Indonesia…

 

families of crew came aboard to visit….over 900 visitors were on board..such an emotional time for everyone. it was so nice to see a lot of the crew with their loved ones…and now we have about 90 new crew from Indonesia. Most of the crew is either from Indonesia or the Philippines.

Komodo Island..to see Komodo Dragons. Astonishing views…absolutely gorgeous. I don’t have all that much to say about the Komodo Island…it really was beautiful and the dragons were really neat to see. Our guide was really informational and we saw a handful of komodo dragons….and sorry to disappoint some of you but they were not fire breathing dragons. I know….disappointing. haha.

There was a little market at the national park and I bought a fresh water real pearl necklace for $10. Very pretty and great price! Yesss. Off my check list to see dragons in Indonesia. I would love to come back to Indonesia…and make my way to Bali…I heard lovely things about it and the people are lovely from there! Some day ;)

 

Eyes wide open in Cambodia…

 

I thought Vietnam was an eye opener…but Cambodia definitely took first in the poorest country I’ve ever witnessed. I learned a lot and I really appreciate everything I’ve been blessed with in my life and growing up in the United States in a beautiful healthy home and town. Being exposed to all of the poverty in Cambodia was unbelievable…to see people all around you grabbing you and begging for you to buy their bracelets or take a 'tuk tuk’ (their way of transporting people) was overwhelming. We were offered a free shuttle service from the ship to the town market and wow…as you can see by the photos on the bus still people with signs for their Tuk Tuk service and advertising themselves. Immediately when we stepped foot off the bus we were being grabbed at and poked and spoke to and like i said it was overwhelming. I remained  calm and just went with the flow of it as opposed to a couple other people I was with started yelling at the people to stop touching them…i chose to just be open minded about it and just relax and get a tuk tuk driver to the resort/beach we were all going to meet up at. It was a large group of us out of the crew and we went to this beautiful resort…the Tuk Tuk ride to and from the market was probably about 10-15 minutes and for the entire day…we paid $5.00….total. On the way to the resort there was a young girl who followed us from the shuttle with bracelets and necklaces she made with embroidery floss…She handed us what she had made and wanted us to purchase some. So of course she was such a trooper and persistent so I bought a nice bracelet from her and I’ll never forget the story behind it the way she followed us…she sold it to me on the scooter not ever holding on while we were moving. $1.00 I’m sure goes such a long way for them.

Once we got to the beach I was blown away by the outstanding beauty it had to offer….absolutely gorgeous as you can see. We went swimming a lot…and my roommate attacked me in one of the pictures! Here we were going to do this nice picture posing in front of the water….and she comes out of nowhere full blast running at me and dove for my legs in full attack-mode! haha…it was great! I went for a nice long long walk on the beach alone thinking about how lucky I am to have this brilliant opportunity at the age of 22 years old…Unreal. Its been so amazing so far! We were at the same resort the entire afternoon soaked up the sun…then we went to the pool at the resort and it started down pouring while we were swimming. Ahh that was so much fun…I snagged a picture of me and a couple of the other spa girls. Overall such a great day! 

 

Adventures in Thailand!

 

Ohhh my goooooodness! Where do i even begin with Thailand?! First of all I must enlighten you with this wonderful experience I was lucky enough to be a part of…it was my first tour with the crew only. Really a special experience! I knew this day was going to be worth every dime…well it all starts with an elephant ride through the jungle and that within itself was incredible. I had been on an elephant way back when at the medieval festival in Minnesota but trust me this was much different especially when its authentic jungle ha..seriously! It was thee real deal…the elephant was really rough feeling on your feet and the sunshine was beaming on me and it felt amazing! I love the sun on this end of the world!! We also were about to learn about the process of silk which was fascinating to me….then an interesting walk with a gibbon on your head through the jungle. (A gibbon is different from a monkey…gibbons do not have a tail)

Elephants, gibbons, food, rain, oxen, free laughs….

Vietnam! oh hi.

Taxi to the beach….arrived to the beautiful busy beach and really soaked it all in. Upon arrival we drove through the port and about 45 minutes from the beach…really getting exposed to the reality of Vietnam…it was really eye opening to see how they live there and all of the poverty. Transportation was mostly motorbikes from the locals it was insane to see what they could transport! And even babies and small children on the bikes…can you imagine? We were just riding along and I looked over to my right and I see a load of ducks in plastic bags riding with a man on this motorbike…hahah it was quite interesting and sad at the same time thinking the ducks won’t be alive for much longer. Duck doesn’t really taste all that great, they serve it a lot on the ship but I don’t eat it anymore…not that tasty. Once we arrived to the beach I took my time to just wander around and just take a few moments to myself.

The beach was gorgeous…there were loads of local people and rarely would you see a white face like mine! It’s so fun experiencing all of this and seeing all of the different cultures that people live in. Check out these pictures of food below…the woman kneeling down is getting our fresh spring rolls and she would carry those baskets together on her shoulders with the wood to rest on her. DELICIOUS.