So we have just concluded our Asia binge of 6 countries all over Asia all jam packing into one short month! The time went by in a flash and left us in awe of what had just happened. With only 2 or 3 days between countries at some times, we had little time for reflection, and for processing everything we had experienced on this incredible journey.

Our next, and last, port is Hawaii, USA. It will be nice to be back in the US where I can rely on people speaking English, and know how much something costs without having to divide and multiply by factors up to 7000, but at the same time it is bittersweet because it means the semester is coming to an end. We are now sailing on the Pacific! All my west coast friends can’t believe its my first time in this ocean. We get to Hawaii a week from Sunday and spend 2 days there. After that its exam time and before we know it we will be pulling in to San Diego with our bags packed.

So a little bit on Taiwan…
Taiwan really showed me how much I have learned and grown throughout this experience. Since it was sort of a last-minute stop no one really had any big plans for the 3 days we would be stopped there. If this were one of the earlier ports I would be anxious about what I was going to do the whole time, but now this was not an issue. The night before we got to port we found a hostel in Taipei that had pretty good reviews and me and 6 other girls booked it.

The next day we packed our bags for our Taiwanese getaway.  Three months ago I would have immediately hopped in a cab begging the driver to take me where I wanted to go. But this time we had our maps out and were ready for the challenge. We ended up walking to the bus stop, in the pouring rain =( , and hoping on a bus to Taipei. We sat there soaking wet with our bags on our laps. Surprisingly we were the only SAS students on the bus, which made me think maybe we were on the wrong one? but sure enough after about 40 minutes we had reached our destination.
       
I have never stayed in a hostel before so I prepared for the worst. I packed my sleeper sack in case the sheets were dirty, an extra pillow-case, a towel and all the toiletries I could possibly need. Although I have learned a lot, packing light remains one of my weaknesses =) When we got to the hostel I knew I had no reason to worry. We approached the building. The ground level was a tattoo parlor, but when we looked above in the window and a sign read “JV’s Hostel” in bright colors decorated with smiley faces and flowers. Inside we got the tour of the home, which consisted of a bunch of rooms with bunk beds and a big common room with a couch, some bean-bag chairs, a tv, and two computers. There was also a section with a ton of guidebooks for our convenience. It was all decorated with bright colors, flags, and one wall was covered with Polaroid pictures of all the guests that had stayed there.  The bed I chose was a bottom bunk with pink and purple princess bedding, it was very cute.

It was a pretty dreary day, cold and rainy but we decided we should still make the best of it! Half of the girls decided to checkout a Mexican place but the rest of us wanted some more dumplings!! We went to this great place called DIN TAI FUNG.  It was amazinggg! Immediately upon getting there they handed us a fill-in menu for our choices. A few minutes later we were seated and just a few minutes after that our dumplings came. They were served to us cute little circular bamboo boxes.  We finished off the meal with the Red Bean Buns. This was my favorite food of Asia by far! They are circular sticky buns that taste like they are made out of dough and inside is a warm red bean mush. I tried it once in first grade when we took a field trip to the Japanese supermarket and I never forgot it! My friend Haley and I both became obsessed with it and kept an eye out for the buns the entire trip.

After that we decided to try out the MRT subway system and go to the zoo! Once we arrived we met up with our friends and walked around for a while. The highlight was definitely the Pandas! They had their own exhibit (where the line was out the door!) and looked very cuddly. Once our time at the zoo was done we headed up the mountain to a Tea House to taste some tea. It sounded good in theory but it ended up being self-brew and we were a little confused by the complicated process. Needless to say our tea probably wasn’t the best, but we tried.  We took a gondola down which was so much fun and probably one of the highlights of the whole trip. We could see the whole city from it and we were playing music and singing and dancing the whole way down.

That night we decided to go out on the town, after a luxurious meal at McDonalds we had a little pregame party at the hostel with the other guests which included a couple of quirky English guys and one man from Australia. Then we hit the bars, first Roxy Rocker then to Luxy then back to Roxy Rocker bringing along with us a huge group of Semester at Sea kids.

The next day we took it easy in the morning. Everyone wanted to be able to take full advantage of the WiFi in the hostel and get on facebook and skype with friends from home. Later we checked out the surrounding area and did a little shopping. That night we decided to checkout Taipei’s famous night market. It was a ton of fun. The first section had stands with all types of food. From some that looked like weird shaped thick sausages, to huge ice cream fruit sundaes. I ate at a little stand that was sort of like hibachi where they cooked on a fryer right in front of us.  YUM! Next we checked out the arcade games. The first one was shoot the balloon with the BB gun. I wasn’t that great at it but my team was able to hit 4 so we won a black ballpoint pen haha.  After a few more games we headed into the clothing section. Most of the stores in the market had trendy girls clothes and shoes. Many of the small boutiques reminded me of SoHo. They all had pretty similar merchandise. There was an abundance sparkly jewelry and hair clips that reminded me of the Asian section of Hot Jewelry Box in Ridgewood. The market was swamped which really surprised me because it was a Tuesday night. We ended up staying there until 12:30 browsing around and at that point we just headed in for the night.

The final day in Taiwan was gorgeous! The sun came out for the first time put everyone in a good mood. We walked all around the city just exploring different areas. Overall Taipei was not as bad as I had feared. It just seemed like a mini China. There were good parts and bad parts. Some places with fancy designer stores, and other places that were super run-down and dirty. 

On our walk we stopped for Bubble Tea, I had milk green tea. It was basically like iced green tea with boba bubbles that are black and made out of tapioca. I gave it shot but I have to say, the bubbles kind of grossed me out a bit.  Our next was stop was at sushi express! It was like a fast-food place like 7-11 but it was all sushi individually wrapped. If I ever saw a place like this in the US I would be a little skeptical but it ended up being some of the best sushi I’ve had yet. Our third food stop of the day was a little café called Chocoholic. It looked like a restaurant that would be in the West Village. A little vintage-y feeling and a cool menu. We got chocolate fondue and some iced coffee chocolate drinks. Naturally we stopped for some red bean buns to- go on the way back to the hostel.  Our short trip to Taiwan ended up being a lot of fun. It was pretty laid back and I would conclude that it was a great success.

CHINA!!!

China, China, where do I begin?! I had a really great time in China, I would have to say that it was one of, if not my favorite port yet. This was one of our longer stays which gave me the chance to visit 3 of China’s greatest cities; Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. Some of my initial observations were the language barrier and the astonishing development. The whole language thing was pretty tough- we stood outside a market in Beijing for 40 minutes trying to get a cab to take us to our hotel, which was less than 10 minutes away. We tried every angle: giving them the English name, the Chinese name, trying to talk to them in the little Chinese we knew, finding another English speaking person… nothing was working!! At times this was very frustrating but we were able to get by.  I had heard that the language barrier was difficult but experiencing it firsthand was       quite a trip.

Another thing that took me by surprise was the development and modernity in all of the cities that I stayed in. When we ported in Hong Kong the gangway went into a luxury mall! It had everything from Starbucks, to Dolce and Gabbana, to a department store that resembled a Chinese Neiman Marcus. As we ventured into the city streets we couldn’t avoid the hustle and bustling with all types of people. Businessmen, teenagers, venders, and some of the most fashionable people I have ever seen.

Beijing was also something else. Apparently it is on a 20 year plan that was put into place in the preparation for 2008 Olympics hosted there. They planted more trees in an effort to improve air quality and had higher standards for cleanliness. It is a very diverse city with areas of high rises and lights, and others with cobblestone roads lined with quaint bars and restaurants. It was obvious that Beijing had come a long way because it did not seem dirty or unsafe, not to mention the airport was the nicest one I have EVER seen.

Shanghai was also an amazing site to see and the most architecturally stimulating city I have ever been too.  It was incredible. Although it lacked cohesion, there were a ton of amazing skyscrapers and buildings of every size and shape. One standout was the Arts & Sciences Museum, which consisted of two structures separated by huge bean-like, spaceship looking things.  Another was the Pearl TV tower, which stood 350 meters tall making it the tallest in Asia! It had 3 colored spheres at various levels on the tower that changed colors throughout the night that reminded me of the big New Years Eve ball in Times Square.  As a whole, I was very impressed with China and I believe that it will on be a matter of time before it surpasses the US.

Day 1:
I spent my first day in Hong Kong and without much agenda; I was ready to explore the city! We ended up having lunch at Jimmy’s Kitchen, a famous restaurant that was far from Chinese food. At first I was disappointed in the menu, but I would soon find that Chinese food would not be at all lacking from my diet in the coming days. Next we walked through the heart of the city. While looking for Lady’s street we ventured into an area that had pet stores and fish for sale crowding either side of the street! It was super smelly, and not exactly what we were looking for. In the journey to Lady Street we stumbled across the BEST frozen yogurt I have ever had, and a store with Chinese candies and snacks from wall to wall. Then a Reflexology foot massage salon caught our eye. It was pretty cheap and we decided to check it out. It was hysterical! They asked us to all change into these Chinese shorts that came down to about our knees. Then they brought out buckets of murky water for us to soak our feet in. Long story short, it was quite an experience and ended up turning out to pretty relaxing =) Finally, we reached Lady Street, a market with everything you could imagine! Jewelry, sunglasses, bags, fans, silk robes, shoes- it was never ending! I am sure you can imagine, the group of us girls loved every minute of it.  That night my friend Jenna and I went to meet up with another friend, Margaret, and her mom for a traditional Cantonese dinner at the Four Season, one of the nicest restaurants on the island. We had an amazing time and each ate from the chef’s sampling menu, which turned out to be a 7-course meal each with a respective wine. While it was all delicious, my favorite course was the beef stir fry that was cooked to perfection.

Day 2: The next morning I got up early and packed my bags for my big trip to Beijing. It felt like we had been traveling all day when we finally got into the city around 8 pm. Seconds after getting off the bus we were paired off and put into these little carriages pulled by a man on a bike in the front. It was so much fun! They took us to a home where we were served a local meal and got the chance to learn how to make dumplings! One thing that stood out about the area was that all the houses were the same and were owned by the government. After this we finally got to our hotel, and even though everyone was exhausted we were so excited about finally being there that we were eager to go out! A group of 5 of us decided to go to karaoke bar which is really popular in China. When we got there we soon realized that it was not at all what we expected. They brought us down a hallway with many doors to our private karaoke room. After playing around with the machine for a while we figured out how to get some English songs such as Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child. In the main room there was a buffet of Chinese food and a fridge with some beer. Otherwise it was just the 5 of us performing karaoke for each other and having a good time! 

Day 3: The next day was jammed packed with tours. We started at the Forbidden City, which is a huge gated city with the Emperors and their families lived for years and years. Now it is open to the public and was swarmed with tourists from China and abroad. Our tour was a little boring but it was cool to see, and I really liked how all the buildings were decorated with bright colors. When we were brought to the “Four Star bathroom” in the complex I could not keep it together! It was far from one star in my opinion; it smelled horrible, each stall occupied a hole in the ground, and there was no toilet paper in sight. I would soon find that this setting was not uncommon in China… Next we passed through an underpass to Tiananmen Square. It is an important city center and among other things, was a site of some political riots even though our guide refused to discuss it. That night we had dinner at a famous Peking Duck Restaurant. Every meal we had was served at a circular table for 8. In the middle of the table was a Lazy Susan where the waitresses would place various dishes down every few minutes with no explanation of what was in them. They were mainly pork, vegetable, and chicken dishes but nothing like Chinese food in the US. They served the duck in little tortillas like a small wrap. It was actually pretty good and had a barbeque taste to it. That night we went out on the town to a club called MIX. It played all American music which was fun,  but surprising because they club was packed mainly with locals. Somehow all the Semester at Sea kids in Beijing found out about this club and we got to all party together which was a blast. We all stayed out way too late and were struggling the next morning when we go the 7 am wakeup call- but it was totally worth it!!

Day 4: This was another jam-packed day. We started off the day with a visit to one of the top Kung Fu school is Beijing. They put on a performance for us which was very entertaining – I commented to my friends that if they were at StarPower dance competition they would most definitely receive a platinum for their performance!  Next we started our trek to the Great Wall. I was excited but nowhere prepared for the amazing site that I was about to see. When we finally got there we hiked up the hill for about 20 minutes and reached a cable car that would take us up to the wall. It was breathtaking! Although I have seen pictures, in person it was sooo much more impressive!! We hiked along the wall for about an hour taking a ton of pictures, and stopping to view the scenery. When we were finished we took a toboggan down which was a little scary at first but ended up being fun. When we got to the bottom, proud of our accomplishment as becoming heroes of the Great Wall (climbing 60+ stairs) we knew it was time to celebrate. We each bought T-shirts saying “I climbed the Great Wall” which we bargained down to less than $3 each, and then we went to Subway and got sandwiches. A little ironic considering the cultural feat we had just taken on, but at the time it was perfect! That night we went to see a Chinese Acrobatics show and I was obsessed!! They had everything from really flexible girls to men running and jumping off huge hamster wheels, and a group of about 15 girls who did a crazy routine with bikes.

Day 5: Our last day in Beijing did not fall short of the rest. We got up early and went to the Temple of Heaven, an ancient sacrificial temple where people came to worship the heavens. Now it is a place where people come to gather in the surrounding park for card games and even aerobics.  It was really funny because throughout my whole time in China there were babies everywhere! They were always super decked out in cute hats, jackets, and matching pants. One custom that they have that I was not aware was, is the quick release pants. I’d say about 80 percent of the babies had openings in the back of their pants exposing their butts! It was hysterical.  At the end of our tour we got to go to a Teahouse for some tea tasting. I really liked this part as we got to sample 5 traditional Chinese teas and see how they are prepared. Each had a specific healing or other beneficial quality and it was interesting to learn a little bit of the history behind it. On the way to the airport we stopped at the Olympic Stadium Complex and got to check it out. It was all very cool looking, especially the water complex which was a shaped like a huge rectangle with the outside the appeared like transparent bubbles. I was a really cool site to see, and I am happy that we were able to fit it in.  Soon we were off, on our way to meet the ship in the new port, Shanghai.

Day 6: My time in Shanghai started with a trip to Peoples Square, a big park where we got to visit the Shanghai Museum. Next we went to an area called the French Concession where the main street was not open to cars and lined with small shops and cafes.  The first night we went up to the Pearl Tower which was amazing! It was a great view of the whole city below! Afterwards we grabbed a quick dinner at a conveyer- belt sushi place. Each roll was on a conveyer belt that circled the bar and you could pick and choose what you wanted. After that we end to an extravagant club called Moet, which was on the top floor a big building close to the ship. Many guests had their own tables with bar service and we spent our last night in China drinking and dancing till the wee hours of the morning.

I apologize for this extensive entry but there is so just so much to share!
From my successful Semester at Sea Beijing site seeing trip, to the markets of Hong Kong, and ending with the lavish nightlife if Shanghai my time in China was far from dull. In a place like China it was impossible to be bored, I was busy day and night and only saw a fraction of what these cities had to offer. Overall it was a great experience and I hope to eventually get the chance to go back someday!!
Hard to believe we will be in Taiwan tomorrow, after that we will only have one port remaining, Hawaii, before we come full circle back to San Diego! The amazing semester has really flown by =)