathy, who didn't get Pho because it was hot, could get Spring Rolls. Jessey and I went across the street to a place called New York Dessert Cafe. I know, I know, not very cultural right? But we wanted dessert! lol We decided after looking at the menu that Lucy and Cathy would probably want these desserts they had too so we went back over to the Cafe and ate with them, AGAIN. They had free wifi too so I talked to Zoey and my grandma for a little bit. We went across the street, next to the New York Dessert Cafe to The Coffee Bean >_< because Lucy wanted iced coffee because we were all starting to feel a bit tired from the heat. We headed next door to the dessert cafe and got some cheesecakes, mud pie, and a shake =] I was happy with the desserts and especially my shake! lol there was wifi there too so I talked to Mai and Kapena and Ces were at her place to I talked to them too for a little bit. After almost two hours of eating we decided that we should probably start walking around again. We went to the Notre Dame Cathedral across the street and checked it out. Then we finally headed back to the reunification palace and bought $1.50 tickets to walk around. The palace didn't have any kind of information signs and we didn't have a tour guide, so we were walking through aimlessly, not knowing the significance of the different rooms. We did follow this Japanese tour group at one point and Lucy was translating for us what was what.

We left and got in a taxi and had the hardest time trying to explain that we wanted to go to this memorial for a monk who immolated himself to stop the discrimination of the Buddhist religion. Our driver did not know where to go and said it was 30 minutes away and we heard it was only 10 minutes, so we redirected him to take us to another market we heard was better, but after about 5 minutes, Lucy figured out what cross section the memorial was on the map and showed the taxi driver to take us there. We got there and there was no memorial, then the driver finally realized what we meant and took us a block down. >_< It was probably the most confusing taxi ride ever. We went to the memorial and the story was insane. This monk sat where that memorial was, but on the intersection. He sat down on the street and while meditating, another monk poured gasoline on him and lit him on fire. The monk didn't scream in pain, but just sat there while he burned to death. The crazy thing was the only thing that remained in tact of him was his heart. The rest of him burned to bits. We heard that his heart is still preserved and thought it was at this memorial, but it wasn't there and figured it was probably at a museum somewhere. It was just so crazy that he did make a sound while he was burned alive and that he was so devoted to the Buddhist religion and against the killings of many monks that he did this.

We hailed yet another taxi and asked them to take us to the other market. We got dropped off and walked around there, but it wasn't at all what we were expecting. It was mostly a market for locals and didn't have any souvenirs and mostly had household goods, fresh produce, seafood, and regular clothes. We just walked around for about an hr then got another taxi to head back to the ship. Along the way we got to this roundabout that had a really cool mini park that was over a pool and had fountains surrounding it. There were a lot of restaurants too so we asked the taxi driver to stop, we paid, and got out. We went to the mini park area and looked around to see where we wanted to eat. The entire roundabout was surrounded by fancy restaurants and we decided on a place called The Sushi Club. lol We wanted Japanese food! We were the only ones that were there and the staff busily got ready to serve us. We sat on the top floor on the balcony and ordered lots of sushi and I ordered an unagi bowl. They were really accommodating since we were the only ones there and my unagi bowl was alright, but Jessey guys said their sushi was really good. We paid for our bills which was really cheap for all of us. My bill came out to about $6 and theirs came out to about $10 and that was with ordering like 4 different sushi plates. It was really cheap compared to the American-Japanese places.

We hailed yet another taxi and took it back to the ship, our driver was a little confused and thought we meant a different ship, but we could see the ship from where we were headed in the wrong direction so we just pointed it out to him. The language barrier here was a lot worse than I was expecting! We got back to the ship at 7:30 and a couple of our friends were getting married in Vietnam. Long story short, they left notes on our doors that said 7:15 at the Rex Hotel! We missed it!! We were soo bummed and felt so bad because Jessey and I were supposed to be IN the wedding. I was supposed to be a bridesmaid and Jessey was supposed to walk the bride down the aisle. I won't say any names on who it was because I'm not sure if they would want others to know, but it was a fake wedding. Past SASers have gotten married in Vietnam because it's only legal if you send the documentation in to the US. They weren't planning on sending it in. We found out that there was an after-party at the Rex Hotel so we got ready and waiting for the girls to get ready. We didn't leave till like 10 and right as we got to the Rex Hotel, the wedding party was leaving to go to a club! We followed them to Apocalypse Now and stayed there for a couple of hours. It was a huge SAS party and we quickly got over it. It was fun while it lasted, but there was just too many SAS people. We had trouble getting a taxi home because the driver that knew where we had to go was overpriced and then the one that would meter the taxi didn't know what the heck we were talking about! We finally just got into the taxi where the guy was just going to meter it after some reluctance. We arrived at the ship and I showered and went straight to bed! I had to get up to go to Cambodia the next morning at 6:50am!

Miho =]

Side notes: Crossing the street is insane in Vietnam! Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but a lot of streets don't have pedestrian lights or they do, but they don't work. So sometimes you just have to walk across the busy traffic and the best way to get hit is to walk at a steady pace and the mopeds/motorcycles/cars with go around you. There is mostly mopeds and motorcycles in Vietnam and you just have to guess the best time to go and just go! YouTube crossing street in Vietnam! You'll find some crazy videos

Singapore - Chinatown, Little India, and a whole lot of food!

Singaporeeee!!

I still wasn't feeling the greatest the morning of Singapore, but I
wasn't going to let it ruin my only day in Singapore! I planne dto walk
around the city with Cathy and Jessey. We planned to go to Chinatown,
Little India, and go to a hawker center. Singapore is a bustling city
and it reminded me of a mini Japan. Singapore is a very diverse place
with much influence from Eastern Asia. Where we ported there was a
shopping center and a subway station right at the port. We had to go
through immigration and customs and then we were in the port shopping
center. We heard that there was going to be internet cafes there, but we
found out there wasn't any. We decided to just hop on the subway and
find internet cafes along the way. We got to the station and heard that
we could buy a day pass for the subways and had to wait in line for a
little bit. It was $20 and we would get $10 back when we returned the
card at the end of the day. We took the subway to Chinatown which was
only a 5 minute ride away. The subway system was very modern and it was
very easy to know where we were headed and what line we had to take. We
got off in Chinatown, walked up the stairs and we were right in
Chinatown. We walked down the road and there were a lot of Vietnam
souvenirs. There were also just a lot of Asian souvenirs in general too.
We came upon a really elaborate Hindu temple that Jessey wanted to see.
We took off our shoes outside and paid to use my camera inside the
temple. The temple was very colorful and the paintings on the ceilings
were.....interesting. We walked down a few streets and came across a
Buddhist temple. They were having prayer, but you had to cover your
shoulders and wear skirts/shorts past your knees. Luckily, they had
wraps you can use and then you can go into the temple. The temple also
had a museum and and souvenir shop in it. It seemed really modern and
was interesting to see. They had a pagoda made up of 10,000 Buddhas. It
was interesting, but we didn't really know much about both temples so it
was pretty much just us walking through.

We walked back to the subway station and got to Little India. Right
above the station is a hawker center. A hawker center is a center that
is made up of little stalls that are food shops. Singapore promotes
these hawker centers to increase sanitation and get the street food into
these hawker centers. The centers are rated based upon their sanitation.
"A" being the best and so on down the line. I still couldn't eat dairy
and red meat because of my stomach (recommendations from Dr. Bill) so I
got something that was similar to Pho. It was noodles with chicken and
broth. It was really good and the place I got it from was a Grade A
place. We went upstairs that had clothing shops, but we didn't find
anything. We saw Ada and Courtney and they said there were internet
cafes down the street. We found one along the main road and used the
internet to catch up on Facebook, Skype friends, and Jessey had to plan
flights for Vietnam and China. I talked to Josh most of the time and it
was really good to catch up and see what was happening with him. Also to
tell him the crazy laws they had in Singapore! We learned about the laws
in Singapore and the fines you get and sometimes you can get caned. Some
laws are no chewing gum, no spitting, no jaywalking, and no durian
(which is a really stinky fruit). The fines are insane too like for
chewing gum was like $1000. Spitting was about the same and it could get
up to $5000. We paid for our internet which was about $2 or $3 for an
hour or hour and a half. We saw on Facebook that people went to Marina
Bay Sands Resort which is the resort that has the Sky Park and has the
largest infinity pool in the world. It looks like it has a boat on top
of the three towers. The three of us tried to go into the Casino that
they had in their mall, but you had to be 21. We walked around the mall
which was huge! It even had a skating rink in it. It was super expensive
though. We talked to a lady that said there was a really good Thai
restaurant a little north of where we were. We decided to go there and
found a Thai restaurant in a shopping center area. The lady talked to
said the place was really cheap, but it wasn't as cheap as we were
thinking. The three of us each got $3 dishes and I got a seafood fried
rice which was REALLY GOOD. Sooo yummy! At this point we felt like we
had been eating all day because we stopped at little shops and bought
food. We ate pretty fast and wanted to head back to the ship. We took
the subway, turned in our subway day passes and got our refund back. I
still had Singapore money left and just spent the rest on random things
in the port shopping center. I knew I overpaid for them but I still had
about $30 left. I was running around trying to spend the last of my
money till it was 30 minutes before on-ship time. I didn't know (along
with many people) that we had to go through security again and they
checked our passports a couple times. We finally got through and when I
ran up to the ship the line was pretty short. I got on 15 minutes before
on-ship time!

My whole Singapore experience was pretty good because it was so diverse
and very modern, it was a nice transition before we hit the big cities
in Vietnam, China, and Japan.

Miho =]

Being sick is no fun at all! Delhi Belly and missing Sea Olympics =[

Yup! As I said before, I had a case of Delhi Belly! Waking up the day of
Sea Olympics and constantly not being able to sleep was terrible =[ I
woke up feeling weak, tired, dehydrated and feverish. I emailed Melissa,
one of the Yellow Sea team captains to let her know I wouldn't be able
to compete and als found someone to replace me for the competitions I
was supposed to participate in (Tug-o-war and Hula Hoop Race). I ended
up sleeping all day, drinking lots of water and waited for the medical
clinic on Deck 2 to open at 4:30. I missed their morning hours and
didn't want to pay more for a out-of-hours visit. I went to the medical
clinic at about 4:30 and there was quite a line of waiting people both
in the clinic and Kara was sitting outside because there wasn't any more
room in the medical clinic waiting room. I finally got into the waiting
room and had one of the nurses, she said I didn't have a fever and once
she figured out that I needed antibiotics, got that for me, ordered
"sick trays" for me which is just meals delivered to my room. I headed
back to my room for an hour after I got there and Julius, my steward,
delivered my sick tray a little while afterwards. I was too sick to eat
it so I fell asleep and didn't wake up till 9 and it was cold =[ Ashley
was so nice and took care of me. She tried to go and get my soup heated
up, but ended up bringing back a cup of noodles so I could drink the
salty broth to get my fluids leveled out. She took my water bottles,
went to Deck 6 dining room at the other end of the ship and filled them
up for me. The sink water didn't taste so good, but I felt too sick to
go and fill it up myself.

I was really sad that I missed Sea Olympics and is one of those things I
regret not doing, but I really couldn't help not going. There was no way
I would've had enough energy to do the activities. I felt weak just
walking down to Deck 2 and going to the medical clinic. I felt pretty
faint and was walking very slow too.

I went to the medical clinic the next morning. I wasn't feeling feverish
anymore, but the cramps were pretty bad and I had a hard time sleeping
because of it. They gave me different antibiotics because I couldn't
keep down the other one they gave me. I was excused from class and put
on the "sick list" so I slept on and off all day. I finally started
really feeling better the next morning so I went to breakfast, ate
little, and headed to global studies. Before global studies even
started, I wasn't feeling good so I left a little before it started and
took a nap. I got up before Anthropology of Food. I forced myself to
stay in class even though I was feeling pretty bad. Towards the end of
the class I felt a lot better and went to lunch. I was in a good mood
because I felt a lot better and went to work and joked around with Emily
and the other work study students. =] I'm so glad I was feeling a lot
better and that I decided to just power through it.

Miho =]

Day 6 - Sickness at Chendamangalam Village =[

Day 6 - I was still feeling feverish when I got up that morning and my FDP was leaving at 9am to go to a village about an hr and a half outside of Kochi. It was an FDP and I needed it for my Gender and Society class so I went after eating a small breakfast. I had a fever, but my skin felt cold and so when I got on the bus I felt really cold. I ended up talking to Ada for a little bit then falling asleep on and off until we got to the village. We unloaded off the buses and walked down a street for about 10 minutes where we were greeted with drummers. We all sat down and were given leis and coconuts to drink the coconut water out of. I wasn't sure what was going on with my body so i didn't drink much of the coconut water. At this point I started to feel pretty weak and faint. I wanted to fall asleep during the entire drum performance. I felt really bad and tried to keep my attention as much as possible. After the drumming they did a cooking demonstration and I went into the other house to use the bathroom and when I came out there was my group in the house talking with the leader of the visit and it was her house and she was talking about her life and how it related to our Gender and Society class with Professor Parrot. Sephora at this point was watching me and making sure I wasn't about to faint and fall in a bad place. I sat when I could. What was weird was it was so hot EVERYBODY was sweating and dying from the heat, but my fever was so bad the temperature seemed normal and I wasn't sweating a single drop. We ate lunch and I didn't want to be rude and not eat anything so I ate rice, curry, and mixed veggies. I ate quite a bit and more than I wanted to, but I didn't want to waste. After lunch I was really feeling worse so I talked to Professor Parrot and she talked to the visit leader and they showed me to her house and offered me a bed to sleep on. I fell asleep there until it was time to go to a factory on the way back. They offered me some herbal tea that was supposed to make me feel better and it tasted really good, but I didn't feel much better. =/ They woke me up and I walked back to the bus with the group for about 10 minutes. While the rest of the group went into the factory, I stayed on the bus and just slept. We made one more stop at a shop then we went back to the ship. I wasn't feeling good still and they had me cut the whole student line for security check to get my bag checked first and to go to my room. I got back to my room still feeling the fever with chills and my stomach was cramping a little. =[ Not a good feeling AT ALL. I slept from then all the way till the next morning. I woke up on and off, but slept almost all the way through. It sucked that I missed the village visit because they got to talk with the people and learn how to make food and to tour the entire village. I was hoping I would feel better for the next day because it was Sea Olympics and I had a couple events to compete in. I was hopeful and tried to sleep as early as possible so the fever would just pass and I would feel a heck of a lot better!

Miho =]

Day 5 - Heading back to Delhi, then to Kochi.

Day 5 - This day was pretty uneventful ecept for lots and lots of traveling so we can get back to Kochi. We woke up, ate breakfast, checked out, and left the hotel at about 7:15am. We were in Jaipur and so we drove the long 5 hour journey back to Delhi to catch our flight. I didn't sleep as much as I wanted to and was up and talking or listening to music almost the entire time. I did watch the country go by and people watched as we passed small towns. People always stared at our bus of foreigners passing through. Some waved, some didn't, some people just ignored us. We got into Delhi, ate lunch at a new hotel that just opened up, Country Inn Suites. It was buffet style and I had yet again more naan! We headed straight to the airport from there, waited for our flight and boarded! Luckily this time our flight to Kochi was direct and was only 3 hours. I talked story with Patrick almost the entire flight and I fell asleep towards the end of it. We got back into Kochi at about 9 and all of us were tired and just wanted to go back to the ship instead of eating dinner at a hotel that was planned. We were fed dinner on the flight too so none of us were really hungry. The bus went straight back tot he ship and we got back at about 10pm. By this time I was really starting to feel weird. About halfway through the flight I started to get a fever and just felt very weak. I felt really impatient in line at the ship while waiting for security to check people's bags before me. I just wanted to take a hot shower and sleep. The temperature of Kochi wasn't really helping too. It was quite hot! I finally got back on the ship and just went to bed as soon as I could after I showered hoping I would feel better after a full night's rest.

Miho =]

Day 4 - Amber Fort, Riding Elephants, City Palace, Observatory, and Shopping.

Day 4 - This day wasn't as eventful as the past few days. We got up, ate breakfast, and were headed on the bus at 8am to Amber Fort where we were gonna ride elephants. I had rode elephants in South Africa and weren't as  excited. I also heard that the elephants aren't treated the best in India. We got there and there was a huge line to ride the elephants up to the fort. There were little platforms for 2 people to sit as they ascend up to the fort. Most of them had chalk on their faces and their ears were roped for some reason, I think it might be because the handlers used the rope links to pull the ears with their sticks =/ The elephants there didn't look like they were treated that well. Emily and I got on and started to make our way up to the fort. It was really scary and so scary we started hysterically laughing. Our platform on the elephant was slanted so we would always slide forward to where it was leaning. We felt like we were going to fall off at any moment and I really don't know why we were laughing. We made it up to the fort, toured it and had pretty good views of the rolling hills and their mini version of the great wall of china. I didn't learn much history about the place because our group was being pretty obnoxious >_< We walked down the fort and boarded the bus again. The entire time, peddlers would be bothering us to buy things and you just have to ignore them or shake your head and turn away. There were also photographers that took your picture while you were on the elephant and had them printed and would offer to sell them to you. We went to a textile factory where they make prints and they also make wool carpets. They are made by single knots and once they're done making carpets (which could take 9 months to 4 years) each knot is counted and is made sure there are the number of knots there needs to be to make the design.

We boarded the bus and headed to City Palace where the royal family used to live and there is a museum there were you can see pictures/paintings of the past kings. We kind of hurried through there and also went to the observatory across the street. This was really cool because it is still accurate today and can still tell you what time of day it is. There are also different instruments for all of the astrological signs. Our guide briefly talked about how the time instrument works, but we didn't get to learn much else. =/ I wish I could've learned about everythign that was there because there was soo much, but we were running out of time and people were getting restless and obnoxious. Everyone wanted to go shopping afterwards so we had the choice of going to a bazaar which is more like a market or to a shopping center that's 3 floors of supposedly the same things. The 4 of us chose the wrong one =[ We chose the shopping center and it didn't have the same things and was not the same price (it was really expensive!) Everyone else that came felt the same way and we all got back on the bus and talked to our tour guide and decided to go back early to the bazaar so we can look around for 30 minutes and then all get back on to go back to the hotel. Emily, Maria, and I hurried around the shops searching for the perfect alli bubba pants and I wanted to find a tapestry. Guys were talking at us to come in their shop and we hurriedly bought stuff. We headed back to the hotel, ate dinner, watched an awesome puppet show, talked with family and friends and passed out! The next day was just going to be all traveling!

Miho =]

Day 3 - Agra bound, Agra Fort, the Taj Mahal!, and Jaipur bound!

Day 3 - Meg and I got our wake up call at 4:15 and got up and ready to go downstairs, ate a quick breakfast, and hopped on the bus! We didn't leave on time though >_< There was one guy that we didn't know where he was. Somebody went and checked his room and he was apparently still sleeping! =/ It was getting down to the wire and we were supposed to leave at 5:15am, but it was already 5:30am and we had a train to catch! The trains leave on time too! We got to the train station in time and the traffic was insane. 60 students had to cross a busy street, walk through a crowded parking lot and head into a train station that many Indians were intermixing into the line for security. Once we got through the very lax security which was pretty much a rush of putting our bags on the belt, walking through the beat up metal detector, picking up our bags, and hurriedly finding our cabin. I was Cabin 5, Seat 60. I easily found my cabin and seat and sat down to take a breather and take in the station out the window. Everybody finally got settled and we were on our way to Agra! I sat with Patrick and Meg and we had a really nice talk about many different things, and I had a window seat which was cool to see the country go by and change from village, to grasslands and back to village again. Once we were on board for a while, we got served tea and cookies. Chelle had told me not to drink the tea because someone else had told her there was weed in it?! Not sure if it's true or not, butttt I didn't want to chance it and I didn't drink it. Meg and Patrick were brave and drank it though and they seemed fine afterwards so I guess it was fine! The train served us a light breakfast with rice, and a couple of stews. As we were being served we kept on looking at each other like Should we eat this? Is it okay to eat? Are we gonna get sick? lol We really didn't know if we should, but we all did and it was pretty good and not too spicy so I could handle it. We didn't end up getting sick from that either! =]

We arrived in Agra and a flood of SAS students filed off the train. Apparently there were about 1 or 2 other groups that were on the same train as us. We walked out to the gate to the parking lot and right when we got out of the gate, I looked to my right because there was some commotion going on. Kids rushed towards Melissa and grabbed the food out of her hand and started fighting for it. We were all so scared and shocked with what just happened, but we kept on making our way to the bus. When we got to the parking lot, there were tons of kids, and disabled people begging for food, water, and money. They wouldn't grab at you or anything, but they would stand there and stare at you with their palm facing up. You just couldn't look at them and they would move down the line. They would also be right at the entrance to the bus and just stand there looking at the people board the bus. A lot of people gave them their water that they got on board the train. The bus left as soon as we had everybody and we made our way to a hotel to eat a buffet breakfast, but I know Emily, Maria, Patrick and I weren't very hungry from what we just witnessed. Patrick talked about how frustrated he was that we just saw that and then SAS brings us to this buffet which is food we didn't need because we've already had breakfast twice and this food could've fed all those kids at the station, so they wouldn't have to fight over the food and not have to beg in rags of clothes. We kind of ate the little we could eat in silence after that, just not having much of an appetite. We tried to talk about the Taj Mahal afterwards and how we were going to see it today. We reminded each other that there are going to be more beggars at these places because they're such tourist spots so we really have to watch out and stay focused on just walking forward.

Agra Fort was our next stop and it was a really good precursor to the Taj Mahal. You could actually see the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort. We had to hurry and tour Agra Fort so we would have more time at the Taj Mahal so I didn't hear the significance and the history of Agra Fort. It was mostly made of red sandstone and another part of it out of white marble.

TAJ MAHAL!! We went from Agra Fort to the Taj and  was dropped off at the entrance. There were beggars and people selling Taj souvenirs all the way up the road. Our tour guides warned us that security at the Taj is very strict and some banned items are deck of card, cosmetics, and sharp objects. I decided to just bring my camera because I didn't want anything to get taken away. We walked up the road leading up to the main ticket gate. There were camels with carriages that can take you up the road, but the camels were depressing looking with some having their mouths covered with netting. We got up to the ticket gate, grabbed water from our tour guides and went to go stand in line. There were 4 different lines. One was for male "Indian tourists" the other for their women counterparts. The other two lines were for males or females that were of "High-value ticket holder" status. I thought this was really interesting and weird that we were considered "higher-value" compared to local Indians. We do have to pay more to get in, but their word choice was interesting for the signs. The lines also were only two feet wide and looked more like cattle lines of people. After going through metal detectors and being hand-scanned we finally got together and walked up to the entryway of the Taj Mahal. Patrick, Emily, Maria, and I have been talking about for the past day how we might cry when we see the Taj Mahal just because it is the highlight of SAS trips and past SAS people have mentioned that it's just so magnificent that some people start crying. I took a video of us walking up to the Taj and none of us cried, but we were mostly all in a state of disbelief and just overwhelmed at what we were witnessing. Looking at the Taj from that spot was like looking at a postcard, it was just still so surreal. We took the infamous pictures of holding the Taj and we made our way to go inside the Taj. We were given little booties to put over our shoes to preserve the Taj. The carvings were amazing and the flowers and stems that make up the intricate design of the Taj are all little stones. Each petal of each flower are a separate stone that was carved it own special place in the marble and a special glue was used to keep it in place. Glue that does not ever melt after it has dried. Marble and these little stones make up the Taj and this design is EVERYWHERE. Not to mention flowers and designs were carved so that they protruded out from the flat surface. We walked around inside the Taj where we couldn't take pictures and I ended up taking my shoes off and going barefoot because it felt pretty cool to walk on the white marble and just made it a more whole experience. We hung out a little outside and took more pictures before we had to head back down the courtyard to take our group picture. Going into the Taj was the best experience and you actually walk through most of it through the side rooms before coming out the side. When we were leaving we all took one last glances at it, still in disbelief we were there and that we had just been in there exploring. I would go back in a heartbeat to walk through again and just could hang out at the Taj all day admiring it and all the work that was put into it.

We headed back to the hotel, had lunch, and headed to a marble factory where they do the same work that was once done to make the Taj Mahal. This company is based on a cottage industry and about 110 families know the art to make the Taj Mahal. The glue recipe is still a secret that only the families know. Each piece is grinded down to make the intended shape and the marble is carved using one little hand tool. It's a very labor-intensive project and I can't believe the work that it took to make the Taj Mahal. I wanted to buy a piece to take home, but it was all too expensive and couldn't bring myself to buy it.

We headed towards Jaipur on the bus and on the way stopped at Fatehpur Sikri which is a city that was once the capital, but the capital was moved back to New Delhi.

Then we made the LONG drive to Jaipur, which was a total of about 5 or 6 hours. We slept most of the time with one stop for a bathroom "opportunity." Our guide doesn't call bathrooms "facilities," he likes to call them "opportunities" because you never know when you're gonna hit a decent bathroom next. We got to The Royal Orchid which was our hotel for the night and it was a nice comtemporary hotel compared to the last one which was more of a old European style. We had dinner at about 10, I called my grandparents at home and talked to them for a little bit but the internet wasn't that great. I also called Kana, but she could barely hear me. Meg and I crashed at about 1am.

Miho =]