Oh The Places You'll Go...

Hey I'm Alli. My journey begins/began January 19th, 2012. 105 days at sea. 11 Ports. And the trip of a lifetime. I will be posting notes and pictures throughout my voyage. Semester at Sea Spring 2012.

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That was the best 4 months of my life. Ill leave the blog up. I miss it every single day. Saserilife.

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Shanghai and Japan

Apparently there is this thing called a blog that I am supposed to be updating. Since I am not really sure where I left off nor do I have any idea what I've done since days have become mush, Ill just do a couple bullet points. -Shanghai - cool. modern. beautiful. expensive. jewish remnants museum. lots of jews in shanghai. passover in shanghai. beautiful hotel with view of the city. had a blast thanks to Sam's parents who met us in Shanghai. Passover was awesome thanks to Millie and Sam and the infinite amount of seder wine. Japan: -traveled independently with Matt, Sarah, Millie and Jess. definitely too big of a group but we managed. hotel was expensive but not when you shove 5 people in. rained almost the whole time. started in Kobe, subway to Kyoto. ate Obi wan kenobi (ominoki?) this delicious pancake, savory goodness. had my first hot springs experience.....ya. experience. to say the least. walked the streets of kyoto during the cherry blossom season (so beautiful) before catching a bullet train to yokohama. night out on the town. hookah bar (hole in the wall) with MIllie. where we met a soldier from the NAVY who led us to the "Standing Bar" where we proceeded to enjoy drink and locals for the remainder of the night. next morning rushed back to meet the boat for Millie's FDP. made it back just in time. spent the day with Brittany in Tokyo. shopped till I literally dropped. $1.23 store that had everything I'd ever want to buy anyone from this entire trip. still have no idea how to get it all back. met a jewish australian couple who have adopted me. Ruth (my new grandmother) has a degree in Holocaust studies and I got to spend the day picking her brain for my favorite subject. got back to the boat and planned on going back to Tokyo for a friends bday but got a little lost and managed to just make it to Paige and Millie's hotel downtown. took them to the club where we were supposed to meet the rest of the group. people slowly start showing up. 2am rolls around and I scour the room for Millie who I haven't seen in a long while. cant find her. spend the next 3 hours wandering the streets of Tokyo in the rain trying to find her. i found her. but now there is all sorts of girl drama made especially worse by the fact that we are stuck on the ship for 15 days. all in all. japan was amazing. definitely my favorite port. the people were beyond friendly. they were inviting and overly helpful. everyone we asked for directions tried their best to help. a man even bought me an umbrella since i looked like a sad wet dog sitting out in the pouring rain. a taxi driver gave me a ride at 530am to my hotel when he knew i had no money on me. it was modern and sophisticated with history and beauty everywhere you looked. wish i had more time there. now comes the 15 days at sea. finals. tensions high. who knows how this will end but im just hoping we can all get through it in one piece. excited to get home. but not excited to say goodbye. this has been the longest. most amazing 3 months of my life.

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So I am really behind on this whole blogging thing. trying to conceptualize and even remember all that is happening. I think I left off on Vietnam. After our day at the boarding house I really didn't get around to much more culturally evident. We spent our nights at a pool bar 2 minutes from the ship. I convinced the manager and one of the "table girls" to play as mine and Millie's partners. Needless to say they pretty much played the whole game, us only being handicaps. Did manage to get a fish foot thing...massage? if you can call it that. basically you put your feet into a jacuzzi full of tiny fish that eat all the dead skin off of your feet. it was awesome, but extremely ticklish. I loved Vietnam. After lasting the first day I realized how much potential Ho Chi Minh had. 5 days there and I barely even scratched the surface. Vietnam is a country I definitely plan on returning to, although I know it will be nothing without the friends I traveled with this time around. Another thing about Vietnam that would probably make you clench your fist... in a lot of the back alley shops you will find American class rings, lighters and dog tags. We are taking a wild guess and saying that these are from fallen soldiers. Sarah bought all the rings at a store and plans to try and return them to their respectful families. I think the perfect project would be to raise enough money to buy all the dog tags and rings ect. and return them to the families in the states. it only seems right. The next stop was Hong Kong. Its getting to the point where I honestly couldnt tell you what I did where or when. Its all turned into an endless blur. Its become part of my daily life, as if I have been doing this forever. One week Vietnam, the next China. Its so natural now. Waking up to a beautiful new place, getting off the ship, wandering aimlessly with friends who you feel you've known for years but in reality have only had for weeks. I've said this a couple of times now. So for those of you who are planning on Semester at Sea. The most important part is the people you meet. This is why. Matt and I were on an FDP "walking tour" of Hong Kong. As usual the FDP was a fail. they wanted us to pay for the ferry and lunch and a tram ride...we were over it so we signed out. decided to wander. we take a turn down a random street aiming for the boat and we see crowds of people at the next intersection. police, shouting, marchers holding signs and flags...this could only mean one thing...we stumbled upon a protest. Matt and I ran to catch up with the protestors. little did we know that there were 5000+ people and even with two hours of speed walking we would never catch up to the front. We asked everyone around us tons of questions, trying to understand what the protest was about and hoping it had nothing to do with America or communism or anything that could get us into trouble. it ended up being for democracy. for things like freedom of speech and the right to vote. things we desperately take advantage of. it was a little scary being the only caucasians in a sea of people, but everyone we talked to appreciated our curiosity and those who spoke english graciously answered all the questions we could muster up before getting out of the quickening madness. the next day we saw pictures of the protest being broken up by pepper spray. happy to have avoided that. the next day was filled with the search for the Hunger Games. we eventually did see it at a theater downtown. pleased but not ecstatic. after that everyone left me. seriously. everyone. i was 1 of 108 people left to transit on the ship. everyone else was traveling china and catching up with us in Shanghai. although it was the loneliest 3 days of my life i did manage to catch up with a couple papers. once in Shanghai I took one of those Big Red Tour busses and spent the day trying to gather as much history as possible. thankfully Millie returned that night and still had enough energy to go out. we tried to see Titanic but it was not out yet so we wandered with a couple friends downtown. let me tell you. Shanghai is bumping at night. Its the Chinese Time's Square. we ended up in an underground noodle restaurant till around 1130. next day was more aimlessness as usual. but Sam had thankfully signed Millie and I up for Shanghai passover so we booked it back to the boat only to throw on clothes and hightail it to the Hyatt. super fancy and so. much. fun. people from all over the world shared seder with us. best part is. how many people can say they had passover with chopsticks? the rest of Shanghai was walking and shopping. we've grown fond of independent travel, of subways and busses and   maps. its become so natural to us. being in a new port every week. you get off the boat and you dont even think about where you are or what you want to do, you just go. ports are no longer wonderful attractions. they are as natural as walking to a friends house. some would say they have lost their splendor. in some ways i'd agree. it is really hard to impress a Semester at Sea student, but we get more out of these places than tourists do. we get the nitty gritty. we scratch the surface. its currently 730am. we land in Japan in 30 minutes. our last port. I am traveling independently with three of my closest friends (Paige, Sarah, and Millie), so I've been up since 430 too excited and sad to sleep. Cant believe this is the last port. Cant believe that in 21 days i have to say goodbye to all this. cant believe how much i've changed in 3 months. its amazing what seeing the world will do to you. i feel like there is so much left to discover. even in los angeles. it just takes some semester at sea-ing

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Vietnam Part Three

Most Important Blog Entry To Read: Victims of Agent Orange Boarding House. Something I forgot to mention. While at the War Remnants Museum, I saw victims of agent orange. If you are unaware, this is a defoliant that the United States doused Vietnam with during the war to kill the jungle and make it easier for us to fight on the dense terrain. This defoliant was not only toxic for plants, but many years later realized it was even worse for people. Now, 40 years later there are second and third generation people living with severe handicaps and deformations as a result of this "herbicidal warfare". At first there was nothing I could even possibly say to them, I had a hard time even looking them in the eye. But another SAS girl started a light conversation with them and it triggered something inside me to strike up some serious conversation. I met a man named Binh (I apologize for not being able to describe him politically correctly), but he was severely deformed. Living life hunched into a small ball, forever trapped in a wheelchair. Although his body was something I had never seen before, his brain works just fine. After much attempt at communication (language barriers here are high), I finally got an email address out of him and the address to the boarding house they all lived in that was supported by the small trinkets they were selling at the museum. This is was Semester at Sea is about. I emailed him and asked if it would be alright to bring a couple friends to his boarding house for a tour and interviews. He was incredibly welcoming, so Paige and I got up the next morning and took scooter taxis the half hour drive. I have been thinking about this email since I left the house. No matter how many times I run through it in my head there is honestly no way to describe what I felt and saw. I could not possibly do this experience justice and as I read over and over it I am sorry that I am having communication problems, but work with me here. The house was 3 stories high and very narrow. They invited us in for tea and we sat on this wooden bench that I think was supposed to be a bed. Binh was typing away on the computer and we quickly realized the language barrier was going to make it incredibly difficult to do any sort of interview. We only had an hour so we tried basic questions and everyone in the room tried to answer. "how many years have you lived here" - 4 "how old are you" - ~26 "who runs the organization and why" - Mr Quang started it in 2007 because he wanted to "share the pain" We were fortunate enough to meet Mr Quang, but he didn't speak english so we spent the hour passing two different phones around the room trying to communicate with interpreters. They gave us a tour and I think we saw one bed in the entire building. 20 people lived there.The house was clean, but packed with random odds and ends. I noticed guitars hanging on the walls and I asked if anyone played. Soon they brought down 3 guys. One with a severe lazy eye and another I am sure is blind. The last had to be helped down the stairs because he was born with his eyes fuzed shut. This was the man who played guitar for us. They were brilliant, absolutely incredible. At some point Paige and I just exchanged a look of sheer amazement and pain, and a million other emotions neither of us have really come to terms with. There was nothing we could do for these people who had invited us into their home and shared their lives with us. I could not believe how welcoming they were. No words will possibly explain how I feel. The more I think about it the more I want to cry. What can we do? I have done a lot of projects in my lifetime; community service and leadership whatever, and I think this is why. I don't know what I want to do yet and if you have any ideas help me out, but something needs to be done. Agent Orange was not my decision, nor should I in any way feel responsible for the devastation it caused, but what are you supposed to feel? Pity? Shame? Embarrassment? How can you turn a blind eye? This was a form of genocide in many ways. Unsystematic, mass genocide...in some cases what is worse? killing millions, or causing generation after generation to live their lives like some kind of mutants, holed away in a boarding house, living off of keychains and community concerts. I am going to go back to the house and I am going to change their lives like they have changed mine. 

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Vietnam Photos Part Two

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Vietnam Part Two

Mekong Delta Day Trip. Should not have stayed up so late the night before cause this day was completely packed. Started on a bus. Outdoor market. Fishy. Live frogs with heads cut off and skinned.... Next. Water ferry. Fruit tasting. (I love Jack Fruit, its like juicy fruit but awesomer). Looking up and down the small canal made me realize how incredibly difficult it was for American soldiers to navigate this dense jungle. I cant imagine even stepping out into that mud....it looks like you would be sucked into it, never to return....quicksand. I think we took a horse-drawn carriage type of automotive next but this day is a blur. At some point we ended up at a coconut candy factory. This was unlike any factory I had ever seen because not only was it in the middle of the jungle, but it was just a couple woman at a long table, under a sort of makeshift jungle roof. (I understand my vocabulary has slowly regressed to elementary school, you should see me try and write a paper, but deal with it, I am trying my best to conceptualize all that is happening). Soooo anyways. One of the first things they told us at Pre-port was NOT to try snake wine...which is snake soaked in liquor. Well we decided one shot couldn't hurt and let me tell you....it was worth it. tasted like 151 and snake...and burned all the way down. the coconut candy was the only thing that kept me from throwing up but hey...I did it! For anyone that has heard this trip is a booze cruise I will tell you the truth...we drink a lot, but this trip is what you make it. You can drink all you want, but don't let it hinder you from taking in a single second. Most of us just go out and drink at night since there is nothing else to do, but we will get to that. Eventually we got to lunch and wrapped our own spring rolls with fish served as if it was just caught and crisped. we then enjoyed a bike ride on the crappiest bikes you've ever seen, through the village. I took a moment to look at the houses in the village. open and muddy, no need for real doors or bars on windows, or even fences. at first glance you'd think, poverty. but that isnt the case. some of the houses i saw had flat screens. poor isn't poor like we know it. they may not have clean houses in our sense, but they still have clean houses. their values are ten times different and in all honesty I believe they are happier than i will ever be. American consumer mentality is something you can never truly escape. Not sure where I was going with this, but the day was incredible. Nothing as difficult to handle as the museum, but I got to see what the American soldiers saw and I can't believe we would think for ten seconds that we could win a war there. The night was continued by us going out for sushi, sake and billiards. I convinced the manager and a pool girl to play with us. Millie and I continued to get worse at the game and at some point they ended up playing for us. Another thing to note about this trip. Alcohol in every other country is for some reason ALWAYS stronger than alcohol in America. But again. This is not a booze cruise. Yes, we were drinking, but look what we got out of it. We talked with the manager all night about so many different things. Learning what they do for fun in Vietnam, if they were married, if they have gone to school, what they want to do with their lives, where were the best places to go....there is so much you can learn from people if you just take the time to listen.

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Vietnam Photos Part One

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Vietnam Part One

Vietnam This has by far been my favorite port. Not just because I have finally found a perfect group of friends and are completely consumed by my time spent with them, but also because I finally feel at home...like this is how my life is supposed to be. Obviously the port was awesome too but again I come back to the point "its not where you are, but who you are with". My brain is desperately trying to process all the things I'm seeing and doing. For all of you who messaged me, who are planning on coming on this trip, nothing is more incredible or worth it than semester at sea. nothing. I know I end up complaining a lot in these blogs so let me try and capture Vietnam with the same enthusiasm and happiness I feel now. The first three hours of Vietnam made me never want to leave the ship again. By time I got back for lunch I was in such a huff I never believed I'd be able to enjoy the rest of my trip. We were ripped off by a cab driver in the first 10 minutes and literally grabbed by women in this huge market and ripped off there as well. I was over being treated like a money tree, like a tourist, like a lesbian....I was finally at the end of my rope. BUT everything changed when I went to the War Remnants Museum. It was an field program that included talking with a former UPI photographer (he took pictures of both sides during the Vietnam War). But nothing compares to the way the museum made me feel. It was like being a German at a Holocaust museum. It was basically an American war crimes gallery. I am the girl who seriously contemplates the Army every couple of weeks. Who feels an unmatched sense of pride for her country, who cries during the national anthem...and I didn't want a single person to know I'm an American. I just walked through the museum as if I was in a daze, reading the photo descriptions about some American shooting women and children point blank, or dragging a Vietcong behind a tank some  kind of sick joke.... It was horrifying. I've never been so ashamed and so unwilling to believe something... The next day was even more incredible. If that is possible. Mekong Delta Day Trip.

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Singapore Part Two

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Singapore Part One

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India Photos Part Four

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India Day 3-6

 I stopped keeping an actual journal so I will attempt to describe the awesomeness of my last 4 days in as little detail as possible. If you want more detail about anything please email me. Sephora and I ventured out to shop, basically got everything we needed and i refused to shop ever again. Even though I only spent about $30. I felt like I had spend 100's since $1 is 48 rupees and haggling is something I am completely done with. I long for a store with price tags. Where the prices don't go up as soon as they see the color of your skin. I finally got the omen to stop shopping when I ripped a $20 in half. we headed right back to the ship. I was 1/67 people on the boat. I'm apparently that lame, but so are Josh and Dustin. We headed out for dinner at the bar again and managed to gather the only other people on the ship to try hookah again. Side Note: its usually fun not to make plans in a port because after the first day or two everyone writes on this giant board what to do or you hear from someone who heard from someone that some place was good. Its fun to just venture out. So we heard from a person who heard from a person about a much less sketch hookah place called La Meridian. What we didnt know is that it was a good 25mins away and was a very upscale five star hotel around $300 a night. We still got drinks for reasonable prices but we stuck out like sore thumbs in "normal" clothes we had all been walking around in all day. DAY 4 WAS THE BEST! we headed to one of the only theme parks in India VEEGA LAND. I managed to gather a group of 8 and we took actual car taxi's the hour and a half away to what is now called "Wonder La". We were the ONLY white people in the park. It was $8 to get into the park and it was like an Indian Disneyland. Everything was themed and even though it was a smaller park we were like little kids in a candy store. It was supposed to be a water/dry park so we had bathing suits on but quickly realized that no one else did. no one else was wearing shoes either. we went for it and wandered the park barefoot (i kept flip flops on) and headed for the dry rides. they were like carnival rides for us but like Goliath at Six Flags for them. I dont think anyone there could have imagined what it was like to ride a real roller coaster, but we still enjoyed their enthusiasm. We headed to the "Lazer and Water Show". Water show was alright but everyone in the audience was screaming like it was the coolest thing they had ever seen. Many "Oohs" and "Ahhs". We were more entertained by the audience than the show. Lunch at the theme park was $2.50.....yes. $2.50!!!!! and every time you finished your curry or rice or soup they brought you more. We definitely ate more than we should have when we headed to the water rides. Remember how conservative it is in India? Girls in sari's, guys in capris.....that goes for water parks too. Girls were in full school uniforms on tube rides. Groups of 6 girls in full dress got on the family raft ride in front of us. We got dirty looks for having shorts and t-shirts. especially me who was the genius in a white shirt. Luckily the shaved head distracted people from thinking I was a girl anyways. Most people stop me to ask if I am in the Army or stop to look at my eyebrow piercing or touch my head. I am apparently quite a spectacle. But the coolest thing I have done on this trip so far was the "Rain Disco".... The Rain Disco was a large building (one room) split by a fence in the middle. The room is pretty dark and girls go to the right of the fence, guys to the left. We caught the first show as it was ending and ran into the building. Club/Rave music was blasting and there was a combination of lazer lights and disco lights bouncing off all the walls. What made this all the better was the fact that the entire ceiling was dumping out water like a giant shower head. It was basically a wet rave. 15 minutes of this and we were soaked. Remember.....everyone wears clothes.  So all the girls we were dancing with were in full cotton clothing. I was in board shorts and it still took me hours to dry off. It was the coolest thing I've ever done. I want to bring it back to the states. Rain Disco....Wet Wednesdays, Thirsty Thursdays...Full Bar every night...brilliant idea. Seriously. Even after a long day at the park I still managed to go out with 3 girls to catch a 9pm movie. John Carter of Mars...NOT RECOMMENDED. But it was a great experience since the way they watch/enjoy movies is almost opposite ours. People were talking and on their phones the whole movie. There was an intermission. We sat in nosebleed balcony seats even though the theater was basically empty. And they brought our food to us during the film. Loved every second of it. The rest of the week was filled with hanging out and getting to know locals. I asked a ton of questions and learned about the education, family life and social life. People change when you start to ask real questions and stop acting like a tourist. I even made friends with the security guard outside who told me her love story and asked me to sing every time I passed the gate. Paige and Millie got back at midnight and we ran into each others arms as if those 4 days had been years. Pretty much dog pilled. We stayed up all night trading stories and the last day was spent hunting down those last couple items and spending the rest of our rupees. We even managed to get to a small beach since I made friends with the rickshaw driver who took us to the movie. All in all. I will miss India. It is someplace I definitely want to go back to. I've realized that I have become much more than a tourist. I dont just show up some place and take tours and get led around, looking at someplace through the comfort of a car window. I walk to the ferry like everyone else. I shop at wholesale markets with locals. I eat street food and will probably pay for it later. I am learning to step WAY outside my comfort zone and the world becomes a much different place when you start treating people like people and immerse yourself in real conversation. I wonder why I don't treat every day like this with people in my own country.

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India Photos Part Three

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India Day 2

This was I think one of the oddest days I have had yet, followed by the best night. They say you need to step out of your comfort zone to truly learn on this voyage….I’d say I accomplished that. Day started out normal. Leave the ship and get hassled by taxi drivers immediately outside the gate. Choose one who gives you the best initial price, which you always end up doubling by the end. Dont even get me started on the aggravation of taxi drivers in this country. The nice ones I never worried too much about paying a couple extra dollars, cause what is $5 to me goes $20 for them, and a lot of them really need it. But the creepy aggressive drivers ruin it for everyone. The prices at the beginning of the week were $2 a day to take you to a bunch of shops (these are government run tourist shops that the drivers gets points for taking you to - so you basically never get to where you want to go). The shops are super expensive…tried to get us to pay $70 for a 12 inch by 10 inch rug….ya. Had to get Grace back to the ship by 1 so we ended up not really getting anything done. Managed to get to skype finally, but I’ve decided not to really skype anyone besides mom cause it just depresses me and I always feel bad spending an hour on the computer when I’m in a place I will probably never see again. I have conflicting emotions about skype. anyways….. when i got back to the ship I realized how alone I really was. This is due to the fact that I didnt want to spend $1000 to get to the Taj Mahal. I figured that Is something I can go back to see. But most of my friends including Paige left me for 4 days. I ate lunch alone on a 600 passenger boat. There was literally no one here. So even while in India I worked out, played piano and relaxed until a couple friends finally got back from their all day FDP’s. By time they got back I was itching to go out and find hookah. South India doesn’t smoke hookah since they are further from the Middle East and quite a bit more conservative. So, after attempting to cross many language barriers (with over 800 languages in India even english gets confusing) I finally got college students to tell me where the only hookah bar was. Sand Dunes on MG Road. That is the only information I gave the two taxi drivers that took us 5 girls out on this wild goose chase. They had no idea where they were taking us. We drove around for a good 45 minutes before we finally turned off the main road into this dark crowded alley. Our saving grace was the Sand Dunes neon sign that stood in front of  a building that looked closed for construction. We agreed to just leave and find a bar but the old man in front told us to come in and that they were open. This was about the point when all the girls looked at me with a wicked hatred. We proceeded to step over the construction and climb up the small red staircase in the back of the building. The first floor was pitch black and a couple men came out of nowhere to lead us up the next flight. The second floor was also pitch black  and as they led us inside we thought…”well….we led good lives…glad we didnt tell ANYONE where we were going”…but they led us into a very luxurious room full of leather couches and a flat screen. Eventually we stopped feeling like we were going to be trafficked and enjoyed some good hookah and “Jersey Shore”. We also got to watch Cartoons….we all agreed it was the best night ever. We proceeded to the only bar in Cochin that wasn’t a hotel and enjoyed an incredible but yet extremely spicy Indian meal. Just a heads up. Alcohol and spicy food DO NOT mix well. But I already miss Indian food. And don’t worry I have this entire experience on video. Will send as soon as possible.

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India Photos Part Two

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India Day 1

sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I promise it's because I am having the time of my life and not because we were taken over by pirates ect.ect. I am going to send the next couple of blogs in chunks since there is a lot to say about India. Day 1: Landed in Cochin, India. South-west shore on an island called Willington Island. 15 minutes by tuk tuk (rikshaw  - 3 wheeled taxi - look it up) to any shopping or restaurants. Got off the boat around noon and ran about with Paige. We walked to the nearest tourist information center and found out there was a ferry to the market district for 2 Rupees, which is all of about 10 cents. We were the only white people on the ferry and it was quite an experience. It wasn't complete chaos getting on the ferry but it had the authenticity of India in the sense that there is never much personal space and distinct lines are drawn for men and women in almost every facet. From the ferry we wondered hectic downtown. Trying to cross the street is a joke, but we managed not to get hit by any tuk tuk's or bikes. We stumbled upon this semi-fancy (well fancy for the area) mall (maybe 15 shops) - It had a Goodwill which was really a wholesale jewelry shop full of amazing yet affordable trinkets. Lunch was fancy and delicious and cost 3 of us $10. I was starting to really like India. Although I have to say from the moment I landed India was the land of contradictions. fancy malls next to demolished buildings next to middle class homes. you could be in one part of India and say "wow India is poor" but turn the corner to find a beautifully fenced mansion. We had to run back to the boat to make it to our "Welcome Reception" where we were fed, presented with Henna and experienced traditional dance/song performance. Prior to India I had to watch a film called "Om Shanti Om" for class (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) but abruptly realized that Bollywood films are quite different than classic Hollywood cinema. One key factor is that the films usually last over 3 hours and consist of an intermission. Even after the first day I saw how this fit their culture more than ours. Its "India time" - everything just seems to drag on a bit longer than Americans (especially from LA) are used to. Not the same hustle and bustle and movies are full night spectacles, as is eating out. You just have to relax, which if any of you know me...is not something I'm good at. As for my first day in India. I'd say it was pretty awesome. Got back to the boat and STILL watched a movie with friends, since they were all leaving me for their 4 day trips to Varanasi, Delhi and Agra.