Academics:
International Studies
Tina F.
Semester At Sea
Journal #5
September 26, 2003
Hello Everyone!
Well, Hong Kong and Beijing were amazing! I spent the first day in Hong Kong where we just walked around and explored the city. We went to an antique market, and on a boat ride through a boat village. That night we went to some restaurant we found on the street, and then did some shopping at the night market. You could find anything and everything there; Purses, watches, souvenirs, everything for very, very cheap. You could bargain a lot and get almost everything for under 5 American dollars. It was great. DVDs ran for about a dollar a piece, but they aren't the best quality. It was great.
The next day we left at 0600 hrs. to fly to Beijing. Once we were there, we visited the Summer Palace. We had lunch, and then went to the hotel to freshen up. We then went out for a Peking duck dinner. I think I ate every single part of the duck; some of it was quite interesting. Then we went back to the hotel for some drinks.
The next day we visited Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City in the morning, which was really cool. We had lunch, and then went to the Lama Temple in the afternoon. The cool thing about this temple was that it had the largest Buddha ever made out of one piece of wood. Then, that evening we went to a Chinese acrobat show which was so amazing!
The last day was saved for The Great Wall of China. We spent the entire morning there, and I can't even describe what it was like. It was beautiful. It was a hard hike too, which I wasn't ready for. We also rode the toboggan down to the bottom, it was so much fun!
Then in the afternoon we went to the Temple of Heaven and an indoor market where we got some nice souvenirs. That night we went to The Hard Rock Café for dinner, then to bar street for some fun. We definitely had some fun, getting up at 0600 hrs. the next day to fly back to Hong Kong was a pretty hard task!
China was very interesting, and there are some things we noticed that are different about it because it is a communist country. We tried to ask our tour guides about how they felt about the government and they would refuse to talk to us about it. There were guards everywhere, we saw two guards in the airport carrying machine guns.
There were quite a lot of people on the streets trying to sell us things like Mao watches, books, lighters, etc. These people were very aggressive and frustrating at times.
I did find that the Chinese people were much friendlier than the Japanese people. We were always asked to take pictures with people, especially the blonde girls, and they were always very excited to talk to us. Yet, it also seemed like they were always in a hurry, and personal space is not an issue with them. For instance, in a crowded area, if they see you trying to get through to a certain place, they won't move for you. Also, if they are trying to get through they will just push you out of the way. I know this is just part of their culture, but it was frustrating at times.
Anyway, we flew back to Hong Kong on the last day, and departed at 2200 hrs. I know this journal entry doesn't have too many details, but I just can't explain how incredible this trip was. Everything is so amazing and wonderful that words just won't do it justice. But, I did include a picture of me; this one is for all of you that made this trip possible. Especially you Dad!
Well, we only have two days until we hit Vietnam, and I have a lot to get done (another reason this isn't the most detailed journal entry). I hope everything is well, and I will write again when we depart Vietnam and are headed toward Thailand! Bye!
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