Aloha! I started my day by going to the Hilo Farmer’s Market.I tried some Hawaiian fruit and looked at all the cool homemade crafts they had.After that we went to lunch.I tried a local dish called laulau.It was okay, not something I’d ever eat again. :]After lunch we headed to Rainbow Falls.We did a little hiking to get to the top of the waterfall.After the waterfall we walked back to downtown and stopped for homemade ice cream on the way.Then we went to the Kamehamea statue.He is a big legend on the island.After that it was time to head back to the ship for the last time.Very bittersweet.
Day 1 (Kobe): We didn’t have much of an idea of what to do in Kobe, so we just grabbed a tourist map and went to places we seemed interested in.Our first stop was a Sake brewery.We Learned about how it was made and got to tour where it was made.After that we headed to a little island right outside of Kobe where they have many museums.We went to a fashion museum (that one was my choice).They had pieces from many cultures and different eras.After that we went to an art museum that was nearby.After the museums we headed back to Kobe to get dinner.We really wanted to go to a baseball game and asked many people if there was a game.We got multiple answers, but thought we would give it a try.There was no baseball game. :[
Day 2 (Kyoto): I had my last field trip for my classes today.We went to Kyoto to observe temples and gardens.We first went to 2 temples and then had a tour of a zen garden.All three were very beautiful, but it was raining and cold so it was a little hard to fully enjoy them.After the field trip I signed out and stayed in Kyoto.Me and a few friends went to a sushi restaurant where the sushi is served on a conveyer belt.It was a lot of fun! After that I headed to a hostel that I was staying at with a group of girls.It was my first hostel experience.It was actually very nice!We had 8 girls in one room, so it was literally one huge bed with all of our mats on the floor.
Day 3 (Kyoto/Tokyo): Today was much better whether than yesterday, so we decided to go to the philosophy path, which is a cherry blossom garden.After the garden we headed to the train station and took the bullet train to Tokyo.Right from the train station we went to a baseball game in Tokyo.It was a really nice stadium and was fun to have a game night with my friends here.Before each port we are given information by a staff member that is considered “experts” on the country.The teacher that talked to us about Tokyo said we would have no problem finding a cheap place to stay in Tokyo.So we decided we would just find a place to stay after the baseball game.Ugh, bad idea.We walked around for hours, going to different neighborhoods and all of the hostels and hotels were booked.Needless to say, it was an interesting night.We gave up looking around 1a.m.We went to Starbucks and stayed there until 3a.m. when they closed.After that we went to an internet café until 5a.m. and then started our day, with no sleep. (The trains do not run from midnight to 5a.m., so we didn’t have much of a choice of what to do.)
Day 4 (Tokyo):At 5a.m. we took the train to Yokohama to the ship to shower and change clothes.Even though we did not go to sleep the night before, we were not too tired and started our day as soon as we were done getting ready.We took the train back to Tokyo and went to the Shebuya area.They have many shops and is known for being busy, bright, and having younger adults hang out there.After that we went to Harajuka, which has shops and many interesting people!After exploring for the day we were ready for a good meal and made a reservation at a Ninja themed restaurant.We couldn’t make it until 9p.m., so we went to an internet café to relax for a little bit and look up directions to the restaurant.At this internet café, you can stay overnight so we decided to stay there so we did not have a night like the previous night.When we were checking out the girl in front of us in line asked the receptionist to hold her bag while she went out.After hearing that, my friend thought that they had a locker in the back to hold people’s bags who were staying there.She asked if he could hold our stuff as well while we went to dinner since we had a reservation to stay there.I was in the bathroom for all of this btw, when I came back she told me that she got our stuff locked up for when we go to dinner so we didn’t have to carry all of our souvenirs around.In my friends defense, the hostel that we had stayed at earlier did have a locker, so she assumed it would be just like that.Well, when we got back from dinner, we asked if we could get our stuff.It was a different man at the reception desk and looked a little confused.After we explained it to him he looked in the back for our stuff, but could not find it.He called that man that we left it with, and I guess it was translation error because he thought all of the bags we gave him was trash.Ughhhhh.I realized my nook was in there and started freaking out and started to cry because it was a thoughtful gift from my parents that meant a lot to me.My friend asked where the trash went so we could go through it to try to find it.He lead us downstairs to the trash. It was a compressor, but we thought it wouldn’t have gone yet.He opened it up, closed the door quickly and gave us an “uh-oh” look.He said that it was already compressed, and said “uh no more stuff, all broken.”The man helping us felt really bad and said he would reimburse me for it.He did not know what a nook was because they don’t have them there, so I called it my ipad to make it easier.After he said he would reimburse me I tried to explain that it was a nook, but he didn’t understand what I was saying and said that I should go to the Apple Store in the morning, buy an ipad, and bring the receipt back so they could reimburse me.After all this happened I couldn’t sleep, so I had another night with no sleep. :[
Day 5 (Tokyo): At 5 a.m. we headed back to the ship because my friend had a class field trip at 7a.m.Our great luck just kept coming.There was an accident on the train in front of ours so we were stuck on the tracks in the cart for an hour and a half.Needless to say, she missed her field trip.At this point we were all so exhausted and full of emotion that she started to cry, then we would laugh, then cry some more.Everyone looked at us like we were crazy.When we got back my friends went to bed for the rest of the day.I had to get the next train back to Tokyo to get the ipad.I spent my day dealing with all of that and got back to Yokohama in the afternoon, and slept for 18 hours that night.
Reflection: I learned more of a personal lesson during my time in this country.I love to plan ahead and pretty much none of this trip went as planned.I have learned throughout this trip, especially in this country, that sometimes you just need to go with the flow.I have a ways to go with being okay with this, but I have definitely gotten better with going with the flow during this trip.Sometimes it’s for the better, sometimes not, but everything happens for a reason in life!
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” -Miriam Beard
Day 1 (Hong Kong): I went to a market in the morning.We got there around 10am and it didn’t open until noon, so we just walked around and did some exploring before it opened.After the market I had a required trip for one of my classes.We went to a volunteer center that is run by the government.It had mostly college students who volunteer there, but some high schoolers as well.They talked to us about their organization.After that they took us to a lower class home and we got to talk with the family.It was a family of four and their whole home was the size of most people’s bedrooms back home.After that they took us to a market to try some traditional Hong Kong food.
Day 2 (Beijing): In the morning we made our way to the airport to go to Hong Kong to Beijing.After we landed I headed to Melissa’s (a friend from Minnesota) home in Beijing.It just so happen that her family from home was visiting her at the same time I was there.I already knew her some her family from church.So Melissa, her husband, family, friend and I went out to dinner to this awesome restaurant.There was a pot of oil in the middle of the table and you put the meats and vegetables in the pot to cook.After dinner we went out for some ice cream and walked around the area.It was so great to catch up with her and get her views of living in China.It was also great to see a familiar face and get a taste of Minnesota for a night :]After I left their apartment I went to a hotel to meet my group that I would be traveling with the next few days.
Day 3: In the morning we went to the Xiushui Silk Market, which has pretty much anything you could ever need.Lots of knockoffs, scarves, electronics, etc. We stopped at Subway for lunch.We were short a little money and a man behind us lent us some.While my friends were searching for an ATM to get money to pay him back, the guy and I started talking.He was from Texas and coached the Chinese Olympic basketball team.How cool, huh! After the market we had a 2 ½ hour bus ride to the Great Wall.When we arrived we hiked about 6 miles to watch the sunset at the Jinshanling section.After we hiked back down we had a traditional Chinese dinner at the base of the wall.We were supposed to sleep on the actual wall, but they just passed a law that people cannot sleep on it, so we slept in tents at the base of the wall.I thought I had escaped the cold during this trip. L It was around 20 degrees at night.We managed to make it a fun time nonetheless.We faced 4 of the tents towards each other in a circle and talked and played games.At midnight we had a cake for my friend Kelli’s birthday.After that we shivered ourselves to sleep.
Day 4: At 5am we (about 8 people out of 50) woke up to hike back up the wall to watch sunrise.It was so beautiful!After sunrise we went down to the base to have breakfast and then head back to Beijing.When we got to Beijing we went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.For lunch we went to Peking Duck…or had pecking duck, I’m still not sure if that was the name of the restaurant or what we had for lunch? After lunch we went to a drum tower and watched them perform.After that we got taken on a rickshaw ride around a traditional courtyard neighborhood.We stopped at a home to talk to a resident.He was a retired Kung Fu teacher.His teacher was the same as Jackie Chan’s teacher.He was such a cool guy to talk to!After that we went to a tea ceremony.Soooo good!!Then we headed back to the hotel and had our night free.Me and a few friends went searching for some tea to buy.After we got back we were going to have a birthday dinner for my friend Kelli.It was freezing out, so instead of going out to dinner we had Pizza Hut delivered and watched Mulan.It was actually a perfect night for her.She likes to lay low and said she had a great birthday night.
Day 5: In the morning we headed to the train station to ride the bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai.(I think the train is called the magnetic train or something in China and the bullet train in Japan, but it’s the same thing.) It was about a 6 hour ride going 300 km/h, so that took up pretty much my whole day.When we got back to the ship we dropped our stuff off and then went for a late dinner.
Day 6 (Shanghai): We took our time this morning planning out our time in Shanghai and talking to the ship doctor about what to do in Shanghai, so we didn’t get out until about noon.We first headed to the bund.The bund is an area that’s just really cool to see that’s by the water.It looked like their downtown area.We just walked around for a while and then headed to an underground market for the people who haven’t gotten souvenirs yet.After the market we ate a quick dinner and headed to an acrobat show.It was so cool! It’s crazy what they can do! (Mom, it was similar to the one we went to during Christmas, so you can kind of picture it.)They even did that thing where there is four guys on motorcycles in the round metal cage.SO cool to see! After that we went back to a hotel that my friends were staying at.I skyped my dad for his birthday on my friend’s computer.You can make a wifi hotspot on a mac so there was three of us using internet from one computer. When I was talking to my dad, we started talking about the Chinese government.As soon as I said the “C” word it disabled all of our internets.I just thought that was the craziest thing.Makes you appreciate our freedom of speech a little more!
Day 7: I had another field trip for one of my classes today.We went to two temples, the Jade Buddha temple and Longhua temple.I love going to temples, so I actually had a great time on this field trip.After it was done 3 girls and I signed out so we could explore the area we were in.We first went for a quick lunch. I wanted to go to an authentic place for my last meal in China.They put me in charge of choosing a place to eat.I chose somewhere that looked authentic, but also looked cleaner compared to most and hoped that they had some Western food for my friends.They did not.We had no idea what anything on the menu was.Luckily, there were some pictures so we just pointed to those and hoped for the best.I pointed to what I thought was chicken, but when it arrived I was presented with a plate of intestines.I tried one piece to make sure that’s what it was, and that was in fact what it was.Needless to say, it was in interesting last meal in China, but I’m glad I get to say I tried something weird during this trip now! After that lovely experience, we just explored the area before heading back to the ship.
Reflection: The culture I think is what hit me most during this trip.China has a long history and you can see its effects still today.Talking to many people and getting many different views about their history and culture, I have to say I am a lot more thankful for being from the states.We may have many flaws to us, but at least we are given a chance to change our flaws.Many of my thoughts about what I experienced this past week are still stewing in my head right now.Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time while in China, it’s just a very different atmosphere and way of life there.On a small level, one thing I am thankful for is not having to bargain for things at home.I understand the bargaining for knockoffs, clothes, etc. but I will be happy when I won’t have to bargain for an apple when I return home. :)
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sail.Explore. Dream. Discover.”–Mark Twain
