China!!

Where do I begin… Let’s just say it was all that expected and more! The trip that I took was the best thing ever. We saw so much and I was able to experience China for all that it is worth. The first day Natalie, Abby, Alisa, Austin, Mem, Tyler, Buddy, and I rolled out of the ship and started our adventure in Shanghai. We had three things to do that day. First one was to exchange cash, then food, and lastly hit the town and bargain for goods. We accomplished all three in a reasonable time. The bank was the easiest because it was near the ship, then we hit up the hot pot restaurant, which was bomb, and went to town on that food. Lol. From there we went to “The Bund” which is the big shopping area/street in Shanghai. Got myself a few t-shirts at a reasonable price, ate some street food (which was delicious) and made our way around the city and wound up catching a taxi (and when I say taxi, I mean motorized rickshaw) to Tao Bao, which was this five story shopping mall which had everything imaginable. I used my bartering skills to bring the prices down on a few hot items I wanted. Not going to lie, but it was a pretty successful day.
The next day is where all the fun begins. I begin my journey waking up early to get ready to leave for the airport to Xian. There were roughly 90 students and some Life Long Learners, so we split up into three different groups and I was placed in Group A, in which I dubbed Group Awesome because it was true. Once we landed we headed to our first stop, which was Calligraphy. We learned about the history of Chinese paintings and drawings and then got to do a little calligraphy myself. I must say that I am now a master at the art form which is called calligraphy. Haha. After that we checked into our hotel, was able to unpack and relax a little bit before heading off to dinner. I was super pumped for this because we were going to be getting our Dim sum on at De Fa Chang restaurant. Pretty much it was an epic meal. We started off with appetizers and then ‘they’ came. Soooo many different types I cannot even begin to describe to you. I was on cloud 9. They literally served us twenty different types and I had them all and then ‘sum’. My favorite was the spicy chicken dim sum, and the best part was that not many people liked it so I took there’s and went to town on those. I easily had 30 pieces of dim sum and could have had more :D soooooo good.  From there Gaby Cabanillas, Jose Higuera, Jeremy Laufer and I left the group to do our own thing. We made our way around the city just fine, walking, talking and having a grand ole time. We walked off our food and made our way over the Xian City Wall, chilled out there and then made our way back to the hotel.
Today was going to be a long, but exciting day. Our first stop was the Xian City Wall, and this time we got to go into it. When I got there all I did was take in the sights from the wall (which was pretty sweet because I got see a vast amount of Xian from the top of the tower), hung out with the same group as last night and took lots pictures and just chilled (literally and figuratively haha).From there we took a short bus ride to the Great Mosque and Old Bazaar. We got to see some Chinese/Muslim people whom I think were pretty cool and were able to observe them having a gathering, and this was no small gathering, this was a good 800 Chinese/Muslim in a courtyard. Then from there we walked and shopped at the Old Bazaar. It was pretty cool, but Gaby and I did a little more exploring away from the group and walked down a food market street, now that was a sight to see. Food lined up and down each side of the street as well as in the middle, anything you could think of as food they had it. Next we took a nice long bus ride to the crème de la crème of the day… Terra Cotta Warriors! So pretty much it was epic. The place caught me off guard; I knew there were a lot of warriors there but I did not expect it to be that vast. I learned a little more about them and got to see the farmer who found them 30 some years ago. It was ‘ah’ inspiring to say the least. After viewing the Terra Cotta Warriors we went to the Xian Orphanage, it was a little depressing to see the kids there because they were there because their parents or one of them is in prison for something they did. But they did bring a smile to my face because they were adorable, they put on a little show for us and they did a superb job showcasing their talent. After leaving the orphanage we went to the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show. This was awesome, had a 5 course meal and then a traditional Tang Dynasty show. Sooo sick. Had dinner with Gaby, Jose, Tyler, Ali, and Nick; best table every! Haha. Went back to the hotel and fell asleep to the Olympics.
Now today was going to be the relaxation day. All that was on our itinerary was get up, have breakfast, fly to Beijing, check into our hotel and have the rest of the night to ourselves. So after lunch (which was bomb.com) Gaby, Jeremy, Jose, Tyler and I went out to explore Beijing. We hit up the Food Market/Street, which was packed beyond all recognition, but nevertheless awesome. First thing we did when we got there was try some scorpion! Not going to lie, it was quite delicious :D and walked around the street and took it all in. It was to say a nice relaxing day. We went back to the hotel and kick it there for the night.
We woke up early this morning to get a good start on the day. Our first stop was Tian’an Men Square and Forbidden City. Both of these places were HUGE. Hung out Gaby and Jose for the day and had a blast. I took some sick pictures of the Square as well as the City. Now I will have you know that the Forbidden City just kept on going and going and going. This place was so vast; words cannot even begin to describe it. All in all it was an experience of awesomeness, haha. After leaving the Forbidden City we made our way to a local family’s house and had a home cooked meal and made our own dumplings and the way we got to the house was by Trishaw Ride. After we had our delicious home cooked meal we made our way the Beijing 2008 Olympic Village. Ok… so this place caught me off guard. I did not realize it at first but once my eyes focused on the Birds Nest, my face just lit up with something I cannot really even describe with words. After the world wind experience of the Birds Nest we made our way to dinner. Now this was no ordinary dinner this was the Tangyuan Restaurant with Beijing Duck Dinner. Sooooo good. Ate so much but it was so delicious, yuuuuummm.
Today was the day I/we were all waiting for… The Great Wall. But first we stopped by Beijing International Kongfu School. The students there put on a show for us (which was awesome) and then they taught us a few Wushu moves. I was but a young grasshopper when I enter and when I left that place I became a master…. The bus ride between the two places I got to play DJ on the bus, which was awesome and it made the bus ride go by faster because we all wanted to get to the Wall. Alright back to the real awesomeness of the day, the Great Wall. It turns out it was just an OK Wall… Phych!!! This was awesome. We took a cable car up to the top of Mutianyu Great Wall and saw some amazing scenery. The pictures that I took of the Great Wall do not do this place justice one bit. We had two hours to walk the wall and I easily took 70 pictures of this place. Though they may look the same, they are not. After our little walk on the Great Wall we took a toboggan down; which was awesome except for the fact that we had some slowpokes in front of us, so instead of flying down, we were stop and go the entire time. This was an experience of a lifetime. After taking in the Great Wall we made our way to an Acrobatic show. The show in itself was pretty sweet, had some death defying acts and kept us on the edge of our seats. So this was a good ending for the night.
The morning was a little rough for all of us because we all had to get up at 0345 to transfer to the airport and head to Hong Kong. The flight over I slept the entire way which was nice to say the least. We got back to the ship around 1300. By 1430 Jeremy, Tyler and I hit the city of Hong Kong. We went to the Electronic Street, Sports Street, Goldfish Street, Flower Street, and Temple Street Night Market. All of these streets were lined up from floor to ceiling with goods and items to buy. We came back to the ship and had dinner at the mall right next to the ship. We went to BLT Steakhouse and had probably the most delicious burger ever. I got the Tex-Mex burger; this guy had Spicy Jack cheese, chili, salsa, avocado, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle. I destroyed that burger and the fries. Sooo gooood. From there we saw the light show on Hong Kong Island and made our way up to Victoria’s Peak. This Peak was breath taking because you were able to see a vast majority of Hong Kong and the sky line. It was awesome to say the least. From there we made our way back to the ship and relaxed for the rest of the night.
The last day was another day of relaxation because I hit the proverbial wall of tired. So I just chilled in the mall, which was connected ship, caught up with some friends and family and had a delicious Milkshake from BLT Steakhouse. That night I said xie xie to China for the amazing experiences I had there and it will be missed.
All in all China was breath taking and freaking sweet. I had a blast with my friends and got to see all that was China. Now we on our way to Vietnam, we will be there in a day or so. More updates to come. The pictures below are of China and I believe they will give you a great insight as to what I saw and experienced. It is just like last time start from the last picture and goes up from there because that is the order of my adventures.

Japan!!

Where do I begin… Basically it was epic!!!  I saw so many different Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines, walked the streets of many cities and towns.
First day we were in Yokohama and we did a city tour of the place. We hit up the Sankeien Garden. It was very cool to saw the least, very peaceful and saw how Japanese lived back in the day. From there we went to the Sky Garden, which is the tallest building in Yokohama. Was able to see Mount Fuji out in the distance, which was pretty sweet, we also got to see a panoramic view of the entire city. From there we checked into our hotel in Tokyo and then went out into the town. Couple of my friends and I hit up this traditional Japanese cuisine, they took us into this back room and we sat around this table, took off our shoes and we cooked our own food. Sooo good. We then got onto a train to Ropongi, which is the night life scene in Tokyo. Walked around the town and around midnight we walked into this club called Muse and got my break-dance on. Haha.
The next day got up and made our way throughout Tokyo. Our first stop we went to the Imperial Palace Plaza. My friend Austin Mccasland and I did some handstands in front of the place and when we did that a plethora of school students cheered us on to do it again, so we did and it was awesome.  Then we hit up this tempura place, had some shrimp, fish, and veggies, bomb.com. We then headed out to Akihabara (city of lights) and signed out from the group and started on my independent travel with my group of friends. The group was five strong and they were Aly, Alisa, Katie, Chad and me. So stoked to do this, it was way better than staying on the ship the day in transit. We walked around the city for awhile and then made our way to Shibuya (much like the big apple). It had the busiest intersection and in Japan and some bomb sites to see. When we got there we were in need of sushi, so I walked up to a businessman and asked him where to find some good sushi. He started to think of a good place and started talking with some of his friends and they said to follow them. So we did and they hooked us up! It was a little hole in the wall standing sushi bar. I had fourteen pieces of sushi ranging from tuna, octopus, squid, and some random white fish. I went to town on those pieces, haha, had ginger and green tea with it and it made my night. We then continued on our exploration of Shibuya and got some Krispy Kream and could not find a seat anywhere, so we hit the mall for some tables, but there were none… so we decided to sit down in a corner and chow down on the doughnuts, but then we got kicked out of our corner, but the nice thing was we were done with them so we just pieced it. We walked around some more and split ways and made our way to Shinjuku to find our capsule hotel. That was an adventure in itself, but we eventually found it.
The next morning we met up with the girls in Osaka to do a day adventure there. The only problem was that it was raining… but we made it an adventure, which pretty sweet. From there we took a train to Kobe and hit up an internet café for the night. This place was legit, accommodations were sweet, free vending machine drinks, and shushes (green Fanta was delicious). From there we found another little restaurant right next to the internet café. The food was so good, hand fun time with the friends, lots of laughter and great stories.
Woke up the next morning and headed to the ship, got onto the bus for my daytrip to Kyoto. On the bus only recognized a handful of people, but was going to make the best of it. We hit many Shines and Temples; they were all very nostalgic, majestic and freaking sweet. We went to the Golden Pavilion, Nijo Castle, Meji Temple, Garden of Heian Jingu Shrine, Kyoto Johu Shrine, and Kiyomizu Temple. Took lots of pictures and took in the culture, it was very peaceful and calming. Did a little shopping as well, got myself some ninja shoes, head bandana which said ‘Bonsai,’ some sweat shorts that said ‘samurai’ and a kimono, haha. Came back to the ship and hit the town of Kobe for the night with a group of friends, we rolled deep with ten, lol.
The next day (the last day  in Japan) went out to Kobe and just walked around the main shopping streets by myself. Had a blast, just got immersed with everything around me, had a smile on my face the whole time. Sampled so sweets and had some bomb green tea as well. Bought a sweet jacket that is very trendy in Japan, big, fluffy, sick looking color and cozy; got some great reviews from my friends and people on the streets.
So all in all Japan was AWESOME! Great times with friends and got to do what I set out to do. Now we are on our way to China, we will be there in a day or so, which is freaking sweet and weird at the same time.
More updates to come. The pictures below are from Japan, start from the last picture and go up from there because that is the order of my adventures.

My Game Plan for Japan:

Alright so I have been on this ship for 12 days. Everyone is getting stir crazy and itching for some land time. This past week a lot of things have been going on. We had to deviate from our correct course to Japan because there was a volcanic eruption a few earthquakes near Japan and the weather in general. We were able to bypass the epicenter of these events, but in doing so we got hit by the aftermath of them. We hit some pretty big swells and got the ship a rocking. I was having a blast with it, though for some got sick from it. Eating our meals I think was an experience in itself. Getting from the counter to the table required some skilled walking as well as some skills of a ninja (in the sense that we had to be good on our feet) so that we would not lose it and have a sad day… Then while eating the food we had to keep a watchful eye on the horizon to see when the swells were going to hit us. The drinks and the plates were playing a delicate balance between life and death (i.e. being eaten and falling to the floor).  Also the balance of the rest of the students was hilarious to watch as well. After I had dinner, I went to go and hang out with some friends at another table. As we were talking, we got hit by a rogue wave that caught everyone by surprise, including me and came so fast that I had no time to react and in brief amount of time… I was on the floor. Needless to say I was fine, though I was laughing my ass off because of it and well as the surrounding area of people who witnessed my fall.

Sorry about that… went off on a tangent. Back to the real story at hand; we are almost to JAPAN!!! So excited to say the least… I am doing a Yokohama/Tokyo overnight stay. Going to be seeing a lot of cool things (see description below), then signing out before we head back and then tour the city on our own with a group of friends. From there we are going to do a little more site seeing (i.e. Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, and Akihabara). Then at night I am sleeping in a capsule hotel, that’s right I said it CAPSULE HOTEL. hahaha. Soooo stoked about that.  Then wake up and catch a train to Osaka, and do the tourist thing there. From their catch a train to Kobe at night and find an internet café and crash there for the night. Wake up in the morning and catch my tour to Kyoto for a day trip and then kick it in Kobe for that night and the next day. So pretty much it is going to be an epic and I am excited to see Japan a place where I have been wanting to go to for a while now :D

Pictures to come when I get a chance!

A Little Update from the MV Explorer

So pretty much I had a blast in Hilo and Honolulu. I got to spend the entire time with my Aunt and Uncle. We had some pretty sweet adventures to say the least. In Hilo we went to the Hawaii Volcano National Park and got to see Kilauea Caldera. It was breath taking, the view of the valley was amazing, throughout the valley we could see little steam pockets, which I think it pretty sweet. We also went up the observatory and got a closer look and the Volcano. Sad day though, because there was no lava flowing that day we went, but nonetheless, it was freakin' sweet. After that we headed towards Kona, which was one the opposite side of the island. It was a nice and relaxing drive, lots of switchbacks and hills that put me to sleep for a while. We finally got to our final resting place at the Fairmont Hotel in Kona. This place was sick, had an amazing view of the ocean. I was really excited about that because we had been sailing on the Pacific Ocean for a week and was never able to go in it, but now I was able to feel the sand between my toes and the water splashing on my legs, I knew I hit paradise :D. Later that night we ate some bomb sushi, had a little sake and had a delicious desert. The next morning we a buffet made for kings, anything you could think of, they had. I was just excited to have some Hawaiian pineapple and POG juice. After that, we hit the beach one more time and headed back to the ship in the afternoon.

Honolulu was the next port of call. I went to Pearl Harbor and saw the Arizona and got a little more background as to what happened that day. Breath taking views, and the wall of names lost that day was huge. It was really interesting to see all the names on the wall and their rank. After that, my aunt and uncle picked me up and we went on another adventure. We drove around the island, got shaved ice with ice cream inside it (sooo good). We hit up the famous North Shore and saw the wave crashing and a surfer or two out there. We then proceeded around the rest of the island. The mountain ranges and the hill sides we awesome, the sun was on the other side and was peaking its ways over the ridge (cannot even begin to tell you how sick it looked). Got to the hotel in Waikiki and again the view was amazing. Once we got settled, we got dressed up and went to dinner with some family friends who were in town. Had a blast with them, they are so lively and fun to be around. The next day, my aunt and I went out for a little walk about. She showed me all the hotels and places of Waikiki and I am not going to lie, it was not too shabby. After breakfast (consisting of many cinnamon rolls and more POG juice) we packed up and drove me back to the ship. Also to they got me a kick ass 'Ukulele. I have been practicing daily (my goal is to play 'Over the Rainbow' by IZ, so stoked!).

Alright, so now we are on our way to Japan. We have 12 days at sea. I am not going to lie, I am excited to say the least. It has been nice because we gain an extra hour of sleep though out this little sail to Japan, as well as lose an entire day because we are passing the International Date Line. So I have been thinking about this whole concept of losing a day, and I have come up with a couple of theories: 1- since we are losing a day, what does that mean for us? Are we trapped in limbo, not dead or alive? Or 2- is it time travel? I do not know per say, this is just what was going through my head, it may be far out there, but that is just me. Lol

Once I get closer to Japan I will post another entry to let you guys know what happened with everything and what I will be doing once we touch land in Japan.