Pictures

Here are some pictures from Ha Long Bay and the Great Wall:

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

On the Great Wall our tour guide joked about us eating burgers on the Great Wall, we all thought he was kidding....then we saw that they hiked BIG MAC's onto the Wall

Vietnam

Vietnam was a whirlwind of activity. When I woke up the first day the ship was cruising down the Ho Chi Minh River, making its way into port. The water was brown but the land on either side was green and reminded me of a tropical paradise. For the first two days in port I walked around Ho Chi Minh City. The city has a lot of French influence, especially in its architecture and food. I went to the main market, visited the War reminisce museum, got a three dollar manicure, fell in love with Vietnamese coffee, and interacted with many enthusiastic Vietnamese people.  One thing that startled me was the organized chaos I called traffic. First I did not see any street light but hundreds of mopeds and cars. To cross the street you literally have to just walk at a steady pace so the traffic can steer around you. You cannot make sudden movements like stopping walking or running because then you WILL get hit. In the beginning I would shadow old Vietnamese people, because I figured if they got to be that old they must know how to cross the street, but by the end I felt like a pro and just crossed on my own.

The rest of my trip was spent in Ha Long Bay, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes surrounded by placid water. It was beautiful I couldn’t believe I was actually there. “Some of the most remarkable geological events in Hạ Long Bay’s history have occurred in the last 1,000 years, include the advance of the sea, the raising of the bay area, strong erosion that has formed coral, and, pure blue and heavily salted water. This process of erosion by seawater has deeply engraved the stone, contributing to its fantastic beauty.” (Wikipedia) We arrived at the bay then we met our Junkboat, which took us into the bay. We Kayaked around, hiked in the caves, and hiked up one of the islands to see a view of the whole bay. It was surreal, sleeping on the Junkboat and waking up surrounded by such beauty.

The final day we took a plane back to Ho Chi Minh from Hanoi. Took a taxi back from the airport and came home to the good old MV Explorer. So happy to see our lovely ship home! One day I want to travel back to Vietnam, it was an incredible port.

Good morning Vietnam

Vietnam has been so much more than I imagined. The people are so friendly and helpful and everyone tells us we are beautiful haha!! I went on a tour of Ho Chi Minh city and saw some of the festivities of Tet- their new year. We visited the war museum and saw the awful affects agent orange still has on the country . Today we traveled to Hanoi and tomorrow to Ha Long Bay to ride in junk boats and cruise the water

China

Our first day we ported in Shanghai and wandered around the city. It was incredibly big, I think it may be one of the biggest cities in the world. The city was a contradiction, there were all these massive new beautiful buildings and there was also poverty and broken down abandoned city blocks. The best part was when my friends and I went shopping in the black market. It was a bit scary when this three ladies were following us while we were led down flight after flight of stairs to their shop fronts. We were ushered inside then instantly locked the door behind us. My friend Emily was our designated bargainer, she was incredible and got us such good deals. The whole experience was tense but so worth it. 

Our second day a group of around forty left to go on a three day hike of the Great Wall.  We took a plane to Beijing to where our hike would start. I didn't think going into the hike that it would be to strenuous, I mean I did the StairMaster a couple of times in preparation, but man was I wrong. We started our hike just getting up to the wall in the mountains. We hiked on a more eroded part of the wall where there was not a tourist to be found. Once we got up to the wall there were snow dusted mountains as far as the eye could see. The view got more and more beautiful the higher on the wall we hiked. Our group was full of such fun and athletic people and everyone was helping each other keep going to get to our lunch point. After about three hours we were given lunch in one of the watch towers. Now, our tour guides name was Raymond and he kept joking us that he was going to give us Big Mac's on the Great Wall. We all thought that he was kidding, but as we walked into the watch tower we find three huge coolers full of Big Mac's. So I had my first Big Mac on the Great Wall of China and I hate to say it but it was pretty good! In our two days of hiking we walked about fourteen miles. Even though the hike was hard all I had to do was take a second a look where I was. Unbelievable 

VIETNAM TOMORROW!!

Storms and More

We were told today that we went through the second rockiest storm in recent history of the ship. I can believe it our drawers were all opened and everything in them was strewn across the floor. They were slamming the whole night and I was convinced that the TV was going to fall on my feet. Allie and I were even lifted out of our beds at some points. 

Tomorrow we arrive in Shanghai, China. The second day I am going on a SAS field trip to hike the great wall, visit Tinnemon Square, and the forbidden city. I can't wait it is going to be incredible. 

Japan

Japan exceeded all my expectations exponentially.  The people are so kind and generous towards foreigners. The country is extremely clean and quiet and easy to travel through. I would go back in a second.

The ship ported in Yokohama and we all got off and explored the city the first day. It was strange being in a place where we all stuck out so much. No English speakers and definitely no blondes. I went around with about six blonde haired blue eyed companions; we were a sight to behold. We went on the underwater roller-coaster in Yokohama center and walked the city. We had a traditional Japanese lunch and then headed to our big challenge of navigating the train system. Our mission was to get to Tokyo and stay the night before heading the next day to Fukadaya. So we arrive at the station and all the maps of the different lines are were in Japanese (no surprise). Somehow we communicated with enough different Japanese people to put together how to use the station and where to go. The trains were super clean and quiet, no people on their phones or having loud conversations. I could get used to it.

In Tokyo we went to dinner and explored the city at night. The next day we headed to southern Japan to visit my friend Hilary’s friend who is teaching English to Japanese school kids. We got to visit Barrett (Hilary’s friends) at school and play with all the kids. The school was in a rural area and some of the kids had never seen Caucasians in their lives. To say the least they were obsessed with us. We left like celebrities, the kids ran around following us. They would say hello then run away laughing. It was amazing, so much fun to play and talk to them.

Another highlight of Japan was using the public baths and visiting a Buddhist temple. Along the journey I had real ramen, conveyer belt sushi, Saki, learned how to use chopsticks, and was humbled greatly.

The ship arrives in China tomorrow and I start hiking the great wall the day after!