China

Ni Hao!!!
I woke up early to watch us come into port, but there wasn't much to be scene because we are traveling in between typhoons so the weather hasn't been exceptional. As we sailed in, I could begin to see the buildings and lightnouses in the fog. In each port a portliner comes with a man that jumps onto the ship and drives the ship into the dock. I have made many friends with the crew members, three in particular. Their names are Edgar (a waiter), Tyrell "Chuck" Norris and Vald (the piano bar guys). Unfortunately Edgar had finished his time on the ship and was heading back to the Phillipines after Hong Kong, so this was the last time that we would see each other:( We said our goodbyes and wished each other a great future full of excitement! After the ship cleared immigration Nicole, Kelsey, and I threw on our rain gear and were set free in Quindao! The port was a little inconvinent because it was a shipping yard!!! We were weaving in and out of cars and giant storage boxes in order to get to the main road get flag a taxi!!! We took a cab to the Chinese version of WalMart which was interesting becuase there were actual department stores within the building and a full food market in the bottom of the store. In Quindao there are different streets for each type of dress, such as Wedding Street, Resturant Street, and Beer Street. We were warned that people would stare at us because they are not used to seeing Americans and well they were RIGHT!!! I have never had sooo many people stare at me at once, as we walked down the street EVERYONE was looking at us and pointing as though we were naked or something!!! But all we could do was laugh and smile and wave. Later Kelsey and I went to tour the Tsingdao Brewey and it was really interesting to see the process of making beer and the beer was pretty tasty too!!!
We walked around the city for a few more hours in the rain and then made our way back to the ship. It was really cool seeing the area where the sailing portion for the 2008 Olympic Games are going to take place!
The next day I flew to Guilin, China which is known for its beautiful gumdrop hills. I thought that I was going into a rural area but I was wrong there were lights in the trees and on the edge of bridges!!! It was a pretty touristy area!!! The following day we went on a river boat cruise along the Le River where we saw the beautiful scenery of Guilin. It was a 4 hour cruise and there are no words to describe how beautiful it was and the pictures don't do give it justice. There were small villages, water buffalo, water taxis, and cranes!!! There were only 14 people on my trip, 5 students and the rest were professors and life long learners. It turned out to be really fun getting to know all of them. We ended up in a small town called Yangshuo where we went shopping. Then we went to the 1300 year old banyon tree where I took a photo with monkey's!!! During the photo they began to argue and slap each other... yeah... I was not feeling the monkey's after that. We took a 2 hour bus ride back to the hotel where we ate dinner and hit the sack!!!

The following day was full of relaxation. We woke up at 6:30am and had a Tai Chi lesson with a Tai Chi Master. I found it to be really relaxing and cleared my mind. After we ate breakfast and went to Seven Star Park where we saw 3,000 years of history combined with Disney character billboards surrounding it. IT was interesting to see how the children and grandparents fit in with the scenery. We went to see the Giant Panda, Yue Yue, and he was soooo big and cute!!! We saw bonsai gardens, and had a rock and fossil tour. Then went to Yao Mountain where we took a ski lift or "cable car" up to the top and saw a beautiful view of the city. On our way down 4 of the girls and I went on the Alpine Slide which was a pretty good time. After the slide we had a traditional Chinese art professor teach us how to paint. I was not a very good artist, but it was still really interesting and fun. After we left and ate dinner our tour guide asked us if we wanted to go and get massages. The girls and I leaped at the opportunity and went to get foot and body massages. The massage parlor was VERY different from what I was expecting mainly because when we walked into the back room there were many many many half naked men getting massages in the same room!!!! All you could hear were slapping and hitting noises and there were only curtains separating us. We were the ONLY women in the entire room besides 3 other massage theripists!!! My friend Ness and I were put into a room together, THANK GOD, and were given a SMALL towel and then left alone. We looked at each other, laughed, and decided to leave our clothes on and waited for the theripists to come back. Once the men came back and began massaging our faces, necks, and arms I figured out quite quickly that this was a reflexology massage. As he continued down to my legs, I began laughing really hard because I am SUPER ticklish there and I think that I scared him a little bit. It didn't help hearing all of the noises in the background and thinking about how akward the whole experience was.
Then he massaged, or a better word BEAT, my back!!! I was slapped, chopped, and practically punched all to "relax" my body!!! He kept telling me to relax but how could you when getting your back beatin' to oblivion!!! After it was all over, I began feeling a bit more relaxed, but the next day I had a few bruises from my experience and was a little sore too.
On our final day in Guilin we went to the Reed Flute Caves that are located inside one of the hills. It was opened in 1962 and has been a tourist attraction ever since. When you walk into the caves, they are lit up with neon lights which makes them appear really beautiful and vibrant. After the caves we went to the South China Sea Pearl Factory where we learned about how pearls are collected, raised, and how to tell if your pearls are real or fake. It was pretty interesting and it was fun to see all of the pearls. Then we went to a Traditional Chinese Medical Center where we learned about the traditional herbs used for medicine in China. It was really cool to see which herbs treat what and how they do not used over the counter drugs liek we do. It was time for us to catch our flight to Hong Kong to meet the ship and we said Good Bye to China and Hello to Hong Kong!!!!