Japan Part II

Ok, are you ready for my adventures in Tokyo ? Before I start let me just add that I did not sleep for more than 9 hours in 72 hours. Saturday evening, November 15th ,I met my friends Eilis and Charles at the ship. My host mom drove us to Kobe ’s bullet train station and we got a train to central Tokyo at 7 p.m. We arrived in Akihabara around 9:30 p.m. Charles made a capsule hotel reservation the day before we got to Kobe, so we walked around for about 30 minutes trying to find this place. We finally did and it was awesome. If you have seen America ’s Next Top Model, the Japanese season ,you will know exactly what I slept in. Once we dropped all out stuff of we hit the town. I started talking to this group of Japanese people and asked if they would sing karaoke with us and of course they did so we went to a near by karaoke bar and sang for 2 hours. Then we retired to our capsule around 1 a.m. We woke up at 7 a.m. Ate sushi for breakfast and walked around the city of Akihabara . This is the famous electric town of Japan , it had every Japanese made electronic you could ever imagine. That afternoon we took a train to Shinjuku where Japan ’s Times Square exists. We ate lunch at a rotating belt sushi restaurant. Then we stumbled upon Hanazono-Jinja, a shrine surrounded by a flea market on Sundays. Well it was our lucky day. There were so many amazing smelling food stands; I ate a hot dog with an egg wrapped around it like a crepe, a banana dipped in chocolate and sprinkles, and these square little donut things. We hung out around the shrine for awhile and then decided we wanted to go to a spa. Down the street was the Green Plaza Ladies Sauna and across from that was the guys sauna. The first thing they asked when Eilis and I walked in was whether or not we had tattoo’s. So I said yes and she said sorry you have to leave. This was the first time in my life I have ever been discriminated against. I was not that offended because the Japanese have a fear of letting members of the Mafia into the hot springs . The woman thought I was in the Mafia, awesome! Eilis and I instead went somewhere else and got a massage. We met up with Charles for dinner and had the most amazing fried rice and gyoza of my life. After dinner we walked around the Golden Gai and Kabukicho which is their red-light district. There are so many details I am leaving out but they will make for good in person stories. Around midnight we decided we wanted to go to Akasaka and watch the Tsukiji market unfold. This is Tokyo ’s world famous seafood market. We knew the last train stopped at 1 a.m, so we ran to catch the last train, almost didn’t make it because the ticket office people told me no, and many of you know I do not take no for an answer when I want something. So somehow I managed to go somewhere else, get tickets and jumped on the train as the doors were shutting. Oh another side note, none of this trip was pre-planned, we did everything spur of the moment, which is the best thing I could have ever done. Ok ,back to my story, the fish are brought in at 3 a.m. and so we had 3 hours to kill. We found a super nice hotel and tried to find somewhere to crash but of course there was a bunch of people roaming around and we couldn’t fall asleep. We went to the 13th floor where the lobby was located and asked if they had computers we could use. They did but since we were not staying in the hotel we were not allowed to use them. One good thing we got from this hotel was a view of the whole city. I saw Tokyo Tower lit up in all its glory. We went back to the street in search for an internet café. We found one and rested there until 2:30 a.m. At that time we went to a restaurant and ate udon noodles and then made our way to the fish market. This was one of the highlights of my Tokyo trip. Japanese workers were hustling and bustling throwing huge fish to each other, driving little motor things that look like the ones in Sams Club they use to stock stuff on high shelves. I almost got run over by these numerous times. It was really cool that no one cared that three Americans were aimlessly wondering around, getting in every ones way. I saw every marine animal imaginable; octopus, eel, and tons of fish I don’t know the names of. There was one that squirted water out their mouths at us. We would move our hands around and they would aim for our hands. After walking around for about an hour we found out that there was a tuna auction at 5:30. We were all too tired to walk around for much longer so we decided to go back to that restaurant and sleep until it was time to go to the tuna auction. As I finally closed my eyes I heard stomping footsteps coming up the stairs. I opened my eyes to the owner yelling at us to get out. So we were kicked out of the restaurant and decided to go back to the fish market and find somewhere to just sit down. We finally did but then a few worker guys on break were curious as to who we were and started asking us questions. He was excited I could speak Japanese and had a conversation with me for a half hour. At this point I had been up for almost 24 hours, I’m sure I did not make a lot of sense to him. It was finally time to go to the tuna auction. It was awesome except for the fact that we could not go into the building, we had to watch from windows. The tuna were laid out on the ground on to of pieces of wood. Some were bigger than me. I took videos of the whole fish market experience and will edit them all when I get home. I will never look at a piece of fish the same way again. Now it was about 6 a.m. and Charles found an onsen called Asakusa Kannon in his traveler book. We figured we would just fall asleep for a little bit there. We took a train to Asakusa but we were all too tired to walk around searching for this onsen, so we got a taxi who also did not know where the onsen was, so he asked a bunch of people on the street and finally got us there. At that point it was 6 am and all I wanted to do was sleep. We went in the onsen and the first thing the guy in charge told us after we paid was no sleeping. We all kinda just ignored him and walked to the back where the lockers were and got undressed. This onsen was not nearly as nice as the one I went to with my host mom in Kobe . There were only two different baths. Eilis and I got in one and then this older woman was yelling and telling us to get in the other one. No really sure why we had to but we just did as we were told. It water was so hot I could not stand it for very long. Behind a wall was the men’s onsen so we yelled over to Charles asking if he was ready and he answered a very quick “yes” back. So we all met in the lobby after we washed up and Charles explained why he was so adamant in his answer. At first he was the only guy in the bath and then 3 men walked in covered in tattoo’s. oh side note, while in the fish market I took a piece of tan duct tape and put it over my tattoo and planned on telling the people at the onsen that I had just had surgery there. Anyways, the men had tattoo’s from their elbows down to their knees. Charles got really nervous because he knew they were most likely members of the mafia because not that many regular people would get that much skin covered in tattoo’s. Then one of the guys said hello to Charles and tried to speak English to him. This is when we yelled over. When we met in the lobby I asked the owner where we could sleep and he suggested a hostile a few blocks away. It was called the Sakura Hostile, and we each paid $10 to sleep for 3 hours. I don’t even remember climbing into bed. I was so delirious, we had been up for over 24 hours constantly on the move. We left at noon and ate lunch at a tiny little restaurant, who’s owner was confused as to why we wanted to eat there because there was a McDonald’s right next door. Then we walked over to the Senso-ji temple with a five story pagoda. Then we got a train to Shibuya, another district in Tokyo . This is where gyaru can be found, girls with big hair, fake tans and exaggerated eye makeup. There is a lot of youth culture in this area, in fact the majority of the people there were under the age of 30. We went around to all the malls and shops; I got hot pink shorts with suspenders, black knee high boots, and gray leggings that I wore out that night. There is an awesome 6 way intersection at the center of the city and looks crazy at night when thousands of people are walking in all different directions at once. We stood on the corner and stared at the Q-Front building with high screens and Byonce singing a song on her new album. Very cool. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before but in every country, American singers were very popular and well know to most of the public. It’s crazy how influential a pop idol can be around the world. Went to Tower Records and listened to J-pop, saw the Hachiko statue outside the train station. That night we made more Japanese friends and hung out until midnight. Eilis, Charles, and I decided then that we just wanted to go back to the ship and sleep. We had no idea where the ship was because it was in a new port; Yokohama . Again we caught the last train and took a taxi straight to the ship. It was the most amazing feeling to see the ship again. It was about 3 a.m. and I finally got a few hours of good sleep. Woke up at 8 a.m. and ventured out in Yokohama . Went to a silk museum, China town, and Cold Stone because I really wanted cake batter ice cream with heath bar chunks in it, but of course they did not have that. I can not wait to get home and eat everything I have been deprived of for the last three months. My time in Japan was exhilarating, tiring, memorable, and too short. I can not wait to return to my most favorite place in the world.

Kobe, Japan and my homestay

Japan . I have been waiting eight years to see Japan with my own eyes. As many of you know, I have been studying the Japanese culture and language for about eight years now. I finally made it! The whole time I was there, I kept thinking how surreal it was to actually be in the place that I had learned so much about. The ship got to Kobe on Friday, November 14th. The customs procedures here were the most detailed out of all the ports we visited. They took our fingerprints, our picture, and our temperatures. I then went down an elevator and as the doors opened, 30 home stay families cheered for us. They were holding signs with our name on it so I went around the circle searching for my own. I found a woman holding up a laminated paper with “Jemifer Winters” written on it. I said "hello I am Jennifer" to her and she gave me a big hug. I soon found out she did not speak English very well and I was her first home stay student. I could tell she was nervous so I started speaking Japanese which I’m sure was a big relief to her. We went to lunch with a few other home stay participants. Everyone was impressed that I could speak Japanese. After lunch Yuka, my home stay mom, drove me to her apartment. It was on the 6th floor and had a nice view of Mt. Rokko . It was around 3 p.m. and I think she wanted me to take a nap but although I was tired, I did not want to waste anytime in Japan . I tried to explain that I want to go out and walk around but she either did not understand or pretended not to because she did not want to. So instead, we sat on her living room floor for two hours and talked. At 5 we drove to another home stay mom's house and made maki rolls. Again, they were impressed that I knew how to make them without any instruction. At 6 we went to a party where there were two other semester at sea students and about 20 Hippo Club women and children. Hippo is the organization that the home stays are arranged through. It was a potluck dinner, we brought the maki rolls, other moms brought a bunch of different authentic Japanese foods that I do not know the names of but were very tasty. We then played a bunch of games including Tom and Jerry, London Bridge is falling down, and the Japanese version of rock, paper, scissors. We had a grand old time with the kids. They were absurdly smart, one little boy was speaking Korean and Spanish; another boy played the piano the whole time. It did not seem like the moms were the type to push their children into doing a lot of activities after school, the kids just enjoyed learning. At 9 p.m. a few of us went to a karaoke bar and sang American songs until 11. The Japanese are very serious about singing Karaoke, which is strange to me because any other time of the day they keep to themselves and are not outspoken. Well ,put a microphone in front of their face and play an old 90’s song, and another side of them comes out. Yuka was getting tired so we drove home and I finally got to meet her husband. He is 56 years old and Yuka is only 37, they have no children, but they work for the same company. His English was no better and I was exhausted from trying to communicate with them. Yuka told me to go shower, so I did and then I took a bath. I soaked in the tub for about 20 minutes because she told me to and then I went to sleep on my tatami mat cushion.

I woke up at 8:30 and ate breakfast with my Japanese parents. We had some kind of raw fish that did not look appetizing that early in the morning but turned out to be delicious. I also had miso soup, a bowl of white rice, and a vegetable that was a cross between a cucumber and squash. Oh and green tea of course. Then Yuka brought out sliced pears and persimmons. This might have been one of the best breakfasts I have ever eaten in my life. We sat around until 10 and then Yuka and I went to another home stay mom’s house where I was dressed in a fabulous kimono. It took about 15 minutes to wrap all the layers tightly around me. We then had a traditional tea ceremony and I learned all the rules of how and when to turn the bowl, what to say, and the proper way to drink. I then was fortunate enough to make the tea for my mom. The tea was a powder I had to stir with hot water until little bubbles formed. After that whole extravaganza, we all went to an authentic Japanese restaurant where we sat on tatami mats and ate udon noodles and tempura. Once everyone was finished we piled into a car and Yuka told me she had a surprise for me. We arrived at an onsen! This is a hot spring where women get completely naked and soak in extremely hot natural bath. At first when I had to strip all my clothes off in front of a bunch of older women I felt a little awkward but then once we got in the bath it didn’t even matter that I was naked. There were about seven different types of baths. There was one with a high level of iron and so the water was a reddish tint. One bath had jets that shot up your butt, another that felt like electric shocks going down your spine. There was a salt room where you rub salt all over your body and sit in the sauna like room and then rinse it off and jump in yet another spring that was super hot. I don’t understand why we don’t have these bath houses in the states. I also don’t understand why we don’t have toilets like them. They are heated, have vibrating seats, play music, and squirt water up your butt. After the onsen ,Yuka drove me back to the ship where I met friends who I was going to travel to Tokyo with. I will save that tale for another blog. I was in all my glory the whole entire time I was in Japan . Hands down my absolute favorite port.

China

I am in no state to write a productive blog.
China was the most physically, mentally, and emotionally draining port thus far. I did way too much in an extremely short amount of time and am just overwhelmed with information about the places I visited.
After Japan I will have 18 days at sea to seriously reflect on everything but right now I am just going to give a quick overview so everyone has a small idea of all the things I was involved with. The ship arrived in Hong Kong on November 6th where I spent the day touring the city. I went to Victoria ’s Peak and looked over the whole city of Hong Kong . From there a friend and I found our way to the Spencer market across town and wondered around observing all the European families shopping. We figured the father’s had important business jobs in Hong Kong and they moved the family there. That night I spent my time on the stoop of McDonald’s. We got beer from 7/11 and just hung out on the steps. The bars were a bit expensive so we opted for the cheaper route. The next day I boarded a plane to Beijing . For the next 4 days I spent my time at the Great Wall, the Beijing Zoo where I saw giant panda’s, Tsinghua University which is where we stayed in a guest house, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, a silk market where I bought many many good, cheap knock offs. We also saw The Summer Palace , the 2008 Summer Olympics Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Water Cube. On November 10th we arrived in Shanghai late at night and then the next day I went to a few markets and the famous Television tower.

On top of doing all of this, the morning of November 8th right before climbing the Great Wall of China , we had to hear some very unfortunate news. Everyone was on the bus, sleepily awaiting the Great Wall to appear outside our window when our trip leader stood up and said he had to read something to us that he received from the Head Dean. My initial thought was that Obama had been assassinated because the leader had the most somber expression on his face. He instead told us that one of our fellow world travelers had died in Hong Kong . He had been hit by a drunk driver and died instantly. This was a huge blow to every single person on the bus. We could not believe what we just heard. I do not want to go into details right now but just know that this casualty has upset the whole shipboard community and we are all having a difficult time dealing with it. Kurt Leswing lived only a few doors down from me. I walk past his room everyday, I can not put into words what I and everyone else is feeling right now. This is the main reason I am in no mood to describe my time in China right now. We arrive in Japan tomorrow and then once Japan is over I only have 3 weeks left of my journey. I will write more in a week or so. If you would like to read more about the incident pertaining to Kurt Leswing you can go to semesteratsea.org and go to the headlines portion of the website.

Vietnam ,Part 2

On the third day in Vietnam I traveled 4 hours by bus to Cat Tien National Park. It was absolutely glorious! Many of you know am a fond of the wilderness and of hiking and that is all I did for the next 2 and a half days. 13 of us arrive around noon and got assigned room numbers. Since my name was at the end of the alphabet I got a room all to myself. Finally, a chance to be alone. My room was in a different building from the rest of the group and on top of that it was about 120 yards farther back in the woods from everyone else. I was in heaven. After getting settled in we took a boat ride up to a village where we spent time talking to the locals who were descendants of the X’tieng and Ma ethnic minority groups. We got back to our rooms 2 hours before dinner so I decided to take a walk with my Oceanography professor, his wife, and 2 other students. After dinner everyone went to sleep because there was not much else to do but I was not tired yet and decided to take a walk. I headed into the forest and then psyched myself out about 10 minutes into the walk and turned back. We woke up early the next morning, ate breakfast and then did a 10 km trek through the jungle. I was in front of the line with our tour guide and some of our group fell behind because they were taking pictures so I basically had a one on one tour of the Cat Tien jungle. Half way through the hike we stopped at a small village and observed crocodiles. On the second half of the hike I basically did a speed walk with my professor. It was an easy hike because the ground was flat and at sea level, therefore very easy to breathe. We got back for lunch and then had free time until dinner so I rented a bike and peddled 20 km through mud and rocks. So fun! I got really muddy and my shoulder muscles were sore because the bike was of course too small for an American. After dinner we got on a bus that did not have a roof and went searching for wildlife in the dark with the help of spotlights. The best part about this was that it was pouring rain, I was soaked the minute I stepped onto the bus. Loved it! The next day we went on a short hike and discovered a moon and sun bear sanctuary. It’s an organization called free the bears and they save black bears from bear farming and as pets. The bears were living in cages not much bigger than the actual bear and had catheter tubes running into their sides so they did not have to get out of the cages. The sanctuary was just built and only 16 bears lived there. This could be a good trip for future Semester at Sea participants who are interested in animals and in building onto the sanctuary. After the hike we had lunch and then boarded the bus for another 4 hour drive. I don’t know what part I liked more; having a whole room to myself, hiking 10 km in 2 and a half hours, biking through mud, sitting on a fast moving bus while rain poured down on me, or seeing bears regain their freedom again. This trip was hands down 10 times better than the Amazon but ties with hiking Table Top Mountain in Cape Town.

Vietnam

Before I discuss my adventures in Vietnam I have a few side notes. There is only 6 weeks left of this trip. It is going by too fast. We will be in China on the 6th and then Japan right after that. I feel like after Japan this trip is over because we will be at sea basically for 18 days straight except for the 10 hours we will have in Hawaii. I don’t want this trip to end!
On Thursday October 30th we arrive in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam around noon because we had to go up a river to the port which meant we had to wait for high tide in order to reach the port without getting stuck in the river. I had an FDP at one p.m. for my International Business class. We went to the Nike plant. First we sat in a really nice conference room and listened to power point presentations about where Nike stands in relation to their competitors and how they run the plant. Then we got to tour one of the buildings which made the top part of the shoes. It was very interesting to see first hand how a plant is organized and the incredible amount of work put into one single shoe. There are between 35 to 85 different parts in a shoe and there are that many different stations working on a certain part of the shoe. There had to have been at least 1,000 Vietnamese people in this one building which was the size of a football field concentrating on sewing, gluing, or cutting shoe pieces. I did not realize that this many people actually made the shoes; I thought there were machines that did all the work and only a few people overlooked the products. I am glad I had the opportunity to visit the plant; it definitely changed my perspective on plant workers.
That evening I went out to dinner at a really fancy restaurant that was super cheap. After that I went to a club and danced for 4 hours straight, it was a really good workout.My roommate’s brother is learning Vietnamese with the help of a Vietnamese woman in New Jersey. This woman has a sister who goes to college near the Ho Chi Minh port where we docked. Friday morning my roommate, Amanda, and I went to visit her at the university. Her name is Tu and she was very shy at first because her English is not that good, but I tried to reassure her that we understood everything she was saying. Tu showed us around her campus and then we took a taxi to the Vietnam War Remnants Museum which instilled a feeling of uneasiness. It was ironic to walk around the museum side by side this Vietnamese girl and her not feel any resentment towards me or Amanda. I understand that it is not our generations fault but it was still interesting. I’m sure parents out there who fought in Vietnam thought they would never see the day when their children would visit Vietnam and see the results of the war, just like my generation can probably not fathom our kids going to Iraq in 40 years. I’ve never learned about this war in school and so going to the museum was a huge shock for me. I do not understand how our government could drop Agent Orange over Vietnam which effected many innocent people along with our own troops. The whole war just does not make any sense to me and I wish I had learned more about it in school before actually going to the country and seeing the Cu Chi tunnels and reunification palace. After the museum I went to the Ben Than market and bought a lot for cheap. It seemed like the further into the middle of the market I got, the more aggressive the sales people became. I was in one shop where the woman would not let go of my arm, I had to force my way out of her shop.I’m sorry but I am just not into writing this blog, I feel overwhelmed with emotion pertaining to the Vietnam War. I just sat through a session of my professors describing what they went through during the war. Many of them were college students at the time and participated in protests against the war. This was another eye opener for me because I was not sure of the American stance towards the war. Then my oceanography professor stood up and explained how he grew up talking about WWII and how his family culture thought it was a duty to fight for America. He choked up and had to take a second to regain his stature. At this point I was crying because this is a man who is very strong and you would never think of him to be the type to get emotional. This discussion brought out a lot of emotion from the professors and students as well. My professor went on to say we all need to go home and have a conversation with our fathers about the war. The whole session was very moving and just made me take a step back from the fast paced life I am living and reflect on what is important in my life. I will write more about my time in Vietnam in another blog.