Librarian at Sea

August 22
San Diego
I guess I didn’t make a blog for yesterday – August 21 – the day we returned to America! It was emotional, beautiful, long, fast, busy, hectic, happy, sad, overcast, sunny, cold, warm, happy, sad, and emotional.

I realized how ready I am to really get home, and tried to change my plane reservation from the 23rd to the 22nd, but it would have been too expensive.

Erika arrived at the ship around 1pm. It was great to see someone from home. We worked together in the library for several hours and then had a nice drink on the Harbor Front. I had a wonderful dinner with the ISE staff and the Administrative Team from my voyage. Very nice of them to include me in that.

Topped the day off by viewing fireworks that were set off from the deck of the Midway aircraft carrier next door.

August 22
Erika and I worked together again today. The Coast Guard came on board around 10 am and conducted a number of safety drills with the crew for about 2 hours. We mostly laid low during that time.

I am heading to Charlottesville early tomorrow morning. I think we’re going to take the ferry over to The Del (Hotel Del Coranado) for dinner in a bit. Figured I’d bookend the trip that way.

I’m really looking forward to being home. I miss Don and everyone so much.
See you all soon.

For the next installment of the Semester at Sea Library see Erika’s blog at http://librarianadventurepants.blogspot.com

August 19
Packing Day

I must admit I am now pretty ready to get off the ship. We’ve slowed way down so we won’t get into San Diego early. They wouldn’t have any place for us to park. But, when you slow a big ship down it ROCKS. And, we’re rocking now.

Also, I think we were all geared to staying on for about 2 months. If our voyage had been the Fall or Spring 100 day voyage we’d still have 3 or 4 ports to go and be right in the middle of everything. As it is, we know this is the end, and we’re mentally ready for it.

I’ve been VERY busy in the library for the past several days. Not only helping with research, but also, shelving, removing books from reserve, shelving, copying the MARC records to a file for Erin, shelving, trying to figure out Find@UVA for the ship, shelving, trying to figure out barcodes, and shelving.

People are starting to want to donate books to the library. Problem is we already own them. Mostly folks don’t want to lug them home. Can’t blame them, but it leaves the “excess book” problem for the library. We’re working on how to handle this for the future. Evidently the older ship had more storage room so they could just store quite a few books in the hold. The MV Explorer isn’t like that. It’s fast, but has less room – like a sports car.

Culture Shock
They used to warn folks about the culture shock they were in for when they returned to the U.S. and their families and schools. I guess there will be some of that, but with the internet, etc. I suspect less these days than formerly. I think it will be a bit hard for those of us who didn’t travel with anyone since we can’t say “remember when….” Don just has to come with next time.

But, I’ll be glad to get back home (note, I don’t say back to work – though, that goes without saying, right?) It’s been wonderful, but I’m ready to get off. Erika will have a wonderful Fall voyage. Just think, AROUND THE WORLD!

August 17
Reading Day
Warning, Warning - Library Stuff - skip down to avoid
Boy, was I busy today. If students put work off on a land campus they really put stuff off if they are in the midst of visiting 8 or 9 foreign countries and sailing around the Pacific Rim.

On the other hand, when they buckle down, they seem to really buckle down. They were reading and researching like nobody’s business today – and keeping me on my toes. One professor decided to give his exam today rather than on Exam Day (tomorrow). Many of his students were in the library most of the day reading and discussing material for his course. From their conversations I realized that they had actually read the material, thought about it, and formed their own conclusions. Pretty cool!

Barcodes
Another thing I’ve been working on today is figuring out how to format the enter barcodes into Winnebago that will conform to UVA’s barcodes. Erin and I have been communicating on this topic all day long.
(With copies to Erika who I’m sure has much more important things on her mind like
• how many bathing suits to pack
• whether or not to bring a sweat shirt with or just buy the inevitable S@S sweat shirt
• what number sun screen to bring (45)
• whether or not to have something for the Ambassador’s Ball made in Vietnam
• how she will get a cigarette during bunkering (she won’t)
• whether she’s gotten enough of the various currencies (she hasn’t)
• will her room have a bathtub (maybe)
• will the internet be fast enough (no)
• will Find@UVA work on the ship (looking good).)

Not even the library people really want to hear the ins and outs of the barcode problems. But, we’re working on it. Stay tuned, or NOT.

Find@UVA
Another issue we’ve been hoping to solve before I leave the ship is getting Find@UVA to work on board. I admit that because not many students were doing very much research while we were tripping from country to country to country this summer I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to diagnose this problem until the past few days. I knew I could get the articles for them, and that’s what I did. However, it is obviously better if they can simply, as on Grounds, click on the Find@UVA link and get to the full text – FOR FREE!

I think we’re on our way toward figuring this out. Jim gave me the base Find@UVA URL that I believe the ship’s IT guy will be able to use to provide the free access we intend. Cross your fingers….
Work Study Reception
Last evening we had a very nice reception to thank our work study students. Kristen looked great in her black dress. Katie, Ana, and Katie all wore kimonos from Japan. They also looked smashing. Lots of photos were taken.

I will say that the students on this ship are obsessed with taking photos. The one student party I briefly attended (remember back to “Dancing Through the Decades”) most of the 15 or so minutes I was there were entirely devoted to taking photos of each other. Several students have said they’ve taken in excess of 15,000 (yes, fifteen thousand) photographs!

Staffulty Lounge
Ok, I admit it. One of the things I will miss is the Faculty/Staff Lounge. While the students must buy alcohol tickets for designated events (not daily, by any means) ahead of time, we have access to a domain all our own. We have a spot at the front of the ship on the 7th deck with a wonderful view forward. During the day we have tea and coffee there. Lots of chairs and tables. Banquettes along the window walls for lounging on. From 1700 to 1800 and again from 2100 to 2300 each day it’s our bar. Antoinette and Edgardo keep us happy. It is nice to have one place on the ship where there aren’t students.

From 1700 to 1800 the senior passengers often have a program or something there. Today ZiZi played her violin. How nice to look out over the Pacific while drinking a beer and listening to someone you like play the violin beautifully. Just makes you realize how lucky you are to be doing this amazing thing.

Packing
AGH!!!!!!! This is going to be hard. I’ve somehow acquired a bit more than I left Charlottesville with. Not over $800 worth more, U.S. Customs (just in case you’re reading this blog), but more….
I did buy (very cheaply, U.S. Customs) a rolling duffle in Singapore, but it may not be big enough. Oh well, we’ll see.

One nice thing is that ISE (Institute for Shipboard Education) arranges for UPS to be at the pier in San Diego. We all just line up, go through Customs, then straight to UPS. Should be quite handy.

August 16
Hawaii
So near, yet so far. We're docked in Honolulu for bunkering, but we can't get off the ship. On to San Diego, and Charlottesville!

August 16 - this post covers August 13-16.
Cell phone day!
Oahu off the port side.
We dock and bunker (fuel up) in Honolulu today. That means ONE thing – cell phone coverage!! Everyone is very excited to talk to friends and family without having to negotiate the intricacies of a foreign phone card.

Some students didn’t need to wait for cell phone day. Several of them have computers with cameras and voice over internet phone service. It’s quite amazing to see that someone is not only talking to her boyfriend via her computer, but has him up on the screen as well. It’s the Jetsons!

We were talking at dinner last night about the technological advances that have undoubtedly been made in the past 2 months of which we’re blissfully unaware. While we’re up on most major new events via CNN.com and LexisNexis, etc. it’s definitely the case that the ship is just a bit of a time warp.

Library stuff
When I talked with Don earlier today he told me how much everyone enjoys it when I write about Library Stuff!! So, here you go….
I’m getting the books that needed cataloging done now. Some of these are books that Pitt had decided to add. They were doing their cataloging back in Pittsburgh. UVA decided to catalog on board. That’s worked quite well. I’ve been able to connect to OCLC pretty easily. It remains to be seen how well Erika will be able to connect with over 600 students on board. I think her cataloging will be done mostly from 800-900.

Shelf reading
Somehow the books in this library seem to get out of order more than normal libraries. I haven’t quite figured it out. We have signs up for people not to reshelve their books, but I’m sure some do and that’s one issue. I also suspect that when the crew cleans the shelves and books (2 or 3 times on this voyage alone) they may not always put them back in exactly the same order. I will try to get some areas (DS, Q’s, H’s) shelf read before I leave.

Donations
I’ve already gotten a few books from passengers to add to the library. Mostly so far these are books that will be good additions. I may have to reject some, or offer the option of the “take one, leave one” collection for some donations. I’m afraid that, as usual, the library will be the de facto recipient of many text books from the voyage. These excess text books are a problem that UVA will need to figure out.

Find@UVA access
We’re on the way toward figuring out why Find@UVA isn’t working on the ship. Since not too many students were doing research until the homeward journey I hadn’t worried too much about Find@UVA. However, it would be much better if it worked on board. I tried it yesterday when I was logged into Online24 (the for-fee internet access) and it worked. I believe it’s a matter of supplying another URL to the ship’s IT guy for free access. I hope so. We’ll figure this out.

August 15
Final Day of Global Studies
Several faculty members spoke to try to tie together the voyage and draw some lessons from it. The final speaker was Shira, the student with cerebral palsy. She did a PowerPoint and spoke eloquently on what it’s like to be disabled, and particularly a disabled traveler. Because Shira has difficulty with speech as well as mobility issues she had difficulty making friends at the beginning of the voyage. It’s been wonderful to see the students get to know her for the person she is rather than for her disability. I think having her speak at our last Global Studies class was a perfect ending.

With a 92 year man (Chief) and a disabled student on our voyage I think everyone’s awareness of and appreciation for the challenges and possibilities of age and disability grew.

August 14
Ambassador’s Ball
The biggest social event on the ship is the Ambassador’s Ball toward the end of each voyage. The Ambassadors is the student group which hosts the interport students for each port. These are students from the countries the ship visits who join the ship at the port before their home country. They attend classes, talk with the students (and the rest of us), give a presentation, and generally help the students prepare to visit their country. A great program.

Ana & Katie

The Ball is hosted by this group, but primarily planned by one of the residence directors, Marci, for our voyage. It’s our major “dress up” event. Many of the students wore clothes they bought or had made in either Vietnam or Hong Kong. Some truly beautiful outfits. Some students, including one of my library students, YY (Yun Yan), wore traditional outfits. YY and another student wore traditional Korean clothes and looked beautiful.

YY and Chris


The Captain’s dinner preceeding the Ball was very nice and elegant. We and our main dinning room clean up pretty good!

The dance was held in the Union. Several of the faculty and staff went early and we even danced to a song or two. However, the rap songs that they played early didn’t really lend themselves to dancing. Most of us retired to the Staffulty (Faculty/Staff) Lounge for our own after party.

All in all a very fun evening.

August 13
Passenger Talent Show

It’s always fun to see how talented people you know really are. When I worked at the Law Library I was awe struck by the talent that the law students displayed at the Libel Show. Same goes for this shipboard community. These students, staff, and faculty sang, danced, drew, painted, played instruments, performed monologs, and performed songs they wrote. They were really amazing.

It would be difficult to pick my favorite:
• Two teenage boys performing Saint-Saens Cello Concerto in A minor
• Eve who wrote, played and sang a song about our voyage and her new found friends
• Mondo, Ana, Katie, Emily, & Kelsey who danced their hearts out
• Shira, who made a puppet and performed a monolog using the puppet despite her cerebral palsy.
• Zizi who played a violin solo written by a countryman of her’s.
• Adar who did a hilarious skit which incorporated all our stops and many of the things that people did.
• Nikki and Lindsay who each sang a cappella

All the folks performed while the ship was rocking and rolling a bit. I call that real talent.

August 12 (the second one)
Library stuff
One worrisome thing. Two days in a row Winnebago has come up with the following message:
Cannot connect to the server “LIBRARY1@192.168.0.5’. Make sure the default server information is correct, the network cables are connected, the server is running, and the server can allow more users.
In light of the fact that many previous S@S librarians have reported that Winnebago is “unstable” and gets corrupted sometimes this makes me very nervous. I hope I will be able to copy the database to a CD in a few days without any problems. We shall see….

Crew Talent Show
A big shipboard event is the Crew Talent Show. This year’s cause is improving the crew gym. We raised $6,279 with our pledges.

It was great. Many talented folks on this crew who care a lot about their jobs, the ship, and the passengers. I was in the back (with an eye out for anyone who might need library materials) with several crew members. They were definitely having a good time.

Acts included:
• Dance to “In the Navy”
• An original song about Semester at Sea
• A great dance/act to a song something like “He’s my man” by a crew member dressed as a nun in which he drew a picture of Jesus by the end of the song. I can’t adequately describe this one, but it was lots of fun.
• Karaoke by several of the crew – very accomplished.
• Several dance numbers
• A traditional Philippines dance
• An ice sculpting demo

Tonight (August 13th) is the passenger talent show. Should also be fun. Ambassodor’s Ball is tomorrow night.

Food Consumption – June 17-August 12
This came out in the Dean’s Memo today. A few stats.
• Beef – 4906 lbs
• Burger patty – 564 lbs
• Milk – 3730 liters
• Cheeses – 1549 lbs
• Pastas – 2041 lbs
• Water (bottled) – 6720 bottles (1.5 liter)
• Beer – 7776 cans
• Sugar – 1050 lbs
• Fruits fresh – 181962 lbs
• Vegetables fresh – 29755 lbs

August 12 (the first one), 2006
Back to Work
We only have about 10 days left in our voyage, and it’s crunch time. The students are working on their papers. Just as on land, many have waited until the last minute to do their research and write their papers. The library has been hopping for the past two days. Kinda nice to be doing more reference work, I must admit.

Mostly the UVA database access is going smoothly. Find@UVA doesn’t seem to work on the ship – something we should investigate. I’m not sure why it doesn’t work here. So, I’m back to figuring out where the full text of articles might appear if it’s not in the database in which the student was searching. Also, downloading PDFs is problematic. If they aren’t too long downloading is going pretty well, but longer ones definitely take too long depending on the time of day and how many people are on the internet.

The students, as most of us, all assume that they should begin (and end) their research online. I am working to convince them to consider using books for some of their research. This is a small library, but it is geared toward the areas they are researching to some extent. For basic background information it’s certainly their best option. The Winnebago online catalog has some searching quirks and the students aren’t used to it the way they are their own universities catalogs, so I end up doing much of the book searching for them. Many of them have found books in this collection which were perfect for their research.

August 12, the first one
An article from the South China Morning Post on Semester at Sea

FT News, Education
SHIP SHAPE After weathering a political storm last year, the Semester at Sea study cruise is back on course and called into Hong Kong with a refitted vessel taking students on a voyage of discovery. Liz Heron went aboard
1066 words
12 August 2006
South China Morning Post
6
English
(c) 2006 South China Morning Post Publishers Limited, Hong Kong. All rights reserved.
THE WORLD'S FASTEST cruise ship glided into Victoria Harbour this summer bringing 285 university students to Hong Kong on a voyage of learning and exploration.
The MV Explorer is home to the Institute of Shipboard Education's 90th Semester at Sea study cruise, a summer school combining degree-level courses with visits to eight East Asian countries, and is now returning across the Pacific.
It was the vessel's first visit to Hong Kong since it was refitted as a floating university in 2004 and the first voyage sponsored by the institute's new academic partner, the University of Virginia.

With visits to Angkor Wat, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City already under their belts, students disembarked into Ocean Terminal and fanned out on excursions and activities or tours to China.

This year's 65-day summer school was going with a swing after organisers weathered a political storm following disruption to last year's spring cruise when a 50-foot wave smashed into the bridge in mid-Pacific.

The wave shattered windows, shorted the electrical system and stopped all but one of the engines. A teacher suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung and students had to be flown onwards to China and Hong Kong from Honolulu.
Then the University of Pittsburgh - the programme's academic sponsor for the previous 24 years - pulled out in June last year over a number of issues, including opposition to the institute's decision to cut ties in 2004 with the Seawise Foundation, set up by Hong Kong shipping tycoon Tung Chao-yung and led after his death by former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

Executive Dean Don Gogniat said the Explorer had been fully repaired since the accident and the institute had stepped up international security intelligence for the vessel. "We have updates from a sophisticated consultancy firm that synthesises all the latest data on terrorism, military conflict and hazardous weather and provides advice on travel safety," he said.

Dr Gogniat said there had been five other universities that had shown interest in taking over Semester at Sea. "But we finally selected the University of Virginia," he said. "It's a top-notch school in the US."

Virginia has taken over accreditation of the courses offered on board, with the full programme accounting for 10 to 15 of the 125 to 130 points students need for a degree at most US universities, other than the Ivy League. The university is also a key sponsor, providing scholarships for needy students.

At sea, students attend classes seven days a week with just the occasional day off for rest and recreation. In port they must join field trips or conduct independent research that counts for 20 per cent of the academic credit.

All students must take a core course on global studies, but can select the rest from a menu of about 60 courses across arts, humanities and social science subjects.
This summer's cruise includes students from 136 universities across the US and nine in other countries, including Canada, Mexico and Japan. Also on board are 17 faculty, 24 staff plus 42 adult learners hitching an educational ride.

In addition, visiting faculty join the ship for anything from a few hours in port to several weeks, while "interport students" get a free trip home from the previous port in exchange for telling students about life in the next destination.
Former visiting faculty have included Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and Bishop Desmond Tutu, who joined the ship for one whole transatlantic voyage from Brazil to South Africa.

Dr Gogniat said: "Semester at Sea changes students' lives. On this voyage you learn that you are in a closed system called the world and it is an integrated system. That makes for a global citizen.

"There are more people who get involved with service projects and the Peace Corps and non-governmental organisations after SaS than practically any American university per capita."
The summer school and the full 100-day round-the-world trip takes students beyond the normal tourist itineraries and includes places once off-limits for US travellers.

In 1994 Semester at Sea mounted the first large-scale visit to Vietnam by American college students since the Vietnam war and in 1999 made the largest US government-sanctioned visit to Cuba in nearly four decades. But at a time of growing public concern about safety standards in student adventure travel, it has also suffered accidents more serious than last year's wave.
In March 1996, five travellers, including four students, died in a bus accident in India and in October 2000, a container ship sideswiped the programme's former vessel, the SS Universe Explorer, on the Saigon River, slicing a 30-foot gash in its hull and damaging five student cabins. No one was hurt.
Captain Jeremy Kingston, who joined the ship after last year's accident, said that a wave-deflecting structure was added to the ship during maintenance last year. Security on the ship was also tight to meet the the International Ship and Port Facility Code, introduced 18 months ago in response to 9/11.

But, if today's world is marked by terrorism and security, the chance to study and travel is no less magical for the students.
James Maclean, 21, of Boston University, said: "The classes are great but we learn the most when we are in port meeting people.
"Everyone I met had preconceived ideas about Vietnam - I definitely did - and it was completely different. It was much more developed than I thought."
Abra Chusid, 21, a drama student from Northwestern University, said she had been struck by how westernised some Asian countries such as Singapore were, yet people had kept their culture alive through the arts. "I am applying for a fellowship to study theatre in Singapore," she said.
Lindsay Rolfe, 19, of Colorado State University, said: "We have all decided that in 30 years we are going to be adult passengers here."
The summer school costs about US$10,000 per head and the full semester round-the-world programme about US$15,000.
Visit www.semesteratsea.com

Kobe, Japan

As Dean Don says, Kobe is a great port to either begin or end a voyage in. Kobe is a small city – 300,000 – and very manageable. Squeezed between the mountains and the sea, it is sort of long and narrow. The Port is very convenient to downtown. And, Japan is a very organized country. There are a multitude of trains and train companies and lines, but they all run on time, and the information desks are very helpful.

Baseball

I’ll start with baseball. After our wonderful experience with Korean baseball many of us wanted to compare that with Japanese, which we had heard so much about. The Kobe major league team wasn’t in town, but one of the AAA-equivalent teams, the Kobe Braves, was. Upon finding this out at about 5:30pm on Tuesday I spotted Roxanna, one of the adult passengers, and we agreed to head out to the ball park.

In general, I liked my Korean baseball experience better than my Japanese one. The fan participation quotient was far higher in Korea than at the Japanese game.
Highlights included:
• Kobe Beef Croquette – the closest I got to Kobe beef, and quite good, whatever it was.
• American hot dog – served on a stick. Not a corn dog, just a regular hot dog on a stick.
• Fireworks – wonderful display after the 5th inning.
• Fire cannon – when our team hit a home run (to tie the game they ended up loosing) two chimneys in the outfield stands shot fire into the air.
• Balloons – After the 6th inning, I think, they fired the fire cannons again, and let off hundreds of blue and orange balloons. The fans had blown up these long balloons, but not tied off the ends. The balloons are evidently made to sail high up and make noise as they lose their air.
• American style stadium announcer – after the almost complete lack of announcements at the Korean game, the American sounding announcer at the Japanese was kind of fun.

I very much disliked the commercials they showed during inning breaks – real commercials. I also disliked the lack of a stadium organ or any fun music between innings. At least at this AAA game there wasn’t much unison cheering. They seemed to know only one clapping pattern and one or two cheers. Compared to the 50 or 60 cheers at the Korean game this seemed pretty spar.

There were many more people at the minor league Japanese game than at the Korean game. And, every time I went into a coffee shop or pachinko hall (just for the cultural experience) they had baseball on the TV.

Arima Hot Springs
One of the highlights of Japan for me was my trip to the spa and hot springs about 20 miles into the mountains outside of Kobe. Those of you who know me, know that it’s difficult for me to pass up the opportunity to visit a spa or hot springs. When I discovered there was one not too far outside of Kobe, and when Steven, adult passenger, said he’d gone on Sunday and that is was great, that settled it.

It took about an hour on three different lines to get there – but the trains were on time! The town is nestled into the mountains – very pleasant with a river running through town. Reminded me just a bit of Bristol, NH, (or, maybe, Scottsville) but much hillier. I had a choice of three spas, and asked a local information person which one she preferred. Once she figured out what I was trying to pantomime she gave me excellent advice to go to the one which offered several different options for soaking – Taiko no Yu Spa. She showed me on the map how to get there and I was off.

Despite my first faux pas of not taking my shoes off before I approached the registration desk I didn’t do too badly at the spa. Basically, it consisted of two sections – men’s and women’s. In the women’s section there were two large locker rooms – you got a key in one locker room where you changed into pants and a wrap top they gave you, then proceeded to the second locker room where you changed into nothing. The main floor of the spa had four different large baths each about 3 feet deep. They got progressively hotter. Two were red colored, presumably with the iron that naturally occurs in the water. There was also a smaller, very cold plunge bath, and a sauna. So, one could travel among the various baths to one’s heart’s content. I assumed that was all there was.

As I was taking my (probably) 4th sauna I heard English across the dark space. A woman who teaches English in Japan told me about the upstairs, open air section. I immediately headed up. More baths as well as several different places to sit – some where you could soak just your feet, some where you sat on a slab of marble as water flowed behind and under you. Also, tatami mats where you could lie and air dry. All under a bamboo canopy. Very relaxing and wonderful.

After about 3 hours of various bathing I reluctantly left and headed to the toy museum for a beer (that’s where the guide directed me). I noticed quite a few women and men dressed in kimonos but didn’t think that much of it since, even in cities, it’s not too rare to see kimono clad women.

On Main street they were obviously preparing for a fair or something – food stalls were being set up, people were milling around – many in kimonos, Japanese lanterns were lit. I bought an odd sort of jelloish pudding (not bad) and asked the English-speaking girl what was going on. I’d run into the final night of the Summer Festival in Arima. They have traditional geisha performances and other entertainment.

I hung around to see a few geisha dances, in which other kimono clad folks participated. Picture a non-English speaking middle aged Japanese woman wandering around either the Scottsville 4th of July Parade or the Bristol Lilac Festival and that was me – the only non-local person at the festival. It was so much fun. Even missing the direct train and taking a much longer time to get home was fun. Finally, the hole in the wall (picture the White Spot) restaurant I got dinner at when I got back to Kobe was good.
Kyoto
Ellen, member of the medical team, and I went to Kyoto the day we docked in Kobe. We took the train over, then took a bus to the Golden Pavilion. After a green tea soft serve we strolled through the gardens. A university student gave a good tip to go to the Ponto-cho district for dinner. This former red-light district of Kyoto is a good place to walk around. There are many shops catering to traditional Japanese wares – lacquerware, kimonos, tea, woodblock prints, fans, etc. Also, good number of women and men in traditional dress.

We ate at a sort of Japanese pub. Very good. Not too expensive – though since they didn’t take credit cards (as many, many places in Japan don’t) we were lucky that we had just enough money between us to cover our meal.

Himeji Castle

“If you see no other castles in Japan you should at least make the effort to visit Himeji-jo, unanimously acclaimed as the most splendid Japanese castle still standing.” --Lonely Planet
I couldn’t agree more. Thanks, Beth, for the tip. Also, a very pleasant train ride along the coast and at the foot of the mountains.
For those of you who get the chance the gardens, an extra ticket, are worth the price.

Kobe

Aside from the above trips I pretty much explored Kobe. I found a nice coffee shop that I returned to several times. Aaron, photographer, and I explored together on our last afternoon, after running into each other on the street. He took me to the Japanese Garden in town where he’d already been. Very peaceful, lovely spot in the center of town. Then we went up to the Kitano area, where I’d already been. It’s the area of Kobe where foreign merchants built their houses, right under the hills. There are nice western style houses and shops and cafes. Sort of touristy, I guess, but I liked the area. We then took a cable car, pretty popular in Japan, up to the first hills above town. Nice view. He ended the day repeating his favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and I mine.

Leaving
Sailing out of the Port of Kobe was certainly bitter sweet for all of us. We’re all excited to be heading home, but also sad that our “voyage” is ending. I think for many people Japan was the best port. Not sure if it was for me, but it certainly would tie with Vietnam and Korea(!) for that honor. I think part of this is because this voyage has definitely made me a better, more adventurous traveler. While I do subscribe to the “café” school of travel – where you don’t necessarily have to see everything, but take time to sit and drink a glass of wine, I will now feel more confident to jump on a train one afternoon to see something I’m interested in. So what if you make a mistake and end up in a city you didn’t plan on visiting, there’s probably something there to see as well!

Some photos

Halong Bay


Don't know how long I'll leave this one up. From Halong Bay in Vietnam.



Planting Rice in Vietnam


Great port welcome in Korea. A percussion group which danced and played traditional Korean instruments. And these guys.


A demon at Beomeosa Temple in Busan


Innovative use of litter bags at the Busan Lotte Giants baseball game. I highly recommend Korean baseball if you're in town.

Aug. 5
Korea, con’t.

Raz, Kris, & Romeo from Nepal

I decided to stick around Dadaepo where the ship was docked. There’s a beach about
1 ½ miles from the ship. The beach has lots of umbrellas to rent – all set up in rows. The Busan Music Festival was going on while we were in port and a large stage was erected on the beach.
There’s also a forested promontory to the left of the beach. There’s a small army presence on it, and an old imperial guest house. Paths take you to the rocky shore of this area.
I decided that I’d explore the promontory rather than bake on the beach. Along the way I met three Nepalese men who were on two year work visas to Korea. They were employed, and housed by the Hundai corporation. They really wanted me to hang around with them for a while so I did. We climbed rocks and sat around watching the sea, ships, Korean fishermen. It was very interesting talking to them about Nepal, their lives in Korea, their families, America, Semester at Sea, and the places they’ve lived. They don’t care much for Koreans – according to my Nepalese friends Koreans work way too much and aren’t very nice. People in Nepal welcome visitors, and the country is very beautiful. If you like trekking and the outdoors, Nepal is for you. I enjoyed talking to these guys.

Fried Chicken

After I left Kris, Raz, and Romeo I climbed down some rocks, aided by numerous ropes to help in the steep spots. I walked around the pebble beach a bit. Korean beaches, at least the ones I was on, aren’t particularly clean – lots of trash. On the other hand, they do have good sea glass. I went for a very brief swim, but was thinking “pollution and sea urchins” the whole time so didn’t enjoy it so much. (Sea urchins sting.)
I climbed more rocks, but turned back when, as I topped a particularly steep place a man on a loud speaker started talking and I thought it might be aimed at me specifically. So, I turned back at that point.
As I was walking back down the beach I realized the voice was probably simply telling us that an opera was about to be broadcast on the beach. Very odd walking down a Korean beach accompanied by opera music.
When I was about to climb over the last of the rocks an older Korean couple motioned for me to join them in their meal of bananas and fried chicken. As our “green sheets” said to do I refused the first couple of times they asked me, but gracefully accepted on about the third motioned invitation. We sat silently enjoying our KFC fried chicken as we listened to the opera. Again, a fairly odd scene. I thanked them and was on my way.

Moon light on the water
Here’s an example of how when one writes for a blog one tends to start writing as if no one else was reading it. Just ask me sometime about the moon light on the water as we left

On to Japan
This morning I woke up to a change in the ship’s motion. It’s pretty amazing how attuned our bodies and minds get to the ship and how a change it speed is easy to sense. Anyway, I spied land out my window, so I got up to see what was what.
The captain had decided to change our course and we sailed through the Inland Sea all day. I’d sensed us slowing down to take on a pilot to get us through the channel between Kyushu and the Japanese “mainland” as they say. I got up in time to see us through the channel and under the suspension bridge – really cool. All day we’ve been sailing among Japanese islands. Lots of islands, lots of ships. Around 2pm we went under the world’s longest suspension bridge.
The change in route evidently saved us about $30,000. We’ll anchor outside of Kobe around 10pm tonight, and dock tomorrow morning as originally planned.

Aug. 3

Busan
(Long post - if you don’t want to read this long post, do skip down to the baseball part!)

I didn’t have many expectations for Korea, I admit. Busan is the second largest city – 4 million people. Very large in area. You can drive for an hour and still be in the city limits.
Korea is GREAT! I really like Busan. We knew that the port wasn’t right downtown, and had been lead to expect an almost Malaysia-like experience. Not at all. While our port is out of the main part of the city, there are restaurants, some shops, a beach (tidal mudflat, but let’s not be picky) about an half hour’s walk away, trails up forested hills, two good bakeries (my favorite is Monmartre), and a functional ATM. Who needs more?

Physical city
Busan is very mountainous – the city is. The roads tunnel through the mountains in downtown, so they have small forested mountains right in downtown Busan. Very long tunnels. Nothing built on the hills. Makes for a beautiful setting.

Most people live in high rise apartment buildings. Our guide explained that formerly families lived with 3 or 4 generations in one household. Now, most live as nuclear (nucler) families – so they need more housing units. There are thousands of 20 to 30 story apartment buildings all over the place. Very few, in fact I’ve seen none, single family homes. I’m sure there must be some, but according to Murphy, our guide the first day, not very many. (All the guides adopt English names so us tourists can more easily remember (and say) their names.)

Busan has many high points from which to view the city. The tour I went on the first day to Beomeosa, a temple which was first build around 1000 A.D., and rebuilt several times since was up high in the hills North of town. The day we went it was very clear (sort of a clear Fall type C’ville day – though hot), and we had a beautiful view. We also visited a Yongdusan Park with a tall, CN-type tower. I paid my 3,000 won (about $3), and went up. Well worth it. Could see all over, over the hills within town to the various sections of town. Couldn’t see the MV Explorer, too bad. Yesterday Tavia (drama), Darin (environmental science), Cindy (mental health professional), and I (librarian) went up a cable car to the ruins of the old fort – Geumjeongsanseong(!). We walked along the ridge trail. More on that later, but the view from the cable car was panoramic.

Beomeosa
At the last minute I signed up for Nancy’s (art history prof, from OK State – knows some librarians I know there) trip to Beomeosa, a Buddhist temple. This trip also visited Yongdusan Park, the Busan Fish Market, and a street market.

The temple was lovely. Up high, in a forested area with a rushing stream nearby. Worshipers chanting inside the temple. Korean temples are distinctive – using a blue/green you don’t see in China or Japan (evidently). Very brightly painted. Also guarded by 4 fearsome figures. Demons around the figures are warded away.

We were told in our culture pre-port that Koreans will definitely let you know if you’re stepping out of line. Older Koreans often scold younger people it they are behaving in an unacceptable way, including women smoking in public, any PDA (public display of affection), talking too loudly, or, as it turns out, sitting on what they perceive of as sacred objects. Some of the students were sitting on a railing around a stone pagoda. A woman came over and gave them and Murphy a piece of her mind. Before too long they realized what it was she objected to, and moved. Good cultural lesson for all of us.

Fish Market
Also, on our tour of town was the main fish market. Not my favorite stop. We had taken a walk around the port in the morning, and Dean Don had shown us the local fish market. Many, many types of fish, all live in tanks with water running through. Crabs, flounder, squid, octopus, conks, and others. All well and good. At the Busan fish Market there were many of the same, and many dried fish. Again, all well and good. What got to me were the live, skinned and bloody eels still wriggling in a basket. ‘Nuff said.

Street Market
Set up across from the fish market on a C’ville-type downtown pedestrian mall area. Mostly trinkets and food. I didn’t try the octopus leg fries. I did get a foccacia-looking bread thing which turned out to be sweet and filled with dark honey – very tasty. Again, lots of dried fish.

Korean BBQ
I joined a group going to dinner near the ship on Wednesday evening. Dean Don, who visited this port in 2004, was leading, so I knew he’d find a good spot. We went to a Korean barbeque restaurant. Pits in the tables held hot coals. The staff put pre-cooked ribs and beef on the grills to get hot. We each got a plastic, and a knit glove to enable us to grab the hot meat from the grill. Makes for much easier, neater rib eating. Hite beer and lots of condiments and side dishes completed the meal. Kimch’i = good. I liked it. (For those of you who don’t know this is spiced, fermented cabbage and other vegetables. Most Koreans make their own by setting large crockery pots on their back steps for a while (I don’t know how long it ferments). It’s definitely spicy.

Geumjeongsanseong
On Thursday I joined Tavia, Darin, and Cindy for a hike. We took a taxi to the subway, then walked to the base of the mountain to ride the cable car up (we decided to ride up and hike down, rather than the other way ‘round – good decision).
Nice cable car ride, nice hike. The highlight was getting more or less lost as we ended our hike. Darin took us on the smaller trails, rather than on the large, road-like trail. We ran into a tenor sax player in the forest.
Chip - you’d have been jealous of Darin getting to play the guy’s sax out there in the middle of the Korean woods, by the rocky stream.
We made our way down the mountain, and ended up in Sansong Black Goat Eating Town (we later found out). We walked through someone’s garden and down a small road. A woman beckoned us into her restaurant. We decided that would be a good idea. We removed our shoes, and she sat us down on the floor and brought out a low table. She asked us what we’d like to eat by talking a LOT and pointed at a menu posted on the wall that looked something like this:

%^&%%% ^&*(( 25,000
%^&&%% ^&^$# 25,000
^((*& **&(( 40,000
^*%$ &^%!!# 35,000

No pictures, no English. She seemed to want us to order several dishes which would have totaled about $50 for lunch. She operated under the premise that if she told us a lot more about whatever it was we’d finally understand. Didn’t really work very well. We decided to order one of the 25,000 won ($25) things. We ended up with many veggie side dishes, including another type of kimch’i, and two plates of some sort of meat, which, in retrospect, I’m sure was goat. All very good. It ended up costing us about $5 each, not bad.

Since we weren’t really sure where we were we weren’t sure how to get back to the ship. I’d seen several number 203 buses drive by as we ate. Our host directed us to a parking lot where we consulted a tour bus driver who also didn’t speak English. He did, however, get us to the appropriate side of the street to catch the next 203 bus which drove over the mountain and deposited us back in the city at exactly the subway stop we needed – how perfect! We got back in plenty of time for our next adventure – Korean baseball.

Baseball
When we got on the ship in San Diego I’d commented to some students that I wanted to go to a baseball game in Japan. They agreed, and mentioned that Koreans were baseball crazy and that would be a good place to see a game as well. When we got to Korea a student said that the Busan Lotte Giants were playing a home series against the (??) Eagles and had games on both Wednesday and Thursday evenings. I talked to several folks and we made a plan to go on Thursday night.

Probably 50 Semester at Sea folks met in Purser’s Square to head to the game. Some took taxis (including Roy, Pamela, Kathleen, and me) all the way to Sijak Park. Others took a taxi to the first subway stop, about 2 miles from the ship, and subwayed it the rest of the way. Buying tickets was a cinch. Kathleen and I went crazy at the Giant’s souvenir shop. I got two free key chains with my bulk purchase!

A Hite beer in hand, and I was ready for the game. Pretty much standard baseball. Obviously, a number of Americans on both teams. Early on it appeared that the Lotte Giants were going to get their heads handed to them, however, they pulled out a respectable 2-3 loss. Actually, it turned out to the a good game – home runs, double plays, drama toward the end when it appeared the home town team might pull it off.

The highlight of the game was the fans. Koreans definitely are into baseball. Very little individual cheering – though I yelled both “ducks on the pond” (meaning there are base runners when someone is up to bat), and “chin music” (meaning the pitcher threw the ball close to the batter who was crowding the base). Mostly the Koreans cheer in unison. There was a guy on top of the home team dugout with the microphone leading the cheers. There were also 4 cheerleaders/dancers. All wore white gloves. Lots of different cheers – many featuring the word “Lotte” which is a large department store, grocery store, hotel chain. I guess it would be like the Richmond Braves being named the Richmond Ukrops Braves, and most of the cheers featuring “Ukrops” instead of “Braves.” (Or, for the Raleigh folks being the Durham Belk’s Bulls – you get the picture.)

Ball Park Food
• Corn dog – my first ever!. Seemed fine to me
• Potatoes – boiled potatoes on toothpicks with sea salt sprinkled over – good with beer.
• Red Bean shaved ice – yes, Red Bean Shaved ice – just what it sounds like – shaved ice with red beans and some other stuff on top. Very odd, not bad, just odd.
• Hite beer – fine, not as good as Tiger or Taiwan, but fine.

Sixth inning stretch
Koreans have, quite reasonably, moved the stretch portion of the game to the middle of the sixth inning. They’ve also done away with “Take me out to the Ball Game.” Our section of Semester at Sea folks, however, traditionally sang it at the appropriate time in the seventh inning.

The Wave
Some students talked to the cheerleader guy to try to get him to start a “wave.” He refused, so they proceeded to start one on their own. After about the 4th try the crowd got into it.

Pom poms
We noticed that most of the crowd had black and white pom poms. When a couple near us began tearing their newsprint program into strips and holding them together we realized that these pom poms were created on the spot.

Litter bags
Again, Koreans sensibly hand out orange litter bags during the 7th inning. I expected that somehow it wouldn’t be like in the States where all the detritus from the game is left in the stadium, and it wasn’t. The Korean baseball fans, making use of every opportunity, use the litter bags as more cheering equipment. Everyone fills the bag with air, making a sort of balloon. Then you either use it as another kind of pom pom OR you tie it on top of your head, hooking the loops under your ears. That was definitely the more popular use. So, thousands of fans have orange litter bag balloons on top of their heads – very inspiring to the players, I’m quite sure. Really fun. I went for the pom pom use, however, Darin and Micheal went for the balloon on top of the head style.

A few more photos from China

Star sitting at the Great Wall


Terracotta guys


Yep, me and terracotta guys

August 1, 2006

Food
A foodie friend asked that I write a bit about the food we’ve eaten at our various ports. I think I’ll start with the food on the ship.

The ship’s food is very good. A woman who traveled on the previous ship said that the food on that voyage was better but I’ve liked the food on this trip. (She particularly raved about the strawberry soup on the old ship.)
All meals, except the Captain’s dinners, are buffet. There is a large salad section, always including cucumbers for some reason. I guess they keep especially well.
Breakfast is almost my favorite meal. I’ve taken to eating fruit, yogurt, AND eggs at breakfast. Sometimes bacon too! Guess I need my strength.

Lunch and dinner are usually about the same sort of choices, so you can have your big mean either at noon, or in the evening – or both. Usually a pasta dish (carbonara being my favorite), a fish, a meat, two kinds of vegetables, fruit, and soup. Always a good dessert, and always the option of PB&J (peanut butter and Jelly for those not in the IM generation of acronyms).

I need to reserve a separate paragraph for the bread pudding – YES, bread pudding. The BEST! I’m not usually much of a bread pudding fan, but this (with the vanilla sauce) anyone would like. It’s great. One of the adult passengers celebrated a birthday, and that was his “birthday cake.” We were all very happy with the choice.

Taiwan
Night markets are the big food thing in Taiwan. I guess I wasn’t too adventurous there. I had some sort of tofu thing that wasn’t too good. I didn’t try the oyster omelets or any of the many types of odd fishy things they would cook for you on the spot. Also, didn’t get “fruit on a stick” or “nutritious sandwich” which our interport student recommended. Each of these have things the ship doctor said to avoid – fruit we didn’t peel ourselves, and dairy. I was following instructions pretty closely at first. Definitely have loosened up since then.
I did have steamed bread for breakfast and like that quite a bit. Have had it whenever it showed up again. It looks a bit anemic but is very good.

Singapore
Had noodle soup several times in Singapore – very good. I also began perfecting my chopstick skills there – even using them for the noodles in the soup as the locals did – easier to grab them with chopsticks than with a spoon.
Hawkers – groups of food stalls with central eating area. You grab a table, then take turns getting your food. All good.
Guess I discovered Tiger beer in Taiwan, but definitely continued to enjoy it in Singapore. Also, my first satay in Singapore. Really good.

Malaysia
Satay – Great! Really tasty. Cheap, too. I actually had a salad in Malaysia – a definite ship doctor no/no. No ill effects for me.
Some sort of stew/soup on the beach in Cherating – very good and spicy. Not at all sure what was in it.
Dragon fruit – think I discovered this in Malaysia. Beautiful white fruit with small black seeds. Very good. Not a lot of flavor, but very refreshing. Definitely will try to find it at home.

Vietnam
Noodle soup again. I wasn’t feeling great some of our Vietnam time – finally caught the “whatever” that’s been making its way through the ship. So, chicken noodle soup Vietnamese style was just what the doctor ordered.
Shrimp – another ship no/no – very nice.
Meal on the boat in Halong Bay – crab – Elizabeth C. , you’d have been proud of me. I actually picked my own crab. Also, shrimp, fish, and I can’t remember what else. Very good. (Also, since it was “the beach” in a way, and we’d gone through the HOT, CROWDED grotto by about 10am I admit I cracked a Tiger about that time. Oh, it tasted good as the boat made it’s way through the limestone formations under the hot sun in the Bay.

Hong Kong & China
Since I was on a guided tour almost the entire time we had many family style Chinese meals, starting with Peking Duck at the most famous Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing. Oh my, what a lot of wonderful food. Cold meats and veggies first, then many hot dishes, followed by the actual Peking Duck. It was just as advertised – very delicious. The bone soup didn’t appeal to most of us, however – sort of a white broth that didn’t taste like much of anything.

Funny incident in the Peking Duck restaurant – there were lots of photos of famous people visiting the restaurant in a long hall on the way in. We noticed one photo in which one of the figures in the photo had paper taped over him. It had been torn to reveal his face. Tavia (drama prof, and my (great) roomie for the trip) was intrigued and photographed the photo when she was on her way to the restroom at one point. When she came out of the restroom, someone had already carefully retaped the paper over the guy’s face. Probably someone we would have NO idea who it is anyway. But, they obviously had seen her taking his picture and didn’t like it much.

As I said, most of the rest of the China meals were similar, and served family style from a big lazy susan in the center of the table – a great way to have Chinese meals, by the way! Several times the restaurant supplied us with forks and knives and we had to ask for chop sticks. Most of us have bought chop sticks by now. They really work quite well.

Korea and kimch’i, next….