Vietnam!

Hey Everyone!!!

Vietnam is absolutely amazing. Its such an amazing city!!! I spent the first day exploring the town a little bit and some shops. I also went to a tailor to get a completely custom dress made!! We went to the Vietnam house restaurant which was really awesome. One thing about the way vietnam dining works is they usually do family style dining and just bring out a plate and share it with the people at your table.

The next day we went to Halong bay. I almost didnt get to get on the plane becuase the girls mom who bought my ticket was already through security and i didnt have her credit card information so i almost couldnt get on but they just let me go after 45 minutes of arguing. The plane was HUGE. I havent ever been on a plane that big in my entire life!! We arrived in Hanoi and then took a 3 hour bus ride to Halong bay. When we got there we got on our "junk" boat which is just a big boat that just hangs out in the bay and drives to some places where you can sleep and eat. Ours was really really nice. We enjoyed some lunch and then went to some caves which were really cool. That night we had karaoke night and just had a lot of fun together.

The next day we transferred over to our boat to go to our bungalow on our private beach. This island was really beautiful and we got to eat some lunch then head out on a kayak ride. For those of you who dont know what halong bay is, basically it is just a beautiful bay (even though the entire time i was there it was completely foggy and so hard to see anything at all and it was really cold out) but there are huge rocks that were formed. Google it, me explaining wont do it justice. We just spent the night hanging out on the island with everyone.
The next day we left and headed back for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Which everyone likes it better if you call it Saigon. When we got back we went out to dinner at a sushi restaurant. I even had a whole piece of sushi and it was delicious. I have no idea what kind it was but it was soooo good!!!!!! We then went to get my dress fitted, thank god i went because it was HUGE on me.

Today we spent the day just roaming around the city and shopping and such. I got my dress back and it fits nice. Im excited. It was completely custom tailored and only 50 dollars which is not bad in all actuality.

I had a lot of fun in Vietnam. I had a lot more that i wish i could have done. If i was able to spend one more day here or be only in Halong for 1 day instead of 3. I had such a great time though. I really recommend coming to Vietnam. We met so many cool people here and its just a great place!!!!

CHINA HERE I COMEEE!!! I am so excited for it i have a huge trip planned so i cant wait!!!!

Also, i cant remember if i said anything about this in my last email but we are obviously not going to Japan any more. We are now going to Taiwan which is really cool. I cant wait. As of tomorrow only 1 month until i am done. So crazy. I am really excited to see everyone from home though!!!
Love and miss you all!

Hey Everyone,

So I will just let you know about Mauritius first. I literally just laid on the beach all day. It was really relaxing. Mauritius is a beautiful island I would love to go back to!

 

Now onto India:

 

India was jammmmm packed with adventures!

The first day was spent on a trip to a rehabilitation center for victims of natural disasters and people who are extremely poor. They allow them to live there for 250 rupees a month, which is about 6 bucks in the US and they teach them how to make their own money, and live on their own and be a good citizen. It was pretty cool to see but it was also really sad to see because it was so terrible to look at. After we went to the welcome reception where we got floral necklaces around us. (By the way, I literally felt like I was in Hawaii because everywhere I went I got a handmade fresh floral necklace with all types of flowers.) At the reception I got some henna done and ate traditional food and watched a performance and also got to buy an wear a sari it was really cool. I had so much fun there. I didn't go to bed until about 1 AM because we were having so much fun at the welcome reception we just stayed for a little longer.

 

The next morning I had to wake up at 3 am to go on my Taj Mahal trip. We took a flight to Delhi and looked around there for a little while which was cool and then went to take our train to Agra and it ended up being delayed so we just took a bus instead which took about 6 hours to get there which kind of sucked. When we got there we got to our AMAZING hotel. My roommate and I upgraded to a king size room for free because they didn't have enough doubles for us so whoever in the group was willing to upgrade got to and our room ended up being a suite. Legit suite. It had a dining room, a living room, flat screens and touch screen remotes, a automatic massage chair which was so freaking amazing. We had an amazing bathroom with a party shower and a tub and it was so big. The bed was also probably one of the most comfortable beds I had ever laid in my entire life.

 

The next morning we got up at 545 when we didn't go to sleep until almost 230. (another night with no sleep) and went and saw the Taj at sunrise. It was so beautiful. words cant describe the taj. It was breathtaking. After we had some breakfast then went and viewed the deserted city and saw this palace almost thing. I don't remember the name exactly because it was really crazy and long but it was soooo cool. It was huge and went on forever. you would walk through one building and it would keep going. it was all outside too and then there would be random rooms to walk through and we just kept going it was really cool. After that we got some lunch and then went to the Agra fort which was kind of cool, not as cool as the taj and the palace we went to. Finally we went and saw the Taj again at sunset which was really exciting. After we took a train to Delhi where weirdly I sat across from a girl who went on semester at sea in 2007 and is living in Mumbai right now. How crazy right? That night we got to the hotel which was also another amazing hotel, but no suites. and I got on my first rickshaw which was really fun and then came back and hung out with all the kids on the trip and other trips because there ended up being 3 trips all at the same hotel which was really fun.

 

The next morning we got up and viewed some temples and saw some cool things. it wasn't all that exciting what we did really. Just temples of different kinds and saw some monuments. I had no pictures from this day because we weren't even allowed to take any at the temples so there was no point. That night we took the flight back to Chennai and didn't get back on the ship until almost 2 o'clock. FYI: Indian flights are amazing. They aren't even international or really long flights and very chair has a TV, and realllly comfortable seating and every time you are on the plane you get a meal. not peanuts. it was really cool. and on the TV they had like TV shows and tons of music and stuff. It was really cool.

 

I skipped my service visit the next morning because I didn't get back until 2 and had to get up at 545 when each night on my trip I was only getting 3 hours of sleep a night so I just skipped it. I felt bad but I heard it was terrible when everyone came back because all he kids had lice so they couldn't even interact with them. Thank goodness I didn't go. I caught up on some sleep and then went shopping which was fun and I got a lot of stuff. That night we ended up going out which was really fun at this club at a hotel. I had such an amazing time that night because since I never go out I actually got to meet a lot of people that ive never met before on the ship.

 

The last day I also spent shopping because there was nothing to see in Chennai. I am so glad I did my taj trip instead of staying in Chennai. I wish I did a bigger trip but I am so happy I just got to see what I wanted to see.

 

India is so cool with the culture experiences I had and everything. However, one day while I was leaving the taj mahal I saw a little boy get beat by an adult with a stick. There were always children trying to sell you stuff and I don't know what happened but I watched the adult hit the kid in the face and kick him in the leg and I was so upset and he was just sitting on the ground crying and when I got on the bus the man came back and swung at the child with a stick and smashed it on his shin and the poor boy was bleeding from his leg and his mouth. I have never seen anything like that and I was SO distraught. I couldn't believe that someone would do something like that. I was so sick to my stomach and was crying because I couldn't do anything. that is the culture in India and there was nothing I could do. There were so many other Indians around just laughing while this was all happening just watching in a circle and ugh I just cant even think about it because it makes me so upset.

Besides his fact all the colors and the way women are embodied in India was so amazing. the only way I would ever live in India is if I could just wear a sari everyday and wear a bindi. which I did all the time haha.

 

Today we had Neptune day which is just a day to celebrate crossing the equator which we were supposed to have had a while ago but they had to postpone it. I got fish guts dumped on my head and I kissed a fish. it was so gross but cool. A ton of people shaved their heads today which is a tradition and its donated to locks of love. SO many girls shaved their heads too. it was crazyyyy! I couldn't imagine going back home with no hair, power to all the girls who did it.

 

On to Singapore next. Ill update you soon! Love and miss everyone!