5/17/07

Wow, it feels so different to be back in the United States. One of the most profound culture shocks that I have experienced this entire semester occurred while driving through Bellevue, Hailey, and Ketchum (three towns in the Sun Valley, ID area) on my way home. As I passed through these towns at about 12:00am, not a single person was about. I must have seen 5 cars total between the three towns. What?! Where am I?!! After traveling through some of the most populous countries in the world, Idaho really is “my own private Idaho.” From what I’ve seen, the United States is the most unique country in the world. Vietnam has more in common with Brazil than it does with the United States. The little island nation of Mauritius has more in common with huge China than it does with the United States. The concept of suburban America has a long way to go before it becomes a global concept. Very few places did I see neighborhoods with well-manicured lawns, large homes, landscaping, and several cars in the driveway. Oh, and one more thing; who ever decided it was a good idea for the United States not to use the metric system? Now that’s just dumb.

In reflection, Semester at Sea has been an absolutely incredible experience…well worth the time, energy, and money. The experience has opened my eyes to the many cultures, landscapes, and peoples that occupy our virtually shrinking world. I would absolutely recommend this program to any students looking to study abroad. The breadth of the program simply cannot be beat.

After 100 days of sailing and intense traveling, my mind and body are totally exhausted. I’ve spent the last several days just trying to recover and grasp what I have done. The end of the semester is best described as bittersweet. It was sad to see it all end, but I needed a rest. One thing that is for sure; the friends I’ve met this semester will be some of my closest friends for the rest of my life. Experiencing the world has a way of bringing people together.

In closing, I would like to say thank you to my parents and NSCS for giving me the opportunity to participate in the SAS program. I couldn’t have done it without you. Also, thanks to everyone who has read this blog all semester (I know, it’s been lengthy). If you have any questions/comments about the program or my experiences, feel free to drop me an email at michael.r.mcclure@colorado.edu. I wish you the best of luck in your future travels and endeavors. Think about this: “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.”


Signing out,

Mike

5/10/07
25° 26.81N
143° 7.80W

Last leg! I can’t believe our next port-of-call is San Diego, CA. This semester has gone by so fast, yet when I think about being in the Bahamas it seems like forever ago.

Anyway, we’ve spent the last week or so traveling across the Pacific Ocean. A note to anyone who is planning on doing the Semester at Sea program, traveling east around the world is very, very tiring. As if the program itself is not tiring enough, we lose an hour every couple of days (everyday when we are going due east across the Pacific) and then gain one entire day (hurray if that’s your b-day!). Twenty-three hour days are short and the added day, at least for us, is just another day of classes. Sweet, thanks. I imagine life would be much easier doing the fall voyage west around the world. That being said, the time changes certainly don’t take away from the experience.

Yesterday, we ported in Honolulu, Hawaii for the day. After disembarkation, we made our way to Waikiki Beach for a day of rest and relaxation. It was incredible being back in the U.S. where everyone speaks English. I spent my day relaxing on the beach, eating awesome food, and generally hanging out with all the unbelievable friends that I have met over the course of the semester. Several friends and I rented long boards and hit the Hawaiian surf with the other 1000 people enjoying the Waikiki break that day. One word: chaos! That evening nearly every SAS student went out to dinner for our last meal in port before catching the ship at 10:00pm. Although it wasn’t terribly educational, Hawaii was exactly what I needed to bring the semester to a close.

I’m going to keep this one short as I should probably be studying for my finals right now. Check back for my final thoughts and closing remarks in a week when I get back to my home in Sun Valley, ID.

Until then,
Mike

4/30/07
33° 32.69N
141° 43.44E

Kon-nichi wa from Japan. Well actually, we just left Kobe the other day. Japan is such an amazing country! It was comforting being back in a developed nation for the first time in several months. That being said, it also had the largest language barrier of any country that we visited. Getting around involved many hand signals, noises, and facial expressions. My charades skills saw some dramatic improvement.

As soon as I got off the ship, I hopped on a bullet train and headed for Toyko with a sizable group of friends. The train was easy and comfortable with only a few stops and much more legroom than any U.S. airline (which by the way, seem to be worst in the world by my calculations). Tokyo was a sprawling metropolis of skyscrapers, lights and the most confusing public transportation system I have ever seen. We spent two days in Tokyo eating sushi, exploring the many districts, playing charades, and generally getting ourselves lost. The second night was my 22nd birthday (yeah, I’m getting old), so about 15 of us went out on the town sporting our Vietnamese suits. Let’s just say it made for one heck of an adventure.

The following day, I boarded a bullet train with a downsized group and headed to Nagano. Nagano, which was the site of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games, is an attractive town sitting amongst rolling hills. Although the town had much to offer, we decided to adventure further into the mountains. This adventure led us to the small mountain town of Habuka. Habuka is a quaint ski town nestled in the so-called Japan Alps. Now I’ve never seen the European Alps, but these sure looked “alpish” to me. Enormous snow covered peaks surrounded Habuka with rivers, forests, and ski resorts occupying the lowlands. Immediately after getting off the bus, we headed to Gravity Worx for homemade pizza, pasta, and ice cream. Gravity Worx was located in a small log cabin with creaky floors, old-fashioned demeanor, and rich smells. Now this was the Japanese mountain experience we were looking for! That night we stayed in a ski lodge overlooking the town of Habuka. The lodge had an onsen, which is a popular public bath of hot mineral water (a revitalizing hot tub of sorts). After a long day of travels, we soaked our aching bodies in the rock bath, overlooking the lights of Habuka and the silhouette of the Japan Alps in the moonlight.

That next morning we did something that I never expected to do during my SAS voyage. We went skiing! The ski resort Happo One was still open, so we rented skis, boots, poles, and gloves and hit the slopes. Now I have been making fun of people skiing in jeans for almost 15 years, but here I am, skiing in jeans, a rain jacket, sunglasses, and no hat…basically everything that I happened to be carrying in my backpack. I was totally “that guy.” To add to my humiliation, it started to snow on us…hard. Good thing jeans are so waterproof! We skied the downhill course of the 1998 Olympics several times before catching a train through the mountains back to Kobe.

The final day, I went for a hike up Rokko Mountain and ate my final meal on foreign soil. Rokko Mountain provided splendid views of Kobe, Osaka, and the surrounding area. It felt great getting outside in the temperate weather, especially knowing that I would be on a ship for nearly two weeks starting that evening. My final meal was a traditional Japanese dinner atop one of the tallest buildings in Kobe. As we sat on the floor (shoes off of course), we dined on delicious chicken dishes, pots of steamed vegetables, and interesting noodle concoctions. Not a bad way to end the trip.

I’m now back aboard the ship and headed for Honolulu, Hawaii. We should arrive in 8 days after crossing a hand full of time zones and the international dateline. In the mean time, I’ve got countless papers and exams on the horizon to keep me busy. I’ll post another blog after Hawaii to let you know how the transpacific voyage is going.

Till then,

-Mike

4/24/07
32° 9.41N
133° 2.73E

Well hello! I am now back on the ship and am traveling between China and Japan. We only have two days at sea, and I have way too much work to get done. For the first time this entire voyage, I could actually use another day at sea. What has gotten into me?

China was incredible. Our first stop was the initial port-of-call: Hong Kong. Hong Kong was an amazingly modern and developed city. Enormous skyscrapers dominated the skyline, quick and efficient subways traversed the city, and ships filled the world’s third busiest port. Hong Kong was also very Western. Although Cantonese was the official language, most people spoke English and nearly every written piece used both languages. My great friend, Alan, is studying abroad in the city, so he took us through the bustling markets and complex city streets. As you may have read in the news, piracy is a major area of contention in China today. Well, Hong Kong is no exception. Fake watches, DVDs, handbags, sunglasses, shoes, and many other goods could be found on every street corner. During my stay, I also had the opportunity to meet with a lady named Elsy, who was a Vice President at Lehman Brothers’ Hong Kong office. Elsy informed me on the development of China, the involvement of international finance, and the influence of the United States. After two days of living the Hong Kong life, several friends and I caught an early morning flight to Shanghai via Dragon Air.

Shanghai is the Hong Kong of mainland China. Although, it is younger, less developed, more polluted, and growing like a weed. After leaving the airport, we hopped on a 431 km/hr Maglev train that took us into the city. We were literally passing cars on the highway like they were standing still, and yet we were still accelerating through a 45° turn. Upon arrival, I immediately knew we were in a foreign country when the English language vanished. Suddenly we were lost. Even if I don’t know the language, I can usually decipher the meaning of most words written with Latin characters. Not Mandarin Chinese. Luckily for us, I have a friend, Adam, who is living in Shanghai and working for an American company. We spent the next two days taking in the culture, struggling with the language barrier, getting lost in a city of a mere 12 million, and eating some incredible Chinese food. One evening we ate dinner at tiny, family-run street stall. Adam’s local favorite. A sizable bowl of noodles with meat and tasty broth cost us a whopping $0.50 USD. Really breaking the bank! Another fascinating thing we did was our trip to the top of the current tallest building in Shanghai where the club Cloud Nine is located. This experience really gave me a perspective of Shanghai’s development. High above the bustling city, we were chatting in a swanky club with overpriced drinks. Right next to us was one of the world’s tallest telecommunication towers and next to it the construction of the tallest building in the world (China couldn’t give that honor to Taiwan). I would be willing to bet that if I returned to Shanghai in five years, I wouldn’t even recognize it.

Our final stop was Beijing, where we hiked the Great Wall of China and explored Tiananmen Square. The Great Wall was breathtaking. It is impossible to describe the experience in words. Thousands of tourists flooded the ancient wall that seemed to dance through the hills stretching as far as the eye could see. Tiananmen Square was also very moving. Being at the heart of Beijing’s political structure, I could certainly feel the presence of communism. Not to mention, I was standing in the vary place where “Tank Man” essentially brought the 1989 massacres to a halt. It’s hard to imagine that was less than 20 years ago.

Because I spent so much time traveling through China, I only had a couple of hours in Qingdao before I had to catch the ship for departure. My first impression of Qingdao?…depressing. Qingdao exemplifies what I think of as communism. Quiet, depressing, slow, oppressed and almost surreal. We were told by someone familiar with the city that many Qingdao citizens don’t even know about the Beijing events of 1989. I guess that’s what happens when the government sensors everything…including Google!

We port in Kobe, Japan tomorrow morning where I will be catching a bullet train to Tokyo for a couple of days. Check back in a week for details of my last port stay. I can’t believe this is coming to an end so fast!

Cheers,

Mike

4/16/07
18° 39.05N
113° 22.10E

Chalk up another unforgettable port-of-call. On the morning of Monday, April 9th, we sailed up the Saigon River to port in the wonderful city of Ho Chi Minh. The Saigon River was narrow and twisty with enormous ships sailing in both directions on what could be considered a two-lane superhighway. Thoughts ran through my head of what I would think of Vietnam – the home of the infamous Vietnam War (or American War if you are in Vietnam). Have the Vietnamese forgiven the Americans? Will I see hostility toward Americans in the average citizen? Although much of what I have learned about Vietnam is related to the war, what else the does the country have to offer? Well, these questions were quickly stolen from my head when I jumped on the back of a cyclo (or what could be considered a small motorcycle) for a ride into town. For one U.S. dollar, I flew into town swerving between trucks, cars and other cyclos without any regard for stop signs and traffic lights. Without a doubt the most dangerous thing I’ve done in the last year. I’ll tell you one thing, the horn takes on an entirely new meaning in Vietnam. In the United States, the horn is usually used to signal “I’m frustrated and you are making me mad.” In Vietnam however, the horn is typically used to signal “I’m am on a small cyclo passing you in the big truck, please don’t kill me” or “here I come into the crowded intersection at 60km/hr with three people on my cyclo, get out of my way or we will both die.” Thank god for horns.

The first day in Ho Chi Minh City, I set out to explore the city and get a taste for life in Vietnam. Several friends and I visited crowded markets filled with imitation products, stopped at couple of tailors to get cheap suits fitted, ate an awesome Vietnamese lunch, and spent hours in the Vietnamese Airlines office trying to book tickets out of the city. The communist controlled government runs the Vietnamese Airline office and it was a pain. It felt like the DMV in Boulder, CO, which is probably one of my least favorite places in the entire world. Take a ticket and wait forever. Finally, we were able to book a flight to Danang at 6:00am the next morning. After a great - and totally exhausting - first day, we headed back to the ship for some shut-eye.

The next several days, Logan, Bob, Frank and I backpacked through the cities of Danang, Hoi An, and Hue in central Vietnam. It was a blast traveling with no plans, no time schedule, and no idea what we were about to see. Danang had little to offer, but it was great to see an authentic Vietnamese city uninfluenced by tourism. We met some Americans who had been living in Vietnam for the last 13 years. While talking to the 26-year-old son, I asked what he thought about the government. Very casually and without hesitation, he declined to comment. He said that Vietnamese don’t openly talk about their government. Pretty crazy notion coming from the United States! A quick drive from Danang is the beautiful Vietnamese coastline and the renowned China Beach. China Beach and the surrounding area are gorgeous. White sand beaches, blue water, elevated restaurants hanging precariously over the water, and no more than five people on the entire beach. Hoi An was much more of a tourist town. Markets and small shops lined the small town located some 50km south of Danang. Everything was cheap, cheap, cheap in Hoi An. We stayed at a modest hotel with a pool and breakfast included for $17 per night (that is, for the entire room), bought silk ties for $2, and incredible canvas paintings for less than $20. One evening we ate dinner at a small, two-story restaurant on the river. A filling Vietnamese meal of rice, stir-fried noodles, chicken, beef, vegetables, spring rolls and several rounds of beer ran us $4 per person. I’ll tell you what; my chopstick stills are getting good! After catching a grungy train (worse than India) to Hue, we checked out the Imperial City and the many scars left by the American War. Several days of wondering aimlessly around central Vietnam later, we caught our flight back to Ho Chi Minh City.

The final day in Vietnam, I went to the American War Museum with a couple of friends from the ship. Wow, what an experience. The museum really showed the war from the Vietnamese perspective…there were many comments about “the evil American enemy.” It was cool to see their side of the story because it certainly was not something one would find in very many American textbooks. The death, destruction, complexities, and extent of the war astounded me. If you ever make it to Ho Chi Minh City, be sure to swing by this museum. It will change your perspective of war.

I will undoubtedly return to Vietnam one day. As I look back on my thoughts before arrival, I now know how much Vietnam has to offer. As our interport lecturer said, “It’s a country, not a war.” Also, when I asked the Americans in Danang about Vietnamese attitudes toward Americans, they said that they have been warmly welcomed into the country. According to the son, the Vietnamese have forgiven the Americans, but the Americans have not yet fully forgiven the Vietnamese. Now there’s some food for thought.

Thanks for stopping by,

-Mike

4/7/07
01° 10.48N
103° 42.62E

I wanted to begin this entry with a contribution from a guest author - my great friend, college roommate and fellow SAS student Logan Koffler. Logan wrote this moving piece on his life changing experience in India and the thoughts, feelings, and emotions he experienced during his travels. Logan writes:

“India is both inhumane and so deeply human. It contorts all my pre-conceptions of humanity. The human element is exploding with vibrancy, from deep within one’s spirit and dancing on the shoulders of the people passing by. It embraces you like a childhood blanket - a moment of comfort when you can’t even say the word. It is also a place of endless sorrow, where the sun beads rays of darkness and the wind passes through people like halo trees. Yet somehow, by the magic that unfolds on the tip of your fingers, the world revolves, the long night brings a hot summer day, and the man on the street with wrinkles layering his face is right where you left him the day before.
I have seen the worst - life-ending diseases, distorting disabilities and crippling poverty. But I have also seen reasons for hope – the relentless pursuit to live in happiness. It is obvious that the desire for happiness trumps the pain of misfortune. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
I asked a man suffering from elephantitis in his feet if he lived in continuous pain. He responded by saying “my feet are a gift from god.” Outcast by society and living on the floor of the train station, he was able to find good in what I could only see as misfortune and illness. India is both an illness and a curing drug. It is sick with poverty and pollution but rich in culture and human spirit. It is the willingness to accept the drug that will determine how you perceive India.”

What amazed me most about India was what it took for me to realize what I saw and experienced during my visit. It truly was not until I reached Malaysia that I realized how unique India really is. Before our arrival in Malaysia, we were told that Malaysia would be the most uncomfortable and unlike the United States of any stop on our itinerary. I found this hard to believe because, after all, we had just left India. What could be more eye opening than that? The answer is…certainly not Malaysia. They were absolutely wrong. Malaysia, or at least Kuala Lumpur, felt like home after India. Skyscrapers, nicely paved roads, shopping malls, white sand beaches and first-world demeanor filled the country. Kuala Lumpur at night more closely resembled a U.S. city than any place we have been thus far. The world never ceases to amaze me.

Anyway, selamat tengah hari! I am now back on the ship after an amazing stay in Malaysia. For a country represented by 60% Muslims, Malaysia was surprisingly western. After disembarking the ship, Frank and I caught a flight from our port in Penang to Kuala Lumpur for $40 USD round trip. We spent the next several days cruising Kuala Lumpur and crashing on a friends couch in her Ritz Carlton suite. Other than the flight, Kuala Lumpur was quite expensive. Meals ran $10-$20, taxis were $5-$10, and most of the shops were well above my price range in the city. Indoor malls had stores such as Gucci, Armani, Coach, and other luxury brands. I wonder who buys stuff from these stores? With a per capita GDP of $9000, it certainly isn’t the average citizen of Malaysia. Malaysia has a great cultural mix of Chinese, Indian, and the indigenous Malays, which makes for a fun variety of food, language, dress and cultural norms. There really was a never-ending supply of interesting things to do and people to talk with in Malaysia.

One of the most interesting experiences I had in Malaysia occurred one afternoon at a Starbucks in Kuala Lumpur. While enjoying an Americanized coffee, I got into a conversation with a man originally from New York who was in Malaysia doing work for the computer manufacturer Dell. Apparently, Dell manufactures between 90%-95% of all their computers in Malaysia. Within four hours of clicking the “order” button on the Dell website, your computer is built, packaged, and loaded on a Reno or Nashville bound airplane. Here I am half way around the world, talking to a New Yorker who works for a Texas company about computers probably shipped by either UPS or FedEx (both U.S. companies), while sitting at a coffee chain based in Seattle. Now that’s globalization!

Ok well, I’m going to cut this one off here as I only have two days to prepare for Vietnam. Thanks for checking in.

Selamat tinggal (good bye in Malay),

-Mike

3/31/07
07° 57.65N
092°19.45E

Dear diary,

India is completely overwhelming. No words can fully describe what I experienced these last several days. The poverty, underdevelopment, inequality, beauty and diversity of India simply cannot be understood by reading textbooks. It absolutely blew me away. Over the course of the semester, we have talked in much length about the development of the third world. Education, public health, sanitation, empowerment of women, social programs, reduction of corruption, excreta, excreta…simple right? Wrong! After 5 minutes in Chennai, I realized that I wouldn’t even know where to begin. According to our interport lecturer, there is a restaurant in Mumbai where one can buy a bottle of Don Perion for more than the average annual income in the city. Yikes!

The first day in Chennai, India, I grabbed a rickshaw for a ride to the markets with my buddies Craig and Tyler. Rickshaws are small, three wheeled taxi cabs with what must be a lawn mower engine. In the city of Chennai, rickshaws drive like hell with no regard for stop signs, pedestrians, bicyclists or other vehicles. After our driver ripped us off by taking us to the wrong place and overcharging us, we caught another rickshaw to the markets and spent the afternoon chatting with the local merchants. I couldn’t believe how much of an influence Western culture had on the area. Nike, Visa, Lacoste, Levi’s, Polo, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s and many other brands were around every corner. Once we had had enough bargaining for one day, Craig, Tyler and I caught another rickshaw to Mother Teresa’s Orphanage. This experience was, without a doubt, one of the most intense of my life. For some reason, I was under the impression that orphanages simply held children with no parents. Boy was I wrong. This particular orphanage held so much more. This orphanage held shattered hopes, dreams and futures. Although we weren’t allowed to give anything to the children, I certainly didn’t leave with all my belongings. The orphanage stole a piece of my heart, and in exchange, I stole a small piece of the children’s pain.

The next several days, I partook in a SAS trip to visit the Taj Mahal, New Delhi, and Varanasi. These trips really showed me the beauty and, for the first time, the middle class of India. Our first stop was Varanasi (the oldest living city in the world according to some sources) where we floated the Ganges River at sunrise. Every morning, Indians bath themselves in the holy waters of the Ganges to cleans and purify their souls. Clean, in the context, is only metaphorical as the Ganges is one of the dirtiest rivers in the world. The ceremonial bathing was a spectacle of music, dance, and colors as thousands of people crowded the streets before sunrise. Dead bodies were cremated in open fires before their ashes were thrown into the river. Never in my life have I seen so much before 8:00am. Dear diary, I don’t think Indians sleep.

Our next stop was the capitol of India, New Delhi, where we checked out embassies, the Parliament house, the Presidential residence, and other political structures. I was surprised to see how much cleaner and nicer New Delhi is than Chennai. Nicely paved streets, green grass, luxury cars, fancy hotels, and public parks were scattered throughout New Delhi…none of these could be found in Chennai. New Delhi, along with Bangalore and Mumbai (although I didn’t see them myself), seemed to be the modern face of India. That is, the India people hear about as being the world’s largest democracy and the next world superpower.

Our final stop was Agra where we visited several forts and, finally, the renowned Taj Mahal at dusk. Although the forts were beautiful, the Taj Mahal was truly breathtaking. From the minute that I walked through the gate until I left three hours later, I was in awe at the white marble spectacle that sat before me. Green grass, clear water fountains, and immaculate white marble came together in what is the seventh wonder of the world. Words and pictures will never do the Taj justice. You’ll just have to see it for yourself one day.

After 3 days of intense traveling, we returned to the ship safe and free of Delhi Belly (most of us that is). Over the course of my brief journey to northern India, I had taken four flights, two trains, countless bus rides, and had awoken before 5:00am every single day. I must have accumulated a total of 10 hours of sleep the entire time. That evening, the ship felt like home as it never had before. I could honestly go on writing for days about what I saw and experienced in India, but I will save you the reading (ok but really, I have to get this done before we arrive in Penang, Malaysia in two days). For now, I’m off to catch up on some sleep and reading. On April 2nd, we arrive in Malaysia where I will be traveling to Kuala Lumpur for several days. I will post another entry sometime during our three-day journey between Malaysia and Vietnam. Over the course of the next five weeks, we only have 11 days on the ship. Hang on, because things are about to get crazy.

Finish the food that is on your plate because there really are starving children in India.

Namaste,
Mike