So now it's three days in SD. I'm staying with a friend from the ship. I'll talk to you all soon.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Oh beautiful...
So now it's three days in SD. I'm staying with a friend from the ship. I'll talk to you all soon.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Heading Home
I realize I never really even wrote anything about Japan and China but I am just worn out right now. We arrive in San Diego on Friday and I’m a little stressed about the fact that I’m still not sure where I am staying. I really wish they would just let me stay on the ship and sail with it wherever it is off to next. There is a part that is looking forward to getting home though. It’s amazing the little things I have been missing, such as driving my car, sitting on the coach and watching TV, knowing what is going on in the world, getting to use the internet without worrying about how many minutes I have left, being able to eat whatever I want not the selection of pasta, fish, rice and chicken we have been eating lately (tonight is a BBQ though so the food should be good), being able to talk on my cell phone and being able to just go for a walk or ride my bike. Of course I miss all of my family and friends too but that is a given. The biggest stress about coming home is that I have to figure out where I go from here. I thought that this voyage would give me some great epiphany on what career I wanted but it really has not. I have learned that I love to travel and there is a great big world out there that I want to explore but now I have to figure out how to go about that.
Life on the ship has been relatively quiet lately. Have been losing an hour of sleep most nights to try and we actually had two April 20ths because we crossed the International Dateline. I don’t really know what happened. All I know is when I went to sleep we were 17 hours ahead of EST and when I woke up we were 7 hours behind. I tried to figure it out but I just ended up passing out from using my brain too much. We are currently 6 hours behind which means we lose an hour of sleep in 3 of the next 4 nights. Wahoo. We stopped in Hawaii the on Saturday night to refuel and it was the biggest tease ever. We actually had to come into port and dock but were not allowed off the ship. At least I can say I spit on Hawaii though since I will probably never make it back. Not being able to get off didn’t bother me that much though because I was pretty sick. I actually got strep throat and have been really sick since Friday. Today is the first day I can actually eat anything besides soup. I think I’m almost better. In the coming days I still have to pack, and somehow figure out how I’m going to get everything home, work the final two pub nights, which should be crazy, and say my goodbyes to all the people I’ve become really close with over the past 100 days. Semester at Sea is weird because you end up forming these intense relationships with all these people and odds are I won’t see half of them ever again in my life. That’s depressing. Then again I’m sure there are some I will be friends with for a long time and that’s wonderful. I think I’ll end there on a happy note.
Where did the time go?
I realize I never really even wrote anything about Japan and China but I am just worn out right now. We arrive in San Diego on Friday and I’m a little stressed about the fact that I’m still not sure where I am staying. I really wish they would just let me stay on the ship and sail with it wherever it is off to next. There is a part that is looking forward to getting home though. It’s amazing the little things I have been missing, such as driving my car, sitting on the coach and watching TV, knowing what is going on in the world, getting to use the internet without worrying about how many minutes I have left, being able to eat whatever I want not the selection of pasta, fish, rice and chicken we have been eating lately (tonight is a BBQ though so the food should be good), being able to talk on my cell phone and being able to just go for a walk or ride my bike. Of course I miss all of my family and friends too but that is a given. The biggest stress about coming home is that I have to figure out where I go from here. I thought that this voyage would give me some great epiphany on what career I wanted but it really has not. I have learned that I love to travel and there is a great big world out there that I want to explore but now I have to figure out how to go about that.
Life on the ship has been relatively quiet lately. Have been losing an hour of sleep most nights to try and we actually had two April 20ths because we crossed the International Dateline. I don’t really know what happened. All I know is when I went to sleep we were 17 hours ahead of EST and when I woke up we were 7 hours behind. I tried to figure it out but I just ended up passing out from using my brain too much. We are currently 6 hours behind with means we lose an hour of sleep in 3 of the next 4 nights. Wahoo. We stopped in Hawaii the on Saturday night to refuel and it was the biggest tease ever. We actually had to come into port and dock but were not allowed off the ship. At least I can say I spit on Hawaii though since I will probably never make it back. Not being able to get off didn’t bother me that much though because I was pretty sick. I actually got strep throat and had been really sick since Friday. Today is the first day I can actually eat anything besides soup. I think I’m almost better. In the coming days I still have to pack, and somehow figure out how I’m going to get everything home, work the final two pub nights, which should be crazy, and say my goodbyes to all the people I’ve become really close with over the past 100 days. Semester at Sea is weird because you end up forming these intense relationships with all these people and odds are I won’t see half of them ever again in my life. That’s depressing. Then again I’m sure there are some I will be friends with for a long time and that’s wonderful. I think I’ll end there on a happy note.
Talk to you all soon.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
This doesn't even qualify as a blog
I have to be very short because I'm surfing on Tom's laptop in a bar in Kobe. Here are a few updates on this past week plus:
I bought a laptop in Hong Kong. It was about $750 and it is super sweet. Hong Kong is expensive but the mainland of China was pretty cheap. Beijing was awesome.
The wall was great and the whole trip was really great.
I am officially shopped out though, especially after watching the students drop the crazy amounts of money they did on my trip.
Japan is pretty cool. It's expensive as all heck though. I have no real plans except going to a karaoke bar at some point. That should be entertaining.
All in all everything is going great. I wish this trip would never end.
later,
j
The wall was great and the whole trip was really great.
I am officially shopped out though, especially after watching the students drop the crazy amounts of money they did on my trip.
Japan is pretty cool. It's expensive as all heck though. I have no real plans except going to a karaoke bar at some point. That should be entertaining.
All in all everything is going great. I wish this trip would never end.
later,
j
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Saigon synopsis
“Wheeling and dealing, smiling and beguiling, the people of Vietnam posses a vitality as unstemmed as the flow of manic traffic.” This quote comes courtesy of the Southeast Asia Lonely Planet (My book that has been very useful, thanks mom) and gives a great synopsis of my experience in Saigon.
The fun began in our logistical pre-port. The GSA drag ball was after the pre-port so many people came dress up. There is a good story in here but I’ll save it for when I get home. In pre-port we learned important lessons for Vietnam like how to cross the street and to watch out for scooter hookers. You may think crossing the street is a simple thing but in Vietnam traffic signals and crosswalks aren’t always enforced. The analogy we got was basically once you step off the curb just keep walking at a steady pace and the motor scooters and cars will flow around you like you were a stone in a creek. That’s how it is too. It’s a freaky experience to just have bikes whizzing past you as you cross the street. We did have one of our crew members hit by a motor scooter one night but fortunately he only received some minor injuries.
My first day in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) was dedicated to going to the Ben Thanh Market and the surrounding street shops that hawk knockoff t-shirts, backpacks and shoes. I really wanted to find a pair of dress shoes and a pair of Pumas to replace my sneakers that are falling apart. One problem is that I apparently have feet that are a little bigger than your average Vietnamese. Every store I went in and asked for size 13 the person working there would look down at my feet and laugh and say, “No, feet too big.” I devoted many hours to my shoe quest and in the end I ended up buying a pair of Pumas that are size 10 but since they are knockoffs they seem to fit. I’m guessing that one day while I’m wearing them they are going to explode and expose my feet. The markets in all these countries have been an experience. They sell everything from fruits, vegetables, clothing, household items, books and flowers. It’s amazing how every stand I go I am the person’s first customer and how willing they are to give me a “special discount, very good price.” Sometimes I love the haggling of trying to get a good price but in the end I always feel like I could have gotten it cheaper but I just write it off as they need the money more than I do. Vietnam was nice because I could use US dollars so I didn’t have to do much currency converting in my head. I did change some of my cash into Dong, the official Vietnamese currency, just to be able to say I have some Dong in my pocket.
On our first night a group of us went up to the top of the Rex Hotel to have a drink and enjoy the view. The Rex was a refuge for American GIs during the war. Servicemen and women had go to the top of the hotel to have a drink because the café on the ground floor were frequent attacks of drive bye shootings and targets of grenades. It was a great atmosphere and we had one drink and then went out to dinner and to the bar. The bar we went to was called Apocalypse Now and it was crawling with students. Kelly and I left early and had our first motor scooter adventure.
The next morning we had a day trip to the Cao Dai Temple and the Chu Chi tunnels. The temple was a three hour drive through the countryside filled with rice fields. It was some gorgeous sites and it was funny to see all the motor scooters. Our guide, who was named Nam, told us that people carry everything on the back of their scooter. We saw one with a cage with three pigs on the back of it headed to the market. Back to the temple, it was a beautiful building filled with pink columns and multicolored robed monks and practitioners. Caodaism was founded in 1920 and it combines secular and religious philosophies of the East and West. It is a blend of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism mixed with some Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. Plus they have an odd reverence for Victor Hugo that I didn’t quite understand. We got there around noon and it was just during the main mass where there is chanting and music. It was very spiritual.
After the temple we were off to the tunnels. The legendary network of tunnels was used by the Viet Cong to launch attacks on American troops and then seemingly disappear into the jungle. We were able to crawl through a section of them and it was intense. They are dark, tight and hot. They also display some of the booby traps that the VC used to impale the US soldiers. It was disturbing. Some students also took the opportunity to shoot some of the weapons that were used during the war –AK 47s and M16s- for $1 a round. I declined because I didn’t really want to be firing a weapon that was used to possible kill a US soldier.
On the subsequent days I had a service visit to a deaf school to play with some of the children and it was great. I took my funsaver camera and was able to pass out photos of the kids for them to keep and they seemed to love it. Afterwards we went to an orphanage for mentally handicapped kids and it was heartbreaking. It felt weird to be there though because it was more like we were at a human zoo looking at different displays. It definitely was a bit of a downer but it really made me appreciate how fortunate I have been to be blessed with healthy family and friends.
My other heartbreaking day was when I went to the War Remnants Museum. It was filled with photographs and exhibits that focused on the US atrocities committed during the late sixties and early seventies. The photos were from Western news services like Time and Newsweek and showed some graphic examples of how ugly war can be. After seeing the booby traps at the tunnels and then the photos at the museum it is inconceivable how anyone can out of that who situation not crippled with emotionally damage.
Okay this blog has taken a depressing tone so I’m going to tell you about one of my fun evenings. Kelly and I went out one night to the Guns and Roses bar. It was a small hole in the wall bar that played American rock music and had cheap Fosters. Nothing like drinking an Australian beer, listening to Nirvana while sitting in a Vietnamese bar. They also played some Bob Marley which was good because it continued my streak of hearing Marley in every country I have visited so far.
One of my favorite things about Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as it is now officially known, was the fact that it actually had a vibrant downtown at night. There were people hanging out at colorfully light fountains and the glow of florescent billboards. All of the previous countries we have visited have had a stretch where there were bars but no really action going on during the night. Saigon reminded me of a smaller New York City.
To sum it up I go back to the Lonely Planet description of Saigon: “Central HCMC is a small, pulsating universe where French colonial buildings languish along motorcycle coked boulevards. Tall tamarind trees shade sidewalks stalls where teenagers gossip over iced coffee and old men play chess, accompanied by a soundtrack of pop ballads and honking horns. Crazy-making and seductive, Saigon beats with a palpable energy, day and night.”
Next stop China…
The fun began in our logistical pre-port. The GSA drag ball was after the pre-port so many people came dress up. There is a good story in here but I’ll save it for when I get home. In pre-port we learned important lessons for Vietnam like how to cross the street and to watch out for scooter hookers. You may think crossing the street is a simple thing but in Vietnam traffic signals and crosswalks aren’t always enforced. The analogy we got was basically once you step off the curb just keep walking at a steady pace and the motor scooters and cars will flow around you like you were a stone in a creek. That’s how it is too. It’s a freaky experience to just have bikes whizzing past you as you cross the street. We did have one of our crew members hit by a motor scooter one night but fortunately he only received some minor injuries.
My first day in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) was dedicated to going to the Ben Thanh Market and the surrounding street shops that hawk knockoff t-shirts, backpacks and shoes. I really wanted to find a pair of dress shoes and a pair of Pumas to replace my sneakers that are falling apart. One problem is that I apparently have feet that are a little bigger than your average Vietnamese. Every store I went in and asked for size 13 the person working there would look down at my feet and laugh and say, “No, feet too big.” I devoted many hours to my shoe quest and in the end I ended up buying a pair of Pumas that are size 10 but since they are knockoffs they seem to fit. I’m guessing that one day while I’m wearing them they are going to explode and expose my feet. The markets in all these countries have been an experience. They sell everything from fruits, vegetables, clothing, household items, books and flowers. It’s amazing how every stand I go I am the person’s first customer and how willing they are to give me a “special discount, very good price.” Sometimes I love the haggling of trying to get a good price but in the end I always feel like I could have gotten it cheaper but I just write it off as they need the money more than I do. Vietnam was nice because I could use US dollars so I didn’t have to do much currency converting in my head. I did change some of my cash into Dong, the official Vietnamese currency, just to be able to say I have some Dong in my pocket.
On our first night a group of us went up to the top of the Rex Hotel to have a drink and enjoy the view. The Rex was a refuge for American GIs during the war. Servicemen and women had go to the top of the hotel to have a drink because the café on the ground floor were frequent attacks of drive bye shootings and targets of grenades. It was a great atmosphere and we had one drink and then went out to dinner and to the bar. The bar we went to was called Apocalypse Now and it was crawling with students. Kelly and I left early and had our first motor scooter adventure.
The next morning we had a day trip to the Cao Dai Temple and the Chu Chi tunnels. The temple was a three hour drive through the countryside filled with rice fields. It was some gorgeous sites and it was funny to see all the motor scooters. Our guide, who was named Nam, told us that people carry everything on the back of their scooter. We saw one with a cage with three pigs on the back of it headed to the market. Back to the temple, it was a beautiful building filled with pink columns and multicolored robed monks and practitioners. Caodaism was founded in 1920 and it combines secular and religious philosophies of the East and West. It is a blend of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism mixed with some Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. Plus they have an odd reverence for Victor Hugo that I didn’t quite understand. We got there around noon and it was just during the main mass where there is chanting and music. It was very spiritual.
After the temple we were off to the tunnels. The legendary network of tunnels was used by the Viet Cong to launch attacks on American troops and then seemingly disappear into the jungle. We were able to crawl through a section of them and it was intense. They are dark, tight and hot. They also display some of the booby traps that the VC used to impale the US soldiers. It was disturbing. Some students also took the opportunity to shoot some of the weapons that were used during the war –AK 47s and M16s- for $1 a round. I declined because I didn’t really want to be firing a weapon that was used to possible kill a US soldier.
On the subsequent days I had a service visit to a deaf school to play with some of the children and it was great. I took my funsaver camera and was able to pass out photos of the kids for them to keep and they seemed to love it. Afterwards we went to an orphanage for mentally handicapped kids and it was heartbreaking. It felt weird to be there though because it was more like we were at a human zoo looking at different displays. It definitely was a bit of a downer but it really made me appreciate how fortunate I have been to be blessed with healthy family and friends.
My other heartbreaking day was when I went to the War Remnants Museum. It was filled with photographs and exhibits that focused on the US atrocities committed during the late sixties and early seventies. The photos were from Western news services like Time and Newsweek and showed some graphic examples of how ugly war can be. After seeing the booby traps at the tunnels and then the photos at the museum it is inconceivable how anyone can out of that who situation not crippled with emotionally damage.
Okay this blog has taken a depressing tone so I’m going to tell you about one of my fun evenings. Kelly and I went out one night to the Guns and Roses bar. It was a small hole in the wall bar that played American rock music and had cheap Fosters. Nothing like drinking an Australian beer, listening to Nirvana while sitting in a Vietnamese bar. They also played some Bob Marley which was good because it continued my streak of hearing Marley in every country I have visited so far.
One of my favorite things about Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as it is now officially known, was the fact that it actually had a vibrant downtown at night. There were people hanging out at colorfully light fountains and the glow of florescent billboards. All of the previous countries we have visited have had a stretch where there were bars but no really action going on during the night. Saigon reminded me of a smaller New York City.
To sum it up I go back to the Lonely Planet description of Saigon: “Central HCMC is a small, pulsating universe where French colonial buildings languish along motorcycle coked boulevards. Tall tamarind trees shade sidewalks stalls where teenagers gossip over iced coffee and old men play chess, accompanied by a soundtrack of pop ballads and honking horns. Crazy-making and seductive, Saigon beats with a palpable energy, day and night.”
Next stop China…
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Gooooood Morning Vietnam!
Yes it is a cliche and overused phrase but I couldn't help it. I actually had Tom play it over the loudspeaker the day we arrived in Saigon. It's hot and sticky here which is great if your cooking cinammon buns but sucks a bit when your out walking around. I've never sweated so much. Things are pretty cheap here though. It's like the world largest dollar store. Oh and there are scooters everywhere and they ride you around for $1 but they drive insanely. It's actually crazier then india! The other night we were coming back from Apocolyse Now (a local bar) and we took scooters home. Each of us had our own scooter to ride on the back of and you have to hold on for dear life and pray you don't get killed. It's awesome.
Yesterday I went to the Chu Chi tunnels and saw how the Vietcong ambushed the GIs. It is amazing. They are totally dark and tight and I crawled down to the second level. It's so hard to imagine how 18 year old kids who didn't want to be here fought that war. The traps that they encountered were horrific. I'm trying to experience Vietnam and think of it as a country and not a war though. It has been very good so far and Thursday I have a service visit to a school for the deaf and an orphanage that should be interesting.Okay that's all I have time to type now. There are lizards on the walls at this Internet cafe. Weird. Here is a blog I wrote the other night on the ship though. Enjoy peeps.
First let me say that our ship, and it is a ship not a boat, is incredible. The crew is even more amazing. From the waiter staff to the cabin stewards they are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Most of the crew is either from the Philippines or the Caribbean islands. My cabin steward’s name is Joel and he is incredible. Every day Joel makes up my bed (two twins that he put together for me), vacuums and cleans my cabin. If it was up to me I would do it myself. Every few days I tell him to let my room go but I have to let him do it most of the time. If I don’t I guess he wouldn’t have a job. Really the crew takes care of us all so great that I’m sure some of us will come home a bit spoiled.
Anyway here are some random things about shipboard life that I decided to throw together in a blog:
The smoke deck:
Diane had told me that I was definitely going to start smoking again once I got on the ship and I didn’t believe her. Well she was so right and I was very wrong. Here is why it happened, in Puerto Rico I was out running on the first morning in port and I fell and hurt my foot. Basically it was a reinjury of a bone bruise on top of my foot from blocking a shot in hockey a year ago. Since I was unable to run I had a lot of free time and the smoking deck is a community in itself on the ship. Plus cigarettes are about two dollars a pack in most of these countries so why not? I’ll quit again when I get back. I’m glad I started again really because some of the best times on the ship come from hanging out with the smoking crew. One of the students, Wes, brought back playing the “circle” game. It’s a childish, grade school game where you make a circle with your thumb and index finger, put it below your waste and if you get someone to look at the circle you get to punch them in the arm. It’s stupid but fun.
Question the day:
Every day the Assistant Dean, Tom (also known as the Voice), does daily announcement at noon and 1700. Tom likes to make the announcements as entertaining as possible. One of the things he started a while back was doing the “Question of the day” which is just basically some dumb question that someone asked. Some of the better ones: When were in China and we want Chinese food do we just ask for food? When we are in Myanmar are we allowed to travel to Burma? So if we’re 12 hours ahead of home what time is it back home?
Unfortunately a simple slip of the tongue landed me the dubious honor of being a question of the day when I asked, “Is the rough seas we’re having because there’s a Cyclops heading for Mauritius?”
Television:
Each of our cabins has a small television inside that is hooked up to a close-circuit network. We get six channels consisting of one devoted to our coordinates, two for documentary, one for the dean’s memo, one that never has anything on it and one for random movies each day. The only problem with the random movies is that sometimes they are messed up and there is no sound. It’s a good thing I know all the words to Office Space or I wouldn’t have had a clue as to what was going on.
Staffulty Lounge;
Aboard the front of the ship on the seventh deck is a special little place called the faculty/staff lounge. It’s the only place on the ship where we can escape the students and even better is the fact that we can drink every night from 9-11. Occasionally we have a karaoke night or late night party with the fun staffers where we sample adult beverages from the different ports. It’s good fun.
Pub Nights:
Since the Sea Olympics are over the main responsibility I have, besides working my office hour and Student life meeting, is working at the student pub nights. Basically I just sit around and watch the students drink and make sure none of them take alcohol off the pool deck or fall into the pool. We limit each student to four drinks so they can’t exactly get blitzed. Some nights are easier than others, last night we had 13 people drinking and the four of is RDs on duty basically just sat around and chatted and then we spooned. Long story.
Sea Socials:
Each RD has a specific number of rooms which are designated as their sea. Mine is the Arabian and I have the most students, 105. One of big events of the voyage is that each sea gets one night where the students are allowed into the staffulty lounge to drink and socialize with the staff and faculty. I scheduled my social for this past Thursday, it was the last of the eight sea socials and I think the best. It was complete with cookies and cheese and crackers. I had to order cookies for my students because I had promised them cookies if they came to the Sea Olympics meeting and learned our chant. Many of them came to our meeting and ever since the Olympics (March 4th) I have been getting threatening messages on my message board outside my door demanding cookies. I was beginning to worry that if I didn’t get them cookies I may have had a mutiny on my sea.Okay that’s about all I have for now. Tonight we have our logistical pre-port for Vietnam and it is followed by our Gay and Straight Alliance’s Drag Ball. It should be a fun evening.
Sidenote: Yes I did dress up for the drag show and all my residents took pictures with me to show their parents who their RD is. Isn't that great. And yes I did look hot even with my hairy scared legs.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
A Burma Birthday Blast
We are currently in the process of floating back down the river and leaving this wonderful country. We docked in the Thilawa port, about forty-five minutes from Yangon, on Thursday night but had to stay on the ship until the next morning. The faculty and staff threw a party to celebrate St. Patty/Kelly and Jason’s birthdays that night. It was a lot of fun and we even had green beer (thanks to my buddy and former RA Tom who sent me with a box of JRB food coloring).
Kelly and I got a little bit of a late start on Friday afternoon when we set out to find a place to stay in downtown Yangon, to avoid the forty-five minute shuttle ride. We didn’t leave until around two but it was good because it gave me the chance to call home and talk to Mom and say thanks for the whole giving life to me thing. I didn’t think I would get to talk to her but Marcia came through and bought me a phone card as a b-day present. A BIG THANK YOU to her for that. Non-masters all the way. Oh and hello to Marcia’s mom who is reading my blog apparently. Actually my mom is reading Marcia’s blog too. I think that’s hilarious.
Anyway, when we got into town we walk around for about an hour searching for a guest house that was listed in the Lonely Planet guide book I have. We ended up asking a few locals and eventually finding the May Shan Guest House, which was listed under the “splurge” section because it was a whole $20 a night for a double room. Our place was sweet, a big double bed, a bathroom/shower which was odd because there was no differentiating between the two due to the lack of a shower curtain, and most importantly Air Conditioning. It was hot as hell here and I was pouring sweat every day. So after we secured our room, we went out to get something to eat and try and find the Trader Hotel, which was where the shuttle left us off and was serving as the SAS hub of operations. It turns out that for all that walking and wondering around we did we ended up a block and a half down from the Traders on the same street. Don’t ask it just happened. Okay so we walked up the street to Traders to exchange some dollars into Kyat (sound like chat) and find out where the Irish bar was so we could meet up with some other SASers to celebrate St. Patty’s day. Here is an interesting side note: the official exchange rate is $1=6 kyat but the hotel and anyone on the street use the conversation of $1=1050 kyat. Welcome to Burma, I mean Myanmar. It’s a good thing nobody uses the official rate or a beer would cost about $60 instead of about $2.
Kelly and I ended up eating at the Mandarin Restaurant, a little Cantonese place with great food that cost a whole five dollars for our meal and a few Myanmar and Tiger beers. Tiger is far superior to Myanmar as far as the beverage quality. A group of students ended up coming in while we were there and they sang Happy Birthday to me and the little old man who worked there brought over a candle that he light and had me blow out. When we finished dinner we caught a taxi up to the Sedona Hotel where the Irish bar was located. The bar was great, they had the place all decorated for St. Pat’s, green beer and a live band that was from the Philippines but played American music. The band had two girl singers, who each had kilts on, a great guitarist who rocked out “Hotel California” and another guy playing drums. At one point during the night I had to take in the fact that I was in Burma at an Irish bar listening to a Philippines band play American rock and roll. I love crazy international travel! When the night was through we took a taxi back to our place only to find that a giant locked gate was blocking the entrance to our hotel. At this point Kelly and I both just began laughing because we really didn’t know what to do. I don’t know how but I somehow managed to spot a button to ring the bell and this sleepy Chinese woman came and let us in through the gate. Apparently the gate goes up every night at midnight and you just have to ring the bell to get in after that. By the way that Chinese woman looked sleepy every time we saw her including during the afternoon.
The next morning we woke up and went downstairs for our continental breakfast which ended up being the same each morning, an egg, two pieces of toast, some bananas and watermelon and some coffee. I became hooked on the pineapple jam that they had for the toast. After breakfast we began planning our day and how we would celebrate Kelly’s 25th birthday. We ended up walking around the market for much of the day. I bought a longyis, which is basically a giant full length man skirt. It’s the traditional dress for Burmese men so I had to rock one. I had to have different people on the street help me tie it a few times and the people here seemed to get a kick out of seeing a crazy white boy wearing their clothing. Overall the people here were the nicest of all the countries we have visited. They are very peaceful and laid back due to the Buddhist influence. Even the beggars here were nice and polite. I’ve never felt as safe as I did here. They also rarely see white westerners so we ended up being a walking attraction.
So back to Saturday, Kelly and I decided to go to the Shwedagon Pagoda for sunset. The Shwedagon is a Buddhist shrine which is over 2500 years old and it is regarded as the most sacred of all Buddhist sites in the country. In the late evening the slanting sunlight enlivens the gilding and creates a glow from the 98 meter spire. I can’t even describe the beauty of it. While we walked around we talked to a few Buddhist monks including one who told me I looked very peaceful. You could feel the holiness of the shrine including the hundreds of Buddha statues that filled the pagoda. I’ve got lots of pictures. We ended up staying there for a few hours and we went to dinner at the Sakura Tower which had a great 360 view of the city. It was about 20 stories above the city and the meal was great and ended up costing about $10! Things here are so inexpensive at most place. To cap the evening off we decided to go to our first movie. We wanted to see King Kong but the theater didn’t have it (actually it was just down the street but we didn’t know that) so we went to see The Cave. I guess this cheesy, horror/thriller came out a few months back in the States and I can understand why I had never heard of it. The movie wasn’t that good but the experience was great. Did you know they play their national anthem before the start of movies here?
Sunday was another great day of sightseeing. We walked around and ended up going to the zoo. It was cool to see the different animals they have here and how close you can get to them. Kids were feeding the caged monkeys by handing them the food through the bars. I actually saw one guy reach down and pat a hippo on the head. It was crazy. After lunch we walked a ways to see the giant reclining Buddha in repose. We had heard it was big but I was blown away by how enormous this statue was. Best of all I was even able to find a patch on the walk there. We also found a store that sold hair dye and I am now a blonde again. Well sort of, it’s actually a bit yellow. The dye was from Thailand and had no English instructions. Best of all, Kelly dyed her hair too and now we are the cutest blonde couple ever.
Sunday night we met up with Jay and went out to a bar called ABC country pub. Once again I found myself in a bar listening to American music being played by a Philippines band. This time the singer looked like Troy Palumalu. His name was Skid and he was one cool cat. We talked to him for a while after they finished playing. The band also had a female singer come up for a few songs and she would sing old American songs from the 60s only in Burmese.
On Monday we checked out of our little guest house to much sadness. I loved that place. Kelly and I didn’t do too much except go see King Kong in the afternoon to escape the heat for a while. We were back to the ship by eight even with our shuttle bus breaking down just outside the gate. I had some RD work to get done for today and I had to get to bed early for my trip this morning. Today I lead a small group to a Buddhist monastery where we saw a performance of the traditional elephant dance (two people in a costume) and the game of cane ball. Basically it was hackysack with a whicker ball and actually it was quite hard to do. They had us try it out and we also had a tug of war contest with some of the locals. Actually all the people from the surrounding village came out to see us and there were a few hundred kids running around. The monastery actually teaches the poorer kids who can’t afford to go to government schools. I took my Ipod and let some of the kids listen to it. The look on their faces was great when I showed them it. They seem to like Bob Marley too. It was a great experience.
We had to be back on the ship by 11:30 this morning because we had to get out of the port by 12:30 because of the tides. Although right now we are anchored just off shore waiting for the river to get high enough to pass through. Right now it’s almost four in the afternoon (so it’s about 3 am back home) and I’m beginning to wonder if I could just jump off and stay here.
All in all Burma was my favorite port by far. The country was beautiful and the people were incredible. I was fortunate to have a great travel companion and she helped me have some of the best days of my life. If this is any indication to how 27 goes, I’m in for a great year.
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