Vietnam

I saw more motorcycles in Ho Chi Minh than I've seen in my entire life!!

In a tunnel used in the Vietnam War

first night of the birthday celebrations in Ho Chi Minh city

the beautiful birthday cake Kristin & Amelia surprised me with!

Chao and all of us at my birthday dinner

the beach across the street from our hotel

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Kristin & I ready to start island-hopping!

an island in Nha Trang we stopped off at on my birthday, SO beautiful.

Vinpearl Land- a island off of Nha Trang with an amusement park, water park, and beach

we were literally the only people in the entire park all day!!

“The world begins to exist when the individual discovers it” - Carl Jung

Vietnam was definitely a favorite port of mine. It was a nice break from Thailand where I was in the city the entire time. The first day in Vietnam we hired a driver to take us to the Cu Chi Tunnels (an elaborate underground community used in the Vietnam War that was made up of 250km of tunnels and chambers below the city. The tunnels were incredible, and we learned lots of interesting things about the war from our guide. We were able to get inside and crawl through the tunnels –I couldn’t believe how tiny they were, and the one’s we saw were considered to be big! There were lots of American weapons and tanks still around that we got to see, it was pretty neat. The best part about the visit was I got to shoot an AK47 gun for ONE DOLLAR!! I think my ears are still ringing from the sound.

Later that day we walked around the city, which was gorgeous! It was SO clean and looked completely different from Thailand. That night is when my birthday celebration kicked off…and continued for the rest of the trip, haha; I think it was just our excuse to do fun things! All the girls went out to a nice restaurant for dinner and then went from one club to the next. It was a great time, a very fun city, and much more tasteful than Bangkok.

The next morning we had to be up early to go to the airport. We flew to a city called Nha Trang, Vietnams most famous beachside resort town, also known for holding the Miss Universe pageant last year. Nha Trang was absolutely breathtaking- the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen! We got a hotel across the street from the beach, and spent our first day soaking up the sun. We all got chairs on the beach and were asked by at least 5 people in the first 30 minutes if we wanted a massage, so of course I couldn’t resist so I got an hour massage on the beach for about 4 dollars, it was very relaxing. Once we left the beach we walked around the town; it was pretty small so everyone knew each other and it felt very homey. The streets were lined with restaurants and shops ranging from tailors to souvenir shops to food markets. Every corner had food stands where locals were preparing fresh foods, mmm!

That night we went out with some friends who met us there. There were three main bars that everyone went to all walking distance from each other so we basically just walked back and forth all night, with an occasional cyclo-driver to give us a lift! At midnight it was finally my birthday so it was only right to stay out a few more ours and ring in my new age haha.

The second day in Nha Trang, my birthday, we chartered a boat with 9 friends and went island hopping. It was by far my favorite thing we did. There was 17 islands in total and we went to about four or five, each one was so different! Our caption took us to two great snorkeling spots where I saw the most beautiful coral and fish. The water had such good visibility I didn’t even need to put my whole head underwater to be able to see everything. Kyle brought his underwater camera, so we were able to get tons of great pictures! We ended up at a resort island with what looked like a man-made beach, it was perfect! The water was completely clear and the sand was almost white! We pretty much spent the entire day hanging out there, which worked out nicely since we were the ONLY one’s at the beach! Such a good time!!

Later that night after everyone had showered and napped we went out to my birthday dinner where Kristin and Amelia surprised me and had the restaurant workers sing happy birthday to me, and then brought out a HUGE cake, and flowers! It was a nice surprise because I was feeling pretty homesick being away from my family for the first time on my birthday. They made my day really special. Our dinner was great, especially because out waitress was a crazy Vietnamese woman named Chao who stood at the end of our table the entire time singing us songs she knew in English; it was absolutely HILAROUS. I’m pretty sure she made up half of them, but her favorite was “one, two, three, four, five, siiiiix, seven.” “one, two, three.” “one, two, three.” “one, two, three, four, five, siiiiix, seven.” She was quite a character, but very happy and full of life, her songs never got old! We then again went to all the same three bars as the night before.

On our last day in Nha Trang, we took a cable car to an island called Vinpearl Land, pretty much the weirdest thing ever. I later found out that it was created by a Vietnamese billionaire who used it as a way to get rid of his money before he died. Vinpearl Land consists of beaches, an amusement park, and water park. Everything was included in the 5-dollar fee to take the cable car to the island. It was a beautiful place, and we had the entire island to ourselves, it was bizarre. The workers would literally turn on a ride just for the five of us. The water park and beach were a lot of fun, but we didn’t want to spend our entire day there so we went back to have lunch and a mini spa day. We went to a really nice spa called Suspa and had one-hour aromatherapy massages, 10 X better than the one I got in Thailand! Afterwards we made our way to this hole-in-the-wall salon where we went every night we were there to get our hair done. Since none of us had any converters for blow dryers and straighters; we were able to pay THREE USD to get our hair shampooed and styled, so we took FULL advantage!

We flew back to Ho Chi Minh City on the last day so we had another chance to see the city side of Vietnam before setting sail. We went out to lunch at a pho restaurant, Pho 24, since it’s one of the most popular Vietnamese foods, it was great! We then headed to the market which was similar to Thailand; lots of knock-off handbags, and souvenirs. All the boys went crazy getting suits made and buying fake nike’s, but I didn’t find much.

Vietnam didn’t go by as quickly as the other ports have. It literally felt like a spring break, it was very relaxing and fun. I get to China tomorrow night; this trip is going faster than ever!! It’s hard to believe I’m fitting class in! More than half way home now!

Dolphins & Cocktails in the Bahamas!

After months of planning, days of packing, and hours of flying, Kristin and I are finally in the Bahamas!! Last night we walked around our hotels many attractions, we played some slots in the casino, went to all the aquariums, and got to bed early. We spent our Sunday soaking up the sun on the gorgeous beach, riding water slides, and drinking cocktails out of coconuts! Tonight were planning on meeting up with everyone from Semester at Sea and leaving the resort for dinner, so hopefully we'll meet some people before we board the ship tomorrow morning, CAN'T WAIT!!!

London (Part II)

So maybe staying out until 430am wasnt the best idea, but we figured we only live once, and we werent planning on going out any other night while we were there so we went for it! The next morning we woke up around 10 and got on the bus outside our hostel and headed to the Westminster area. We stumbled into the Westminster Catherdral right as mass was beginning (I had forgot it was even Sunday). We ended up staying for the 1.5 hour (Latin) mass, and both of us really enjoyed it! The choir was amazing, and the church was incredible! After mass we walked around Westminster and saw Westminster Abby, Big Ben, the London Eye, as well as many other sites. We snapped lots and lots of pictures even though we werent quite sure why most of them were famous at this point. After a couple hours our lack of sleep began to sink in and we went into a pub for lunch, which was again decent, but nothing too special. After we headed back around to where our hostel was to grad a sweater and check our email. We then went over to the Covent Garden and Soho areas to see what was around. We found out not much was going on Sunday night so we ended up having dinner and heading back. The next morning we woke up early and got on the Big Bus Tours red bus where we were able to hop on and off the 26 stops as we wanted. Here we learned all about the sites we were unsure about the previous day. Our tour also included a boat tour of the Thames River where we were able to get a close up look at The London Bridge and London Eye. We got off at the Tower of London stop and went on the tour there. Inside the Tower of London we saw the royal jewels, WOW, I never thought I would see a 500+ karat diamond! GORGEOUS and HUGE!! haha a girl can dream! After the tower came our favorite stop, TEA! We had both been wanting to go for "English Tea" since arriving in England, and we finally did. We looked up a place online the day before called Beas of Bloomsbury in the Soho area and we made a reservation. So we sat with a cupcake, scone, and cup of tea on the rainy Monday afternoon and people watched! That night we wanted to get to bed early and be ready for our trip to Italy in the morning so we headed back to Bayswater for dinner. Since getting into Bayswater we had been asking every shop owner (Indian) we saw of a good Indian place to eat and also about "Kahn" (reccomended by Uncle Tim), and had no luck! That night after looking at a few places and not being too excited by the menus, we tried one last night and he knew of Kahn!!! We were SO excited. Once we got there we knew we were at the right place, it was packed! It was AMAZING!!! I could have eaten it everynight. love love loved it! Thanks Uncle Tim!!
The next morning was yet another adventure....the tubes went on STRIKE!!!!! We were depending on the tube to get the the Stansted airport which was a good 1.5-2 hrs away to make our 11am flight. Everyone else was also depending on the tube to get to work.....so after deciding against paying the 75£ for a taxi we attempted the bus! After about five bus23 went past us without stopping because they were so full we finally got on one around 7am and stood with our HUUUUGE backpacks for over two hours to get to Liverpool street and switch to an above the ground train. We FINALLY got there ( I was worried!) literally 10 minutes before the Stansted Express left at 930. We got to the airport just in time and were the last ones to board the flight, but we made it!!! OFF TO PISA, ITALY! WHOO

Kahn- dinner last night in London

having tea @ Beas of Bloomsbury

"royal jewels"

London Bridge

Westminster Abby

fish & chips

one of our many interesting meals

London ( Part I)

(right off the plane and ready to go!) I left for London last Friday from San Francisco and had a surprisingly great flight. I flew Virgin Atlantic and was upgraded to buisness class by flashing some smiles at the airport!! After boarding the plane and having dinner, I put on my complementry socks, sleepmask, and blankets, and fell fast asleep until morning when crossiants were being offered for breakfast! WHAT AN EASY FLIGHT. After getting off the plane, I ran into Haley at the airport immediately and we were off to the tube to head into the city! We got Oyster cards and filled them with £20 which was reccomended for a 3-4 visit. After switching lines in the middle we arrived at Bayswater station around the corner from our hostel. We quickly checked in and set out to explore! We were told we had to go to Portobella Market if we were arriving on a Saturday so thats where we headed first. The streets were filled with venders and people of every kind. We spotted Hummingbird Bakery after a few blocks and although there was a line out the door and into the street, we knew we had to stop! (My cousin Kate raved about their red velvet cupcakes!) we got a carrot cake and a red velvet to split, WOW!!! We continued walking around for a couple more hours. We had lunch from a street vender, and then went to Hyde Park to walk around. After stopping at our hostel to grab sweaters we went to look for a place to eat.We checked out at least six menus before finding something that sounded good....was not a huge fan of the food in London. We ate at a pub nearby (we split green beans, tomato basil soup, and a pita thing, haha quite an array)and then split a bottle of wine and drank it on the bars terrace overlooking Bayswater. We met some people who told us we should go to the Soho area to find any nightlife, so we rushed home to change....which ended up being quite a challenge. We were staying in a 8 person female dorm...however, the other 6 girls were much older and aparently not as excited about going out on a Friday night in London. Trying not to disturb anyone, we got ready in the 4 X 5 bathroom! pretty funny. We made it to the tube station right before midnight when it closed and headed out to Ministry of Sound; apparently one of the top clubs in Europe. We didnt find it too special, but had a really fun time, and stayed out until about 4:30am...which I think is a first for me. Im not a night person! Hummingbird Bakery first night in London- Ministry of Sound