11/24/11 Thanksgiving Day in Hilo, Hawaii

I was on-call today, so I got up early to provide the early morning in-port clinic. Upon arriving at the clinic I found Dr. Sloane and one of the students already there. The student was experiencing severe abdominal pain and Dr. Sloane had already called the ambulance to take him to the hospital in Hilo. Since I was on-call, it meant that I would be accompanying the student to the emergency room that day instead of hanging out on the beach with my family. Since we only had one day to spend in Hawaii, I was more than a little disappointed.  I decided that feeling sorry for myself all day didn't sound like much fun and told myself that this would be a grand adventure in which I got the opportunity to help someone in need.

After getting to the ER, getting the patient settled and the testing started, I got a chance to call one of my friends from back home since our cell phones work in this country. I also got to text friends and check email. It was great! I'd forgotten how much I love my iPhone, since I haven't been able to use it much at all over the last 3 months. My patient was sleeping peacefully in morphine-induced la-la land, so I asked the nurses if there was a place I could get a cup of coffee while I waited for something to happen. One of the ER docs and 2 of the nurses quickly decided I needed to go explore the island rather than sit in the ER all day. They promised to call me right away once they knew something about my patient and then provided me with a list of places I should go and things I should see. Then one of the nurses handed me her car keys and insisted that I use her jeep for the day!!! I tried to protest, but she (Cindy) marched me out to her yellow jeep and sent me on my way. I could not believe it! I called Jeff, picked up him and the boys from the beach, and we all went to a lunch of greasy American food (burgers, fries, onion rings, and the best Mahi Mahi sandwich I've ever had). Then we found a Safeway full of food we recognized (for a change) and stocked up on snacks for our second Pacific Ocean crossing. Upon seeing the macaroni and cheese aisle, Reade exclaimed, "I'm so happy I could cry!" I dropped Jeff, the boys and the snacks back at the ship, and stopped for a quick look at Rainbow Falls (BEAUTIFUL) on my way back to the hospital. I thanked Cindy with a full gas tank and a box of chocolates, and checked in on my patient, who was just receiving the news that all his tests had come back negative and that his pain had not been caused by anything serious. After getting back to the ship, my family and I went for a walk down the coast before I had to be back on the ship for afternoon clinic. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of nurse Cindy, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day that I will never forget. The world is full of amazing people, and for that I am very thankful.

11/23/11

Today has been a wonderful day. We docked in Honolulu for about 6 hours to get fuel. Even though the powers that be didn't let us get off the ship, the scenery was wonderful and the collective mood was giddy because we knew we only have to wait a few more hours until we can get off in Hilo, Hawaii tomorrow morning. We will only be in Hilo for a day, and it's more of a mental health break than anything. We hope to stock up on snacks for the next leg of our journey across the Pacific Ocean and spend some time at the beach. I'm on call at this port, so I can't go too far away from the ship.

I have a feeling that large numbers of students skipped class today. It is a gorgeous, sunny, warm day, and most of the shipboard community seems to be up here on the pool deck sunning themselves, playing in the pool, or playing ping-pong. A few of the more studious kids look like they are trying to do something productive. I have to leave in a few minutes to go work our afternoon clinic, but after that we will be served a Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room. I found out yesterday that our dependent care coordinator, Kristin Hanna, is Daryl Hannah's sister (yes, of "Splash" fame). We've been invited to a birthday party for Kristin tonight which means birthday cake :). After that party I will teach my Baha'i' Class, and will then end the day with our cultural and logistical pre-port lecture for Hawaii. There is never a dull moment, although some moments are better than others (see my 11/19/11 post). 

I got the chance to talk to my parents and both sisters today because I can use my cell phone here without having to take out another mortgage on the house. It's so fun to hear their voices and know that it won't be long before I get to see them again. I'm hoping to catch up with some friends tomorrow.  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I hope it's a wonderful day.

11/19/11 November 19th, (the first) 2011

As we circumnavigate the globe on the MV. Explorer, we turn our clocks ahead and lose an hour of sleep 24 times in these almost 4 months. That means that at some point we've lost a whole day and need to gain it back. That point is now.  So, tomorrow will be November 19th again. Weird, huh?

Today is a low point of this journey for me. The seas are rough, I'm seasick, and we're in the middle of a very long stretch of nothing but ocean. I did not get seasick on my first SAS journey in 1988, so did not really understand what it meant. For me it means nausea, fatigue, headaches, decreased appetite, and bad mood. Doing most anything but sleeping or eating saltine crackers seems to make it worse. I survived my work in the clinic this morning and then went back to sleep for the rest of the morning. The medications for seasickness do help, but they make me more fatigued and zombie-like.

I guess if you never feel bad, you can't appreciate how wonderful it is to feel good.

11/15/11 Japan

We are just about to set sail from the port of Yokohama, to begin our long journey across the Pacific Ocean. We spent our final 2 days here, after 1 day in transit on the ship, and our first 2 days in the port of Kobe.  Over the last 5 days, I've developed very conflicted feelings about Japan:

1) Japan is amazing!  It is clean, safe, efficient and very modern. The food is wonderful, and you can find any type of cuisine your taste buds desire. The people are incredibly nice and helpful. If you hold up a map, someone will quickly show up and ask if they can help you. There seems to be zero animosity towards Americans, despite the fact that we decimated huge numbers of their people with our bombs not all that long ago. There is no reason to own a car here. Of the countries I have visited, the public transportation in Japan is unrivaled. If you tried to use the excuse of getting caught in a traffic jam to explain your lateness, you would get laughed out of the room. The parks and monuments are beautiful and well-maintained. And then there are the toilets! I think our best belly-laughs in Japan came after using the bidets and directional sprayers strategically located to clean any part of your bum you would like cleaned. There were also "powerful deodorizer" buttons and seat-warmer buttons. Someone please tell me why we don't use these in the USA?!

2) Japan is oppressive. Things are SOOOO expensive in Japan! A small cup of Starbucks coffee that costs $1.60 in the USA, costs about 320 Yen (~ $4.00) in Japan. A $15 Mac brand lipstick in the USA costs $37 in Japan.  We spent $20 on four soft-serve ice cream cones. In general, clothing and food is two-to-three times more costly in Japan than in the USA. We tried to be frugal in Japan, eating only one meal per day off the ship, and doing very little traveling. We still spent much more money than we have spent anywhere else, and for the first time, have nothing to show for it. Japan seems to be one big megalopolis, with each densely populated city running into the next. There are so many buildings and people that it is hard to see the sky. Conformity is valued, and people try to look alike. The business suit industry must do very well here, as that seems to be the uniform for working men. The young men all look totally hip in cool jeans and fancy shoes. The young women wear tights, tall boots, and short skirts or shorts. They can walk miles and miles in very high heels. I could maybe last one block in some of the heels they were wearing before my feet disintegrated or I broke an ankle. The school-age kids wear matching uniforms. There is almost no ethnic diversity in Japan and almost no immigration to Japan. If you are born in Japan but one parent is not Japanese, you are not considered to be Japanese. You may not maintain dual citizenship in Japan and another country; you must choose one or the other. Japan has such a low birth rate currently, that soon they aren't going to have enough young people to support the elderly. We've dealt with that problem in the USA by allowing lots of immigration. Since Japan really doesn't want immigrants, they're finding themselves in a bit of a pickle. In sharp contrast to the rest of the world, the Japanese are actually trying to provide incentives for their women to have more children, but their best efforts are not working very well. The women have discovered that is is very difficult to have a career and children, so are giving up the children. It will be fascinating to see what happens there over the next few decades.

My favorite experience in Japan was the day I traveled from Kobe to the Osaka Castle. I went by myself because I was on-call and could not go as far from the ship as Jeff and the kids were going to be on their pre-scheduled trip to see some wild monkeys. When I got off the train in Osaka, I walked past a beautiful, peaceful, wooded area and towards a hill. As I approached the hill, I got to a huge, tall, stone wall. This wall turned out to be the outer side of a wide moat, which I crossed by bridge. Then there was another huge stone wall encasing another moat, which I again crossed by bridge. On top of the hill was an amazing 16th century castle surrounded by many old out-buildings.  Inside the castle was a museum chronicling the history ot the castle.  I just loved it and it really got my imagination going.

My grandfather (Donald) just loved the Japanese, and tried to spend as much time there as possible. Although I can certainly see the draw, Japan will likely not make it on my list of places to revisit anytime soon, at least not before I make my first million.

11/8/11 China

China is a country on the move!  I was amazed by how quickly it has developed since I was there 23 years ago. Granted, I only had the opportunity to visit the cities of Hong Kong and Shanghai on this trip, but the changes were immense.  One big difference was that in 1988, Hong Kong had not yet returned to being part of China, and was (and still is) much more developed than China. Shanghai is catching up quickly.  Instead of people wearing drab gray clothing and riding bicycles everywhere as they did in 1988, they are dressed in business clothing and taking transportation such as the Maglev train that gets them from the airport to downtown Shanghai at a speed of 430 km/hour!!!! In the 5 years since it came to Shanghai, Starbucks has opened 500 restaurants that look exactly like the ones in the USA. Jeff said he saw the most beautiful McDonald's restaurant in the world in Guilin, China. Both Hong Kong and Shanghai have skyscapes like you can't believe, especially at night, when all the skyscrapers are lit up and the cities are putting on their nightly laser light-shows. The view of Hong Kong from the top of Victoria Peak is unreal; it rivals the view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge from the top of Mt Tamalpias.

The communist government was much more visible to me in China than it was in Vietnam.  There were Chinese officials wearing red armbands hanging out in all public places, making sure that people were behaving. Some of my shipmates had trip guides tell them that they could not discuss certain subjects in public places for fear of being reprimanded and having to go through "re-education." I was told that you can not own a home in China. You can lease a home for a maximum of 70 years, at which time the government will reclaim it. The government does compensate people well for the property it retakes, so families have money to re-lease a place to live in the city, or move to the suburbs. Many websites and social media sites are fire-walled by the Chinese government, so we were unable to get on Facebook or Blogspot while we were there.

The healthcare system in China varies wildly. I took an injured student to a dental specialist in a POSH high-rise building in Hong Kong. The office was nicer than any doctor's office I have seen in the USA, and the service was impeccable. We sat down in the waiting room and they served us coffee, found us a hotel for the student to stay in that night, and mailed my postcards for me. Meanwhile, in mainland China, one of the voyagers was pushed over by a motorcycle and taken to a hospital for X-rays due to shoulder pain. That facility was much more primitive, with non-existent privacy and employee's motorcycles parked in the stark waiting room. 

I'm sorry to report that the Chinese food in China was not all that great, in my American opinion.  The biggest problem was probably that it was tough to figure out what we were ordering, and it wasn't always what we hoped it would be.  Also, we again ran into the issue of skin and eyeballs and fat encasing much of the cooked meat and fish that was served. That is hard to get used to when you haven't grown up eating it. The sweets are completely different than anything we have in the USA, and not calorie-worthy (again, in my American opinion). I'd be willing to bet that the Chinese feel the same way about American food when they visit us. I know our friend from Nigeria was none-too-fond of most American food. It's amazing how much your culture of origin influences even your taste buds!

I did not travel inland at these ports, so my experiences were limited to two beautiful cities. Jeff took a trip inland to a place called Guilin. He had an absolutely amazing time, and wishes he could have spent much more time in China. When he gets caught up on his blog posts, you'll be able to visit his blog site to see some amazing pictures of beautiful China.

10/30/11 Vietnam

We are back on the ship after spending 6 days in the beautiful country of Vietnam.  It really is beautiful.  It's green, lush, tropical and vibrant.  People really do work in the rice paddies with their conical Vietnamese style hats, and the women look elegant in their traditional dress of a fitted floor-length tunic, cut on both sides all the way to their waists, with pants underneath. The people are, almost without exception, small and slender.  Their diet consists mostly of rice, fish/seafood, vegetables and fruits.  Fruit was the only dessert served to us. The people were very friendly and seemed happy to host our big ship full of Americans.

Ho Chi Menh City (Saigon), is a thriving, modernizing city, where you can find most anything you wish.  I was hard-pressed to find anything to remind me that this city exists in a communist country, except I didn't see any homeless people on the streets. I'm told that certain internet sites are blocked or limited by the government, and that government corruption is alive and well here, but the people seem quite content with their lives.  I still don't quite understand the arrangement between the government and all the privately-owned businesses here, but I think the limitations on owning a business are mostly related to politics; specifically, not compromising the Communist political party.  Vietnam is a 90% cash economy, so what people report to earn in a year is often vastly different than what they actually earn. This county is very tolerant of religious differences. Although the majority of people are Buddhist, it seems that you can find a large number of people who are involved in a large number of different religions.  We saw temples of all different faiths in our travels across Vietnam, some of them ancient.

You can not travel to Vietnam without revisiting the horror that was the Vietnam war (or American war, as the Vietnamese, call it).  We were reminded, time after time, how there really are no winners in war.  The Americans lost about 56,000 soldiers in the war, and then another 60,000 veterans to suicide in the decade that followed. The Vietnamese lost between 5 and 10 MILLION soldiers and civilians in that war, depending on where you get your numbers. The average age of the American soldiers was 19!  These boys were asked to hike through jungles that were filled with landmines and the most horrific, violent, spiked traps you can image.  We visited the Cu Chi tunnels, where the Vietnamese spent weeks and months, in a 300 mile long tunnel network under the ground, in order to keep from getting killed and to sneak up on the Americans.  They buried their dead in the walls of these tunnels, in addition to urinating and deficating in them.  The tunnels are small (you have to crawl in most parts of them), dark and hot, and I just simply can not believe that people were able to keep their sanity, having to live in those conditions.  One of the worst parts of the whole thing for me, is realizing that we are currently involved in another war, killing more innocent civilians, and losing more of our own young men and women. It's hard for me to believe that humanity has still not been able to declare war obsolete, and find humane ways to deal with our differences. I guess the only person whose attitude we can change is ourselves. I'm reminded of the quote, "be the change you wish to see in the world," and the line in Michael Jackson's song, "I'm looking at the man in the mirror, I'm asking him to change his ways, no message could have been any clearer, if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change."

On to more pleasant subjects... Ha Long Bay was gorgeous. We boarded a wooden boat that had an open top deck complete with lounge chairs and potted plants, and a window-filled lower deck with tables and benches for eating. We spent the next 4 hours exploring the bay. It is a body of water with wonderful, green rock formations jutting out all over the place.  Some of these islands are big and contain huge caves full of stalagtites and stalagmites, which we were able to explore.  After this little sunny taste of paradise, we were fed a huge seafood lunch. There were whole shrimp (yes, removing or eating their heads and legs was required), crab cakes served in crab shells, and various types of fish, along with fried squid.  Along the way, families who lived on boats on the bay would hop on our boat and try to sell us all kinds of things.  Sometimes they would just put their 3 year child on our boat, armed with a bunch of bananas for us to buy.  I guess they have figured out that it's harder for us to resist those cute little kids. I couldn't resist, and ended up with more bananas than we could eat.

One of the more unique cultural experiences we had in Ha Noi was seeing the water puppet show.  On a stage next to the water sat an orchestra made up of traditional Vietnamese instruments and the narrators. In high-pitched, squeely voices, 2 women provided the voices of the puppets. The puppets were plastic figures of people and dragons and such, and were attached to long sticks controlled by people in tall fishing boots, standing in the waist-deep water behind a back-drop. Although I wouldn't characterize this play as great, it was certainly unique.

I do hope that I can spend more time in this part of the world. It's just a nice place to be, full of nice people. Now on to China...

10/22/11 Malaysia

We are now half way through our voyage!  It's going way too fast, and all of us wish we had more time in all of these ports. I especially wish I had more time in Malaysia because I was on-call for the 3 days we were here. Being on-call means I have to be able to get back to the ship in 1 hour if someone needs me, and that I hold a morning clinic each day.  Usually it hasn't been too big of a deal.  This port was a little different. I spent one whole night dealing with students who had gotten some severe jellyfish stings and then with a student who had fallen through a second-story roof and gotten pretty scraped up and bruised.  Luckily, everyone is ok.  It meant I spent much of the following day sleeping while my family was out exploring the National Forest and eating fabulous Malaysian food. I really can't complain though. If it weren't for this job, none of us would be having this amazing experience, and the job is an amazing experience in itself. For example, until now I have never seen first-hand the damage a jellyfish can do!  OUCH!!!!

Malaysia is a tropical, lush, green island with nice people and great food.  The combined influence of the Indian, Chinese and Malay locals makes for some wonderful cuisine.  It would take a long time for me to tire of it, especially the variety of flat breads and curries.  The highlight of this country for me was going up Penang Hill on on a tram on rails.  The grade was steep and the scenery amazing, with tropical plants all over and homes perched on the side of the hill.  At the top we had amazing views of the ocean and of green rolling hills.  I was left wishing I had time to do some hiking and exploring on the nice path system they have constructed on the hill. This society is relatively well-to-do compared to the countries we have recently visited, and there are luxuries such as air-conditioned malls and Starbucks coffee houses with free WiFi internet access.  Skype is a wonderful thing, and I was able to connect with one of my friends back home.  I tried to Skype with my sisters the next day, and the internet connection was down.  Oh well, 50% success with my Skype attempts is better than I've had so far on this journey, usually due to my inability to get somewhere with a good internet connection.  By the way, if you'd like to leave comments on my blogs, I'd love to hear what you think.  The best way to communicate with me while I'm on this journey is to use my Semester at Sea email address which is: hlwarner@semesteratsea.net.