honolulu, hawaii

well, it's been two days since we left hawaii and i still find myself struggling to write this blog entry.

my time in hawaii was not at all what i thought it would be and that is hard for me to understand since i had no idea what it should be.

the first day in hawaii was spent with the witwer-dukes which for those of you who have been keeping up with my blog know this was a BIG mistake :). the witwer-dukes had decided to spend the day at a beach where there were no semester at sea students and then i would meet up with them in the afternoon so we could go to the pearl harbor and uss arizona memorial together. once the ship was cleared, gary and i waited for the thrifty car rental folks to pick us so we could get the rental car and head to the memorial to get tickets for that afternoon. i went with gary in case he was only allowed to get a certain number of tickets.

after picking up tickets for the 3pm tour, we returned to the ship to get kathy, maddy and harry. i would like to again note here that i was not going to the beach with the witwer dukes family and i had planned to spend the morning drinking a venti soy chai from starbucks and window shopping at the aloha tower. when we returned to the ship i was suckered by the begging, pleading and sad faces of the witwer dukes kids so off WE went to the kailua beach.

after several u turns, sudden lane changes and a few choice words we arrived at kailua beach. it was jammed packed with local folks but after driving around for a bit we found a parking spot and made our way to the beach. we had hoped to spend our beach time snorkeling, boogie boarding and kayaking but after having gotten lost we decided to forgo the renting of beach equipment. after a couple of hours on the beach we went in search of lunch which we would eat in the car so we could be on time for our 3pm tour.

we were enjoying ourselves in hawaii when the witwer dukes curse hit us AGAIN! we had fifteen minutes to make it to the memorial as we drove along nimitz highway and then it happened...construction! we attempted to divert the construction zone by exiting at the airport exit but in return all we received was a nice tour of the outside of the airport terminal. we waited in construction traffic for five minutes and by the time we arrived at the memorial we were twenty minutes late. we returned to the ship defeated once again.

it was during the evening of my first day in hawaii that i began to become angry and even agitated about being in hawaii. i shared my feelings with a few folks i was having adult beverages with and through those conversations, i began to realize that i was struggling with being comfortable. i had spent the last four months in uncomfortable situations struggling with language barriers, stereotypes, socio economic structures and the list goes on and on and now i was back in the states- a place where privilege was prevalent the minute i got off the ship.

last night, at the post port reflection program, one of the folks i had had adult beverages with spoke about our conversation and summarized it so well by saying, "we had become comfortable being uncomfortable."

yokohama, japan

well, it's been four days since we left yokohama, japan and we will be at sea for another five days before we make it honolulu, hawaii.

we just finished celebrating easter twice (april 12th) in order to be on the same day and time as hawaii we had two days of april 12th and have moved our clocks forward two hours in two days. when all is said and done we will have advanced our clocks twenty four hours and celebrated one day twice. not only am i confused but i'm tired too.

we were in yokohama for two days-two quick and jammed packed days!

on the first day i went to tokyo with andrea, becca, janetta, jason, kate and kate. we stopped at the post office in yokohama to get yen so we could catch the express train to tokyo. once in tokyo we went in search of a restroom and chai from starbucks :) once we had met some of our basic human needs we walked around tokyo until we found a picture booth place. picture booths are HUGE in japan! we ended up in a place filled with school girls in uniforms gigging and laughing as they crammed into the different booths to pose for pictures with their best friends. somehow we managed to fit all seven of us into one picture booth for a speed round of pictures.

after the glamour shoot, we went in search of a grocery store in hopes of finding sushi and sake to take to yoyogi park for lunch. as we made our way to yoyogi, we found several malls selling very expensive clothing and accessories but we never found a grocery store :( we went to yoyogi park anyway where we walked around and took in the sites of friends having lunch, children playing and the cherry blossoms raining down on us as they began to shed their blossoms.

knowing that janetta and i would have to leave tokyo by 2:00pm in order to get back to yokohama for the baseball game, we left the park in hopes of finding a sushi restaurant. we wandered around takeshita street where we found several stores filled with hello kitty items, alternative clothing and lots of knick knack items. unfortunately we did not find a place for sushi so janetta and i left the group and headed back to yokohama.

we made it back to the ship in time to grab a quick bite from the grill on deck seven aft. after a veggie burger, i made my way back to the terminal to help with the baseball game attendees since i was the designated trip leader for this event. trying to get 150 plus people to walk with you through the streets of yokohama is similar to herding sheep. there are always one or two little lambs that seem to wander when they see other little lambs across the street or bright and shiny things in a store along the way.

we arrived at the yokohama baystars baseball stadium two hours ahead of game time so there was plenty of time to watch the baystars and san francisco giants warm up, drink beer, catch fly balls, eat popcorn, talk to friends, eat salty little fishes that still had eyes and purchase baseball souvenirs. watching a japanese baseball game can be tiring with non-stopping cheering complete with individual cheers for each player, fans who bring their own trumpets and other musical instruments and our very own cheerleader! even though the yokohama baystars lost to the san francisco giants 9-2 the fans cheered until the very last out.

i had a great time at the baseball game, and yet i must admit that my mind wandered at times as i tried to make sense of my interaction with another semester at sea individual who was also in attendance at the baseball game. as the filed trip leader, i helped the local tour guides hand out player rosters to all the semester at sea baseball fans. as i gave out the rosters, one person asked me why she would want the roster and as i tried to explain to her that it had each player's stats as well as their picture, she told she didn't need it since they all looked alike anyway. i felt like i had just been hit in the stomach with a baseball bat and hit in the head with a fly ball. i couldn't seem to catch my breathe as my head was spinning trying to determine if i had indeed just heard what i had heard. since this blog is a public blog i will not repeat here what i said or did but for those of you who know me you know cutting was involved!

after the game, we returned to the ship to meet up with those folks who had stayed in tokyo for the day. after bantering back and forth about whether we should go out and share our karaoke talent with others, janetta, bama and i ventured out to chinatown. we arrived in chinatown about 11:00pm to find the streets deserted and the closed neon signs the only lights left on in the bars and restaurants.

the next day i woke up at 6:00am in hopes of being able to get on the mt. fuji and hakone field trip. luck, and kate (sas field trip assistant coordinator), was on my side and i spent my last day in japan at mt. fuji and hakone. even though we were only able to get to stage five (there are ten stages) on mt. fuji because of the snow the view was well worth it. instead of attempting to describe mt. fuji to you ( which would be a pitiful attempt due to her amazing beauty) i would like to end this blog entry with a series of pictures of mt fuji from the bus, the visitor's center, mt. fuji and hakone. the crater you see on the left side of mt. fuji is a result of when she erupted in 1709. in the last picture, if you look close enough you can see the start of a fire on mt. fuji.

kobe, japan

whew, can i just say that our first morning and mid-afternoon in kobe, japan was not a pleasant experience at all.

we were awakened by the announcement that everyone needed to make their way to the faculty and staff lounge for a temperature check. we were given a card with our name and i.d. number by one person only to turn to the next person and give the card back. we walked past an infrared temperature camera, down the stairs and back to our cabins to await the next step in the customs and immigration processes for japan.

the student life staff was called to the port to begin distributing passports-every person on the ship (almost one thousand people) would have to do a face to face with the immigration and custom officials. we handed each person their passport and they stood in line awaiting their turn to have their passport checked, their fingerprint taken and then their picture taken. this entire process took almost three hours to complete-we were cold, tired and hungry.

once everyone was let loose in kobe, we grabbed lunch on the ship and concocted our plan for the day knowing we would be meeting laurie's friend, mo, for dinner. we decided we would catch the train to sannomiya and spend the day seeing what kind of trouble we could get ourselves into. andrea, laurie, bama and i left the ship, exchanged money in the port area and went in search of the next train to sannomiya. it took us less than ten minutes to get to sannomiya (we later discovered we could have walked) and less than ten minutes to get lost looking for the post office and chase bank. after getting stamps and money, we wandered around sannomiya into one mall after another in search of postcards. can i just say that japan is very expensive! after finding our way out the mall (which is no easy feat when you can't read japanese) we found a starbucks where we sat down to enjoy chai, coffee and a small pastry treat :) after starbucks we stumbled upon a couple of baseball stores where we spent time looking for baseball memorabilia for family members. after a few hours we strolled back to the train station to meet mo who was in kobe working with the jett program. we had a great dinner with mo, her partner, matt, and their friend, gina. we ate at an organic vegetarian restaurant-even though they had a burrito on the menu i could not bring myself to order one. ( a burrito in japan just didn't seem right to me) after dinner we roamed sannomiya in search of postcards and the 100 yen store.

the next day i met up with laurie, janetta, haley, nate and sarah so they could enjoy the kobe beef that we all heard so much about from our cultural pre-port lecturers. based on a recommendation from mo the night before we ended up in a pretty fancy restaurant filled with business men in suits. after stumbling through our order, and convincing the server i did not want kobe beef, we were treated to a show as the chef cooked our lunch order at our table. it was a great lunch! after lunch we went to the bathroom and that is where we discovered the japanese toilet-i know this sounds strange but this toilet serves as a bottom warmer, massager and a bidet.

after the giggling and laughing subsided we left the restaurant to catch the train to kyoto. since i was on dean duty we had to be within one hour of the ship. we arrived in kyoto one hour and forty five minutes later only to discover that we had taken the local train instead of the express which would have gotten us to kyoto in forty five minutes! we left the train station and caught a cab to the nijo castle. we spent the next few hours exploring the castle, the ninomaru gardens and the cherry blossoms.

since the nijo castle closed at five we decided to head back to sannomiya-we took the express train :) once back in sannomiya we stopped at a belgium waffle stand and then hit the streets to find a restaurant that served sushi. one would think that finding sushi in japan would be easy but one should never assume or think too much :) it took us some time before we found a restaurant that had sushi. i had be bim bop, sushi and veggie potstickers. :) we walked back to the ship after dinner enjoying our last night in kobe.

shanghai, china

wow, it sure is amazing how easy it is to fall behind with my blog. after hong kong we were at sea for two days before we arrived in shanghai. i had hoped to write my blog during that two days at sea, unfortunately my time was filled with dock time letters, conduct hearings and follow up letters.

my first day in shanghai was filled with the shanghai city orientation-we left at 10:30am and did not return until 10:00pm. we started out the day with a quick walk through of the old town bazaar-not really much of a visit since we were trying to get to the yuyuan gardens. we spent part of the morning at the gardens enjoying the temples, the gardens and the koi fish. after the gardens we returned to the old town bazaar where we were set free for forty five minutes to find an atm, wander and shop the bazaar. i had hoped to get a venti, soy, no water, no foam, extra hot chai from starbucks but could not justify spending five dollars for a tall soy chai so i wandered, window shopped and found a little pearl stand where i got a pearl with brooke's (my sister's oldest daughter) name etched on it. (you have to use a magnifying glass to see her name) i had hoped to get one for maya (my sister's second oldest daughter) but i ran out of time and did not think i would be a good role model if i had to give myself dock time for being late.

after the old town bazaar, we boarded the bus again and headed for lunch. it was decided that the eight vegetarians would sit together in order to make the serving of the food less complicated for the restaurant staff. we had a great lunch filled with lots of veggies!

after lunch, we got back on the bus and found ourselves at the jade buddha temple. we were greeted with the delightful opportunity of getting to see the monks of the temple as they were celebrating the anniversary of the temple. the jade buddha is an amazing statue sprinkled with rare gems, diamonds and gold. the jade buddha is 1.9 meters high. unfortunately we were not able to take a picture :(

after the jade buddha temple, we again hopped on the bus and made our way to the shanghai museum. the shanghai museum is four stories high and filled with galleries of ancient chinese sculptures, ancient chinese ceramics, chinese calligraphy, the chinese seal, chinese jade, chinese coins and chinese ming and qing furniture.

after we left the shanghai museum we stopped at the historic bund area. the bund area is the historic area of shanghai across from the sea. we stopped long enough to take pictures of new shanghai before we raced to dinner in order to eat before the acrobatic show at the shanghai centre theatre.

the vegetarians again sat together as we dined at the hao yan lou restaurant. i had to chuckle to myself as we sat eating together since both of the meals we had shared that day had been filled with conversation about food-about how people were tired of eating pasta and potatoes for every meal on the ship, had anyone ever seen peanut butter so gritty and where was the protein.

after dinner we ended the night by attending an acrobatic show at the shanghai centre theatre- wow, what truly amazing and talented individuals. i'm still not sure how anyone can twist and turn their body the way these performers did. i had hoped to take pictures but we were asked to refrain from doing so. it amazes me how even when we are asked politely to not take pictures or video some people believe they are exempt from this request. i was appalled at those individuals who chose to take pictures and were blatant enough to use their flash which almost caused the performers to drop each other at times.

after returning to the ship, i met up with some folks in the faculty and staff lounge. it was there that it was decided that we would spend the next day searching for pearls in china. we met for breakfast and searched wikipedia for pearl places in shanghai, china. after finding what seemed to be two reputable places we were off to shop for pearls! once outside of the port area we searched for a cab only to realize that although we knew where we wanted to go we had no way of communicating that to a cab driver. we walked to a business building close by, asked for their assistance in translating our desired locations into chinese and again attempted to catch a cab. after being kicked out of two cabs, we realized, with the help of a public safety officer, that we could not have more than four people in a cab. since there was five of us we were contemplating taking two cabs when three students approached us asking for directions. in the end we hailed two cabs with the students and hoped for the best as we made our way to our first pearl location. we arrived to the first location only to learn that we had lost one of our pearl shoppers who had volunteered to ride in the first cab with the students. we had no way of knowing where she was or how to find her. :( after waiting for a bit, we reluctantly made the decision to continue on with our search for pearls. as we entered the pearl mall it was as if we had entered an oyster filled with pearls. after walking around in circles and trying to decide which pearl shop to enter we took the plunge and casually strolled into a place called rupeipei pearls. we acted like we knew what we were doing as we tossed around words like fresh water and sea water. after a couple of hours in rupeipei we each walked out with at least one pearl necklace but most of us carried bags filled with bracelets, earrings and necklaces.

we had lunch a at diner that served bacon cheeseburgers, chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and a great sauteed veggie sandwich with pesto. after lunch we realized we only had one other place we could go to shop so we caught a cab and made our way there.

we ended up at a mall close to pedestrian street. we went into the mall in search of postcards and we were immediately bombarded with requests to purchase coach purses, rolex watches and north face clothing. janetta was in search of thong underwear (not sure she would want you all to know this and i am also not sure you want to know this) to wear with her dress for the ambassador's ball so she walked into a booth selling undergarments. the woman in the booth told janetta she would give her a pair of thong underwear for twenty dong and when janetta said not thank you and began to walk away the woman grabbed her arm. the woman again repeated her request and janetta again attempted to walk away with the woman tugging on her arm. janetta told the woman, "i don't want your panties" but when the woman told janetta she would give her two pairs for twenty dong, janetta said, "i want your panties" and the deal was sealed.

when we left the mall, we ran into two of our other colleagues from semester at sea and decided to spend the rest of the afternoon together. (laurie had to leave in order to get back to the ship in time for gangway duty) we decided to walk to pedestrian street and ride the mall trolley. while on pedestrian street we were attempting to find hot chili peanuts when we ran into two other friends. we walked together as we made our way back to the ship, walking in and out of little stores that lined the street. we got so caught up in trying to find hot chili peanuts that we lost track of time so we attempted to catch a cab so as not to be late for on ship time. after forty five minutes of trying to wave down a cab we gave up and made a run for it. we weaved in and out of the construction that was taking place in the bund for the 2010 expo, we ran, we jogged, we took a shortcut through the bund tourist tunnel and sweated (literally and figuratively) the whole way in hopes that i would not have to assign us all dock time. even though it got tense at times when we lost our way and we cussed under our breathe at each other and mumbled to ourselves questioning why we could not get a cab we made it with fifteen minutes to spare!

we spent the evening on deck seven port side taking pictures of the night skyline since shanghai boasts the tallest building in asia and the second and third tallest in the world! the picture to the left is of the pearl tv tower.

hong kong, china

whew, two whirlwind days in hong kong!

we arrived to the land of large (large buildings, large bill boards, large ships, large malls) hong kong is like new york except cleaner :)

my first day in hong kong was spent doing a city tour with lots of the folks i have become friends with while on this voyage :)

we boarded a bus, crossed the bridge to aberdeen and got on a sampan to observe the life of the people living on fishing junks. we witnessed the life of the fishing junks as we were surrounded by large buildings everywhere-there was no skyline in sight. we even got to see a floating restaurant!

after getting of the sampan we got back on the bus and headed for victoria peak-where we experienced a tram ride wile getting a bird's eye view of the city. after leaving the tram, we walked to see several historical building in hong kong- the final court of appeals, st johns cathedral and the old supreme court.

we then stopped to enjoy our box lunches from the ship. since i am a vegetarian my box is clearly labeled with my name and my food eating status. after reading the name on my box lunch, my shipmates spent the rest of the day harassing me with comments such as, we should have a wet tshirl contest, i'm cold does anyone have a sweatshirl i can borrow, i prefer a long sleeved tshirl to a short sleeve tshirl and the laughter went on and on. i must admit that i did find the tagless tshirl funny.


after lunch we made our way to cat street, which was once notorious for having brothels and hide outs for criminals. we also stopped by the man mo temple also located on cat street and hollywood road. we entered the temple and immediately saw coils upon coils of incense. having never seen coils of incense i was intrigued by their shape and the fact that the smaller coils burn for three months. we spent a few minutes walking the curio and antique shops on cat street.

we returned to the ship around five. we had dinner off the ship at a dim sum restaurant in the harbour ocean mall. after dinner we decided to check out the night market so we hopped into cab and ventured to the market. the market looked like an overstuffed turkey filled with jewelry, purses, tshirts (tshirls :) ) paintings, toys, videos, etc.

i didn't have any trips planned for the next day so i hung out with kate and andrea. we paid 180 hong kong dollars for a token to get on the star ferry which took us from kowloon island, where we were docked, to hong kong island. after making our way through the mall, we caught a cab to the edward yuode aviary in the hong kong park. it was wild to be in an aviary park where it was calm and serene but to be surrounded by skyscrapers. we spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the flagstaff house museum of tea, (i learned how oolong tea is made) the chater garden, statue square and the post office. while some folks went to get massages, i returned to the ship to write postcards in hopes of sending them before we set sail later that night.

i had dinner with a few folks from the ship, including one llc whose stepbrother lives in hong kong. after dinner we raced back to the ship to watch the nightly light show. i had hoped to get back off the ship after the light show to get a chai in the mall but on ship time was nine and the light show did not end until eight twenty :( once you are on the ship, you can not get off within one hour of on ship time) although i missed my chai for that evening i did get a chai while i was in hong kong.

we had a set sail party-we sat on the patio of a cabin on deck seven and drank adult beverages as we left the hong kong port at eleven.

we are now making our way to shanghai and should arrive there tomorrow morning!

ho chi minh city/saigon, vietnam

in an effort to get caught up on my blog and an attempt to share my thoughts about the country i am currently in, i am going to blog for two days in a row :)

before we arrived in india we were told that india would change us. i believe that each country we have spent time in has changed me in some way, and yet the country that has changed me the most so far is vietnam.

we arrived in vietnam after spending a couple of hours going through the channel to get there. the channel was amazing-it was lush and green on both sides and it took patience and time as we wove our way through it.

my first day in vietnam was spent with a few other folks getting acquainted with the city. it was hot and we dripped sweat as we made our way to the market. the market was filled with so many different booths that it looked like sardines in a can. should you ever visit vietnam it will be important to hone up on your frogger skills so you can survive crossing the streets. once you make the commitment to cross a street and you step off the curb there is not turning back, no slowing down and no hesitating-you must walk with confidence and at a steady pace.

i spent the next few days flying and riding in a bus to a mountain village in mai chau where i stayed with a man and wife (who are of the black thai hill tribe)-there six daughters were already grown and all but one was married. the father asked us a few questions about obama and shared with us that the people of vietnam were glad we had elected him-they trusted him because of what they saw in his eyes; his kindness, his caring, his intelligence and most of that he smiled with his eyes. i think it was at this moment that vietnam began to change me. i started listening to what the people of the village had to say by looking into their eyes-their hopes about obama, their pain about the vietnam war, their life in the village.

we stayed in a long house in the village-there were twelve students and myself. we had meals that were cooked by the wife (after she had chopped wood, worked in the rice patty fields and did the shopping) after breakfast on our first day we ventured to the food market-along the way we saw people working in the rice patty fields or going to the market to sell their meats and vegetables. on the way to the market i took a picture of a bike that i want to share with you all-it it my favorite picture by far as it speaks to the life of the village people.

after we left the village the next day, we got back on the bus for our four hour ride to ha noi. we arrived in ha noi, checked into our hotel and then we were off again-this time we went to a water puppet show.

the next morning we had an early breakfast since our day would be jammed packed. our first stop was to see ho chi minh-even though he wanted to be cremated the love that the people have for him is so immense that the had his body preserved. until recently ho chi minh's body was sent to russia every year to insure that his body was being well preserved-now the vietnamese have learned to take care of his body so well the russians have stopped coming back to check their work. when you are waiting to view his body it is important to remember that you must stay in a single file line, there is no talking, no wearing of hats or sunglasses and your hands must be at your sides. we also saw the house of ho chi minh even though he did not stay there since he knew there were poor people living in the streets. while there we also saw the one pillar pagoda that was built for uncle ho (the name given to him by the people of vietnam)

our next stop was to the army museum where we learned a little bit more about the army's role in vietnam. we also learned about the chu chi tunnels (if you get a chance i strongly encourage you to learn more about these tunnels). i wish i would have had time to visit the tunnels and get even an ounce of what it must have been like to live in them every day, all day in order to safe your life.

we then moved on to the temple of literature where we learned about confucius and his teachings. then we were off to the heart of ha noi-we walked through the market as it poured rain and then were on our own for lunch and free time. we left for the airport by three thirty.

on my last day in ho chi minh city/saigon, i spent the morning at the war remnants museum-i left there feeling like i had been punched in the stomach, unable to breath and feeling nauseous. i wept as i read about the atrocities of the vietnam war- the indescribable birth defects that have occurred due to agent orange, the senseless murders of innocent children and families, the fear, the bloodshed. i am struggling to make sense of it-but i don't know that i ever will. i have attached one of the many pictures i took at the museum (please read the caption in the picture-i hope you can see it)

in an effort to end this blog entry on a happy note, i am including a picture of me eating coconut ice cream from a coconut.

bangkok, thailand

wow, its been two weeks since my last blog and yet it feels like it was only yesterday.

after leaving india, we were on the ship for five days. i spent the majority of my time in conduct hearings thus not having much time to blog.

we arrived in thailand on sunday, march 15th. the port we docked at was in laem chabang, which was deserted except for us and the small fleet of taxi drivers whose mercy we were at since we had no other means of transportation.

the taxi ride to bangkok was over three hours long and $100 one way (i knew i would not be going there the first day since it took awhile for the ship to clear and i also knew i would not be visiting bangkok on my second day in thailand since i was on dean duty)

i went to breakfast intending to spend the day in laem chabang, working on conduct letters and sharing a ride to a recently built mall that had a starbucks (venti soy chai, no water, no foam and extra hot was calling my name) :)

i had breakfast with beth (librarian) and her partner chuck (who had just flown 23 hours from virginia) beth and chuck invited me to join them in pattaya for the day. i took beth and chuck up on their offer and we were off to pattaya after paying 2500 baht for a round trip taxi ride (this is about $52.00 u.s dollars)

pattaya is DEFINITELY a tourist town-the population of pattaya is 80, 000 natives and 300,00 non-natives. it is a beach resort filled with single, old men taking advantage of the sex trade operation that is so prevalent in thailand. (more on this later) once we arrived in pattaya, we walked around the town for a bit-scattered through out the town there are makeshift shrines in front of local businesses and several pictures of the king.

after walking around the beach front area, we ventured a few blocks away in search of a thailand christmas ornament for beth's collection. we also thought it might be a good time to stop for something cold to drink so i began to search for an atm machine. the first atm machine i used rejected my card and the second atm machine took my card but i was able to retrieve it since there was a man sitting in the booth next to the machine. not sure what was going on with my card i thought it would be best to get baht from a bank. i went into the krung thai bank and after several attempts of explaining my dilemma, a woman from the bank took my card, walked me to the atm machine and put my card into the atm where it promptly ate it. when i asked to get my card back i was greeted with a smile of confusion and escorted back into the bank. after several language barrier misunderstandings i learned i could not get my card back because it was sunday. i would have to return the next day when the person who had the key could unlock the machine and retrieve my credit card for me. needless to say i was stressed, bummed, frustrated and stuck in pattaya with no money. however, my day with beth and chuck was good and we ended by stopping by a buddhist temple on the way back to the ship.

knowing that i would have to return to pattaya the next day to get my card, i knew my chances of getting to bangkok were slipping away since i also had a semester at sea field trip on the last day and i was the trip leader.

i returned to the ship, cardless, hungry and thirsty. i went to dinner and shared my woes with anyone who would listen :) bama came into the dining hall looking for me to go with her and a bunch of other folks to the leam chabang mall. after several minutes of pleading, and promising me a chai from starbucks, i went to the mall with bama. while we were at the mall, we shopped at lotus (similar to wal-mart) for snack food, had a chai :) and thought it would be a good idea to ask around to see if anyone else was going to pattaya the next day so in order to share the cost. every time we ran into an sas group of people, bama would ask they if they were going to pad thai! :) we finally found two students who thought they might be going-they promised to call me by midnight if they decided to go. the next morning i got a call from the students saying they were leaving in fifteen minutes for pattaya and would only be there for the day. after waiting for two and one half hours, i finally made it back to pattaya with five sas students. i wasnt sure what the day would hold for me- i was worried about getting my credit card back, not sure if the students would be okay with me hanging out with them and not wanting to spend the entire day in a place i had already been.

after finding a hotel for two of the students, we went to lunch where it was decided that the students would get massages while i went to rescue my credit card. the students were great-they offered to go with me to get my card, they assured me that getting a thai massage was the next best thing to sliced bread and that they had no issues spending time with me.

i left the students at one of the plethora of thai massage places and made my way back to the thai krung bank. it took all of two minutes to receive my card and after several smiles and thank yous i was on my way. while i waited for the students, i had a thai foot massage. (it is better than sliced bread)

after massages, we went to the beach. the students rode jet skis, ate street food such as fried crabs and shrimp, pineapple and coconut milk. as i sat on the beach i was privy to the sex trade operation at work-old men, overweight and leather skinned from too much sun would walk back and forth on the beach in their speedos (contrary to their belief, they are not attractive in speedos) in hopes of gaining a companion for the day.

i had hoped to leave pattaya by three but the students wanted to experience the night life in pattaya. i was tired, hot and ready to be done but stayed with the students. as the night wore on, i watched as men came out of the wood work, smothered in bad cologne and hawaiian shirts attempting to lure women. the women littered the streets with their faces caked with make up and their clothing revealing all they had to offer. i was saddened by the knowledge that working in the sex trade was a means of survival for the women and their families and i was angered as i watched the men swarm around the women. by 10:30pm
i was more than ready to return to the ship.

i spent the next two days on the ship doing conduct, working out, reading and watching movies.
okay, i also snuck out to the mall, when i found other folks to share the cab ride cost, and had a few more chais before i left thailand. :)

on my last day in thailand, i was the trip leader for the nong nooch cultural village field trip. the gardens of nong nooch were amazing-they were filled with colorfully painted stone animals such as frogs and parrots and the trees, flowers and other garden life was green and lush. it was a peaceful time until i came upon the tourist attraction of animals (apes, monkeys and cougars) being forced to perform. i dont think i will ever understand why we feel the need to dress up animals in human clothing and make them pose for pictures with us.

after the gardens, we were taken to another part of the gardens to watch thai dancing, thai kick boxing and an elephant show. i dont mean to be debbie downer but i walked out of the elephant show after watching the elephants being abused and forced to perform tasks that belonged in a circus.