Lamma Island, Hong Kong -China

Hi All, we had a relaxing and special time on Lamma Island. We rode on a ferry from Kowloon over to Hong Kong Island and then took another ferry to Lamma Island. On the second ferry, we rode with over 200 15 year old students from Hong Kong! It was quite a hoot to watch them interact. We talked with one of them on the way over and we were amazed at how great her English was. She told us that they started studying English in kindergarten.

Lamma Island was a pretty special place with an interesting mix between Asian and European cultures. Anna and her dad did some rock climbing. They made it through a couple of caves and up the side of a pile of rocks to a fantastic view! The weather was gorgeous and we actually spent a relaxing day at the beach! Hong Kong was a place that I hadn't given much thought to prior to our visit. It's a huge city which reminded me somewhat of NYC. We took a tour of the city and had a spectacular afternoon at Victoria Peak which we reached by tram - it was an incredible view of the city to say the least.

Now we're back on the ship for two days of transit to Shanghai which we will reach in the morning. There are only about 160 of us on the ship right now which has been awesome! Most of the students and lifelong learners went overland and will meet the ship in Shanghai. The young kids ruled the ship yesterday which was so much fun for them! They had a dance party in the Student Union with strobe lights and disco, then a movie night with popcorn before bed. Today much of the same...! Last night we all had a formal sitdown dinner and got to choose our meal from a menu! The little things in life...!

Sadly, people are starting to talk about the end of the voyage approaching... Can't believe it will all be over in less than one month!

Thinking of you all, Traci

Hong Kong

Hi All,
We are on the high seas again. This passage will take us Hong Kong , China to Shanghai ,China. The sea is very Green here perhaps we are not at the great depth we have been in. It is really the East China sea just south of the Yellow sea.
We had a spectacular berth on Kowloon looking directly at Hong Kongs’ Impressive skyline and peaks. It is all vertical. Skyscraper on top of high rise . People live and work in these buildings. High finance and every manner of electronics company. The cost of living in HK is exorbitant . It seems like the recreation available is shopping, shopping and shopping. We saw Armani Kids, Burberry kids , Dolche Gabana , Ralph Lauren and every other top end retailer.
The first day we toured the city on the famous Star ferry and a convertible double decker bus that took us to Victoria peak for a magnificent view of what is Hong Kong. Natural beauty of the Islands and the awesome site of mans creation of a true High rise City on the shore. Hong Kong has a history dating back 5000 yrs! But more recently it was Governed by the Brits for 150 yrs until 1997 when the lease ran out and it returned to China. Not much in daily life changed because of that there is a great amount of freedom and a capitalist society which actually boarders on materialistic. The government changed hands to a Chinese appointed minister as opposed to an elected governor. You don’t feel any “communism” . I guess I don’t know what to look for but on the surface you would never know. I did here the labor to build this great place is treated almost like slavery at times . The labor comes from mainland China and mostly rural folks who are supposed to be paid once a yr and sometimes not even then if the job is not on schedule or not working out according to plan. I was told during our tour that a prestigious building around 57 stories was completed in 44 Months!!
The second day we spent on a small Island just around the corner from HK. We took a cat ferry (fast) to Lamma Island. It took about 30 min. We happened to” join” 200 13-14 yr old Chinese students on a field trip that day  So much for getting away from the noise. I noticed the Chinese are so used to being crowded that they just swarmed around us almost without noticing us. We had a wonderful time on this little Island w/out cars. It just had nice little café’s open markets and beaches. We all had a great time swimming. Yes its still warm and sunny 
More on Lamma Island w/ pictures next.
Latitude – 28’44.4N
Longitude- 122’ 40.1E
Course 20’
Sea depth 86 feet
sea conditions 10 ft
sea swell 8 ft

Take care
Capt J

VietNam and on the South China Sea

“It takes allot of Love to keep your heart from freezing and push on to the end… to keep your Spirit free.” David Gray
Hi All,
We are sailing on the South China Sea. It has been rough even for a 590’ ship. Swells between 10-20 feet! Kids are doing fine. The pictures included are of the Mekong River . As things go on this voyage we move on from country to country. We are on our way to Hong Kong.

“Seas but join the regions they divide” Alex Pope

We are starting to think about life at home and how it will feel. I know we have all learned more than we could imagine. It is such an extraordinary voyage. We travel as a learning community and have the ability to explore – in country- independently. I have always wanted to go to Hong Kong because of a series of books I read by James Cavell. Sho-Gun, Gia –Gin , Ti- Pan . He made it seem so unique , Old world yet cosmopolitan.
From Hong Kong we travel to Shanghai. The economic statistics of China carry massive weight. It is the longest continuous country in History 4000 yrs . There are currently 1.34 billion people. In most of China’s provinces there still is the famous 1 child rule. 36% of the population live on less than $2.00 a day.
Since 1978 reforms started to create free market and capitalism w/in the communist system.

Course – 21’
Latitude- 15’ 57.0N
Longitude- 112’ 36.4E
Sea swell 11 feet
Sea conditions 14ft
Wind NE 30-40knots
Sea depth 2480 feet
Distance to nearest land 47 miles to Triton Island
Best
Capt j

Rough Seas

It has been a trying past few days with a tragic death among our community. One of our students died on the ship on our last day in Vietnam. We had a moving memorial at sea for him yesterday. He is not someone that any of our family knew, but it has nonetheless touched us all. At this time, we are unable to disclose any further details out of respect for his family. Please keep the young man's family in your thoughts and prayers. We are all doing well and looking forward to our next travels in Hong Kong and China...! Traci

Good Morning Viet Nam

Good morning Viet Nam
We are in South Viet Nam , Ho Chi Minh city or Shanghai. The second the ship and visa’s were cleared we headed out for our Houseboat voyage on the Mekong River . We were thrilled w/ the boat it was beautiful. Just two bedrooms so we had it all to ourselves. We travelled 200 km to places like Cai Be, Cai Tau Ha, Tra On , Can Tho . We visited floating markets which sold mostly veggies and fresh fruit. Pineapples , watermelon , dragon fruit, eyeball looking things, mangoes, Asian plumb, papaya, coconuts, water coconuts and many others.
It has been visually amazing! The locals literally live and work on the Mekong . The commerce on the river is endless! They fish, farm,dig mud/sand w/ big barges and cranes to make construction material and transport it all up and down the river , brick factories. I did bring a fishing rod but it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for in that regard, the biggest thing I caught was a large rice sack  It was fine we had many things to do and see. We actually took 1300 pictures in three days . Everywhere we looked was a fascinating scene. Traci got some great close ups of the locals.
The people are very friendly and a little shy. They love our American Blue eyed kids. It seemed to Traci and I talking to people on our boat that they have put the” American War” behind them. Perhaps it is partly because of the number of yrs they were at war w/ other countries . The French and the Chinese . I was told they were at war w/ China for a 1000 yrs.
The food is great and everyone is still healthy though Traci just caught a bit of a cold today. We all did swim in the Mekong river!! It looks brown like tea w/ milk in it and of course all kinds of things floating in it. Hopefully that wasn’t the cause of her cold. We have been getting up around 5:30 for the last three days and on the move.
I’m sure Traci will elaborate on this fascinating country. We all spout off Vietnamese words and places because we love the way it sounds. It’s really special to hear Declan say Ho Chi Minh city ,Viet Nam .

Hope you are all well

J

Latitude 10’ 46.0 N
Longitude 106’ 42.5’ E
Docked

Straits Of Malaca

Greetings from the Straits of Malaca. It’s located between Indonesia on the right and the left side of the Malaysian peninsula on the left…fitting place to be spending Halloween as there appear to be many Pirate boats close at hand…! It’s weird for us to be out at sea actually able to visualize boats from our massive vessel. Most often, there is nothing for as far as the eye can sea. On days when we catch a glimpse of life in a flying fish or a bird -- or if we’re really lucky a whale, the children crowd around the big picture windows of their dining room school, excited to see signs of life. The Straits of Malaca are known for lots of boat traffic – some thought to be pirate boats. Supposedly tonight the Captain runs the boat at over 25 knots speed through the straits and they have an armory of staff manning the water hoses on the 7th deck to “shoot” at any suspicious looking vessels. Out our window right now, I see large tankers interspersed with very small primitive fishing vessels – pretty amazing! Tomorrow we will awake in Singapore! We’ll spend about 36 hours there. I’m on call so hopefully I won’t spend the entire time dealing with patients. I’m told in the morning I have to take several patients to the local hospital for an evaluation. If nothing else, it will be interesting.
We are told that Singapore is extremely strict in their laws. They even have a law that prohibits gum chewing! A few entrepreneurial students have rented out a night club for Halloween night. A rumor went around the ship that “no bars are open on Sunday nights in Singapore, so we’ll just rent out our own!” It’s called the Butter Factory – sounds like trouble with a capital “T” – must be the mom in me talking! The Semester at Sea administration has tried at length to avert this plan given the stringent laws in Singapore – thus far I don’t think their plan has been averted! Here’s hoping I don’t spend Halloween night caring for hordes of intoxicated students!
Speaking of Halloween, the shipboard community has been amazing in coming together to recreate a Halloween aboard the ship… There is a haunted house in the Academic Dean’s cabin to get things started. Then, about 50 students, lifelong learners, faculty/staff will be among the trick or treating route…! Finally, the kids will have a Halloween party with cake, treats, scary games, etc. on the 7th deck – should be a Halloween to remember! The girls are going to be belly dancers complete with Henna tattoed hands, bindis, lots of Indian bracelets… Dec is going to be a punk rock ballerina! Stay tuned for pictures…
Happy Halloween to you and yours!
Love, Traci
Sorry this didn’t get posted by its original date…the internet was HORRIBLY slow before we arrived in Singapore!
Today we went to the famous Singapore Zoo. Both John and I agreed it was one of the most beautiful zoos we've ever been to with animals living in as natural an environment as possible within the confines of a zoo. Yesterday was a trying, exhausting day for me as I spent most of the 24 hour day in the ER of a local hospital. They were both part of our Lifelong Learners program which is mostly comprised of older, retired individuals. Unfortunately one of the patients will not continue to sail with us due to his condition. It was his tenth voyage - quite remarkable at 81! The care they received was excellent.
Now it's off to Vietnam and more adventures...stay tuned!
Love, Traci

Singapore

Hi All,

"Curiosity and imagination are deeper sources of learning than education and teaching." Marvel Harrison

We are docked in Singapore harbor. You wonder where some of your toy's , computers etc... get shipped from this is a pretty big port for that. Very clean and pretty "City State" This little Island has a pop. of 5 million.

Oh, that picture is Declan for Halloween , Punk balarina. The girls were belly daners. We had a camera malfuntion , but students took lots of pictures of them I'm sure we can post a few sometime.

They have some unbelievable law's here and are quite strict. Remember the canning back when President Clinton was in office, Singapore. A student spray painted on a car and got a fine, jail time and a Canning (hit six times in the but w/ a stick/cane) Clinton said please don't do it, they said it will do the kid some good --proceed. I have to agree w/ the Singapore folks on that score!

They also have the best drug rehab , 100% cure for heroin addiction . You get caught w/ 2 tablespoons worth of it - death by hanging.

You cant chew gum, spit, smoke in most places, jaywalk, pee in an elevator and you have major problems. Enough of that .

The architecture is very cool - it seems to be a city where expression on that level is encouraged. It is that kind if thinking that brings major $ here. Formula One races through the streets twice a yr. The Sands Casino and resort was built here (6 billion dollars) If you want to gamble you pay $100 to walk in. This is a place Annie :) would love , every store you can imagine in giant mall like places , minimum 4 levels. I'm holding my wallet until 3rd world Vietnam for the bargins. Singapore is pricey.

Traci was at the hospital w/ 2 different cases yesterday. From about 7am to 1:30am. Hope she can hang w/ us today. We went on the "original Duck boat" same as Bean town,

In the pictures you can see the symbol of Singapore, The MerLion. Adopted by the British who also had control of this Island when they chose to. At one time the British controlled 25% of all the land in the world.

Off to Vietnam tonight

Stay well

Best

JD