Travel Letters

Dear lovely reader, Welcome to Hong Kong!! Hong Kong was just a whirlwind for me seeing that I had just another 2 days to spend. But I especially loved the port where our ship home docked. Day 1 of Hong Kong: We docked in Kowloon, peninsula to the north of Hong Kong Island. We took Star Ferry to the other side of Hong Kong Island to venture further inside. I didn’t know what to expect from Hong Kong. I’ve noticed that Hong Kong is a mixture of many personalities and influences, in contrast to Shanghai, Mainland China. It is very contemporary, being a former British colony. You can see the English influence with having a good number of locals speak both English and Cantonese Chinese. The first thing I saw was tall skyscrapers. We were walking through what it seemed like one business district. But Hong Kong Island is a very industrialized and urbanized country. Transportation in Hong Kong is a lot more orderly than transportation in Shanghai. There’s not as many motorbike gla...

Dear lovely reader, Welcome to my findings of Shanghai, China.  I spent only two days in mainland China – more like one and a half. I wish I had more days to spend in Shanghai, but I can never forget what I did in a country, no matter if time is working against me. You learn to appreciate every day that I am on the ship, and even more every day I am on land. I found out how much different China is compared to Japan. And different neither good nor bad way – just different. Once again, I felt that tingling fresh port feeling again. We represent such a small population when we enter all these countries. I think I’m finally getting better at explaining that tingling fresh port feeling. To immerse yourself in a country, sink into the hearts of the country with the locals, it is so surreal. Weather in Shanghai was a lot like weather in Kobe – nippy enough to wear your winter jacket. Shanghai will be the last port we will experience such cold weather. Day 1 of Shanghai: Almost...

Dear lovely reader, Greetings everyone! Welcome to my fourth and last series blog of Japan, now in the beautiful port of Kobe. The time in Kobe was mostly spent wandering – following wherever our eyes and noses were caught. As I was walking around, I spent most of my time reflecting on the past few days in Japan, admiring both the locals and the places. The truth is, the best memories within the heart are made with the times you interact and talk with people. This truth is just as powerful, if not more, when you are travelling. Sometimes when you're traveling, you get so caught up in taking pictures of the inanimate – the buildings, skylines, lights – that you forget to see the people. The photos in this blog will be mostly of the people of Japan. The pride they show in their country shows when they offer you directions, offer you tea, set a bowl of ramen in front of you, receives your yen with both hands, smile at you. Japan and its people are truly gifts to one another...

Dear lovely reader, This will be my third series blog of beautiful Japan: Kyoto. Kyoto carries a reputation as Japan’s most beautiful city. However with any highly populated city, urban sprawl continues to expand, which isn’t per se a bad thing. It’s just more of a challenge to get to one place to another. The vibe is a lot calmer in Kyoto and so is the transportation too. I think finding our way around with bus stops and subway stations was a little more difficult than it was in Tokyo. But that doesn’t depreciate the awe and richness Kyoto has in its temples and shrines. I left off my last blog stepping foot onto the Willer Overnight Bus from Tokyo to Kyoto. 10 hours later, we made it safe and sound. Still heavily sleepy, we got off when the sunlight hadn’t broken out yet. You could see we were dazed and groggy to say the least. But an easy cure to morning sleepiness is a good breakfast, which is exactly what we had as we saw fellow voyagers dine in all in one resta...

Dear lovely reader, Our second day of Japan was our second day in Yokohama Port. But the exciting thing was that Cassie, Angela, Rachel, Abby, and I were travelling 'over land' instead of 'on ship' to Tokyo. This meant that it was our responsibility to get to meet our MV Explorer in Kobe Port. So our plan was that we would travel from Yokohama -> Tokyo -> Kyoto -> Kobe. Four cities in five days seemed pretty crazy, challenging, but so much fun. And it really was J . Day 1 of Tokyo (Backpacking): When we walked outside Yokohama Port terminal, our job was to book our overnight hosts. You'd think we'd have that done by the time we arrived on land. But planning for foreign countries could be so last minute on Semester at Sea. Sometimes you can have no plans at all. You really just have to have a gut feeling of what you want to get out of a certain country and how much you want to budget for that country. And whatever floats, just go f...

Dear lovely reader, Kon'nichiwa from Yokohama, Japan!! WE MADE IT!!! :D Our very first international port greeted us with the sun and the nippy weather of 45 degrees, on the morning of Sunday, January 27th. After 9 very long and very rough days at sea, we arrived in this beautiful country, safely and soundly. Before I arrived here, I think I had an idea of what Japan could be like, just because I’m an anime and manga fan-girl at heart. But it’s so much more than what pop culture gives it. And hopefully through this blog, you lovely reader, can see it too. Throughout my four days and three nights in Japan, I will create posts for each city I explored with open eyes: Yokohama, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Kobe. Bridget, Angela, and I had no field labs and no field programs on the first day. So we roamed around the city of Yokohama with no real destination. But Yokohama is a city where walking is most commonly used as transportation. It’s pretty refreshing to see how far you can go wit...