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Guatemala

I did a Spanish Immersion home stay in Guatemala and really had a great time. We only had 3 days there but we tried to make the most of our time. The first day we arrived in Puerto Quetzal and drove straight to Antigua, which is 1.5 hours away. There were only 8 people total in my home stay group, which was nice because we got to know each other quickly in just a few days. Antigua is a very small town and you can walk through the entire thing in about 15 minutes. It reminded me of Mexico but the people were more traditional and the streets a little less dirty. Many people wore traditional clothing and the women carried baskets on their heads and babies in slings across their chest. We arrived at our host's house and Amparo and Lily welcomed us. Amparo is a 60 year old woman who has been hosting visitors to Antigua for 30 years and has many pictures and written thank you's to show for it. Lily is one of her daughters who is about 25 and helps her Mom cook and clean when they have guests. Many people come to Guatemala to learn Spanish and so Amparo hosts many people for multiple months at a time. There was an American guy there who was studying Spanish and volunteering with children who had been there for about 3 months already. Amparo doesn't really speak any English at all so we were all forced to practice our Spanish at the house. She prepared lunch for us, which was very good and then we explored the Parque Central for some shopping and delicious dessert/coffee. I got the dessert called Tres Leches, which my Mom introduced me to at home and it was really cool to see it on most of the menus in Guatemala. We also booked a volcano tour for the next day, which is a very popular thing to do in Antigua. That night we enjoyed another homemade dinner and went out to a salsa bar. I really enjoyed watching the people dance salsa, mostly because they were very good and it looked like so much fun. It made me want to learn it back home.

The next morning we had to be at our Spanish school at 8 am for 4 hours of class. Each person had their own teacher and got to speak one on one with them. It was difficult because I really didn't remember as much as I thought I did but I definitely got refreshed after 2 days of class. After lunch, we headed up to el Volcan de Pacaya or the Pacaya volcano. The drive was long and cramped in a van and going up the hill, I realized that there were many people living all the way up the volcano. It was a very poor community and there were many children selling things and animals that were very malnourished. The children sold walking sticks for less than $1 and then collected them when the tourists came back down, which I thought was a pretty good business of recycling. They also sold marshmallows, which were to roast on the lava at the top of the volcano. We began our hike, which was about 2 hours and was more strenuous than I had expected. Of course they had horses following behind us in case anyone gave up and were charging a hefty price for the "taxi natural." Another good business idea. The only thing was the horses all looked like they were about to collapse because they were skin and bones and one actually did collapse while someone was riding it. It was really sad to see this and the owners did not treat them well at all to top it off. There were also many dogs around who were also skin and bones, begging for food and freezing. As we got closer to the top, the ground we were walking on got darker and darker. This was all of course lava that was getting fresher as we got closer. Near the top, the ground turned into sand and then large rocks made of lava, which were very unstable and sharp. Many people fell and were bleeding quite a lot but I escaped with only a scratch on my wrist. We could see flowing lava from pretty far away but I didn't realize how close we were going to get. I ended up standing right next to a flowing river of lava and it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It was unbelievably hot and difficult to take pictures because you felt like your face was about to melt off. I did get some great pictures though and even got to roast and enjoy a delicious marshmallow over flowing lava. We spent a lot of time just in awe of what we were seeing and by this time it was starting to get dark. Then a lightning/thunder storm began and I saw more lightning than I have ever seen in my entire life. It was striking about every 5 seconds for over an hour all the way down the mountain. The hike down was a little scary because it was pitch black and the trail was not exactly clear or flat. We had to be very careful not to trip and everyone fell at least a few times. It was cool when the lighting struck and lit up the entire forest though. We made it down and were all completely starving. After freshening up we went to a Guatemalan restaurant that our host's recommended. It was a great meal and we were all very content afterwards. The next day we had class again from 8-12 pm and then only had a few hours left before catching the bus back to the port. We walked around some more just enjoying what were really our last few hours in any port.

It started to hit everyone that this was the last port on our list of 13 countries. We stood in line to get on the ship for the last time and now we are officially headed home. It's pretty hard to believe what I have just done and don't really have time to think about it because the next 5 days are filled with things to do. I have to study, take finals, transit the Panama Canal on Sunday, enjoy the Ambassador's Ball, attend the entire ship reflection day, work on my slideshow, pack, attend convocation, and say goodbye to my life and friends from the past 4 months. I just can't believe I am going to be home in 5 days! I am really excited to come home but sad to leave this wonderful life of traveling the world. I know coming on Semester at Sea is the best decision I have and will ever make in my lifetime. I already want to come back as a lifelong learner when I'm older!

I just know this is going to be a part of me for the rest of my life and have only my parents to thank for giving me this opportunity.

So,THANK YOU MOM AND DAD FOR GIVING ME THE WORLD.

I appreciate it more than I can possibly explain and can't imagine my life without this experience. It has made me a better person and given me a perspective on life and the rest of the world that we live in. Thank you, thank you, thank you, an infinite number of times.

I am going to miss this life but I also miss the people I love at home and can't wait to see all of you so very soon!

Hawaii

It was weird in a good way to be back in the United States. Everything felt a little strange like seeing store names that I recognized, using American dollars, everyone speaking English, and everything seemed so expensive! I think it was good that we stopped there for 2 days to sort of ease us back into American life.

The main event while I was there was skydiving! I had planned this in December and was so excited to finally do it. The first day, the winds weren’t blowing the right direction so I had to reschedule it for the next morning. When I finally got to go, I had pretty much prepared myself and was actually quite calm riding in the plane up to 14,000 feet. The plane was quite tiny and barely fit 12 people squished together. I had a harness that attached to another person who was basically responsible for everything, so I didn’t have to worry too much about anything. As I got to the edge of the plane, it finally hit me but I only had about 5 seconds to think about it before I was free falling at 120 miles an hour for an entire minute! It was the most exhilarating thing I have ever done and the scenery couldn’t have been better. I could see the entire north shore of Oahu and it was really beautiful. After free falling, the parachute was pulled and we got to float down for about 5 minutes just enjoying the view. I purchased a video and pictures, which are pretty hilarious/embarrassing. It was only 2 days ago, but it really feels like a dream. The rest of the time I spent on the beach in Waikiki and purchasing normal foods at the grocery store, which was very exciting.

Guatemala is next and I can’t believe it is the last port. I will be doing a Spanish immersion home stay for the entire 3 days we are there and I am excited to brush up on my Spanish. I’ll be home 2 weeks from today, see you soon!

Japan

I enjoyed Japan very, very much. The ship docked in Kobe and 3 of my friends and I went straight to the train station to get to Kyoto. It was difficult at first to figure out the trains but once we got the hang of it, it was a piece of cake. We got to Kyoto and checked into our ryokan, a Japanese style inn. This is the traditional type of Japanese room where you eat and sleep on the floor. In the day time, the room is set up with a table and used as a living room. Then before bed, they rearrange it into beds on the floor for sleeping. We were lucky enough to be in Japan during the very short period every year when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. Kyoto was absolutely beautiful because the streets were lined with white and pink cherry blossom trees. We spent most of our two days there walking around and enjoying the scenery. We went to a temple that was surrounded by mountains and we got to walk all around with a wonderful view of the city at sunset. The next day we went to a place called “Philosopher’s walk,” which is basically this very long street covered in cherry blossoms that you can walk down for hours. There were lots of little shops and many Japanese people picnicking along the way. I also got to try cherry blossom ice cream, which was quite delicious. Then we went to a food market, where they had lots of different things from sushi to candy to fruit and everything was unbelievably fresh. I had some of the best strawberries I’ve had in a long time there. We spent lots of time there trying the foods and seeing some crazy things that I would never consider eating. Next we went to a life size Zen rock garden and walked around the park with some more beautiful scenery. That night we decided to do karaoke, which is a very popular thing to do in Japan. We rented a room to ourselves, which is the norm, and spent two hours singing lots of our favorite songs and we had a great time.

After two nights in Kyoto, it was time to move on to Tokyo. We just barely made the bullet train and made it to Tokyo in about 2 hours. The train ride was pretty cool considering we were going about 300 mph and it barely felt like we were moving at all. It was dizzying to look out the window though and see everything flying by so fast. We also passed Mt. Fuji on the way, which had lots of snow on the top and was quite a sight. Tokyo was pretty much the opposite of what we left in Kyoto. It is a huge city as I’m sure you know, with lots of skyscrapers, lights and people everywhere. We spent our two days there visiting many of the different districts that are famous for an array of things. The first night we went to see a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome. Baseball is a huge deal in Japan so it was fun to experience the crazy fans. They really make it feel like you’re at an American baseball game and we got hot dogs and beer to get the full experience.  The next day we woke up bright and early around 4:30 am to go see the world famous Tsajiki fish market. They claim that the freshest and best sushi comes from this market. Every morning all of the fishermen bring all their freshly caught fish to the market where the sushi chefs come to bargain for the fish they will use that day in their restaurants. It was quite an experience to see hundreds of live fish getting killed right in front of our eyes and prepared for purchase. There were also some really large fish that had to be cut with really large knives (probably 5 feet long) as well as electric saws. The thing to do after the market is to go eat some fresh sushi right outside and so that’s what we did at 6 in the morning. After a little nap, we made our way to the Harajuku district, which is famous for the crazy Japanese fashion trends. We spent some time walking around and seeing some very interesting outfits and hairstyles. Next, we went to the Akihabara district, which is famous for its electronics and is actually called “Electric Town.” “The area houses thousands of shops selling every technological gadget you can imagine, from computers to gaming consoles and vacuums to DVDs, at reasonable prices. This area is also known as the "Gamer's Mecca" and has in recent times become strongly identified with anime/manga (cartoon) subculture, with the legions of otaku geeks traipsing down on weekends known as Akiba-kei” (Wikipedia). The next stop was the Shinjuku district where we got to go up to the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building and got a spectacular view of Tokyo at nighttime with all of the buildings lit up and fireworks to top it off. The last day, we went to the Shibuya district, famous for its fashionable shopping district. We didn’t have much time but we did some last minute shopping and saw some more crazy styles of clothing as well as. I also saw the biggest intersection I have ever seen called the “5 way scramble crossing.” We literally had to race back to Yokohama to be on time for the ship, so we unfortunately didn’t get to see that city at all.

Japan felt like being in an Asian version of the United States but more technologically advanced and the nicest people in the world. I was always amused by how almost everything we did, we used some sort of technology to do it. I was also constantly amazed by how unbelievably nice the Japanese people were. They were always willing to help us even when they couldn’t understand us. In one instance, two people turned around in the opposite direction they were going and walked us about three blocks to show us the place we were looking for. Another time, we were just standing on the corner looking confused and some women came up and asked if we needed some help finding something. These acts of kindness were things that don’t normally happen in the United States and it was really refreshing to see genuinely nice people everywhere, especially after dealing with the Chinese people. Looking back on my trip, if I was going to live in any of the countries I’ve been to for a period of time, it would probably be Japan or South Africa.

We have been on the ship for nine days now since Japan and I will be back in the USA tomorrow! Of course I’m talking about Hawaii and we will only be there for two days but it’s kind of a tease for when I actually come home in 18 days.

Hong Kong/Beijing/Shanghai, China

Hong Kong

As soon as we pulled into the port in Hong Kong, I felt like I was in New York City. The amount of skyscrapers there is pretty amazing. The view from our ship was probably one of the best views in the city because we could see Hong Kong Island from across this water. I only spent one day there but I felt like that was enough to get the gist of what the city was like. It was basically tall building after tall building with lots of high fashion stores (which were also highly expensive) and many upscale hotels and restaurants. I spent the day just walking around the city, which was pretty much all there was to do with the little amount of time we had. Every night at 8 pm in Hong Kong they have a light show in which all of the buildings along the waterfront participate. We got to watch it right from the ship and it wasn’t as cool as I thought it would be but just all the city lights being light up was a pretty cool sight and made for some great pictures. After that we went out for some Cantonese food, which was pretty good once we found things that looked appetizing on the menu. They offered many different types of animals/animal parts like frogs, turtles, chicken or duck feet, goose livers, brains and much more. We just happened to be there on the night of the Rugby finals, which is equivalent to the Super Bowl or World Series. We went out to a famous street called Lan Kwai Fong and it was packed with all of the rugby fans from all over the world celebrating and having a good time. People were dressed up like it was Halloween and doing funny stuff, which made it that much more entertaining.

Beijing

The next morning, I departed for my 4 day trip in Beijing with a group of 50 people from SAS. Most of the students did a trip to Beijing but ours was different because we did an exchange with the University of International Business and Economics. The flight to Beijing was 3 hours and by the time we got to the hotel it was dinner time. The weather was a nice change because for the past month it has been about 100 degrees everywhere we went, so the cold (about 50 degrees) was very refreshing. We went out to a nice Chinese restaurant and had lots of different foods including Peking duck, which is a famous dish there. The food was all pretty good but also very fried and greasy. Then we went to the university to meet with the students in their Union. Even though I was in China, being on a college campus really made me feel at home because it just felt normal, which was a nice feeling.  Many students showed up to meet with us and made us feel very welcome. All of them spoke pretty good English and they were asking many questions about America and what we like to do. They were pretty much just like any other college student, except maybe more focused on school and not at all on partying.

The next day was filled with sightseeing. First we stopped at the Grand Theatre, which Wikipedia does a better job of describing than me. “Colloquially described as The Egg, the Grand Theatre is an opera house in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The Centre is an ellipsoid dome of titanium and glass surrounded by an artificial lake.” It was pretty impressive but we just walked by it and moved on to the next stop. We went to Tiananmen Square and it felt weird to be in a place I had learned about in school over the years where a massacre occurred. It was very obvious that our tour guide didn’t really want to talk about it in that regard and from what I gather from other people, most of the Chinese people didn’t even seem to know much about it. The communist government censors a lot of what the people learn in school and the Tiananmen Square massacre is definitely on the taboo list. Throughout the trip, I noticed more and more how our tour guide wouldn’t really answer our questions about certain things that might have been embarrassing or bad about Chinese culture. Someone asked him why many of the males seemed to keep their pinky fingernails longer than all of the other ones and he was flustered by the question and told us he just forgot to cut them and then said he used it to scratch his head. People noticed the men doing this in Vietnam and Thailand as well and learned that it was a sign of being in the upper class and having long nails proved you didn’t have to do manual labor because they would break otherwise. We assumed this was also the reason in China but he obviously didn’t want to admit that. Another thing everyone noticed was that all of the children from about ages 1-5 had the back of their pants cut open and their butts were showing. This was obviously very weird to see and made me curious about why that was. When we asked him about this, he basically just tried to say he didn’t know and change the subject. We realized later that having the kids pants open made it easy to let them squat in a trash can or the side of the road to go to the bathroom (I’ll keep my opinions on that to myself). This was one of the signs of Communism that I blatantly experienced. It was apparent that the people were afraid to talk about taboo subjects because they are told by the government they aren’t allowed to. Some of the tour guides actually admitted that they knew about the Tiananmen Square massacre but that he wasn’t allowed to talk about it or he could be arrested. We also visited Mao Zedong’s tomb, which is in Tiananmen Square, who “is officially held in high regard in China where he is known as a great revolutionary, political strategist, and military mastermind who defeated Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese Civil War, and then through his policies transformed the country into a major world power” (Wikipedia). It was a very formal procedure to get let in to see the tomb. We had to go through an x-ray machine, couldn’t bring any cameras inside, and then stood in a line that was being watched over by government officials. Everyone was completely silent as we walked through the building and were rushed out quickly by the security. It was very commonplace to see government officials walking around everywhere we went. We were told by SAS to watch what you say, especially about politics, because the government is watching and you can get in trouble for that. They censor the internet and every media source for things that the government thinks is inappropriate or would make the Chinese people think badly of their country. It was obvious in the newspaper when every article was something good about China or something bad about another country. The people are pretty ignorant of what is going on in their own country because everything is so regulated. Across the street from Tiananmen Square is the Forbidden City, which was built over 15 years for the Emperor during the Ming Dynasty starting in 1406. It then served as the emperor’s home for over 5 centuries. I would say it was quite a gigantic and impressive palace/home. The name refers to the fact that no one could enter or leave the city without the emperor’s permission. There were many, many buildings that all looked very similar but were beautifully painted with lots of vibrant colors. Then we went to a park that I forgot the name of but we walked up a lot of stairs to the top, where there was an unbelievable view of Beijing. Next, we went to the Temple of Heaven, which was built by the same emperor as the Forbidden City. It was very pretty and also had a nice view of Beijing but by this point I was a little “templed out.”  We then went to one of the famous markets in Beijing called the Pearl Market. This is basically an indoor market with hundreds of vendors that are all pretty much selling the same thing. They pretty much have everything you could ever want from fake Nike shoes to pearls. Of course it is all up for bargaining and these markets are basically tourist traps where they multiply their prices by 50. It was fun but annoying after a while to hassle with them because they are literally mean to you by the end. Once they realize that you aren’t going to pay a ridiculous amount, they start pinching, pushing and hitting you with calculators. I definitely got the hang of it and ended up getting some great bargains over the next few days at the different markets. Later that night we went to see a Chinese acrobatic show, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I saw some of the most unbelievable things I have ever seen humans do. It was a mixture of gymnastics, balancing, strength, contortion, and concentration. It is hard to explain but I’ll just give one example. Two groups of three men stood on top of each other to make 3 story towers and then a fourth one got on top and did a back flip from one human tower to the other. It was unbelievable! There were many more things like this that literally made my jaw drop. After that we got a little break from Chinese food and went to a Korean BBQ restaurant, which I really enjoyed and want to eat when I get back home.

The third day was one I had been looking forward to since before Semester at Sea began. We finally went to the Great Wall and it was definitely one of the highlights of my entire 2.5 month trip so far. I felt like it was the pinnacle of the trip that is now coming to an end very quickly. We climbed up a LOT of stairs to the top and I was quite winded by the time we got there. It was a crazy feeling to be standing on one of the seven wonders of the world. We spent a lot of time taking tons of pictures and just walking along the wall. The view was incredible and it was so cool to see the wall continue very far away on other mountains. Then we got to take a toboggan down the entire way on a slide, which was so much fun! The rest of the day we just had lunch and went to another market for some more bargaining action. That night the University students had dinner with us at our hotel and so we got to spend some more time interacting with them, which was interesting. I connected with one girl pretty well and she got my e-mail and I hope to keep in touch with her.

The last day in Beijing we visited the Summer Palace, which is right on the water with a wonderful view. “The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value.” (Wiki) After spending some time there, we got on a boat that took us across the water and gave us the best view of the palace up on top of the hill. Next was another exciting part of the trip, which was going to see the 2008 Olympic venues. We got to see the “Bird’s Nest,” which was very impressive both inside and out. It was a cool feeling to be there so soon after the Olympic Games when a lot of history was made. We also saw the “Water Cube,” which really lived up to its name and some of the other venues that were used. It was apparent that Beijing did a lot of work to clean up the city and build these massive stadiums as well as hotels just for the Games. The sad part is that it doesn’t seem like they have any use for the buildings now and the area was pretty deserted except for tourists. We then went to yet another market before we headed for the airport to fly to Shanghai. The next day I went to the Shanghai Zoo for my Anthropology class and got to see some pandas and lots of other animals. It was cool because the zoo was pretty dead and so you didn’t have to fight for time to see the animals. I just remember when we went to see the baby panda at the San Diego Zoo and had about 30 seconds to look at it before we were pushed out. After the zoo, I got to see Shanghai a little bit and it was a much louder and bigger city than Beijing was.

I enjoyed seeing China as a country but I was kind of disappointed in the people there because they just weren’t very nice. They were very aggressive and always pushing you and trying to get ahead of you in line, which just seemed rude because I’m not used to that in the U.S. Many people would just stand and stare at you for no apparent reason and didn’t seem to care at all. At the zoo, many Chinese people were throwing things at the animals and taunting them, which made me kind of angry. On another note, their hygiene was quite different than ours it seemed. A lot of people smoked cigarettes and would hawk and spit all over the place even when they weren’t smoking. At dinner, everyone just picks food off of the main plate with their chopsticks as it goes around the lazy Susan and they really don’t use their plates at all. The bathrooms are a whole other story because they don’t use toilets, but holes in the ground and no toilet paper. That took some getting used to but it just felt dirty and not very pleasant every time.  Most people besides the students didn’t want to have anything to do with us and had no interest in helping us try to get around. The taxis would just pass us by because they didn’t want to deal with us. I’m guessing that them not liking us has to do with our history with them and the major differences in governments, values and lifestyles. It was an interesting experience but the people kind of turned me off from their country. I thought it was pretty amazing how different Hong Kong and mainland China were even though they are both part of the People’s Republic of China. Hong Kong runs under a completely different system of course but it was like two different worlds. I am now excited to go to Japan where the people are supposed to be exceedingly nice and helpful and of course for the sushi!

Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, Vietnam

I was surprised at how modernized and touristy Ho Chi Minh City was. The city center was full of tall buildings, hotels, malls and nice restaurants. Semester at Sea offered a shuttle bus for us from the port to the Rex Hotel every 30 minutes, which was extremely convenient and nice because we did not have to deal with taxi drivers. The Rex Hotel is very famous because it was the site of the daily news briefings during the Vietnam War and the rooftop bar was a popular hangout for military officials. The first day I did an all day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, which is a very large network of underground tunnels over 200 km long used by the Viet Cong in the war. We actually got to go in the tunnels and even though they have been enlarged to accommodate tourists, they were very small and claustrophobic. It was amazing to think that many Vietnamese soldiers lived down in these tunnels making weapons, traps and fighting the Americans for long periods of time. There were 3 stories of tunnels underground and they had small holes at the top so that the soldiers could get some fresh air. We got to see a bunch of the different traps and weapons that they used, which were quite scary. The traps were camouflaged with the ground and a person would fall in and land on about 50 metal spikes. There was also an opportunity for us to shoot AK-47’s and other guns that were actually used in the war given to the Vietnamese by America. I did not participate in this but the noise was unbelievably loud and unpleasant, I could not imagine hearing that constantly for many years during a war. We also visited a Viet Cong War memorial, which had thousands of tombs and many were very young teenagers who were war heroes. We also went to a local market where there were lots of different fruits and meats for sale, including fish that were still flopping around in little pans.

The next day I spent at the Me Kong Delta, which “is a very rich and lush area, covered with rice fields. It produces about half of the total of Vietnam's agricultural output, and is the place for timeless sceneries of farmers planting or harvesting rice” (Wikitravel.org). We drove about 2 hours to get there and then got into a boat to cross a large river. We then got to try a bunch of tropical fruits, many that I had never even heard of before but were pretty good. Next, we got into tiny little canoes that were rowed by local Vietnamese people and went through small canals that were very beautiful with a green tree covering above us. We stopped at a place where they made coconut candies by hand and got to try it and buy some. Even though I don’t usually like coconut flavoring, these were delicious because you could taste the fresh coconut flavor. We also tried some lime and honey tea, which was also very good. Then we went on to have a very traditional Vietnamese lunch where they brought out a big fish that looked like it had just been taken out of the water and immediately fried. It was quite shocking when the waitress came over and just started cutting the fish open, pulling chunks of meat off and serving it to us in rice paper with some noodles and basil. I tried it and it wasn’t that bad but I don’t usually eat fish and I couldn’t stop thinking about the practically live fish on the table. Most of the other food we had I did enjoy although it was mostly weird looking seafood. The waitress came out with some shrimps that still had all of its body parts on it and I didn’t even know that that’s what shrimp looked like until then. She just ripped off all the parts and then served them to us and they were pretty good.

The third day I finally got to eat some Vietnamese pho (pronounced fuhh), which I enjoy at home a lot and really wanted to try the authentic version. Pho is basically just a Vietnamese style chicken noodle soup with lime juice, basil, onions and other sauces you can choose to put into it. It tasted basically the same as I have had in America and was very delicious.  I then proceeded to the War Remnants Museum, which everyone said was something you had to do. It was half outdoor and half indoor, so the first thing you see when you walk through the gates are a bunch of U.S. army tanks, bombs and airplanes. An Asian man asked my friend and I to take a picture with him in front of one of the tanks, so I’m not sure what he was trying to represent by that picture but hopefully it’s not a bad thing! There were 3 large rooms full of pictures from the war and each room had somewhat of a different theme.  The first one was more or a timeline of war with the French and then with the Americans and it had many photos and quotes to help tell the story. The next room was dedicated to the 134 war reporters/photographers who were killed during the war and it showcased hundreds of their photos, and many were very famous that most of you have probably seen. The third room was by far the hardest to look at because it contained hundreds of pictures of war crimes, the effects of Agent Orange and napalm, and many innocent people who were injured or killed. Most of them were extremely gruesome and showed the awful deformities caused by Agent Orange. There were also many not so nice quotes from U.S. generals or the president that were put there to make a point. At the very end of the hall of pictures was the quote from the Declaration of Independence stating, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Putting this quote there was obviously to make a point and it definitely did. It made it even harder to understand why all of these horrible things were done to the Vietnamese people. It is already hard to understand the war because I was not alive when it happened. The statistics are very astounding, that 3 million Vietnamese people were killed (2 million of which were civilians) and because of that 2/3 of the population today is under the age of 30. One other thing that I noticed was that many of the fighting pictures were taken in the Me Kong Delta, which I had just been to so it was weird to think that I was canoeing through a place where many Americans and Vietnamese died just 35 years ago. Going to the museum was definitely a very memorable experience for me and I’m very glad I went.
The last two days I spent just enjoying Ho Chi Minh City. I walked around the city a lot, shopped at the markets, and enjoyed good Vietnamese food. I also went to visit this place that taught uneducated teenage girls how to embroider so that they would have a skill to make money. There were about 75 girls there when we went and we were told that they work 8 hours a day and they sold their embroideries right there. They were very beautiful products and I would assume that they also sold them to vendors and the proceeds would go directly to the girls. There is so much more to see in Vietnam so the next time I go, I would want to go up North to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, which are supposed to be really cool and beautiful places. We will be arriving in Hong Kong tomorrow morning and I will only spend one day there and then fly to Beijing for 4 days, which I am very excited about. The next time I send a blog, I will have seen the Great Wall!