Hawaii

First off I cannot believe this abroad experience is over. Kind of freaking out! … There are rumors flying around the ship that when SASers get home, they need to be medicated for depression because they all get so upset- really hoping this doesn’t happen to me! Anyways, we still have a couple days left on the ship, where we will be taking exams and laying out on the 7th deck. We also have this event called the Alumni Ball. Not quite sure why this is such a big deal, but I guess it is like the prom of SAS? I mean the spa has been booked for weeks… that should say something? Ok, so onto Hawaii….
Unfortunately, we didn’t go to the normal Hawaiian Islands you would typically guess like Maui or Oahu... We went to the big island, actually called Hawaii and docked in the city of Hilo. A lot of SASers were getting a beach house in Hilo and calling it a day, but because my friends and I weren’t really down to stay inside a house all day, we rounded up a group and did something a little different. A group of 18 of us got two buses and had them meet us at the port. We were met by a man named Brandy who was AWESOME and really showed us a good time. We first started on our journey to a waterfall on the way to the main beach city called Kona (you know Kona coffee? Best in the world!). After we walked around the waterfall, we kept driving until we got to the largest mountain in the world called Monte Kea. It was huge! The area around this mountain and the drive was very scenic… a lot of lava rock and greenery. We kept driving till we got to Kona town, which was definitely a scene. There were farmers markets, little shops, and a ton of people. We shopped, ate, and went to a bar on the beach called Coconuts. Around 5 o clock we all headed about 30 min north to the Hilton, which was one of the biggest resorts on the island. I mean a tram that surrounded the complex, 10 pools, 5 hot tubs, waterfalls and bridges… this place was crazy. But before we put our stuff down, we decided to go on a Catamaran for sunset. So the group of 18 of us got on this white luxurious boat and headed out to sea. It was open bar and there were a couple of other tourists with us who LOVED US after the cruise was over. This was gorgeous and a ton of fun! We headed back to the Hilton after for dinner and to get ready. A lot of other SASers had the same idea as us to go to Kona for the night and they all got condos at the Hilton. So that night we headed to the condo area and went condo party hoping. Because this was more of a family oriented resort, we kept getting noise violations, which eventually lead everyone to split up. My roommate (Missy) and my best friend from high school (Casey) had gotten a beach house back in Kona town with about 20 others, which I had originally wanted to visit. So even though it was already 1 am and it was 30-45 min away a couple of us got in a cab and headed to their beach house. This was so much fun to be with them on my last night and we ended up pulling an all nighter. Around 6am (after cooking food for the first time in months) the people who stayed up all night walked to the beach to watch the sunrise. This was gorgeous- unreal colors over the ocean- we all sat on the lava rocks next to the beach and my friend Andrew brought his guitar. The best part was that there was a rainbow that appeared around 7am over the ocean.… I can'’t even explain how amazing this picture was. It was the best and only way I could’ve imagined ending my abroad experience.
After the sunrise I woke up the kids I came to the beach house with and we all got into a cab to go back to the Hilton. We swam and played in the pools until around lunchtime and then headed back to Hilo with Brandy.  We also stopped at Akaka state park for another waterfall. This one was one of the largest in Hawaii and was seriously a site to see. When we got back to Hilo, we shopped some more, and all got back onto the ship around 6pm. Overall, Hawaii was a great way to end my trip and I’m glad I made all the decisions I did. Not really looking forward to this exam week, but I’m sure it won't be that bad… wish me luck and see you soon AMERICA!

Taiwan

So because of all of the traumatic events happening in Japan, as you know we instead traveled to our second to last port to Taiwan. Unfortunately, we only stayed in Taiwan for three days, so we really just wanted to have fun and enjoy our time there. We had heard a couple days before that there was a huge music festival called “Spring Scream” happening in Kenting (southern Taiwan) the first night we were there. Because Kenting is about a 4-hour trip away from our port (Keelung) everyone was pretty hesitant about going. So we first took a train to Tei Pei (the capital) and when we got there made the most impulsive decision EVER to go to the festival. With 10 minutes till the train left, Jeff, Michelle, and I met up with other kids to travel south. After a 90-minute train and a three-hour bus ride, we ended up in Kenting and (thank god) we went because it was so nice out, and on the beach! Back in Tei Pei it was pretty gross out… so we were all very happy to have made the decision to go to Kenting. We got hotel rooms at Howard Hotel, and starting getting ready for the festival. When you walked on the streets there, stand after stand of different souvenirs, street food, bars, clubs all lined the lit up street. We walked around a bit, and then headed to the festival. It was the last night and unfortunately not as crazy as we had hoped but it was still pretty nuts (probably because there was about 50 SAS kids there). There were around six stages with different bands and djs playing all different American and Chinese songs. We stayed there till around 12 untill when we headed back to the beach for the beach party. At the beach there were fireworks and bonfires all along the beach- kinda looked like Manhattan Beach at night!
The next day we woke up early because we thought we wouldn’t be able to get a train back to Tei Pei. It was a national holiday that day, so a lot of families were traveling to different parts of Taiwan. Well, we decided to stay at the beach for the first half of the day because it was super nice out and the beach just looked too appealing! I stayed with Kevin, Adam, and Breuer and they all went tubing (on the back of a jet ski) with some other Taiwanese people. The beach was so much fun and it really did feel like a beach town. We traveled back around 1 o’clock… train… bus… finally made it back to Tei Pei just in time to meet up with everyone to go out for the night. We ended up staying in a five star hotel (the W) in probably the coolest hotel I've ever seen. The toilets were automatic… and heated. Ya- enough said. We met up with everyone and went to a club called, Baby 18 (future SASers- go to Luxy Club instead- it was closed that night but supposedly its amazing).
We woke up the next morning and decided to stick around the hotel for a while. We swam, had lunch, and just walked around the hotel. The W was located in an area called Tei Pei 101, which is known for the second tallest building in the world. We drove by it that day, and man was it tall! We went to a famous night market (yes I know it was during the day) to see what they were all about. Obviously not everything was opened, but it was still cool to see the alley with different shops and restaurants. We went to an alley close to there, called snake alley where people drink the snake’s blood and eat the eyeballs. Well, being the crazy kids that we are, we all decided to take a shot of snake blood. Can’t believe I did that… it tasted like tomato and chicken juice. UGH. On our way back to the train station we did some shopping, ate some street food, and really got the feel for this city. I wouldn’t say that I loved Tei Pei or Taiwan for that matter… it was like a small China (well it kinda is), just not as cool. The buildings and people looked very similar to Beijing, and the streets weren’t as crowded with people. A plus however was that they spoke a lot better English there, so it was definitely easier to get around.
I cant believe how fast this trip is going by… we only have two weeks left and only one more port! We are now on the ship for 12 days so I'm probably going to go crazy… please e-mail me at rzsigal@semesteratsea.net if you want because all I will be doing from now on is checking my email! Hope all is well with you all and I miss everyone so much!

China

Sorry for the delayed Blogs - my parents were in China and could not send these out - Blogs are blocked by the government - Welcome to China!  


Our ship first docked in Hong Kong for the day and then sailed to Shanghai. For the most part, kids independently traveled in this country and didn’t sail with the ship. Most of my friends in this country went through a program called China Guide- which I would recommend to the future SASer. As for me however… I had something much better planned- my family came to Beijing to meet me! Talk about lucky J

Well, the first day in Hong Kong was super packed of activities to say the least. Michelle, Natalie, Lindsey, Olivia and I made a day out of it, and got off the ship first to start roaming the streets. We first docked at a huge mall where it was literally like stepping into a land of "Hello Kitty" and small Asian people. It was awesome- especially wearing my pink sparkly fanny pack…I fit right in! The mall took us out onto the street where we realized we weren’t even in the city of Hong Kong, so we ferried over to the city. We got onto a double decker tour bus (I know so touristy, but we made it happen) and started our journey. We first stopped at a shopping market, made some deals- everything was so cheap! Hong Kong was the first place that I actually felt a language barrier. I used charades and pictures a lot, and I wasn’t really expecting to have such a hard time communicating. Our next stop was to Victoria’s Peak, which was a definite site to see. This was a rooftop view off the tallest building in Hong Kong. We took a tram up to see the view, and man was it worth it! We also had the most expensive lunch ever up there, which I'm still pissed off about... but that’s beside the point. We also stopped at the largest escalator in the world that took us to the “Ladies Market”. We shopped here, and realized it was already 5pm when Lindsey and I had to be back at the ship at 6 for dinner! Hans and Bonnie (my secret family parents… remember them?) took our family out to a really expensive, amazinnnng dinner downtown. Everyone ate pig, crab, duck, dog (just kidding... but seriously, who knows?) and everything else in sight. We then went to a famous street to meet everyone called LKF. Since it was the night of the international rugby tournament in Hong Kong, this street was packed with Europeans, Australians, Asians, Americans, babies, mothers, white people, blue people, seriously- I have never seen anything like this. I wish I could paint a picture for you because words don’t do it justice. People were decked out in different hats, there were flashing lights everywhere, the bars and pubs were jammed with people and it was absolute chaos. This night definitely topped Mardi Gras or Halloween at UCSB for sure! Needless to say it was a great night and I ended up staying in Hong Kong city in a hotel.

Probably not the smartest decision I have ever made, considering I woke up about 30 minutes from the ship the next morning (a ferry ride away) and I had to meet my SAS trip group in 30 minutes! Thank god I packed my bag before I left or I would’ve been in trouble. I met the group at the ship just in time and took a flight to Beijing. Arriving at the airport, I met with my parents and we drove about 2 hours away to our hotel in Beijing. We had dinner this night at the hotel. Julia (my sister for those of you who don’t know) and I watched Due Date on her computer and passed out.

We woke around 8am for our long hike on the great wall. Oh I forgot to mention that this SAS trip was titled- “Hiking the Great Wall”. Wonder who choose that?? My crazy active family is who! Well, we woke up, and drove to the great wall to hike for 12 kilometers. This took all day (around 7 hours) and we took a break for lunch on the wall, which they provided. Guess what it was?? MCDONALDS! Eating McDonalds on the great wall was definitely an interesting experience- considering I don’t even eat that crap to begin with. The great wall wasn’t exactly what I expected either. I assumed there would be a lot of tourists, it to be paved, and there to be a city around it. Well, this road was not paved, that’s for sure. At some points we were on our knees climbing the stone steps! Pretty strenuous, but my family did great- mom (who trained for this?), dad (who does yoga on the reg), me (the naturally active one) and Julia (who didn’t complain too much). We drove this night to a new hotel to have dinner, and rested our sore legs. After dinner the fam and I walked down the streets to different shops and into a giant mall, which was totally local to this suburb of Beijing. There were no tourists in sight, and we were definitely immersed in the culture. Julia and I tried the sugar fruit dessert that China is known for- it is strawberries on a skewer with melted sugar on it. Delish!

The next day we pretty much did the same thing, except today was a lot more strenuous. The hills that we were climbing were brutal and there were over 3,000 steps! The tour guide told me this was the most challenging hike on the great wall (orrrrr I might have made him lie to me so I could write that on my blog). When we finished our hike we drove to a traditional tea ceremony, which are all over Beijing. They introduced us to different Chinese teas- my favorite was the lechee rose one just in case you were wondering. We drove to a dinner that night at a famous restaurant for the traditional peeking duck. Literally everything is made of duck in these meals (awesome for a veg right?). Like no joke- the soup was duck soup. Ew. That night we went to a famous street where they have bars and pubs that line the street. Each bar was different with different Chinese pole dancers or drunken Americans playing karaoke. Julia and I tried the weirdest dessert this night- it was a crepe ice cream with red beans it. Probably the most delicious dessert ever. After the parentals ran out of steam, Julia and I roamed the street and she got to meet a couple of my friends from SAS.

The next day we THANK GOD didn’t hike again, and went to go see the sights. We saw the famous Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City. These places were great to see especially because I had seen so many pictures of them in my class on the boat. Funny story- so for those of you who know I seriously have a bladder problem sometimes and I literally couldn’t hold it on the bus right before the Forbidden City. Well we were at a red light and I ran out into a local villages “public restroom” aka six holes in the ground all full of Chinese women squatting. That was an image I will never forget. Probably should be saying that about the Tiananmen square but sometimes those uncomfortable cultural moments are the ones you remember more. We took a flight later that day to Shanghai, which I was really excited for considering I didn’t really love the city of Beijing. Shanghai was everything I hoped it would be and more. It was colorful, beautiful, busy, and full of life. Finishing with the SAS trip, my family and I went to our hotel and out to dinner at the most amazing restaurant I have ever seen. This place called M1NT (best restaurant of China 2010) was on the roof of a building with amazing glass walls that overlooked the whole city. They also had a club attached to it with a shark tank, chandeliers, and huge glass walls over looking Shanghai (even above the urinals!). This place was totally hip, and I loved watching the dynamic of the 40 year old business men in suits hitting on skinny Chinese and Eueropean models. My roommate on the ship Missy (who I love btw) met us there to roam Shanghai. We went to a famous bar street called Xin Tian Di and partied at a couple different bars and clubs. At the hotel that night, Missy and I video chatted with our mutual friend Jenn who is studying abroad in London right now. SHOUT OUT! It was great seeing her face even for a little while- its crazy how much I miss all my friends from home!

Prior to my parents visiting, my grandma (Omi <3) made a connection for us with a local Chinese girl who she met and loved last time she was in China. Bato (or Nora the Explorer as I called her because Nora was her American name) was the cutest little Chinese woman ever! We went on a four hour bike ride through Shanghai and really felt the activity of the city. We went through a local food market, the French section, the Old City, and crossed the Huangpu River by ferry. We saw amazing looking buildings- my favorite was a building called the Gran Melia Shanghai- which had two huge pink balls on the tower. This city was aesthetically hard to explain. It looked like a mixture between Washington DC (because of all the buildings) but also New York City (because of the crazy amount of people and multicolored lights). Once we were done with the bike ride (ps- such a great way to see the city) we went to Nora the explorers favorite place to eat dim sum (which I have decided is just an array of different dumplings). This place was as big as my bathroom and didn’t look like the typical “Sigal family restaurant” for lunch. Padre just pointed to the picture of the different dumplings, and this woman made them for us. Bringing out tray after tray of the freshest most delightful dumplings was probably the best lunch I had the entire time I was in China. Afterwards, we went shopping on Changle Street which was supposed to be a good place to get clothes… ended up being way to expensive (who would’ve thought?), so we went to another area which was recommended for shopping. This place was awesome- little maze of small stores through alleys, outlined with bamboo and little restaurants - Taikang Road,   I loved this area and honestly didn’t want to leave because every corner we turned were more shops- any girl's dream! We went to dinner that night at an Italian restaurant (getting sick of Chinese food?) right before the acrobat show! This was a highlight of my trip in China. The women were so bendy and the men were extremely strong. It was beautiful to watch, and I loved every act. Afterwards, we went to a famous area called The Bund to see the buildings all lit up at night. On the bund we met up with my two friends from Penn State (Jeff and Armand) so they could meet my family.  We had drinks at a famous restaurant called M on the Bund and went on the terrace that overlooked the water. For the rest of the night, I took everyone back to M1NT and a club called Rouge where we met up with the rest of my friends who did China Guide. It was great to reunite with everyone, and it was awesome to have Julia there to meet my friends.

My final day in shanghai was very bittersweet. With Missy, we traveled about two hours outside Shanghai to a water village ( Zhu Jia Jiao)  that resembled Venice, Italy. The boats on the water that looked like bananas, the bridges over the city, the stores and street food that lined the streets… made this village look like a movie set. Nora the Explorer brought us here, and introduced us to many different types of street food and things to buy. My favorite thing we ate was this handmade peanut butter brittle (that I snuck back onto the ship yayy) and this green paste that looked like a soft taco. This village was very historic, and I loved running around the gardens with my family. On our way back to the ship, we had an hour or so to kill so we decided (of course) to go to the urban planning museum. Even though I was not too thrilled to be in a museum for my final hours on land… it was super cool. The museum basically showed what Shanghai were to look like in the future with different models and this elaborate movie that was surround sound and made you feel like you were actually in the city. Its crazy how futuristic some of the places we have visited look like. Singapore being the first one that I can think of… also felt so much more developed than America. We are really behind. Anyways, after the museum Nora the explorer just seemed to stumble upon the greatest mall known to man. We took an escalator under the museum to literally a mall on steroids. There was an endless street (yes underground) of just shops and different places to eat. With no time (of course they do this to me) we only shopped for a little untill we had to part at the ship. Such a bummer ending the trip like this because my parents weren’t allowed to come on the ship. I literally threw a little bitch fit at this Chinese man but it didn’t help. At least they got to see the ship and me of course! Overall, China was a great port. I loved having my family there, and I loved Shanghai. Two days till Taiwan, and more to come soon!

QOS outtt

Cambodia/ Vietnam

First off, let me start by saying how much I miss my girls back at PSU, and all my friends from home. If you are reading this, you know how much that means to me, and I really would give anything to see you right now. Vietnam was an amazing country, and our stay there went by with a blink of an eye. Most people stayed in Ho Chi Mihn City, but through an SAS trip I got to travel to Cambodia for the first three days. This was such a unique experience and I’m so glad I was able to see both countries. Doing SAS trips however, are extremely challenging because you really have to go by their schedule, and you can’t really travel on your own. However, this SAS trip, and the one in India, were the ones to do. I would recommend doing these trips to anyone doing SAS in the future, but THAT’S IT- because you can have a lot more fun traveling on your own.
On our first day, we flew from Saigon (Vietnam) to Phnom Penh (Cambodia). Getting off the ship in Vietnam was definitely an eye opener. It was brutally hot. I mean hot- like scorching. When you breathed in the air it smelled humid, and you were constantly sweating. The streets of the city were pretty dirty, and all the buildings looked like they were falling apart. It was pretty cool to see temples in between some of the buildings. These temples were beautifully colorful, and made the city feel very spiritual. However, this isn’t what I had pictured Vietnam to look like. I was expecting more greenery, and more lush farmlands. Although there were those straw pointy hats everywhere! When we got to Cambodia, the cities looked and felt pretty similar. First, we drove to the National museum. Oh- and our bus broke down on the way… minor detail. The museum was great- very different than going to a national museum in the States. It was all outside, and the relics were incredible (all buddhas). We then drove to our sunset cruise on the Mekong Delta River. We got in these junk boats (all 60 of us), and floated down the river, enjoying the blue and purple sunset. After the ride we drove to a near by orphanage (Palm Tree Orphanage) that was actually created by a SAS alumni. Many alumni seem to go to remote countries and help out after completing this voyage, probably because they can’t sit still after this incredible experience. I can definitely see myself doing something after this trip in a third world country for a while. The orphanage was an eye opener as well. The kids immediately jumped on us and were attached to our hips for the next couple hours. One girl who I became close with was named, Srey Rith. She was about 8, and quite possibly the cutest girl I had ever met. I can see why Angelina and Brad Pitt adopted from Cambodia- these kids were precious! We ate dinner at a local restaurant called, Khmer Surin restaurant, where we were served traditional Cambodia foods. My favorite food that we ate that night was these rice cakes dipped in a bean and peanut sauce (must try at home!). Getting to our hotel we were all dead tired from this busy day but of course rallied to go out on Pub Street. Cambodia had great nightlife- which I wasn’t expecting. We took these tuk tuks (Cambodian rickshaws) to a famous club called Heart of Darkness, and tried their famous drinks (the flaming shot). A lot of fun this night- riding on the backs of motorcycles… ya ya you get the jist.
Our wake up call was at 4:30am (we all pulled all nighters), to go see some of the famous temples. How we sight see with no sleep is beyond me… we went first to a place called the Silver pagoda which was near the Royal Palace. Both were such beautifully designed structures, and it was crazy to me that the king was actually in the palace that we were looking at. We had to take off our shoes at most of these places and we had to cover our knees and shoulders (just like in India). This trip felt a lot like India because we were looking at very similar buildings. However the structures in Cambodia felt a lot more Asian by design. More pagoda-like, and with deeper red colors. We then traveled to the Toul Sleng museum, which was a museum on the killings of the Cambodian people. There was so much history I didn’t know about the genocide in Cambodia- I was never taught about this movement so this day was extremely interesting to me. We visited the Killing Fields afterwards, which was by far the most moving experience. There was white powder on the ground that was the bone remains of the Cambodia people. The fields stretched for miles and there were actual skulls and bones spread out through the fields. I can’t really describe the feeling I had throughout this visit because it was such a mixture of emotions. I was sad, obviously for these people, disappointed, that I didn’t know about this huge event, and glad, that I had the rare opportunity to see such a historic place. After the killing fields, we went to Sorya restaurant, which was near the central market. Favorite food here was the dessert- a green tapioca jello (freakin awesome). The market though is what blew me away. There were about 10 entrances all bombarded with people and stands of souvenirs, jewelry, clothes, food, makeup- you name it. People here weren’t as aggressive with trying to sell you things (compared to India). They really just sat in their stand, ate their foo (traditional Vietnamese food), and waited for you to come and name your price. The best part was however, was that everything was beyond cheap. For example, an OPI nail polish was $1! Thank god I didn’t bring money or it would’ve been a bad day for Visa. We then flew to Siem Reap (Cambodia) for our next couple days. Dinner this night was the most incredible meal ever. For those of you who have been to Hawaii and done a Luao, this was very similar. We entered the Kulen II restaurant, to find a huge room with a stage and an enormous buffet of traditional foods. We ate (more than 3 courses) and watched the traditional men and women perform dances. Back at our hotel that night we heard that you could order massages to your rooms. We immediately made appointments and boy were we in for a surprise. My friend Nat and I shared a bed while these miniature women came in and gave us “massages”. More like beat us up. They were hitting us and laughing the whole time. It was extremely uncomfortable and definitely an experience!
The next morning we woke up again around 4:30 to see the sunrise tour of Angkor Wat. Unfortunately this morning was really cloudy and we didn’t get a sunrise, but it was still cool to see Angkor Wat for the first time. For those of you who don’t know what this is- Angkor Wat temple is one of the natural wonders of the world, and the largest Hindu temple in the world. It was magical. We toured around the temple, took a ton of photos, and then went to another famous place called, Ta Prohm temple. This was the temple were Tomberator was filmed at. Huge trees were coming out of the stones, and took over the sight. This was probably my favorite temple we visited. We then visited the south gate of Angkor Thom, Bayon, Baphuon, Terrace of the leper king and Elephant terraces. All lot of sight seeing on no sleep. We flew back to Saigon that night, and went out in Ho Chi Mihn City. Went to a club called Apocalypse Now (by scooter), and had a great time with everyone who stayed in Vietnam.
Supposedly the thing to do in Vietnam is to get customized suits or dresses made. Because it is so cheap to do so, a lot of people told us to go to the market and try to get it done. The market here was a lot like the one in Cambodia except a lot more compact. There were soooo many people, everywhere. People were eating bugs, cutting up eels, selling fake purses, you name it. I found a dress place where I sketched out a dress, and picked out the fabric. I felt like a real designer! I did some damage at that market… and then was pulled away to go see the Cu Chi tunnels. This sight was probably the only real important thing to see in Ho Chi Mihn, because it was the famous tunnels used in the Vietnam War (or the American war as the Vietnamese call it). We climbed through a 100 meter long tunnel, which was 30 ft underground. We shot AK47s and walked around the grounds. This was also a unique experience because there were pictures of American soldiers being killed and tortured everywhere. There were also traps all along the grounds explaining how they caught the American soldiers. This was definitely hard to see, and made me really uncomfortable at some points. After the tunnels, we went back to the market and got our nails done. Also a cultural experience (in a different way)- very cool to have a Vietnamese woman painting your nails in Vietnam- can't really explain it… you have to be a nail salon go-er. That night was our last night in Vietnam, so everyone went crazy. We all rode around the city on motorcycles and hit up two awesome clubs called Lush and Crazy Buffalo. There were surprisingly a lot of tourists here, or people who were in Vietnam for business. I met this one man from Paris, who really changed my perspective on traveling, made me really reconsider my life, and what I want to do in the future. I loved how he put into perspective how small we are, and how you can really live anywhere you want (and do whatever you want). I always thought that living in the states and going by the book was my only option, but I now realize that the world is so much bigger than that, and if I want to live in a foreign place, no one can really stop me. I know, I know, this might sound crazy, and I'm sorry mom and dad for probably scaring you right now, but it was a great eye opener to feel so independent and so in charge of my own life.
For our last day, we did some last minute shopping at the same market, went to a local water park to play with Vietnamese children, and got sushi. I did a lot of damage in this country… not going to lie. But the experiences I had, and the moments of complete awe that I captured, were by far more important. I learned a lot about myself in this port, learned a lot about the world, and really got to understand how to travel. I’ve now realized that I love traveling in small groups, I love airports, I love meeting people from around the world, and I love motorcycles. However, I don’t like buses, tour groups, or negative people. What I love the most about SAS is that everyone on this voyage is somewhat similar to me. They are up for adventure, live to travel, and most importantly are optimistic. I can’t believe how fast this trip is going by, Vietnam and Cambodia felt like a blink of an eye. It was truly amazing to me how just that little snapshot in my life can change so much of who I am.

Singapore

We only had one day here in Singapore, so I did a ton of research prior to embarking on our one-day adventure. We pulled up to this port (where most other cruise lines dock), and I immediately couldn’t believe what I saw. There were extremely tall buildings, very close together, some of the tallest buildings I have ever saw. Right above us was a gondola coming out of a building going to an island called, Sentosa Island. All of the cars driving around were brightly colored, and the water was a light blue color. This country felt almost… futuristic. The buildings were so interestingly designed, with some architecture I had never seen before. Also, everything was so expensive! I wasn’t expecting this, but even the smallest things were ridiculously priced!
Getting off the ship, I spotted a Starbucks, and went a little berzerk… you try not having Starbucks in two months! We had heard from many people that the street called, Orchard Road is the Rodeo Drive of Singapore- so we decided to start there. This street was beautiful. Huge Dior, Prada, and Marc Jacobs stores lined the street- everything was so clean and orderly. You had to go under these under paths to cross the street, and jay walking was definitely not allowed. Singapore’s philosophy on laws is very interesting. Their government believes that manners should be laws, so things like spitting out your gum on the street, or eating on the subway are illegal. And they don’t mess around! SAS told us that they do not hesitate to throw foreigners in jail or even cane you, so we were all very careful. After we walked down the street for a while, we went to their “little India”.
Coming from India, it was surreal seeing all of the same relics and souvenirs. Everything was about four times the price, but it was still fun to see saris and their street food again. There was a very famous temple here as well called, The Sri Veramakaliamman Temple. We took some pictures, and decided to book it to Chinatown. Walking down the street, we saw street vendors and a ton of street food. It got me really excited to go to china, and I loved all the red balloons hanging down the middle of the street. We also saw another temple here that was famous to Singapore called the Buddhist Temple.
For lunch we went to one of the oldest and most famous hotels, called Raffles Hotel. This hotel was extremely elaborate, and all in white marble. This hotel is famous for the Singaporean drink called, the “Singapore Sling”. We had a beautiful lunch on the courtyard, bought the sling ($25 by the way!), and enjoyed the posh atmosphere. It was kind of hectic traveling because we were a group of almost 13, so a lot of people were getting frustrated, and wanted to do something all together. Well, in Singapore there is the highest and most famous Ferris wheel in the world called, the Singapore flyer so we decided to go. After our cab driver gave us a pretty extensive tour of the cities sites, we got to the flyer. I ate dragon fruit there (which is a famous Malaysian fruit) from a vendor, and we all entered the flyer. This was more like a gondola (holding 25 people per cart!), and took about 30 minutes. It gave us an amazing view of the city, and it was the first time I saw the most amazing building- the Marino Sans Casino/ Hotel.  This building was actually built recently by a very good family friend named, Moshe Saftie. It was three buildings with what it looked like a boat laying across the top (with an infinity pool lining the top). It is in the top 10 hotels in the world, and you could really tell. I wanted to go so badly but I heard you needed a hotel room ($600 a night) to go to the top. Hmmmm has that ever stopped me?
Back to the flyer- after the ride, we walked around the flyer and saw a health spa, which was famous for these fish pedicures (which are unique to Malaysia). Of course I walked right in, and tried to understand what this was. Well, there were these beautiful pools of these “doctor fish” or kenko, which kind of looked like tadpoles. We decided to do it, and these women cleaned our feet to put them in the water. The fish immediately swarmed our feet, and let me tell you- it was quite possibly the most uncomfortably amazing feeling ever! We all screamed a little, but then got over it, and had this amazing foot spa experience.
So afterward, we decided to go to the Marino Sans Hotel. Being a pro-hotel-sneaker-iner I told everyone to follow me, and not to talk. I walked right into the hotel asked for a little red slip (which residents got to access the sky bar), and went right up. At the top, I walked right past the security, and into the infinity pool. It is quite funny that this was the second time I had snuck into one of Moche’s hotels (other one was the Ben Guriyum Hotel in Israel). Well, this hotel was nothing like I had seen before. Since the building was so tall, the view from the top was one of the best in the whole city, and probably better than the Ferris wheel’s view. The pool lined the whole top the hotel, and was so chic and beautiful. There were white beds in the pool, and water fountains everywhere. We literally felt like kings here, and decided to stay here for a while. After watching the sunset over the city, we realized we didn’t have that much time left until we had to be back on the ship. We went to this row of bars and restaurants along the river called Quay Four. While everyone ordered, I walked along the river and saw all of these decorative restaurants and bars. There was this one bar called, Clinic where they served shots in syringes and gave you IV’s to drink from. Some of the places here were so elaborate and sophisticated- it felt like a nicer LA and Paris put together. We tried some local food again, and definitely cut it close getting back to the ship. 150 people got “dock time” here because they were late so we were extremely happy we cut so many lines getting back ;)
* If you come back late to the ship, you receive “dock time” in the next port.
All in all, this country was so sophisticated and futuristic. Singapore felt like what a lot of other countries strive to be like, and I absolutely loved it. I would love to go back there when I have a lot more money, because you definitely need money there! I can’t believe I'm going to be in Vietnam in two days! This trip is going by way to quickly. ...
Oh and just to let you know we are not going to Japan anymore. Everyone is very upset about this and really disappointed. The three countries that we had as backups were South Korea, Philippines, and Taiwan. They decided to go to Taiwan for four days. I personally don’t care because I feel like Japan is a country that I will hopefully return to, and I am excited to experience Taiwan! More to come soon!

India

Writing this blog is probably going to be the hardest thing I've ever had to write. I can’t put into words how much I fell in love with India, and how much this country had an effect on me. At all times, my senses were on extreme overload. Between the smells, the cites, the sounds, the people… I honestly wish I was a better writer so I could explain my emotions better. A good example of how this trip affected me so much was when I got back on the ship at 6pm, I immediately called home and started hysterically crying to my dad. Now, I don’t cry, and yes I might be pmsing but still… this place brought out something in me that I can’t even describe.
Starting the first day, one of the most prominent yoga instructors came onto the ship with two yogis, and did a demonstration of the different styles. Afterwards we got to do positions with her and I got her to sign my mat ☺ Once getting off the ship, we had only about four hours until our trip left, so Brad, Armand and I left the ship to go kill some time. The smells in Chennai were not that bad, the heat wasn’t that strong, and the place wasn’t as dirty as everyone made it out to be. This city was very busy don’t get me wrong, but the people were just doing there own thing and we were just there to partake in the adventure. In other countries we have visited, the people we have met treated us like visitors and definitely treated women better. Here, it was like we were locals- we never really got looked at differently. I mean obviously there was a ton of beggars, and people who tried to sell us stuff constantly, but it wasn’t too overwhelming. Also it felt a lot like Israel in the fact that men treated women pretty poorly. Even to us they didn’t really listen to women to the full extent, which was pretty alarming. The taxi drivers or rickshaw drivers were so fun- these were open motorized cars/scooters that drove us around the city. We shopped that day for a while (didn’t buy too much don’t worry). At around 4pm we met up with our group (I did an SAS trip here called Agra and Varanasi). We drove to the Chennai airport and flew to Delhi to our 5 star hotel (the Ramada), which was absolutely gorgeous. They put a red dot on our foreheads and gave us Indian lays as we entered this totally gaudy, gold, beautiful hotel. It was so interesting to me how dirty and run down a lot of the city looked and then all of sudden the hotel popped up and was so amazingly beautiful. A lot of India felt like this kind of juxtaposition. There would be people begging on the street, and then all of a sudden an amazingly dressed wealthy looking woman walking right by. There was even a gross looking street vendor right next to a gorgeous restaurant. This was interesting to me, and I loved how my eyes were wide the entire time I was there.
Five am wake up call to go to the train station. This honestly felt like Slumdog Millionaire. There were so many people! Even at 5am! There were people running through the tracks, a ton of deformed beggars, and just a massive amount of people. Fun fact- 25% of the worlds population live in India! I found this incredible and honestly, you felt it. There were so many people everywhere, all different walks of life. Every person looked really different too, which I wasn’t expecting. Anyways, we took this train to Agra (about two hours) which felt pretty standard, no horror stories here. Getting into Agra we went to Fatehpur Sikri (made out of red sandstone). We went to visit a ton of temples so they kind of became a blur, but this one was extremely beautiful. We also visited a marble shop and we were shown how they make the marble that the Taj Mahal was made up of. We saw the Agra fort, which was the first time we had a view of the Taj Mahal. I first spotted the Taj and immediately took a step back. The whole reason I was so excited to go to India was to see this, so seeing it for the first time (even if it was in the distance), I just paused and tried to remember the moment. We went to the Taj right after and I honestly felt like I was walking through a post card. It was so surreal. All of it was so beautifully breathtaking, and I took way to many pictures. At one point we did a jumping picture, and I actually fell into the holy water- so embarrassing. Indian people were taking pictures of me… it was terrible! But all in all, it was amazing to be there and I felt so lucky to experience such a wonder of the world. We took the train back that night to Delhi. The train at night was a little scarier because the beggars just got worse and worse. It was crazy how many deformed people there were. We heard that if you came from a poor family in India parents would beat their children into deformity, so they could get more money for the family. I saw a man with elephantitis, a ton of children with no legs and arms, and old men crawling and moaning on the ground. It was very disturbing, especially when they would grab at you and yell. I’ve seen beggars before, in Peru they were very similar but these people were just so sad looking. Anyways we got back to our hotel to this amazing dinner where they had a dance floor set up for us. We danced all night here to Indian music and ate the best food ever! Every meal we had was incredible… I love Indian food so this was very fun for me. I was a little scared in the beginning to eat a lot of the food because SAS really scared all of us (giving us Pepto ect.), so I didn’t eat a lot in the beginning. But no worries- because by the end I was legit drinking the water and licking the ground, and I feel fine.
7 am breakfast to go on a city tour where we passed Raj Ghat, Humanyuns Tomb, Raj Path, Rashtrapati Bhawan, and a variety of government buildings. It was amazing to me how much Delhi looked like Washington DC. There was no trash, no beggars, and all the buildings were new looking with a lot of security. We flew to Varanasi later that day which took about two hours. The flights were amazing. The food on the flights were great, the service was awesome, and it was amazing to me how much I was able to sleep during these travel times. These SAS trips run us to the ground. It felt like we were literally traveling the whole time (with no sleep) from train to bus to plane it was crazy. When we entered Varanasi I really didn’t know what to expect. This city looked so different than Delhi or Agra or Chennai. It was dirty, busy, crowded, and had such different smells. It was exactly how I pictured India, and I'm so glad I got to experience Varanasi. That night we all took these rickshaws (these were bike powered not motor powered) through the city to the Ganges River. This sunset ride was amazing- the colors of the stores were all so bright, there were cows and bulls just walking through the streets, monkeys climbing from the walls, and a ton of people and cars just going every which way. The shops were all lit up, the street food smelled amazing, the women on the side walking in these elaborate saris- it was just unreal. That wasn’t even the best part- when we got to the river we entered this huge ceremony. It was called Aarti at Dasaswamedh Ghat at River Ganges- there were about 100 boats filled with people all with candles and flowers, about 500 people all on these steps overlooking the water and everyone was praying and singing. There were about 10 young men standing at the front of the water doing different ceremonious dances and spraying ashes into the sky. There was an array of colors, lights, sounds, and smells. An extreme sensory overload. I went down to the river and some priest came up to me and dragged me this little seat where he made me recite these chants about my family. He put flowers and paint all over me and then told me to put these flowers in the Ganges River. It was a very spiritual experience and I really felt a connection with India after that.
We woke up the next morning at 4:30 to take a boat tour down the Ganges River. Surprisingly cold out, it was a very different experience being at the river before sunrise. Many local people were dunking in the river doing different ceremonious rituals. This river by the way is the same one that a British student died in a couple years ago. It’s so infected because so many people pee, poop, throw up, and die... I mean the list goes on. It’s not clean and certainly not a river to bathe in. Well Casey and Andrew of course jump right in and start doing the rituals. Now, I wasn’t about to do this… but I was however going to do something else. Before the sun rose over the river there were about 40 or so natives doing sunrise yoga on this stage while a man in a headstand chanted the poses. I got up on stage with these people and as the sun rose I did the postures with them. It was absolutely incredible. The last pose was with your arms open just laughing and throwing your head back. I honestly felt a true state of bliss at that moment. It was the most extraordinary emotion. Not only were these two events going on but also there was a huge crematorium right next to us with smoke towers and I'm pretty sure dead bodies all around. It was really mind-blowing that there were these bodies around us and yet such life and happiness on the other side. After seeing this part of the river we traveled back by bus for a city tour of Varanasi and an excursion to sarnath. Now I honestly never thought I say this but taking some of the classes on the boat has helped me in more ways then I can explain. Normally going into museums, I enjoy learning about what I see but I never really fully understand what I'm seeing. I am taking this art history class on the boat about Buddha, and for the past two months I have been looking at these photos and studying their history. As I walked into this museum in Sarnath my jaw dropped. Seeing the actual relics and statues that I have been learning about was truly a unique experience. I was running around this museum like a crazy person explaining little details to people and truly amazing my fellow students. I really appreciated for once what my teacher had taught me and the history of this culture. It was beautiful how people from all around the world came to some of these statues (such as the preaching Buddha at Sarnoth) to come and pray to him. This was truly eye opening. That afternoon we flew back to Delhi and then back to Chennai. We got back to the boat around 1am to end the SAS trip.
So we still had 2 more days in Chennai and everyone I had talked to said it was boring, the rickshaw drivers scanned them, all they did was shop blah blah blah. I of course did not fall into this category. Pack-er-in-er here we go! Well my one friend (Adam) from Penn state met this man a couple days before named Johnny Eagle who he was raving about. We decided to give him a call around 7 to take us around Chennai. He shows up in this car (he had his own driver), a total baller. He sold us some precious stones from Sri Lanka, and really showed us around. We went to this one ashram in the morning were we meditated and ate their local fruits. We then went to another ashram to check out a yoga class (unfortunately we missed the time but told them we would go back tomorrow).  We then drove about two hours to a crocodile farm, a snake-charming event, a temple by the water, and a famous statue called the butterball. We had lunch at this local place which was amazing Indian food and made our way back to the ship around 6pm. Getting off the ship we met this man named Madu. He was also so cool- claimed he was a famous Indian movie star? Anyways,.... we got ready to go out and went to this hookah bar called Mocha. This place was unreal. There was a rooftop infinity pool with these giant blow up balls on the water. We figured out that you could get into these balls and go onto the water inside of them. This was awesome! We looked like humans in a hamster ball on the water. Soo fun! Went to bed at 1 and woke up at 4:30 to Madu at the port.
Madu took four of us to the same yoga place we went to the day before for the 6 am class. This was one of the most amazing experiences. We did the 12 postures that are designed for sunrise and the sun was actually rising behind us. There were about 50 locals and us in this outdoor room all on these hand-woven mats. It was truly a moving and special experience. Well it just kept getting better. Tara and I stayed at the ashram and decided to get Indian massages ($6 only mom!). Now this was an experience… I went into this room and got completely naked (no towel) and she sat me on this wooden table. She then drowned me in this natural oil (hair, ears, face, back, stomach) literally everywhere. The massage was very strange- kind of like a Tai massage, a lot of lifting of the legs and almost putting me in yoga poses. I looked to my left mid way through and there was a boiling pot of water (ya this freaked me out). There was this wooden door in the back of the room that kind of looked like the wooden doors on the sidewalk of NYC. Well she opened it up and there was a little stool to sit on. Thought I was going to die. She put me in there, shut the doors and there was a hole for my head to stick out. This was so strange, oh and she left the room! Well about 15 min later im sweating so much, and of course a huge 5-inch cockroach crawls right in front of me! It was truly an experience. I then had oil all over me for the rest of the day and ya I got a lot of looks but I felt awesome. After this Madu picked us up, and we to get henna tattoos in a local market. We did some last minute shopping, ate some street food and returned to the boat around 1. Now the day before, Johnny invited us to his house for lunch/dinner. At 1:30 Johnny was there to pick us up (about 9 of us) to go to his house. His house was a 5 by 5 ft room and that’s it. His two wives cooked us this elaborate meal with nan, masala, dal, fish, gobi chicken, everything you can imagine. It was delicious and amazing to meet his family. He told us he has been bringing a group of SAS kids to his house like this since 1984 (he even had a picture of himself then with girls- so funny)! Well I also realized that my friend Matt, who did SAS a year ago, told me to meet this guy named Johnny boy. Well he was talking about this Johnny! They of course knew each other and it made me feel even more connected to him. It was the perfect end to my trip and really gave me a sense of what it is like to live in India. In other ports I have almost wanted to get back to the ship to sleep because I was so dead but I can honestly say I was not ready to leave India. It was such a magical place. That’s truly the only word I can use to describe my experiences there. Every minute I was in that country I kept saying, “I’m so happy”, and every minute got better and better. It was truly difficult getting back on the ship. I’m kind of in a state of depression because I know I wont be back there for a long time. I learned so much about my self there, about history and religion, and truly about life. I’m blessed to have been so fortunate to experience such a special place.

Mauritius

Only here for one day, so in this port we had to pack it all in! Since Mauritius is known for its water, five groups of 40 kids rented catamarans for the day. Back when SAS was crazy, and they actually weren't strict about EVERYTHING, this port was the "spring break" of SAS. Well, one day was enough of a spring break for me. It was crazy. These catamarans we got into were open bar and had an open BBQ. We sailed out around 10am onto literally the clearest water I have ever seen. Mauritius was a beautiful place- very green, high buildings near the water, and it felt like the people were a mixture between Indian and African. The water though was unreal. The kids that didn't do the catamaran went scuba diving becasue Mauritus is one of the best places to scuba in the world. I would've loved to do that too, but how could you pass up a catamaran with 40 other kids! We sailed out to this island about two hours away and anchored all five boats next to each other. We were given snorkels and we basically just had fun in the sun for the rest of the day. Jumping from boat to boat, exploring the side of the island, and well it was open bar... so ya very fun day! My body though is legit falling apart after such a crazy Capetown and now probably the most intense single day ever. So I am currently in need of water and sleep pronto!