how much is that in dollars?!

in every country thus far, we've had to deal with crazy exchange rates.

vietnam will be the most challenging-- it is 17,500 vietnamese dong to the dollar.

yikes! i'm not that good at mental math! so, i wrote out a quick conversion chart from 1-15 usd, to help.

a 52,500 vnd sandwhich? that'd be 3 usd.

see why we need charts?!




side note -- i woke up at 0530 for the sunRISE, not the sunset, as i had mentioned. oops! it was too early!

good morning, vietnam

22 march 2009
0830

we've made it. i'm excited and look forward to learning and experiencing more about this country.

i woke up at 0530 to go out and watch the sunset, and i'm so glad i did. so many people were awake! global studies doesnt even have so many people! the sunrise was beautiful and it was comfortably warm outside. the small boats and thick green shores were mesmerizing.

after spending a good while outside, i went back to the room to shower and write about bangkok.

breakfast was so great, there were grits! and they weren't too runny, which always seems to be a problem.

i am now in the room, awaiting the diplomatic briefing. out my porthole were the parents and grandparents who came on the sas parent trip. they were all waiting anxiously to board the ship, i can only imagine how excited they must be!

there is also a long line of vietnamese women, holding a welcome to vietnam sign. they are all wearing their traditional aodai, beautiful silk dresses.

our plan for today is to head to the war remnants museum and to explore.


i'm off to the briefing -- xo

?worry not that no one knows of you;

..seek to be worth knowing.”                       
-confucius

21 march 2009
(well, technically it's now the 22 of march, around 0100a)

long, though productive day. studied, typed, tried to plan things for vietnam. it's crazy that we'll be in a new country so soon! we are actually very close to vietnam, we can see the lights outside of our windows. at one point today there was a man overboard drill, in which the ship turned around completely and stopped, as it would if someone was in the water. i suppose it's another way to delay entering port, so that we can fit in extra class.

i have my china plans all set! i am going to the great wall! YAY! i will be spending a day in hong kong, flying to bejing, sleeping on the great wall, seeing the sights, then taking a sleeper train back to shanghai and then spending the last day in shanghai. i actually have a field trip for nutrition on the last day, though i'm not sure if i'll be able to make it back.

we just spent the past hours watching 'the curious case of benjamin button,' which one of the boys lent us. it was a great film and brad pitt is awesome. so attractive.

i'm now utterly exhausted and plan to be up at 0500, to see the ship sail up the river to ho chi minh city. i'm excited to see the sunrise and then possibly take a nap before getting off the ship. a lot of kids are sleeping on the deck tonight, its like a giant slumber party. my feeling is that, because its already so late, that i need as much good sleep as possible to function in vietnam! i am sure i will sleep out eventually, i've still got some time left to do so.

i am nearly done with my thailand blog -- it's getting so tough to keep up! i can assure you, though, that i will not get off the ship until my thailand journals are done! i simply cannot have them looming!

day two in the city of angels -- all about the buddhas

16 march 2009
monday

after a less than comfortable night's sleep, we woke early to begin our day. on the itinerary: the canals, the grand palace & massages.

bangkok is hot. there is no way around it. my lonely planet guidebook mentions that bangkok is the world's hottest city according to the world meteorological association, and boy is that the truth. on an average march day, the temperature is about 34 degrees celsius, which meant it was nearly 94 degrees.

we had breakfast at a cute, and rather western, cafe called elefin. a beautiful cappuccino and an omelette rounded out my first thai breakfast. in all honesty, a traditional thai breakfast is generally noodles and soup; which is not exactly my ideal morning food. a trip to the equally western bathroom, we headed out.

another trip on the skytrain, which i love ( may have mentioned that already..) and we found ourselves at the chao praya river. we purchased a day pass and headed out onto our taxi boat.

bangkok is often called the 'venice of the east' and that is certainly true. canals are a way of life; there are floating markets, water taxis and large pavilions on the water. we had a great time making our way north up the river, to the mahala pier. along the way, we saw the famous oriental hotel and the temple of the dawn. both of which are mentioned in every tour guide and pamphlet across the city.

after getting off the water taxi, we made our way out in search of the grand palace. the palace is a large compound of buildings and it was often said that if we went to bangkok and did not see the palace, that it was as if we never visited. we asked for directions and it turned out that we were staring at the palace the whole time. it's always fun to be laughed at by tuk-tuk drivers, we just didn't know what we were looking for!

i suppose then, that since we looked so perplexed and confused, that we were a great target for a scam. our hot and sticky selves ran into a man who claimed that the palace was closed until 130p so that the monks could pray. well, we fell for that line, hook line and sinker. we then thought that this nice man was so helpful in pointing out nearby places that we could visit, and we were soon in tuk-tuks speeding away from the palace.

our roundabout tour of bangkok was not all lost; we saw a very tall buddha, some monks and grabbed some cokes. after stopping at a tailor, which was not on our itinerary, and a very expensive jewelry store, again not on our itinerary, we realized we were being scammed. after getting yelled at by the driver to stay inside the store for 'just five minutes' so that he could get a gas coupon, we sternly ordered the drivers to take us back to the grand palace. 10 baht later, we were outside the grand palace, which was open.

apparently our little tour of bangkok is common. we were warned about similar antics in india; drivers taking passengers to their friend's shops or places where they receive commissions, regardless of the destination.

we were able to laugh at the situation, as no one was hurt and we didn't lose anything except for about 45 minutes.

finally making it to the grand palace, we entered the clothing building. all buddhist temples have strict dress codes, of which we had been warned. shorts were not allowed, and capris could not be too tight. there could be no rips or ratty clothes and shoulders had to be covered.

i was wearing a floor length dress, though it was strapless; so i brought along a sweater to cover my arms. ren, kelsey and mckendree were wearing t-shirts and gym capris, all of which were deemed too short.they had a nifty little mark on the wall, something like the 'you must be this tall to ride the ride,' signs; except that the mark is for the length of pants. therefore, at the clothing building, the girls were able to rent skirts to wear. there were also large button down shirts to cover shoulders and pants for men to wear.

we made our way towards the admissions line and paid the 'foreigner' price. this is common practice in thailand, where prices are inflated for any non-thai. i suppose i can understand the theory, but when thais pay 1 usd and we pay 10, it can become frustrating.

with the girls in their skirts and i in my sweater, we made our way into the palace.

i think i may have mentioned how how it can be in bangkok; and i was now wearing a sweater. there is no way to stay calm, cool and collected in a sweater, in the hot sun, with no shade in sight. needless to say, boy were we all sweaty.

the palace itself was wonderful. all the buildings were ornate and intricate. every inch of the buildings were tiled, beaded, or covered in gold leave. simply overwhelming.

at the grand palace is the emerald buddha. he is not actually emerald, he's jade. there is a huge building just for him, covered in more jewels and tiles. we took off our shoes and tiptoed to the back of the temple, finding the marble floor to be wonderfully cool and the fans to be perfect, cooling us off gently. the buddha himself was not so big, but the shrine around him was grandiose. he had guards, offerings, flowers and was dressed in a summer robe.

upon exiting the emerald buddha's building, we ambled around the grounds and made our way to the grand palace, for which the entire compound is named. cold waters, for 10 baht (roughly 35 cents) and i was rejuvenated. i wanted to look around some more but i could tell that the heat was beginning to get to my comrades.

we took some more photos, ran into a couple of semester at sea kids, turned in the skirts and headed out in search of some food. seeing as we'd had an american breakfast, we were searching for some thai food. deciding upon an indoor and air conditioned restaurant, we piled in a got a table.

i tended to order the same kinds of meals in thailand: pad thai, fried rice, chicken and cashews or glass noodles. glass noodles are strange, and i'm unsure if i like them. they are translucent and rather gummy.

we shared some wonderful spring rolls and tried each other's meals. thai food is generally served as it is finished, so the whole table will not receive their meals at the same time. likewise, meals are meant to be shared, so it's not uncommon to see lots of plates scattered around a thai family's table.

after making a game plan, with the help of my wonderful bangkok book, we headed out in search of the reclining buddha. mckendree and i tended to make the plans and dragged kelsey and ren along; which they said they preferred. i often worry that i'm being too pushy or imposing my own agenda, but i'm glad i did. it would have been a shame to miss out on the big golden buddha.

buddhas in thailand are very different from chinese buddhas, which is what i usually think of. chinese buddhas are short, fat and have big chubby, smiling cheeks. the thai buddha is much different, he is tall and slender with a pointed hat.

the reclining buddha was my favorite. the largest in the world, i could hardly fit him into a photo! upon entering (with no shoes on and shoulders covered, we saw his face. the room wraps around the buddha and we could see him from all angles in his glittering gold.

leaving the buddha behind and dismissing the tuk-tuk drivers, looking for a deal, we headed back to the taxi station. we walked through a large market, where dried fish of every shape, color and size were available to buy. one would certainly find the smell unique in the heat of the day. despite the smell, it was wonderful to see a less commercialized view of bangkok; outside of the glittering malls.

a sleepy ride back down the river, and another chilly ride on the skytrain and we were back in our little neighborhood. bangkok is divided into regions, much like new york has boroughs. our hostel and home base in bangkok was in the sukumvit area, known for shopping and it's red light district. we steered clear of the redlight business and stuck to our street, soi 1.

that afternoon was our first massage, a traditional thai massage for 1 hour cost just under 8usd. what a bargain! after an hour of being 'beat up' as the other girls said, we meandered back to our hostel, feeling sore. i liked the massage; it was like doing yoga while lying on the ground. plus, it's fun to have a tiny little thai woman standing on your back!

at the hostel, we met a great girl named jennifer, from the united states. she was spending a year in japan and had traveled to thailand with friends over their semester break. while jen was at the chatuchak weekend market, she had her entire purse stolen, with her id, passport, visas, credit cards and camera. and she wasn't crying! i would have been a wreck, but she was calm about the entire situation. she was able to get a new passport and her mother was able to wire her money. but she was all alone in bangkok! so after showering, making plans for the following day and getting ready; the five of us headed out for dinner.

we ended up at a pub, which served american food. we rationalized our hamburgers (which were delicious!) by commenting on just how many thais were in the restaurant. american food is everywhere and the thai people love food; no matter where it comes from. it was a great time, telling her all about our program and our perspectives. so often we talk to strangers about the program and simply give an overview, but jen was excited to hear about life on the ship and asked great questions.

after our yummy hamburgers, we made our way back towards the hostel. we stopped at a few of the street stalls and poked through t-shirts and other souvenirs. it seems like stalls thrive at night; simply because it's cooler.

an obligatory stop for ice cream from 7-11 (which was EVERYWHERE. i've never seen so many! not even in the states!), and we ran into a large group from the hostel who were heading out to the night market and then to the red light district. i was tempted to go, for the night market only, but we had plans to be up very early the next morning so i decided to return to the hostel with my girlfriends.

after spending too much time on the computers with the girls, looking up each other's friends on facebook and watching youtube videos; it was time to head to bed. we planned to be up and running around 0615 in order to head off to kanchanaburi.

a gentle and wise guide..

..always shines the light on the most forgiving pathway home 
–robert l. castellino

-------------------

20 march 2009
0045 (1245a)


global studies was a challenge this morning. we had two professors, a husband and wife, discuss the vietnam war. our technical guy, bob, sang a war protest song. our vietnamese inter-port lecturers were introduced, and we will have pre-port with them tonight.

there was a lot of crying in global studies today. i suppose it is hard for many of us to grasp just how our professors feel about the topic of the vietnam war. we simply have not had enough education about the situation. most simply know that it was a protested war and that there was a draft. it is hard to imagine what life would be like, attempting to avoid the draft or to see friends and family head off to war and to never come home. i have often said, in attempting to grasp the emotional toll of vietnam, that iraq will be our generation's vietnam.

i no longer think that is true. for one, we do not have any experience with a draft. there were speculations of a draft, though nothing has become of it. plainly, we simply do not get it.

and now, we're a day away from being in ho chi minh city, formerly saigon. i found myself wikipedia-ing the war to clarify my facts about the war. however, the personal accounts from professors who avoided the draft to others who simply protested. our generation needs to come to grips with the vietnam war so as to learn from our mistakes.

after a rather heavy global studies, which ran late, i headed to my third class, languages of the world. in the class we are now watching a pbs movie, journey of man. an odd film, indeed.

i lunched and then napped before editing my field reports to hand in. hopefully they are good! i need these grades to transfer!

after a nice girls-only dinner, we staked out seats in the union at 1900, 01 hour before pre-port and 02 hours before the evening program.

our pre-port was a little rough around the edges but was delivered by our sweet inter port student and the inter port lecturer, thai. there were videos, songs and countless images of traditional vietnamese dress. the whole experience was rathe long.

i LOVE our crew. every last one of them, from dining to housekeeping to the engine room. i love them all. 

let me back up for a second and explain why.

tonight was the crew talent show, which followed our cultural pre-port. there were over 20 acts which consisted of guitars, bands, solo singers, dances, skits, jokes and overall crazyness. it was fantastic.

hosted by nic, the school store manager from holland and heidi, who works in the snack bar and is from the united states, the show lasted over two hours. nic is impossibly cute and very european, i think some of the sas boys have crushes on him. how do boys get to be so pretty? the duo were dressed in button-down shirts and ties, and spent the majority of their time stalling while the acts were prepared.

clearly the entire show had been rehearsed and a significant amount of time was dedicated in creating the performances.

the majority of the crew were in their street clothes, which is fun to see. so many have great style (the single boys were so cute! more on them later..) and its hard to recognize them out of their strict uniforms!

amongst the acts was a crowd favorite, bar flare. three crew guys took turns spinning and flipping and twisting wine bottles and made pretend drinks. i've seen youtube videos of this sort of bartending before, and its incredible in person. i was able to get a front row seat and took some really neat action shots of the guys. it was so much fun to see the crew in different roles, and to be dancing around to pop music!

some of the acts were more creative; our a/v director, sparky, wrote a sweet song about life on the ship and how sad we'll be when we get off. it nearly brought tears to my eyes. the snack bar crew ad-libbed 'leaving on a jetplane' to talk about the things students often ask for.

there was a great dance by the housekeeping staff, all dressed up in sailor outfits. much to our dismay, andrew (our cabin steward) was not in it. we saw him sitting in the corner and cheered for him anyways. he loves us :)

two of the women on the crew, did a great skit with two of their housekeeping friends. the girls sat in chairs and the men were behind them, acting as their arms. they did a skit of getting ready for a day on the mv explorer that made everyone roar.

after laughing hysterically and snapping photos/taking video, the show came to an end. crew members representing 23 countries (of which the crew is comprised) gathered on stage for "we are the world." it was such an incredible night! and everyone is even more in love with the crew.

at the end of the show, we were told that we could donate to the crew appreciation fund. the money that we donate helps the crew to get christmas presents or to arrange trips for them in countries. i was glad to contribute and i think most felt the same. these wonderful people are away from home for 6-8 months at a time and work hour after hour to take care of us. we are treated so kindly, it is the least we can do.

i am now utterly exhausted and must head to bed. all the laughing and smiling has made my cheeks hurt!

some of the single boys made up a dance and every girl in the room was in love. unfortunately, due to the strict no fraternization policy, no luck for us.

hand's down ---- i love the crew!

xo xo from a sleephead :)

19 march 2009, 2220 (10:20pm)

back on the ship, after an incredible time in thailand! aside from the heat, bangkok & kanchanaburi were so much fun! and i think i was the least stressed here; buddhism may have something to do with that.

i'm currently catching up on emails, looking through the 500+ pictures i took in the past 5 days and plan to be in bed soon.

classes tomorrow? oh lord. should be a challenging month, academically speaking. all this off-ship time; not enough class time. i'll be in class 0800-1200 then i've got to get some work done so that i'm not behind -- vietnam will be here before we know it!

plans are in the works for a trip in china (great wall, here i come!) and we have some ideas for japan. as for vietnam, i have a couple day trips but no big plans. except for possibly getting a dress made and some bargain shopping?

i'm so glad i got to skype with some of you this morning (thailand time). it was wonderful to see the family & to hear some familiar voices! i'll work out the time changes better next time! ah! its getting tough to figure it all out. love and miss you all! xo




ps. i think i may have missed uncle andy's birthday-- so hope you had a good one! xoxo from thailand!

oops!

i'm hot. and sweaty. and in desperate need of a proper shower.





however,
i rode and bathed with an elephant.
i stayed a night in a hostel for 3 usd.
i climbed waterfalls & jumped off rocks.

so i'm off to shower & hit the hay.
skype date tomorrow!!
( it'll be 8pm wednesday the 18th for all my east coast family & friends)

general announcement

hi!

if anyone is interested in talking on SKYPE with me, please be online around 7pm, east coast time, on wednesday the 19th.

it will be about 8am here in bangkok and i'm going to try to get a computer with a camera. if you don't have a camera, no worries, you will be able to see me (even if i can't see you).

my skype name is leb8706.

hope to talk to you!!


had another wonderful day in the city of angels but i can't stay on long. we are heading out at 645 tomorrow for an overnight in canchanaburi, about 2 hours away by train.

xo xo

day one in the city of angels -- heavens, i like this place a lot.

hello from bangkok!
i'm at the hostel, using the wonderfully inexpensive internet! yay!

our day began early, though as you may have noticed in my earlier post, we did not actually leave the ship early. after grabbing a makeshift lunch and finallyyyy getting our passports, we were on the semester at sea bus, heading to bangkok.

i may have mentioned this before, but our ship is simply too big for bangkok. so we are docked in laem chabang, a lovely two-hour ride away. the bus ride was cool and comfortable and before we knew it, we were in the middle of a booming city.

bangkok is most definitely like new york, and we were all very excited to see a city after being in more rural ports. though people talk about the pollution and whatnot, i think its a very clean city.

we oriented ourselves and found the thai people to be incredibly warm, smiley and willing to help us out in any way possible. we found our way to the skytrain station, which i am so in love with, and made our way (1 stop..) to our hostel. i am most definitely the most experienced metro traveler and i'm so glad i was able to get us on board, buy tickets, etc.

after seeing far too many stray puppies, we found our street - sukumvit soi 1 - and meandered down to our hostel, passing a few restaurants, pay phones and a coffee shop :)

we checked in, found the place to be a bit shabby but they lock the doors, so we're safe. we gathered our belongings, checked out the room and made a quick turn around to get out and see bangkok. after some advice on what to do tomorrow, we made our way back to our neighborhood skytrain station and rode (for ~1 usd / 45 baht) to the end of the line, for the chatachuk weekend market.

oh what a sight. its like a flea market, but everyone is on top of one another. despite the crowds and the heat (its projected to be about 95 all week), it was not overwhelming. we were not hounded to buy things and did not see beggars. all we saw were clothes, housewares, street food and every type of knock-off one could imagine.

after overheating at the market, we grabbed nice cold cokes and sat ourselves down in a park to determine our next room. it was nearing 6 and we were starved. we ran into 2 of our sas friends - cassie and andrea - and they suggested we head for the mall. we were skeptical (we want the real bangkok-- not the americanized mall) and consulted my AMAZING lonely planet city guide. its pocket sized, has maps of each district as well as what to do where. its the absolute BEST purchase i ever made in preparing for this trip. otherwise, we'd have been wandering aimlessly.

after watching people play with their pet bunnies (in clothes..) and adorable puppies, we decided to head towards the mall. the book promised lots of restaurants in the area, and we were heading back in the direction of our hostel.

another wonderfully air conditioned and clean ride on the skytrain (i really love it) and we were in siam square, the closest thing bangkok has to a city center. holy malls. i think america could take a hint from these things - they are skyscapers! i took lots of photos, its hard to believe a mall could top the one i saw in south africa, the canal walk.

again, we sought air conditioning and took our first steps into a glittery, shiny and sparkling clean mall. those are the only words for it! we made our way to what looked like a food court (using the touch screen mall map to help us out) and decided on a mixed coffee bar and restaurant. there was a restaurant with the conveyor belts next door, but it was sushi. and we are in thailand, so we should have thai food.

a yummy dinner of pad thai, cashew chicken and sweet lemon iced tea and we were stuffed. it had been decided, as we entered the mall, that a trip to dairy queen was necessary. so onto dq for dessert.

we were unsure of what to do next. we were all up so early, and were exhausted; so going out wasnt really in our future. and we didn't need to shop anymore, so we consulted the now beloved lonely planet book. i really wanted to see a movie - i'd read that the theaters were amazing. and that the movies were in english, with thai subtitles. and again, air conditioning.

after a group consensus, which with 4 people is easy, we headed out of one mall and into the one next door, passing a dunkin donuts! never in my life would i have guessed there would be a dunkin donuts in thailand, i figured the role would be played by starbucks. (there was one of those next door, and a few in the mall).

well, holy mall of all malls.

we've decided that malls are a way of life in bangkok. it's too hot to be outside, so why not enjoy a full dose of commercialism and air conditioning in a giant building?

the NINE huge floors of the mall included an imax theater, a regular 14 screen movie theater, a million (guesstimating) stores and lots of lights.

as i said, malls are serious business.

after walking around with our jaws on the floor, we began to make our way to the top to find the theater. on one level, there was an entire exhibit on barbie and her 50th anniversary. after taking far too many photos on the glittery pink stage, we pressed on; we still had 4 more floors to hit.

we eventually found ourselves at the movie theater. and again, i took pictures. i know that it's incredibly odd to whip out a camera at a mall, but i'm okay with it.

the movie theater was wayyy fancier than any movie theater at home. and it had a bar? i decided against a cocktail and headed for an iced latte for starbucks. i figure, with my movie ticket only costing 5 usd, i may as well pretend i'm in the states and bump it up to 8 usd with a latte.

more oo-ing and ah-ing over the movie theater and then we made our way in and found our seats. assigned seats, no less.

as the movie began, the national anthem is played and the entire audience stood up to pay tribute to their king. that's a new one. though i assume its similar to the way the national anthem is sung at baseball games. imagine that in a movie theater?

the movie, milk, was incredible. everyone should see it. i cried, as i usually do when the stories are real. sean penn, james franco, emile hirsch and lucas grabeel (from high school musical) were awesome. see it. penn absolutely deserved his oscar.

as the movie ended, we knew that we were cutting it close to catch the last sky train. taxis are available, but we like the skytrain. so we hustled our way to the station and caught the very last run, with about a minute to spare.

and now you are all caught up on day one of bangkok! in real time! please please please do not get used to this! i cannot promise i'll ever be able to make it happen again!

tomorrow we will be spending the day on the canals, getting a day pass to hop on/hop off as we please. and then i think a spa will be in order! yay :) then, tuesday is cooking class! i absolutely cannot wait!

as for now, this very full, overtired and sweaty girl is heading to bed. good night from the city of angels (no, not LA, bangkok means city of angels, too. hehe)


---
just a quick note -- i do not recieve ship emails off the ship. so if anything important comes up, send it along to laurabeard87@gmail.com. thanks! xo