Hong Kong and Beijing

    Hong Kong is labeled a "Special Administrative Region" of China, meaning that it is technically part of the country of China. However, Hong Kong is governed both politically and economically independent of China. Because of its success in finance, banking, and manufacturing China allows Hong Kong to take care of itself. As for China, we all know that its economy is growing at an incredible rate and is reaching the status of a world super power. Throughout my stay in Beijing, the city was rapidly preparing for the 2008 summer Olympics. The history in the country is beyond rich. The thousands of years as an empire has left the country with several landmarks that are among the world's most impressive.

Day 1: As the Explorer pulled into Hong Kong harbor, the most developed and expansive metropolis I have ever seen slowly revealed itself under the cover of clouds and fog. The skyline is incredible and spreads for miles and miles. I couldn't wait to see it at night, but more on that later. After disembarking, Kyle, Slava, Dan, Ali, Sashia and I headed across the harbor from Kowloon Island to Hong Kong Island aboard the Star Ferry. Our first mission was to find some lunch, preferably dim sum. We ended up finding a dim sum restaurant and some fantastic Chinese food. Ordering was comical to say the least, as the waiters spoke no English and we did not know the correct process for ordering. Fortunately, we took some guesses and figured it all out.

    We walked around for a bit and visited a historic temple before finding the world's longest escalator. It is actually a series of escalators that takes passengers from the lower portion of Hong Kong to the upper portion. I'm not sure exactly how long the escalator is but if I had to guess I would say it travels for the better part of a mile. We discovered that the end of the escalator was the lower cable station to get to the top of Victoria Peak, which we were planning on doing later that night. We walked back down to the central subway station and hopped on the subway to go to Mong Kok, an outdoor market on Kowloon Island. The Hong Kong subways are incredibly fast and extremely clean. The six of us split up when we got to the market and spent a few hours shopping before heading back to the ship to drop off our purchases.

    After asking around for a good place to have dinner, we ended up at a restaurant that overlooked the skyline and was very upscale. After conquering the task of ordering, we had another great meal. It will surely be hard to go back to what Americans call Chinese food. Every night at 8:00pm, the Hong Kong skyline conducts alight and laser show like no other that is completely synchronized to music. The show was incredible and I was able to get some great pictures. At the end of the show, we stayed on the viewing platform for a while taking some goofy pictures and just enjoying being together in such an incredible place. Just as we were leaving, the sky opened up and for a period of about 20 minutes there was a torrential monsoon type rain and wind that swept up everything that wasn't secured in the area. Kyle had to save a Chinese couple that got taken out by a tarp.

    Once the rain had stopped, we took the ferry to HK Island again and walked our way to the escalator, then to the cable station. By this time it was 11:30 and the rain had cleared the clouds that had covered the city for the whole day. We boarded the last cable car of the night to the top of Victoria Peak. Being at the top of Hong Kong, overlooking the most awesome skyline in the world is surely something I will never forget. We were able to spend about a half hour at the top before taking the final train of the night back down.

Day 2: Slava and I were signed up for a trip to Beijing hosted by the University of International Business and Economics. We arrived to the campus after a 3 hour flight and short bus ride. We met up with some Chinese students and they proceeded to give us a tour of their campus and ask us questions about our home universities and American life. Following a dinner of Peking Duck with the students, Slava and I met up with our friend Jing from Babson who has been studying abroad at UIBE for the semester. It was great to meet up with a friend half a world away from home and the three of us had a lot of fun over the next few days. Jing showed us the area around UIBE before heading back to campus for the night, where we were staying in guest apartments.

Day 3: We traveled with the SAS group to downtown Beijing where the bus dropped us close to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Because we had plans to meet Jing at a market in about an hour, Slava and I split off from the group and walked through the square and Forbidden City very quickly, some power tourism if you will. The City and Square are both incredible and humungous. Like many of the Chinese historical places, these sites displayed the richness and power that the Chinese Emperors held. We headed to the Silk Market where Jing proceeded to manhandle the shopkeepers with bargaining. After being in markets in several countries, Slava and I thought we had a pretty good handle on bargaining, but Jing quickly put us to shame. He doesn't take anything but the lowest possible price from the shopkeepers.

    After filling two large duffel bags with purchases, we met up with the SAS group for lunch and an afternoon visit to the Temple of Heaven which was as amazing. After dinner back close to the University, Jing took us out to meet some of his friends and to some of the local bars that they frequent.

Day 4: We boarded the bus in the morning for the hour and a half trip to the Great Wall. I'm not sure how many stairs it took to get to the wall, but I was pretty winded by the time we reached the base of the wall. Like standing at the Taj Mahal, it was quite difficult to fathom that I was standing on the Great Wall of China. The wall is quite unlevel and much of it consists of long staircases between the guard stations. We were able to spend over an hour on the wall, just taking it all in and taking plenty of pictures to remember the experience. Thankfully, to get down the wall, there was a much easier way than all those stairs. There was a stainless steel toboggan track that we could take to the bottom of the hill that was over a 1.5km long. This thing got going FAST and it was probably one of the most fun experiences I've had on SAS.

    That afternoon we met up with Jing again and he took us to the Summer Palace. This is another imperial complex that is incredible in its stature and beauty. I realize I'm not offering much description for these landmarks, but this is because it is pretty difficult to put into words. After spending a few hours at the palace, we headed back to UIBE, passing the 2008 Olympic venues on our way. We had a small issue with our taxi driver that we eventually resolved and headed to get some cheap DVDs and some dinner on the street. After arriving back on campus, we met the rest of the SAS group and the Chinese students at a nightclub close to campus. This was quite the experience as none of the students had ever been to a nightclub or bar before, so they were pretty intrigued.

Day 5: Since the rest of the SAS group was headed to the Summer Palace, me and Slava used to morning to do some calling back home and emailing in Jing's dorm. After lunch on campus we headed to the airport for our flight to Qingdao. Around 7:00pm we arrived back at the explorer and grabbed a bite to eat before heading out to a nightclub that we heard about while on our flight from an American living in Qingdao. Kelly, Sashia, Slava and I spent the night at this Chinese hotspot where the dance floor bounced up and down like a trampoline. We were the only Americans in the place and it was a very interesting way to view the culture in China. I hadn't gone out too much in the other ports, so it was good to be thrown into a local place where the four of us were alone amongst a couple hundred Chinese.

Day 6: There is not much to do in Qingdao and if Semester at Sea needs any more incentive to change this port, the fact that the top attraction was Wal-Mart is pretty convincing. (I'm pretty jealous of the Spring 08 itinerary, as they get to go to Shanghai instead). Anyway, after sleeping in for a bit Ali, Kelly, Sashia, Slava and I headed to the area were Wal-Mart was and spent much of the day walking around, shopping, and just enjoying the area. We stopped back at the ship for a bit before going out to dinner. Before we had to head back to the ship for on-ship time, we stopped into a starbucks to take advantage of the free internet. (There were just way too many American things in this day).

Japan is up next and is our last country on the itineraryL. The next few weeks will be tough, knowing that this voyage is nearing its end. I already don't want to say goodbye to this experience, or to the friends I've made, or to this incredible community that has formed since the beginning of February. All there is to do is live each of these last weeks to their fullest and enjoy every moment that we all have with one another.

Picture Update

Vietnam and some of my hong kong pics are up. China wont be up til im in japan. blog update should come in the next few days.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ggallant1

Good Morning Vietnam

    I was pretty excited to come to Vietnam because of its interesting place in US history. I guess my expectations were that it would be a country still heavily affected by the war three decades later. However, I found that Vietnam has virtually forgotten about the war and has moved on. Unlike Americans, the Vietnamese just look at the war (known as The American War) as another conflict in a long and turbulent history.

    Our interport lecturer for Vietnam was the owner of a software company and holds a Phd from the Sloan School of Management at MIT where he was a Fulbright scholar. Needless to say, the guy was really smart and I, being a business student, was very interested in his story. Even though Vietnam is a socialist country, it is moving towards privatization and the economy is benefitting greatly from this. The economy is the second fastest growing economy in the region.

Anyway, as usual, here is a look at how I spent my time in Vietnam.

Day 1: Slava and I had a very clear mission for our first day in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon): Find suits for as cheap as possible. We headed to the largest market in the city and finally found a price and tailor that we liked. We got measured and placed our orders and our price was $190 for four suits. Take that Men's Warehouse! We continued the day shopping around the market. Vietnam is a hotspot for a good list of really cheap things: North Face, Puma, Polo, LaCoste, Diesel, and DVDs.

    We came back to the ship late in the afternoon and then met up with Ali, Kelly and Stacey to go out to dinner and to the night market. We had an awesome dinner at a place called Blue Ginger. It was a pretty upscale restaurant, yet no one paid more than $10 for their meal. We headed to the night market, which was outside. After a little while we all headed back to the ship because several of us (including myself) had trips that were leaving at the wee hours of dawn.

Day 2: My trip was to Hanoi and Halong Bay, which are both in the northern part of Vietnam. After the usual combination of planes and busses, we reached Hanoi (the capital of Vietnam) and visited a complex that doubled as a temple and school of literature. The complex had a very rich history. After, we headed to what is known to American Soldiers as the "Hanoi Hilton". This is a prison where many American soldiers were kept after having their aircraft shot down or being captured during the war. The most famous prisoner here was Senator John McCain, whose flight suit is still on display in the prison-turned museum.

    After lunch, we boarded busses for the 3 hour trip to Halong Bay. The ride was very scenic, as we passed through rural villages and miles upon miles of rice patties. Our hotel overlooked the bay and was close to a night market that we checked out before dinner. I got some pretty cool goodies here, including a silk robe embroidered with dragons, and yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds.

Day 3: We woke up early to head to the bay for our boat ride. Arriving at the pier, I saw the most chaotic non-land scene ever. Basically there were 100s of boats jockeying for position along the dock, rubbing and crashing against each other. Boarding the boats, we had to walk through a couple other boats and hop decks to reach our vessel. The boat departed and for a relaxing day on the bay. Halong Bay is a natural wonder where thousands of islands rock formations jut out of the water. One even houses an enormous cave that we were able to go into. A few people went swimming in the bay, diving off the top deck of the boat. After swimming, the crew cooked us a Vietnamese seafood feast which was to die for.

    After a relaxing day on the bay, we took the bus back to Hanoi for the night. Before turning in for the night, we took in a water puppet show which is an cultural tradition in Vietnam. Hidden puppeteers tell stories and legend through moving puppets across a pool of water. They are very talented and it was also great to see traditional music performed live alongside the puppet show.

Day 4: This day was jam packed with touristy things. We visited the war museum, where I felt like that Vietnamese was holding some stolen American items, namely some fighter jets, helicopters, and remnants of a B-52 bomber. It was pretty interesting how the Vietnamese worded their heroics in the war and our tour guide pointed out that the museum was full of propaganda about the war used to make the Vietnamese armies sound a lot better than they actually were.

From the museum we headed to a complex which housed many official buildings, including the president's house, Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts, and the mausoleum that houses Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body. It was my first time seeing an embalmed body and I have to say, he looked pretty good for his age. After some free time in the old quarter of Hanoi, we headed back to the airport for the flight back to Saigon. I took a Boeing 777 for the first time, and let me tell you this a beast of an aircraft. The coolest part? The TVs on board show the view of take off and landing, as there is a camera attached the underbody of the plane.

Day 5: Our last day in Vietnam was once again dedicated to some shopping and picking up our suits. I headed out early with Slava, Kelly, and Ali. After finding out my suits wouldn't be ready until the end of the day, we headed to the market and I proceeded to purchase way too many Polo shirts (I just cant say no to $3 shirts). After a couple hours walking around the market, we headed to lunch at a local hotspot. I had some fantastic lo mein. After lunch, Kelly and I headed back to the market to pick up some more goodies, but not before an ATM decided to "detain" my card. Surprisingly, the bank was able to give me my card back after showing them the only form of ID I had on me, my ship ID, which is nothing more than a hotel key. I found this pretty comical. I eventually picked my suits around 5, which I look damn good in if I do say so myself.

    Back onboard the ship, the night consisted of some Grade A shannigans which consisted of an unnamed party cross dressing (no, it wasn't me). Let's just say I have some great blackmail pictures to take back to Babson.

I had a great time in Vietnam, as I do in every port and im very excited to head to Hong Kong and Beijing in just a few days.

No promises for pictures anytime soon as school is real busy these next couple days.

    

Quick Bit

    I haven't had the chance to do my full Vietnam right up yet, but that will be coming in the next few days hopefully. We just exited the Saigon River and are approaching the open ocean enroute to Hong Kong. Here is a summary of our noon time position report today (which is my whole point for this blog entry because I thought it was pretty funny).

    "The ship is still under the guidance of the Vietnamese pilot and therefore the position report is in Vietnamese, so I will do my best to translate. Our current latitude is somewhere north of the equator and our longitude is somewhere east of the prime meridian. Our distance made good since leaving Ho Chi Min City is the length of the Saigon River. Our distance to our next port is virtually the entire distance. Our average speed is about 5 knots faster than the small fishing boats that we are passing. "

    To put this in context, Dean Ron (who makes the announcements) has an extremely monotone and serious voice and seldom makes any jokes, so to here this as our noontime report was quite comical, I don't know, maybe it's just a Semester at Sea type of thing…

Three days til Hong Kong and I'll try to get my Vietnam entry written tomorrow, busy school week this week.

Malaysia

    Going into Malaysia, I didn't have many expectations. Actually since I've known the itinerary for the Spring 2007 voyage, Malaysia was perhaps one of the ports I overlooked. Somehow, being sandwiched between India and Vietnam, Malaysia got lost in the shuffle. Therefore, I was really impressed and greatly surprised at how wonderful Malaysia is. A hidden gem of the world, Malaysia is a predominately Muslim nation that is in the midst of an economic boom. Though the financial crisis of 1997 throughout all of Southeast Asia devastated Malaysia's modernization efforts, the country is now picking up where it left off. This is seen best in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the country and the financial hub of Southeast Asia. It is a modern city featuring towering skyscrapers and amazing architecture. Of course the best example of this is the Petronas Towers, which from 1996-2003 were the tallest buildings in the world.

    I had a wonderful time in the country during our 4 days here and I have to say that, not knowing what to expect out of the country really worked out well for me. Here is a breakdown of how the last four days went. Not sure when I will be able to get the pictures up.

Day 1: The interesting thing about porting in Penang was that ship was not able to dock. Instead, we were anchored in the harbor and had to use the lifeboats to get to shore. I may have been the only one, but I was pretty excited to take zip around in the dual engine lifeboats. Slava, Sashia, and I got to land around 11:30 and began walking around Penang. We were able to see a very extravagant Chinese Buddhist temple that was conducting some sort of ceremony where the whole grounds were covered in burning incense. Despite the lack of oxygen in the air, it was a pretty cool thing to see and the locals were all lighting incense sticks. I believe that it may have been in honor of their ancestors.

    From here we kept walking, past a large mosque and then into the downtown area where the Komtar tower is located. The Komtar is the tallest building in Penang and after having some great Chinese food at the mall, we took the elevator up to the top where we had a 360 degree, panoramic view of the whole city. It was a great way to see the way the city was laid out and how expansive it was. We were even able to see the Explorer out in the harbor.

    Next, we grabbed a taxi to head to the temple of the reclining Buddha. The temple takes up both sides of a city street and one building houses a 75 foot long statue of Buddha laying down. The rest of the temple is filled with the ashes of many Malaysian's ancestors and hundreds of Buddha statues. From here, we took another taxi to Penang Hill (which seems more to me like a mountain). We took the cable car up to the top and once again we were presented with a great view of the city. There was also a mosque and a Hindu temple at the top of the mountain. It was interesting to see both religions physically represented feet away from each other.

    Our next stop of the day was to Kek Lok Se, the largest Buddhist temple in all of Southeast Asia. It is also known as the temple of 10,000 Buddhas. This place was absolutely incredible. Consisting of multiple buildings, the temple was terraced into a hill side and featured many temples and a 13 story pagoda. The intricacy of the artwork and architecture inside and outside of the buildings was like nothing I've seen. Upon heading down the hill to the entrance of the temple, we began to discover that we were being locked inside because it was closing time. Each path we walked down led to a locked gate. Eventually, we found our way out and, thankfully, I wasn't forced to spend the night with the monks.

    After grabbing dinner at the mall and doing some shopping, we headed back to the ship to get ready for our trip to Kuala Lumpur in the morning.

Day 2: The day started early with myself, Slava, Ali, and Dan traveling to the airport. The plan was for Kyle, Sashia, Katie, and Natalie to meet us later on that night as they were on another flight. After some planes, trains and automobiles, we reached our luxurious resort just outside of KL in mid-morning. I don't want to brag or anything, but our hotel consisted of 1200 rooms, an amusement park, water park, extreme park, bowling alley, ice rink, movie theater, and plenty of clubs and restaurants. We got settled in and took a quick dip in the pool before heading out. Unfortunately, the hotels parks were closed for maintenance every Tuesday, but we found out there was another adventure park off of the resort with go-karts and ATVs. Since we were waiting to do sightseeing til the next day when the rest of the group was there, the four of us decided to have a little fun on the first day….or so we thought. To make a really long story short, we were dropped off at a large construction site and told to just walk down the road and we would find the park. As we walked past bulldozers, tower cranes, and welding Malaysians, the sky turned extremely dark and the rain begin to sprinkle. We found the park, which had been closed for a month due to the construction. After failing to convince the mechanics to just let us play around on the ATVs for a bit, we begin to walk out of the site. Thankfully, one of the workers picked us up and drove us to our hotel and me missed being stuck in a torrential monsoon and lightning storm by about 30 seconds.

    The rest of the evening consisted of grabbing dinner, hanging out at a local bar, and going bowling with a new Malaysian friend we made. The other 4 people came to the hotel pretty late and we all headed to bed.

Day 3: We got up early and headed into KL to do some sightseeing. First stop was the Petronas Towers to make a reservation to go to the skybridge on the 41^st floor for later that afternoon. The architecture of the towers is simply amazing. A combination of stainless steel and glass make-up the outside while the architecture is based on Islamic architecture. After making our reservation we headed to Batu Caves, a Hindu temple built into a HUGE cave. After climbing the almost 300 steps to the cave entrance, and staying clear of some mischievous monkeys, we reveled in the sheer size and natural beauty of the cave. We headed back down after some picture taking and headed back to the Petronas Towers for lunch, shopping at the mall that makes up the base of the towers, and finally our trip up to the skybridge. What an amazing view from up here. KL is just an incredible city.

    We headed back to our hotel around 3 to take go to the water park as it was approaching 100 degrees F. That night looked similar to the night before and we all had a good time bowling with the group.

Day 4: We again headed into the city pretty early to do some last minute sightseeing before our flight back to Penang. We were able to see a couple of the landmarks in KL including the Supreme Court, Independence Square, the Central Market, and the National History Museum. It was then time to head back to Penang and we got back to the ship around 4pm.

This evening, Captain Jeremy announced that the Explorer would be taken up to full speed (30 knots) for a period of 8 hours while we navigate the Malacca Straight. The reason for this you might ask? PIRATES!! Though there has never been a pirate that has boarded a passenger ship, the area is infamous for pirates and as the captain has stated "I feel bad for any pirate who tries to approach our ship when its going 30 knots."

We reach 'Nam in 2 days…